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© Auteurs. Cette œuvre est distribuée sous licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Revue internationale sur le numérique en éducation et communication
© Authors. Content is licensed under a licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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Summary
In sum, we need transformational and genuine leadership rather than more digital technologies. Indeed,
there is no crisis of quality only a crisis of leadership. Future organizations will tap the aggregate leadership
talent at hand rather than relying only on top positions with titles and authority. Everyone has leadership
skills to contribute to the organization and the single, all-knowing, all powerful (usually male) leader
persona of the past is obsolete. Today’s organisations and markets are simply too complex for one person
and we equally need more resilient and committed leaders who are passionate about gender and cultural
equality and diversity. These are competitive advantages.
We need to celebrate the gains we have made on the quality front and ensure these are communicated
to all relevant stakeholders. Moreover, we need to step back and reflect on the vast array of pedagogical
strategies and models we have employed in open and distance learning which are finding their way into
our traditional f2f classrooms. And finally, we need leaders who can lead effective change in their
organisations so their institution can thrive rather than just survive in a globally competitive ODL
landscape. In the final analysis, digital technologies are critical game changers for successful and thriving
21st century organizations; but they are not a substitute to compensate for poor leadership in defining a
thriving organisation’s future vision, competitiveness, and success.
The future is uncertain and our adaptability and agility coming out of the pandemic at some future point
suggest a new normal if not brave new world. Perhaps the words of Charles Dickens ring true as we
navigate the winds of change.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
madness, it was the time of belief, it was the time of unbelief, it was the season of light, it was the
season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything in
front of us, we had nothing in front of us, we were all going straight to heaven, we were all going
the other way - in short, the period was so far away as the present period, which some of its
loudest authorities have insisted on being received, for good or for evil, to the superlative degree
comparison only. (Dickens, 1859: 1)
The lesson for all of us is great leadership thrives during any ‘Normal’.
List of references
Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E. (2010). The transformational model of leadership. In Gill Robinson Hickman (Ed.) Leading
organizations: Perspectives for a new era (pp. 76-86). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Boulton, C. (2019). What is digital transformation? A necessary disruption. CIO, 1-6.
https://www.cio.com/article/3211428/what-is-digital-transformation-a-necessary-disruption.html
Burns, J. M (2010). Leadership (Excerpts). In Gill Robinson Hickman (Ed.) Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new
era (pp. 66-75). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dickens, C. (1859). A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Hurd and Houghton.
Kotter, J. (2012). Leading change. Cambridge: Harvard Business Review Press.
Olcott, Jr. D. (2020). In Search of Leadership: Practical Perspectives on Leading. Distance Education Organisations. Asian
Journal of Distance Education, 15(2), 48-57. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4293194
Olcott, D. (2020a). The leadership imperative: Back to the future after the Corona-19 pandemic. Published by the
International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). https://www.icde.org/icde-blog