Time for new leadership and stop managing?

Most people are convinced that in the world we are in an awful lot of 'movement' is going on. We are, so it seems and feels, in a strong transformation.

The least you can say, we are having complex global problems. A chaotic situation and also very turbulent. Their effects on each individual and / or organization is different. Nevertheless, many people think and feel that their future seems uncertain. Networks and social media are keeping us in a firm grip and everything goes much faster. Even so fast  that we can no longer reason from ratio. Religion, ethics, western culture and scientific knowledge are not adequate. Many people are looking for other forms of support. We are forced to live (even) more out of feeling and intuition.

The current management and leadership is influenced by the turbulent current time. Leadership changes with time, by changing of people (of various cooperation and inflow of new generations), tasks, environment and social circumstances and developments.

In this time we need not just one but at least  two new types of leadership (that is my statement). Further on there is developing  a new form of 'management'.

New leadership first requires gaining of personal leadership. Besides heading for  organizations out of inspiring leadership. 'Managing'? Transformation, As I like to call it "Step-stone management”, will increasingly enter upon.

Personal leadership

Personal leadership, for me is, taking responsibility for your own life.

Know, or discover, your mission and make that personal mission come true, take all your natural talents and developed skills and put them in an optimum collaborative way. Show your true identity and live your ideal. Nice words, maybe you never quite get there. Taking matters into your own hands (take action) instead of continuous thinking, considering every little thing, postponing, listening to every “good advice” from others instead of listening to that voice inside you calling for many years, that says take control of yourself. My approach is that behind every man there is an idea imagined by the great director of your life. So Follow yourself! Look for the inspiration in your own blueprint and the potential that you've got. You are the leader of yourself and therefore no longer of minor importance.

Inspiring leadership

In the chaotic situations and developments in which we are and within the networks in which we operate other factors than hierarchy and power games are increasingly playing bigger roles. Organizations become flatter, directors and managers will disappear, the collective staff/personnel, is getting better organized for their tasks due to the network they are in and their specialty.  A leader takes the authority no longer from his or hers position but from his or hers inner strength, identity and service.

The new leader is the one, that will take up the collective highest good, from harmony and inspiration. It is not someone who plays the role of boss, but he/she is the accepted natural leader (whether or not for a particular job). It is the right person who can listen without judging. Who inspires people. Who is not going to convince you in a debate, but finds value in dialogue. He / she must be able to deal with chaos, complexity, paradoxes and uncertainty. A new leader will be asked to shape a concrete form that will come out of chaos. That doesn’t take managers who have (or keep) (literary) an open door to their staff and personnel, but set open their hart for the inspiration and enthusiasm of their employees. These executives see value in allowing stillness. In that stillness they find new energy and creativity. They imagine no longer just the question: 'What should be done?' but much more they explore and make them receptive to the answer to the question: "What wants to happen here? “.

Transformation or "Step-stone management”

From the above proposed developments, I expect even fewer results working within the so-called SMART and planned frameworks. The complexity of this time is almost impossible to control with measurable criteria. The process requires (self-) confidence, inspiration, creativity (arise), service and stop wanting to keep everything under control. It is in many situations no longer desirable draw al kind of plans of action in advance. It is better to form the plans of action step by step within the process. Many influences on themes and projects change so fast that they hardly are incalculable in advance. These changes are never complete and will therefore always go on. Who can, in today’s world really look objectively five years ahead? The everyday practice has proven that. Transformation, the new 'management style ', calls for the “step by step”, always from a newly created environment with complexity, paradoxes and uncertainty, dealing with these successive dilemmas in an organization and transition approach.

You could call that "Step-stone management”.

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com