Running a business today requires radically different leadership skills than you would have used as an employer five to ten years ago. The rapidly changing marketplace, increased global competition, and leaner organisational structures require radically different skills and attitudes.
No matter which type of leadership style you display there is an important work ethic which you need to apply in your business on a day-to-day basis. This is:
If you are to elicit extraordinary performances from your staff you must recognise, understand and respect the importance of working with ordinary people.
What should you encourage your staff to do?
1, Embrace change: Today’s market place is ever-changing. Businesses must respond quickly and be innovative to survive. This requires a flexible, adaptable workforce; translating to a variety of new work arrangements, including changing work assignments, flexible work schedules and frequently re-forming work teams.
2, Learn to thrive on uncertainty: Leaner organisational structures = less day-to-day direction from the top. Individuals will be expected to form networks within and outside their organisations, master the skills of creative collaboration, respond to frequently changing priorities, and assume personal responsibility for setting their own direction.
3, Stay abreast of technology: The Internet is rapidly becoming the hub of the global marketplace, your business will need to develop and maintain its proficiency in computer and telecommunications technology in order to be viable.
4, Learn to make the most of network relationships: Increasingly, businesses are entering into alliances, mergers and joint ventures with former competitors. The ability to manage lateral relationships will be a critical determinant in peoples’ ability to achieve results. Cross-functional work teams and matrix structures are becoming commonplace, and they require a more demanding set of interpersonal skills.
5, Make the most of learning opportunities: Organisations that thrive in the 21st century will be those that are continually renewing and learning. People who work in them will be expected to assume responsibility for managing their learning in response to changing organisational needs. Rather than prescribed curriculum being handed down from “experts”, people will be responsible for creating their own learning opportunities to harness their individual creativity and talents.
6, Develop a different perspective on career advancement: Career advancement in the traditional organisational structure consisted of upward promotions throughout one’s career. Leaner organisational structures preclude that expectation within 21st century businesses. Instead, career advancement and the ability to add value to the business, will increasingly be evidenced by “career latticing”. People will develop a broader base of experience and more extensive networks by making a number of criss-cross career moves.
7, Add value: The business can no longer afford the workforce that merely meets expectations. Increasingly, standards are being raised to ensure competitive advantage, and exemplary performance will be the norm. People who thrive in businesses will be those who pursue opportunities to add value. They will see themselves as stakeholders in the enterprise.
8, Embrace new workplace relationships which will replace traditional supervision and mentor-ship: Reshaped businesses will have fewer leaders at the top than traditional vertical organisational structures, and, given the rapidity of change, those at the top will be incapable of being the repositories of organisational knowledge and wisdom. In the new era, leadership will emerge throughout the business regardless of job title or status, and individuals will have relationships with “leader coaches” who will sponsor them in their development of new knowledge and achievement of evolution performance.
