New situational based leadership 3.0

Until recently the old models around leadership were based on one-2-one relationships, when communication were focused on face-to-face discussion and in the main technology was limited to the telephone. Much of management and leadership was done in ‘real time’ and face to face, however here in the ‘naughties’ times, needs and expectations have moved on, but unfortunately management and leadership engagement approaches have not.

With an increasingly connected workforce and more and more remote and home working, we need to change how we lead our people in the web 2.0+ era and towards web 3.0.

The new situational based leadership 3.0 recognises that teams and individuals will need different forms of support at different times. On a one to one basis the old models work, so use them, however to develop people beyond one to one we need a new model, a new way of working. We need to take our people from one on one performance to remote and collaborative working solutions.

Earlier this year I was working on a project, I was with one of the clients here in the UK, however all of my colleagues were working in other various locations – US, Russia, South Africa… all remote working. Few had actually met their colleagues “in the real world” collaboration was vital. I was an interesting experience being led and managed this way too. This meant that for success to occur transparency, regular communication and trust were paramount. If one were missing then the project would not have hit its targets.

Communicating through tools like Instant Messenger, conference calls and shared files access requires a level of thinking and approach that does not exist in a traditional workplace. Equally the way the leaders have to work under such conditions means that new ways have to be discovered.
What is required in this new world?

The stages of development we are looking for is:

Hold contain/ control– the power information and knowledge

Give/communicate freely– information freely without guidance

Collaborate – empower and support collaborative approaches in and out of the organisation

Coach and support individuals and teams to apply the skills and knowledge they have and individually discover. 

Situational based leadership 3.0 is about enabling people to connect for productivity, reduction in errors and meeting the changing needs of customers. It is about harnessing the power of collaboration as a competitive advantage. IT recognises that everyone has something to contribute. Those that attempt to hold on to information and try to control will soon fail as productivity comes from ideas, information and knowledge.

With web 2.0 style technologies the old days of ‘knowledge is power’ have all but gone (at least at an individual level), however sharing knowledge and information is only half the picture – giving information is in itself valuable but knowing HOW to use that information is still and will remain a competitive advantage.