As we close out this year…what do you want to do differently in 2013. This next series of blogs may help you position yourself and your business for change in 2013. The world is in a constant state of change…are you changing to just keep up or exploit your new opportunities?
The world is in a constant state of change. Every day, you hear of organizations who are struggling to meet the challenges of the new competitive landscape. To succeed in today’s business environment, organizations and leaders must grow and change at least as fast as the world around them changes. The most important change for leaders is their view and understanding of the role of people.
During the Industrial Revolution and most of the 20th century, people were seen as cogs in a great machine. Organizations wanted workers who could do simple, repetitive tasks as efficiently and quickly as possible. Leaders were the “head” and workers
were the “hands.” To achieve this dynamic, the best form of leadership was a command and control process. The leader was responsible for all of the creativity, thinking, and decision making. The workers were expected to simply follow the orders of the leader.
In today’s information economy, to prosper and even to survive, an organization must tap into the creativity, imagination, and decision-making capabilities of every employee. This means that the people – along with the information, knowledge, and skills they possess – are the most important resource in any organization. Consequently, the very nature of leadership has radically changed. Leaders should lead with one purpose in mind: to achieve increasingly positive results from the efforts of their team members. Highly effective leaders see the qualities of passion, trust, commitment, and loyalty as absolutely essential for improving results from their organization. Imagine the power of an organization where every team member has white hot passion, unwavering trust, total commitment, and enduring loyalty! These qualities are developed in team members as a response
to specific values held by their leader.
Truly effective leaders also understand that no leader can convince team members to become something the leader is not. The old expression, “Do as I say, not as I do” carries no weight in a work environment that strives to motivate team members. Leaders who want passion, trust, commitment, and loyalty from team members must first develop these values in themselves. Effective leaders understand that purpose is the ignition to passion, integrity is a prerequisite for trust, service to others generates commitment to the leader and the organization, and stewardship ensures that team members develop their potential, which fosters loyalty. To ignite passion, trust, commitment, and loyalty, highly effective leaders base their leadership on a foundation of four cornerstone values: purpose, integrity, service, and stewardship.
We will delve into each of these in the next 4 posts…
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