Practical Leadership. What is it? Why do we need to pay attention to it? How is it going to change the way we lead?
A whole bunch of factors are lining up to form the perfect storm for leadership in the business world right now. The financial “situation” that started in 2008. The continued flattening of the world caused by better access to communications, the Internet and transportation. Highly educated emerging economies. The vastly different expectations of the Millennial Generation in the workforce from that of the retiring Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. And… the extreme shortage of skilled labour.
Results? Leadership is not anymore logical and based on mainly data and key performance indicators.
Leadership now is based more on making emotional connections with customers AND employees. Leaders now need to focus on developing a deeper understanding of consistent value delivery to a changing demand from all stakeholders. As leaders, we used to only think in terms of delivering value to customers or clients. Now that that ever changing demand on value delivery needs to extend to employees and partners as well.
This change is going to be extremely hard on most organizations that spend an inordinate amount of time running their business based on the financial demands of the Board and market analysts. Becoming ’emotionally connected’ to employees, let alone customers, is a truly foreign concept. Thinking in terms of differing employee needs and wants usually extends to the mentality that “Employee needs and wants are taken care of every two-weeks in the form of a pay-cheque.”
To compete against a world that is now flatter, faster and more connected, leaders will need their teams to be more creative that ever before, deliver more value and build deeper customer connections. And to do this with a new generation of employees that do not respond to traditional reward and recognition systems, requires leaders to throw away the old model. Leaders now have to be completely comfortable with flex-time, working from home, time-off in lieu of pay, access to technology, different ways of problem solving, lack of loyalty, social media and just about anything else that was not even thought about 5 years ago. Never have leading by values been more important. Never has the culture of your organization been more attractive to potential employees and customers.
Are you up for the change? Or is your organization still thinking this “crazy period we are in right now will soon pass?”
Robert Murray is an Author, Global Speaker and Business Strategist. You can find Robert’s books on heart based leadership here. For further advice, ideas and inspiration on leadership, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.
