Effective Leadership for 21st Century Organizations
Traditional leadership
Traditional leadership styles from the 19th and 20th Centuries tended to involve rigid hierarchies, superiority, winners and losers. To lead, people felt the need to prove they’re better than everyone else. Leadership involved “power” and its abuse, loneliness and affectations. In the latter part of the 20th Century, there was a steady decline in hierarchies which is evermore the case in the first decade of the 21st Century.
So how does this impact business? What does it suggest about leadership and success in the 21stCentury? Aspects of leadership in the 21st Century. From our experience, successful businesses (be they high quality start-ups or companies looking for fast growth), recognise new values important to their success.
It’s “out with the old” and in with:
“flat structures”;
inclusive management style that involves all individuals in the group, not just senior management;
openness and transparency;
genuinely equal opportunities, no matter race, ethnic origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, handicaps and so on.;
empowering – i.e. committed to empowering each and every member of the group.
Enlightened leadership
21st Century leadership is not about bullying and high-handedness or perhaps intellectual or monetary brilliance. It is about playing to strengths, working around or reducing weaknesses, authenticity and not being fazed by problems. Above all, it’s about being straight in communications both internally and externally.
Powerful language
The new style is about “can-do” mentality and about avoiding disempowering language. Words such as “I’ll try to” or “I need you to…” and other indirect language weaken the conversation: “trying” to do anything is preparing to fail, not taking personal responsibility for causing something to happen. Using language that suggests there’s another reason behind why someone should do something rather than simply that you want them to do it tends to make people look weak thus, “needing” someone to do something is actually rarely authentic – and ought to normally be changed by “I want you to do X please” or some equivalent straight communication.
“Walking the talk”
Last but certainly not least, leadership in the 21st Century is all about “walking the talk” of the group. Nevertheless, the organisation first needs to be clear about what it is “talking” about before it could walk it and then it must ensure that it is consistent in everything it does: this is something from internal relations (with co-workers) through to external relations with clients, suppliers and the public at law.
Making it “real”
We believe that law is the “glue” of society, the structure behind relationships that either has them work or not. A leader has to ensure that all of his/her relationships work. Where the relationships are recognised as being essential to the organisation (and we cannot conceive of an organisation where they are not), special attention must be paid to ensuring that all documented relationships are consistent with the values of the organisation and the type of leadership. Are your communications straight, open, honest and fair? When did you last look at your employment contracts, shareholder’s agreements, terms of business, website terms, partnering agreements and buy contracts? Are they consistent with who you say you’re?
https://www.kaltons.co.uk
If you want more information on Leadership Training, don’t read just rehashed articles online to avoid getting ripped off. Go here: Leadership Training