Managing Digital Teams

How to build, manage and lead a digital, online or ecommerce team.
In this second decade of ecommerce, with digital revenues vital to businesses, there is a need to fully integrate digital activity in the business while, at the same time, meet the growing call to make digital teams fully accountable for performance.

Digital professionals are aware of the demands to increase team performance by undertaking additional responsibilities and contributing broadly to organisational development. This course builds upon established management good practice to look at the distinctive needs of online and ecommerce teams: how to build them, understanding the competencies, communication in the team and across the businesses, building effectiveness, leadership and transformation.

The course is designed around three key areas: you’ll learn how the right structures, strategies and behaviours can help you to build, manage and lead a digital team. You will use established management good practice to look at the distinctive needs of online and ecommerce teams. From the evaluation process you will decide which skills should be outsourced or managed in-house, best management approaches and how to manage specialists within a team. Moving a team to a different level of capability, operating model or level of performance will also be covered.

STRUCTURE

- Review of the key functions required of a digital team

- What’s distinctive about digital teams - from the myths of 'dotcom'

- Working styles, via web wizards, to a consideration of the core competencies needed within a team - viewed from a business perspective

- An introduction to the 'capability maturity' model as a diagnostic and strategic planning approach

- Possible structures for digital teams as well as their location within the business - building upon researched structures within leading businesses

- Growing skills internally versus hiring in

BEHAVIOURAL

- Management approaches - more than line-management or 'managing by being an expert' - moving to managing for successful outcomes

- Examining the nature of 'management' in a small group of subject-matter experts - how to manage specialists within a team

- Managing people who are more expert than you or where their work is not susceptible to easy review (this could apply equally to software development, graphic design or marketing strategy)

- Perception of the team within the business, with key stakeholders and senior management, along with managing key communication interfaces

- Supporting and growing productive behaviours

STRATEGIC

- Which skills should be managed in-house versus outsourced?

- Where should responsibility sit within the business?

- Should the team be build around the customer life-cycle? functionally-based? channel based?

- Setting direction, measurements to support appropriate behaviours and performance.

- Transition - how to move a team to a different level of capability, operating model or level of performance.

- Developing the 'digital business' - extending work styles and effective practices outside the ecommerce team.