Abstract
Hello to virtual
workplaces with no hierarchical reporting but teams working together in
tandem through social media collaboration and network without any inhibition in
contributing to innovative ideas and thought processes through platforms that
promote free brain storming. Leaders today are adapters, adopters and aligners
keeping abreast with the dynamic technological environment that has
considerably reduced face to face interaction and physical meetings but yielded
higher levels of engagement and connect resulting in enhanced performances and
recognition. Work is evolving and ever changing and the new age leaders are
agile, responsive and collaborative. The cardinal principles of leadership and
organization have seen a dramatic change as tasks have replaced work and
products and services have to be made available on demand. With technology
invading every sphere of activity supplementing and augmenting the knowledge
quotient of the people at the helm but at the same time, the Damocles Sword of
replacement hanging like an Albatross’s cross on these task and employee
oriented leaders. Leadership style is inclusive as it has to accommodate a
global workplace across different nationalities and cultures and must possess
influencing abilities that move away from imposition towards sensitivity and
the fine art of the power of persuasion backed by strong emotional intelligence
quotient. Building trust and credibility
with the team has become the crux of effectiveness more than aggression and
command and control. Leadership has become a two way process of unleashing
innovativeness and behaving inclusive by drawing in the arguments, advice and
feedback. The inputs from the team can never be ignored or brushed under the
carpet and leaders have to be facilitators and artful negotiators. Risk taking
and bold initiatives form the foundation along with communication in both real
and virtual space as a key tool to success.
Key words: Agility, Collaborators,
Communication, Virtual
Introduction:
The competencies of
leaders, today, in a domain which is witnessing a congruence of technology,
intermingling of world cultures and collaboration have undergone a sea change
and the market place is a witness to the exhibition of excellent interpersonal
relationships aided by demonstration of traits and values. These core
competencies have seamlessly been incorporated into the dynamic environment to
create successful swift footed leaders who have made businesses to flourish.
What is the magic wand wielded by the key leaders that have made them to be
collaborators bringing value to the organization, creating teams, promoting
self awareness and instant adaptability? This conceptual paper has made a
concerted attempt to examine, analyse and outline the tell tale qualities of
the contemporary collaborator. A deliberate pursuit in this research endeavour
has resulted in the author replacing the word ‘leader ‘with “collaborator” as
business today calls for a model that is networked and so the word leader has
become redundant in this massive shift. The celebrated and remarkable people
heading organizations apply and engage strategies with their uncanny ability to
adopt, adapt, align and influence packed with the power punch of a fantastic
vision for the future. They never stagnate and evolve with a shared approach
that moves away from the traditional vertical style of leadership. This
perspective of inclusiveness may mean multiplicity of leaders and not relate to
a single formal leader which will encourage independent action alongside
opportunity thinking, collaborative action that can be highly empowering. The
single most measurement of effectiveness and leadership behaviour is
undoubtedly the outcome, but the role of the members as individual small
leaders cannot be underestimated and their contribution cannot be brushed
aside. In today’s complex agile environment dictated by technology and
collaborative models successful outcomes no longer rest on identifying the
turbulence in the environment and then finding solutions in the form of core
competencies of leaders but on the instinctive attitude and strategic thinking
brought about by engagement, team inputs and adaption. Accommodating newer
thoughts that have traversed over time from the conformist to the achiever to a
resilient leader who can think in multi dimensions, mindsets and outlook has
become the hallmark and it is time to embrace a new cult that is truly agile,
adaptable and inclusive.
Purpose
and objective:
The underlying aim of
this non empirical paper is to study the traits and attributes of the new
leadership style that is emerging in this technology driven era with the
assumption that leadership is the pivot to an organization’s success.
This paper tries to
understand the dynamics of collaborative leadership style attributed by four
key terms – adoptive, adaptive, agility and inclusiveness.
An earnest attempt has
also been made to analyse the mental and emotional characteristics that define
contemporary styles of leadership.
The focus on the power
of influence shaping the new realities of leadership’s results is also
attempted to be examined and understood here.
Literature
Review:
The discussions in this paper is based on research papers and
observations on top leaders’ performances using key tactics that are an
eclectic mix of experience, insights, intuitiveness and collaboration. The
foundation study for this paper has been Daniel Goleman’s works on leadership
that has always been path breaking and innovative. The book “Emotional
Intelligence” written by him in 1996 has had a tremendous influence on the
contents of this conceptual paper and the author has tried to link the
behavioural aspects of self to the emerging leadership traits. A threadbare
analysis of the components of the contemporary traits has been made possible
with the help of reference material from Primal Leadership: Realizing the power
of Emotional Intelligence written by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie
McKee in 2002.The bulk of the insights into the development of the paper owes
its credit to the works of Daniel Goleman who is Co-Director of the Consortium
for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University,
co-author of Primal Leadership: Leading with Emotional Intelligence, and
author of The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New
Insights, Leadership: Selected Writings, and A Force For Good:
The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World. His latest book is Altered Traits:
Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body.
