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The Role Of Leadership For Now And The Future

Guest post by: Roger Ingbretsen

Article Overview: Leadership in the information age is based on the belief that the best way to achieve high performance, innovation, creativity and results, is to stress “individuality”… not conformity… by employing the full talents of all stakeholders – including their ideas, experiences and knowledge. What is required is a form of leadership that actually engages individual differences and sustains them in creative useful ways, rather than seeking their resolution through conflict, suppression or compromise.

The Role Of Leadership For Now And The Future

Leadership is an important skill, which is absolutely vital for organizational success. Leadership cannot and should not be abdicated; however, it should be built upon entrepreneurial experience and expertise, the ability to provide a compelling vision, trust, respect for others and when required, the building of consensus through collaboration. Leadership in the information age is based on the belief that the best way to achieve high performance, innovation, creativity and results, is to stress “individuality”… not conformity… by employing the full talents of all stakeholders – including their ideas, experiences and knowledge. What is required is a form of leadership that actually engages individual differences and sustains them in creative useful ways, rather than seeking their resolution through conflict, suppression or compromise.

Although not all inclusive, the following points offer an anchor for this type of leadership paradigm, which has been called a number of different names: shared, collaborative, principled, collective, participatory, servant, relational, and transforming to name a few. Whatever name you choose to use, it is clear that the traditional hierarchical leadership that served us in the past does not appear to be well suited to our present complexities and those of the future.

The role of leadership now and in the future is:

• To analyze the purpose of the organization and create a vision which people can relate to and follow, so it becomes a part of their own driving force, which in turn drives organizational success.
• To create and facilitate a supportive environment where people can thrive, grow and attain satisfaction both professionally and personally.
• To create systems and communities of reciprocal care and of shared responsibility – one where each person matters, is respected, coached and supported within the context of a successful productive entity.
• To create a diverse and collaborative environment that recognizes that every person within an organization has some leadership and followership qualities that can and must be used for the overall good.

· To create by example a life-long learning environment that encourages all members to become better educated, self-managing, responsible for their actions and committed to a cause greater than themselves.

This “people focused” leadership realizes that in a complex and chaotic world, no one person has all the solutions nor the capacity to solve the multifaceted problems virtually any organization must address. There is no absolute knowledge, and those who claim it – whether they are scientists or leaders – open the door to tragedy. All information is imperfect. We have to treat it with humility and understanding. A leader can’t possibly know all the answers because technology and the new economy are always changing the questions. In fact, in today’s world it is often more important to ask the right questions than to attempt to know all the answers.

The new leadership realizes that organizations are not made up of mechanistic people parts, where receptive learned responses and followed directions are the norm. The new leadership moves away from the theory that the “great man” has the answers to be shared. The new leadership does not provide the answer but rather builds flexible processes and sets realistic boundaries that help antonymous self-organizing teams of people come up with the answer.

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Article Tags: leadership, leadership success, purposeof leadership, role of leadership



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