As never before, the challenge facing both the private and public sectors as we emerge slowly from recession is leadership.  A good leader has the ability not only to lead, but also to inspire and empower others.

Josh Bersin, President and CEO of Bersin & Associates, said earlier this year that leadership development is ‘pretty much the No1 talent challenge’. He observed that while spending on training in general may have dropped, that is not the case with leadership development training.
 
One of the biggest surveys into leadership was carried out by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Hay Group. The results, which covered respondents from 98 countries, were published in February.
 
According to the survey: “The top 20 companies address leadership development on multiple fronts, from articulating how leadership behavior needs to change to meet the challenges of the future to managing their pools of successors for mission-critical roles. And, despite the chaotic, crisis-strewn atmosphere of the past year, they’ve continued to make leadership a top priority.”

John Larrere, who heads Hay Group’s leadership and talent practice in the U.S. said: “The best companies for developing leaders recognize the value of strong leadership in both the good times and the bad. Culturally they just cannot do away with leadership development, even in a recession. They don’t see it as a perk but as a necessity.”

A few companies still take the view that managers are, by default, leaders. But as Grace Murray said: “You manage things; you lead people.”  As a pioneer in computing – as well as being a Rear Admiral in the US Navy – Grace Murray knew a thing or two about leadership. 

The ‘all managers are leaders’ idea clings to the idea of the so-called heroic leadership culture, which should now be in demise.   Today we should be into post-heroic leadership, or as John Huey also called it in Fortune magazine back in 1994 ‘virtual leadership’.
 
He said that “Increasingly, the crucial challenge facing the would-be post-heroic leader is less about how to structure a company than about how to get people who are truly not like you, or even each other, to pull in the same direction.”

More and more companies are indeed, regarding the heroic leadership culture as outdated. They are coming to fully recognise the difference that good leadership can make to their performance. The most successful are those that realise that leadership is the way forward, and the best performing managers realise that developing leadership competencies is essential.

Leadership development ‘guru’ John C Maxwell says that: the true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less

• leadership develops daily, not in a day
• anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to change the course.

Many companies now see that in these turbulent economic times, it is not just a matter of having someone to steer the ship, but also of having people with the ability to chart a new course where required and inspire and lead others by example in the process.

Another part of the leadership challenge is that of replacing the ‘baby boomers’. Many may have been loyal to the same company for years, but they either have retired or are heading for retirement. The new leaders are, therefore, likely to be drawn from the ‘Generation Y’ group – people whose values, education, experience and aspirations are very different to those of earlier generations.

Managing and developing such people and empowering them to become leaders presents new challenges. They are the generation most likely to question traditional business structures and traditional ways of working. But from that questioning can come many positives which can only be good for the survival and development of the business.

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, has coined the phrase ‘Leadership 2.0’ to refer to the way in which he believes leaders need to act if they are to interact with what he calls ‘the current generation of Internet-savvy web users’ – which would include Generation Y – arguing that it ‘represents a quantum leap forward in effectiveness.’

He says that Leadership 2.0: embraces change; demonstrates transparency; celebrates dialogue; employs collaboration; welcomes engagement; and builds community.

But whatever we call it, there is clear evidence to show that every organisation, whether private sector or public, needs to take the challenge of leadership and succession very seriously.

This is why we at Fuse Learning have developed our own Leadership² programme to help UK companies and organisations develop their own leadership talent, helping them to move forward in what are still challenging times.

Visit the Fuse Learning website: www.fuselearning.co.uk

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