Out With the Old and In With the New

I've received a marvelous email from someone in the UK helping leaders develop a new approach to leadership. He said: "the old formulas of heroic and silo-based leadership do not suffice anymore". Increasingly vexed emails from friends in the UK suggest they are counterproductive, creating division and anxiety in a time of uncertainty.  

And so, his summation of the ensuing dynamic is startling: "If you are a leader and save someone you make them a victim"; and, I would argue, infantilized social relations.


The corollary is plain to see in the BBC's excellent Prison Study. Peppered with raw video clips, it can be viewed as an allegory of organisational life, laying bear our visceral response to poorly executed leadership. While 'civilian' life dictates equanimity, beneath a similar storm does rage. Moreover, this study of exclusion underscores the ultimate power of followers: to judge, to question and ultimately, to rebel. Maybe the under use of people's talents that is so evident in organisation's performance is an act of resistance?

Therefore, what if we were to take these lessons and use them to shape a new leadership model? In my experience, it allows leaders to tap into the deep desires of 'followers' to be something more than bystanders in the face of tough decisions, allowing those wanting to commit to step forward.

Therefore, in a time of retrenchment, rather than scrambling to tackle pressing problems without cognisance of the wider impact -  why not pause, step back from finding 'the solution' and seek the perspective of team members in identifying the right issue to tackle? 

In other words, invite people to participate in finding a way out of this crisis. Immediately anxiety levels will dissipate, allowing individuals to commit to a vision knowing it is tempered by reality.

Gen Y understand this well: they are used to inviting varying perspectives and seeking a common ground. Yet it is the very thing that is lacking in much of today's leadership behavior; along with an ability to re-craft vision in the light of changing circumstances. 

For boomer leaders willing to change, the reward will be teams confident in their ability to generate critical thinking and sustain and reinvent their organizations in the light of changes to come.

So the question is: how well do the old formulas of leadership serving you and what's stopping you from breaking out?