Inferences and Rationale
It has never been easy
to define the qualities of a successful leader and time and again, this
question has given numerous answers and among them hard work, problem solving
and decision making have stood out as the most prominent attributes to good
leadership. This paper is constructed on the beliefs that leaders are both task
oriented as well as employee inclined and that they have evolved over time to suit
the present scenarios of technology driven businesses on the fabric of a shared
economy.
§ As
this paper is an outcome of reports and observations, with varying perceptions,
the implications of this study may be based on circumstances, situations, environment
and culture.
§ The
cornerstone of leadership attributes is assumed to be collaborative
§ The
power of influence on the team which may or may not include followers is based
on focus on self, spotlight on the team and at the core, the organization and
its vision.
§ The
thrust has been on four key components of qualities required for leading
today’s organizations and the use of words have certain special significance.
§ The
word “adoptive” is chosen to stress on the acts of commitment by the leaders to
the extent that they tend to almost “parent” the organization. This is
understood with real life examples of great strategic thinkers of the
contemporary business world.
§ “Adaptive”
denotes the flexibility and resilience to switch, change, modify and reboot to conform
and suit appropriately.
§ The
perception of the author about today’s leaders also includes the use of the
phrase “agility” because it is believed and understood that newer business
models to enhance business is a result of a threefold action that is directed
from within, from outside and from the organization.
§ The
convention thinking of authoritarian leadership which is vertical is replaced
by “inclusiveness” as reports have suggested collaborative engagement to be the
watch word for today.
Analysis
Global
Collaborators – Adoptive, adaptive, agile and inclusive
In the current context
of global businesses propped up by technology, shared economy and virtual
teams, collaboration is the buzz word that is not restricted to the confines of
the organization but expands to the realm of customers, vendors, suppliers and
the Government. A hyper charged environment that is ruled by connectivity and
network and these new realities have dawned on the leaders who have swapped
themselves from the command and control position to one of inclusiveness. Linking
people, ideas and resources has become the pivotal responsibility of a leader
and to strategically align with the societies is beyond doubt the consequential
action. Developing crucial dyadic and networked relationships creates value
addition in the form of creative and innovative ideas and alliances that could
be beneficial for more than one player. The collaborative influence of
leadership in behaviour and performance of group members leads to a multiplier
effect that embraces different perspectives, brings an outward focus and a
shared vision. The synergy of those who influence, those who are influenced and
those that get the fruits of the influence is the consequence of artful
manipulation, negotiation and appreciation. The shared power concept is indeed
the new reality and is the soul of any organization. The fine art of persuasion
and understanding of self and others, blend to take a decision whose outcome
can be sweet. Researchers over 60 years have realized that convincing and
consensus have yielded results to a very large extent that is intently backed
by giving back what one may have received unexpectedly, using scarce tactics to
increase the uniqueness and benefits, honesty, credibility and the knowledge
quotient to a greater degree. The
crucible of persuasive leadership is filled with the share of one’s and other’s
achievements and credentials, consistency and negotiation with smartness.
[Robert Cialdini (2001)]
Four adjectives have
been deliberately selected to describe the collaborators of modern era by the
author and each of them is analysed to understand the impact and consequence of
these traits, attributes, actions and ideas.
