Today’s Contemporary Leaders - Adaptive and Authentic

Leadership characteristics and style matter today more than ever. Today's leaders are being called upon to maneuver in very different and increasingly complex environments. And, some leaders are no longer only maneuvering in local markets but also in the complex global markets.

Businesses face unrelenting challenges as they manage the shifting tides of change brought on by ever evolving technology and by economic and demographic transformation. This rate of change is forcing businesses to re-frame their thinking on leadership styles - not just individual style, but a company's overall leadership style.

The most often cited reason for the failure of past attempts to manage change is "approach". The impact of visible, committed senior management leadership was not seen as critical to success. Systems and business practices were the focus. Process re-engineering was seen as the key.

We often look at leadership characteristics in terms of honesty, integrity, and vision, fair and broad minded, passionate and compassionate, disciplined and so on. These are truly important traits and do bring value to any organisation but these are only half of the equation. In the past reactive leadership was the norm. Today, however, greater benefit is achieved through an adaptive leadership style.

In the recent past, organisations were often viewed as mechanical systems rather than seen as changing social systems. The focus was on repeatable aspects of an organisations operations and processes - eliminating creativity and potential opportunities brought to the table by the employees. However, the continued pressure for change will soon bring us to a tipping point in how we lead our organisations. As Dr. Charles Albano says,

"It matters a great deal whether leaders conceive of their organizations as being like machines or like living adaptive systems. It matters because it shapes the roles they and their people play. It matters because it bears directly on their ability to tap human potential. It matters because the times have changed and mechanically-based leadership and organizational practices are not adequate to the adaptive challenges being faced."

Comparing the "adaptive" view of organisations and leadership with the mechanical view presents some interesting differences.

The adaptive leadership style works in tandem with the changing expectations of employees - new or seasoned - about such things as: work-life balance, the way employees contribute to an organisation, the expectations they have, and the types of companies they want to work for and feel challenged by. This is so particularly for Gen X and Y and even many older employees who are approaching retirement.

In terms of characteristics of adaptive leadership these include leaders who:

• think and act to exert strategic influence on their environments
• are proactive, foresee opportunities and put the resources in place to go after them
• entertain diverse/divergent views when making key decisions
• admit when they are wrong
• generate creative actionable options
• know their stakeholders
• are willing to experiment and take risks
• encourage innovation

All of these characteristics also embody what some people believe an authentic leader is or needs to be in today's business world. As, Ann Fudge, Chairman and CEO, Young & Rubicam, said,

"All of us have the spark of leadership in us, whether it is in business, in government, or as a nonprofit volunteer. The challenge is to understand ourselves well enough to discover where we can use our leadership gifts to serve others."

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