Trevor Cousins’ leadership blog

In the last few weeks, as I have been taking my tentative steps into the world of blogging, I’ve really begun to understand how the world is changing as the new forms of social communication are now becoming mainstream e.g. blogging, Facebook, YouTube etc. Websites and concepts that a year ago were the domain of innovators and early adopters have now gone mainstream.

These changes will have a huge impact I believe on what organisations require of their leaders. The rules are changing as the use and availability of information proliferates. People are starting to expect organisations to share information, want their opinion, listen to them and tailor communications and products to their needs.

The fantastic marketing blogger Seth Godin makes the point in his book Purple Cow that the old forms of advertising, where big companies produced one-size-fits-all advertisements and threw loads of budget at them to reach the biggest possible audience, are gone. Consumers are too busy to listen to what marketers have to say, unless their message is highly tailored to their concerns and needs.

This links to leadership, in my view, in the following way. Over the next 10 years, as Boomers retire and the internet generation – Gen X and Gen Y people – becomes the dominant generations in the working world, the expectations of leaders will change. The servant leader, who is their to provide resources and support for their followers so that they are liberated to make things happen will replace the leader who tells their staff what to to and expects them to obey. Dialogue, questioning, listening and hearing will be key skills for future leaders who will be required to motivate their followers by being authentic, being alongside them and being there for them as well as holding the flag, raising the bar, setting the direction and calling followers forth to better future.

The demand for coaching skills for managers that has emerged over the last few years is testimony of this change, as is the rise of emotional intelligence. Leaders need the skills to engage with their followers not just be more intelligent, more experienced, more focused or more driven.