Leadership 2008, Are You Up to Speed?

In 2008 most businesses are experiencing some significant changes that don’t necessarily fit the rules of leadership that have been on the books for ages. Things that worked yesterday, last year, and many years before that are suddenly not working and leaders are scratching their heads in puzzlement about what to do next.

Here are a few ideas if you see yourself or leaders on your team looking for new information on how to handle what is in front of them today.

#1 - Get out of your office

You need to get into the shoes of your employees and find out what their work experience is like.  When you know what it is like, you need to know if that is the experience that will allow them to produce the most.  You will know how to utilize them the best and grow them into the next generation of leaders for your organization.

In addition to that information you will find the answers to most of the puzzles in front of you are available in the people around you.  It is time to stand up and talk with everyone on your team and ask what they are thinking, find out what they are experiencing and LISTEN to what they think.  Then start implementing some new ideas.

#2 - Know why your people will leave

This is heresy to say the least, but it is the road to success.  You need to have a relationship at some level with every one of your direct reports that allows you to know why they would leave and if they would ever leave.   Does that mean you will then do everything you can to stop them?  Not necessarily.  For some people the future may be with your organization, for others it may be somewhere else for very good reasons.  Helping people to make the right decision about where they work and why is part of the new leader.  We all know that the 30 year career with one company is still out there, but rarer and rarer with the varied interests of new generations.

#3 - Don’t Lead the way your Father or Mother did

Your Mom and Dad were good, smart leaders in their time, and many of the things they did you should note and follow, but if that is all you do, you are in trouble.  You need to find all the new ways people are communicating and use them to lead in a different manner.  If some of your employees NEVER use the phone anymore, how will you know the inflection in what they say?  Will that come across in a text or IM? How will you lead with a subculture of communication all around you, asking questions, challenging ideas and possibly undercutting initiatives without you even knowing it?  How will you get in on this information?  In the reverse, how can you use all the new ways of communicating to inspire and grow your people?

Look for new ways to lead and share them with us at his blog!