A New Vision On Leadership

The 21st century leader is one who empowers others to be leaders. Managers and supervisors must now embrace the techniques, challenges and benefits of Facilitative Leadership.

Consider the following quote:

The old world was composed of bosses who told you what to do and think, told you to keep your head down and mouth shut, and made all the decisions, ... In the new world, no manager can know everything or make every decision. Now, to be successful, a manager has to work in partnership, in collaboration, with everyone, and tap everyone's ideas and intelligence. Managers now are coaches, counselors and team builders. Their job is to find people with talent and skill, and help them work together toward a common purpose.

From: Ron Zemke, 'The Call of Community', Training, Vol.33, No.3, 1996, p.28

The statistics are alarming.

• Less than half of all employees feel a strong personal attachment to their organizations.

• Sixty percent of employees don't feel their companies develop them for the long term.

• Only 40% of employees feel their organizations show care and concern for them.

• The average employee has 12-15 jobs during his or her career and 5-7 by the time he or she turns 30.

• Only 24% of employees are truly loyal to their organizations - meaning that they have a strong personal attachment to their companies and plan to stay for the next two years.

• Replacing key employees costs between 70 to 200% of their annual salaries.

• 57% of employees say they are unhappy in their current job.

With a talent shortage looming, unhappy and disloyal employees, costly turnover and decreasing productivity – all of which have a huge impact on an organization’s bottom line – leaders and managers are finding it difficult to stay competitive in today’s global marketplace. How is a leader to retain the best and brightest talent, foster productivity, and cultivate a competitive edge?

Leaders first need to understand the changing mindset of American workers.