Leaders
STRATEGIES FOR TAKING CHARGE

Book Author - Warren Bennis
Book Review by - S S George
Dean, ICMR Case Studies and Management Resources

continued from : Strategy III: Trust through Positioning

According to the authors, every organization incorporates four concepts: one, the manifest organization, or the organization that is depicted on the organization charts; two, the assumed organization, or the organization as it is perceived by its constituents; three, the extant organization, or the organization that is revealed through systematic investigation, say, by a consultant; and finally, the requisite organization, or the organization as it would look if it were in tune with the reality of its environment. Organizational integrity exists when all the four concepts are closely aligned in an organization.

The second reason for dwelling on the management of trust through positioning is related to constancy. Successful innovation, so vital to the success of organizations today, requires the ability to persist in the face of failure – in other words, constancy, or ability to 'stay the course'. Positioning is also applicable at the level of the organization. Here, positioning refers to the 'process by which an organization designs, establishes, and sustains a viable niche in its external environments.' Like living organisms, organizations require appropriate niches in the environment to live and grow. Positioning involves creating an appropriate niche for the organization in a complex, rapidly changing environment. Leaders adopt different strategies to position their organizations appropriately.

Positioning and the Learning Organization

To survive, organizations must be capable of adapting rapidly to changes in their environment. For this, learning is essential. The authors distinguish between two kinds of learning: maintenance learning, which equips a person or organization to deal with known and recurring situations; and innovative learning, which is directed to coping with emerging issues, about which a person or organization has no prior experience. Leaders are responsible for building organizations capable of innovative learning. Leaders play a significant role in making their organizations receptive to learning. They can do so by creating open organizations that are both participative and anticipative. Open organizations are organizations that have constant, intense interactions with their external environment, which allow them to sense changes and adapt quickly. In participative organizations, people come together to share and exchange ideas and insights, and work together for the organization's benefit. Anticipative organizations are forward looking organizations which prepare themselves to meet changes in the environment even before they happen. Institutionalized planning processes are a characteristic of anticipative organizations.

Strategy IV: (1) The Deployment of Self through Positive Self-Regard

Leading is a deeply personal business. All successful leaders, according to the authors, believe in themselves – tending to emphasize their strengths and play down their weaknesses – without being egoistic or narcissistic. Such leaders inspire positive self-regard in their employees.

This positive self-regard means that effective leaders have the ability to recognize their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses; the ability to nurture their skills in a disciplined manner; and the ability to discern the fit between their skills and the requirements of the job (successful leaders take on only those challenges that they think they have the capacity to handle).

Strategy IV: (2) The Deployment of Self through the Wallenda Factor

Karl Wallenda was a great tightrope aerialist, who fell to his death in 1978 while traversing a 75-foot high wire in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Before his death, he had performed several astonishing feats. The secret of his success, his ability to carry out such death-defying tight-rope walks, was attributed to his focus on the task at hand. Wallenda never contemplated failure as an outcome of his efforts. His energies were concentrated on walking the tightrope - never into not falling. According to his wife, in the months before his fatal fall, he had begun to think about falling, even going so far as to personally supervise the erection of the tightrope wire for the San Juan event. In San Juan, perhaps inevitably, he fell.
Successful leaders, like Wallenda, display an ability to focus on positive goals. They think of winning, not of not losing. And when they do encounter failure, they treat the event as an opportunity to learn, not something to dwell on and regret.

Leadership and Empowerment

What effect does good leadership have on the followers? Good leaders empower their subordinates, giving them the ability to translate intention into reality, and then sustain the reality. They do not relinquish power. Instead they transform power into an item of exchange: by empowering their followers, leaders reap the benefits of the actions of their followers. Empowerment has several components. One is significance, or convincing the followers that they are doing something of importance, something which makes a difference to the organization and the world at large. Another component is competence, or giving subordinates the opportunity to learn and develop. A third aspect is community, or a sense of being joined with others in a common purpose. Lastly, there is enjoyment, or making work fun, not a tedious, routine activity.

Towards the New Millennium

In the concluding part of the book, the authors reflect on leadership in the new millennium. A key characteristic of business in the twenty-first century will be the speed and turbulence of technological change, forcing leaders to take big risks betting on emerging and unproven technologies. Technological obsolescence would be another consequence of rapid technological change. In such a situation, leaders will have to learn to manage technological change and transitions. In the twenty-first century, most organizations will consist of knowledge workers, with their own distinct characteristics and demands on leadership. The leader's role will become akin to that of a coach or a facilitator, guiding teams of knowledge workers to perform effectively and consistently.

The authors conclude by listing the characteristics of leaders who are likely to succeed in the future. In the words of the authors, these leaders will be the ones who are best able to (1) provide direction in uncertain times; (2) manage change and provide exceptional customer service and quality; (3) build successful relationships with new constituencies; (4) make use of diversity on a global scale; 5) inspire their followers; and (6) be a leader of leaders, especially in managing knowledge workers.

Clearly, leadership in the future will be quite different from what it was in the past. And it will not be a job for the faint-hearted.