RESOURCES

Other voices gives the business community an opportunity to speak directly to Atlanta Journal-
Constitution readers. Robert L. Turknett, president of Turknett Associates Leadership Group, is an executive leadership consultant and licensed psychologist.


Second in Series: How Must Leadership Change?

Companies that survive in the new millennium will be those whose leaders give up command and control management, focus on values and purpose rather than day-to-day direction, create an open organization where people believe in collaboration and feel free t o say what they think, and encourage a sense of partnership and ownership from everyone.

In the 1960's leadership researchers talked about pushing decision making down, sharing information, and yielding control to the front line. Changing leadership style at that time, though, was a "nice-to-do"; today it's a competitive must.

Peter Block, author of Stewardship, describes the situation well: until the mid 1980's, American corporations largely "owned" their customers. There was little global competition and customers had little choice. Companies could afford to be slow, unresponsive to customers, and hierarchical. As Jack Welch of GE says, they could afford to have their face to the CEO and their backside to the customer. Most leaders today "talk" customer focus and customer responsiveness, but many fail to realize how their control ling, arrogant styles foster employee attitudes that are inwardly focused on pleasing the boss. Bureaucracy and tight control create static companies that are risk-averse and afraid of change.

Creating a high performance culture that can succeed today demands that leaders focus on philosophy, values, and purpose. People are energized not by financial goals but by a sense of service to something larger than themselves.

An organization that see s itself as a community serving customers and bound together by strong values will always surpass an organization of individuals attempting to outdo each other. Organizational values and culture are not created by a statement hung on a wall; they must be reinforced in daily action, and most leaders need constant feedback on how well the message is heard. In today's rapidly changing marketplace, even strategy and direction can't be the sole province of leadership. Andy Grove of Intel attributes his company' s success to the fact that front line project leaders felt free to shift resources from memory chips to microprocessors even though both were equally valued in Grove's official strategic plan.

In an information economy, money is often not the key resource - knowledge is, and it exists in the brains of knowledge workers on the front line. Organizations can no longer afford territoriality, self interest, and functional silos that stifle collaboration . Real learning organizations have open information flows and an environment that encourages teamwork, conversation, and constructive differing. Leaders who hoard information and stifle dissent do so at their own peril. Leaders who encourage the free flow of information help spread expertise throughout the company and create organizations that can respond quickly and develop new products rapidly. Hewlett-Packard owes much of its success to a people-focused culture that views idea sharing and cross -functional collaboration as the norm.

Finally, successful leaders must work to build a partnership culture that motivates each employee to treat the business as if it were his or her own. This sense of ownership is fostered by access to information and by a say in how the business is run.

In the adaptive organization, the books are open and every member has the ability to read the balance sheets and to immediately implement new ideas. Nothing is better for driving responsible decision making and for creating a true "one company" feeling.