New Decade: A Time to mine for Gold and Silver
Innovative Leaders
Conversant Leaders blog by Cyndi McCoy
Do you know what to change for a new decade?
We are living in a time that is distinctly different from anytime ever seen. Globalization, technological advancements, and the shifting financial landscape provide businesses and individuals incentives to change the methodology and pathology of leadership, team construction even the systems used to sustain business. Change requires a constant reevaluation of effectiveness, a survey of the market with a focus on customers because without customers there can be no business or profits. Consciously, this requires working in the present while preparing for the next innovation: a return to the company’s’ mission, not rhetoric but a mission that serves customers first will keep business focused and to keep companies and personnel focused on the mission and working as a team, requires leadership. Those who strategically use collaboration and innovative techniques to mine for gold and silver next generation leaders to advance the organization.
- Leadership is the level of influence and ability to bring out the best in people. The capacity to influence affects the culture, order, and systems of the organization. When the leader acts in a self-serving manner, he hinders the business, the next generation of leadership, and his career. Leadership is a complex profession that takes knowledge, emotional intelligence, exceptional time management, and many experiences to become fair and balanced. However, leading is not about the leader: it is about success of the business and team. Want to be responsible for other people’s problems, like having your entire reputation in other people’s hands because that is an aspect of the job.
- Displaying good judgment, solving problems, effectively handling conflict garnered a promotion initially catapulting you to the leadership realm. However, a new decade requires diagnostic study of leadership effectiveness in the market. Asking the question, what methodology and pathology should change for a new decade? What separates effective leadership from average leadership is emotional intelligence and a concern for the details. Leaders do not have time to implement details but delegate those details to others. The problem with delegating is agendas. Others may implement their own agendas in the leaders’ name. Care about the details but cannot be everywhere so use communication systems to allow the organizational culture to understand leadership philosophy.
- There must be several layers of leadership to be effective, meaning skilled leadership coaches, transformational leaders, technical leaders, tactical, and strategic leaders mentor others throughout the organization. The various leaders add to and pass on their leadership philosophy to others while continuing to reach higher levels of responsibilities through aligning globally with next level thinkers and innovators. These forward thinking leaders are always planning the next innovation. Stan Gayle CEO of Gayle International who collaborated with CISCO to develop the first model for connected communities in Songdo, South Korea and United Health care who collaborated with CISCO to create the first tele-health network connecting patients and doctors, illustrates the concept.
Learning to be an effective leader is a process that takes an ability to drop obsolete pathologies and procedures, pass knowledge to others; build talent within the existing organization, while interacting with next level leaders. The next time an associate has an inventive idea, or approaches problems with creative flair instead of viewing the suggestion as a criticism or insubordination: look closer, open the mind, and encourage them because you may have stumbled upon a next generation leader or innovator.
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