Successful leadership of the future will require a complete culture shift to a new leadership mindset of connectivity.
In the developed world, our organizations are now composed primarily of knowledge workers– educated people who are experts in their individual fields, and who need other’s expertise to achieve organizational goals. These people are too smart to accept top down dictatorship and to believe that a few at the top know what it will take for success. There has never been a time in history for employee engagement to reach exponential levels of motivation as there is today. With the right leadership, the knowledge work force will be able to reach successes never dreamed of.
So what will the ‘right’ leadership look like? Unfortunately, there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer for the future. The good news is that leadership qualities can be found in everyone, at every level of the organization. And a sure fired way to identify them is through behaviour.
For success in today’s face-paced ever-changing global environment leadership will be about managing the individual flow of energy and information in a quick and efficient manner. Information at the front lines will need to be relayed in real time to the top in order for barriers to be removed, opportunities to be grasped, and strategies to be adjusted to accommodate the environment in real time.
For efficient information transfer and sharing there will need to be high levels of cooperation, coordination and collaboration among leaders of all ranks to ensure information is communicated clearly, succinctly, and consistently through all channels.
This new mindset necessitates Leaders have a firm foundation in self-awareness, accompanied by a deep understanding of what a collaborative spirit is and how to fill those around them with it, in order to experience the essential connection for success.