The dictionary meaning
of Adoptive
is a parent who has adopted a child or a parent who is caring and parenting and it may be
understood that this word definitely signifies a parent and not the child. The
primary duty, responsibility of any parent is to care, nurture, ensure all
round growth with utmost dedication, passion and commitment, someone who is the
fountainhead of everything and superimposing this beautiful term to a leader
defines the new age leader. He is a person who may or may not be the founder or
creator or progenitor but automatically becomes adoptive. A Tim Cook may not be
the founder of Apple Inc but a collaborative leader who is adoptive or a
Shantanu Narayan who may be at the helm of affairs at Adobe Systems or Harald
Kruger of BMW or Sundar Pichai of Google Inc and the new world is full of such
adoptive leaders who have carried on with the legacy of the founders and made
carved a niche for themselves. The fine act of taking something as your own,
embracing the system, the ideas, habits and culture with utmost commitment can
best define adoptive in leadership theory. The all knowing superhero image of
yesteryears has become obsolete; an image of a commanding officer who is
authoritative is replaced by an adoptive collaborator in the 21st
century dictated by globalization, digitization, transparency, faster and
abundant flow of information. There is total involvement of the adoptive leader
in a complex matrix with critical and timely thinking, collating and sharing
data and information from the team members to anticipate hiccups or barriers
that may impact the business. A kind of tracing the path of trajectory to
rectify corrections and put the plan back on track, bringing down the gaps or
deviations to reduce the friction. Working with cross cultures and diversities
is the major role that an adoptive leader would be entrusted with and the
differences can be enormous, particularly in the fields of biological,
physical, functional, socio economic or ethnicity. It is often noticed that one
is comfortable and very much compatible with similar and like minded people and
can easily draw a common ground but this is no longer the ground reality of
modern business or life even, as a successful leader can draw patterns from
diversity and differences as in adoption. The elements of risk and
uncertainties that exist in parenting a child whose background and ancestry is
unknown is characteristic of daring initiatives that could be correlated to
leadership; exploring unchartered seas and not doing the oft repeated
successful acts of the past but simply daring to be different and not treading
the road taken always and it is not often “treading” but “hopping”, “skipping”
and “jumping” in the unknown path that eventually leads to the destination.
These adopters do not rest on the laurels and the comfort zones but set up
innovativeness to conquer the obscure.
They work from the
inside out to accomplish with a shared relationship that marks out the very
existence of the company, organization or Government, helping to realize the
value and goodwill of the products, services, ideas or concepts that could
easily turn the tide in their favour with enhanced customers. The societal
reaction to these adopters who arrive early is also immense as public
recognizes the dedication of the people with a clear and focussed vision. The
belief of the society is entirely based on trust, loyalty and rational
thinking. This is where the behavioural aspects come into play to follow the
adopter like a Pied Piper; a person who has impacted lives even in small
measures not with power and position but by acknowledging real ideas and
expressing them at the right moment. This leader here is a giver more than a
taker who does small favours that may be simple but the metric of measurement
of success to this is huge.
Adaptive – Transformation
of the self is always exciting as there is so much to look forward to, in terms
of up scaling one’s intelligence, emotional and knowledge quotient but to keep
pace with the transformation of the organization at accelerated speed and
velocity is a daunting task that a leader has to keep pace with. This
transformation is really exhausting and sometimes a leader cannot act unless in
a crisis that makes situations more complex. There is always a tendency to look
at the short term solutions and ignore the larger picture and eventually a
leader may burn out in the process of change. The collaborator obviously looks
at putting people first underlying the primary purpose of the organization that
may push, increasing revenues as a secondary goal and the imperative maybe to
deliver something inside out, that is starting from the inner core and working
outward. Therefore, it matters to enable talents to be developed, enhance the
capabilities to attune with the rapid changing times and habituate people to
transform despite the adversities accompanying them. A right leader would use
new tools, skills and techniques to overcome the barriers that may put the team
on the back foot. Adaptability is to provide the required infrastructure, give
the skills necessary to tackle problems arising because of the change and also
to continue the collaborative process and imbibe the culture of learning. A
good leader who is adaptive is beyond an iota of doubt able to take this change
head on and make the environment conducive to learning. He has a road map that
clearly defines where the organization will head with clear cut tasks that make
the members accountable and responsible. Every milestone is reviewed and
appreciated to initiate further change or revert to status quo.
Agility
– In this age of radical thinking and algorithmic decision making with the
interactions happening with the help of digital media and social networking,
agility is synonymous with leadership. We are in an age competing not only with
our rivals but there is this weird competition from computer and systems that
can get more data and information, process information and take decisions at
the blink of an eye without any emotions attached to it. The future of work is
looming large in the horizon where machines are all set to replace humans who
are supposedly more complex. How can this threat of speed and efficiency be
countered? Of course, one can adapt as already stated but agility could also
mean dexterity and alacrity to think differently say making the organization
more human in the face of Artificial Intelligence by giving back to the society
and the members or employees would be stunned at the out of the blue bounties. Next
is creative agility that unsettles the conventional thinking on leadership
styles such as innovation becoming the sole proprietorship of the leader. On
the contrary, this agility can never come solo, it has to be a cohesive group
effort backed by strong sense of advocacy for their thoughts. This means that
one has to be quick footed to perceive in a new dimension and communicate this
to the peer group.
Inclusive governance - Open
debates and discussion that solicit opinions, suggestions, thoughts, feedback
and expressions of strengths, flaws and inhibitions make up the most important
criteria for testing the success of a leader in the new world order. Inclusive
governance is the trademark badge that a leader would wear as even a dumb or a
stupid suggestion or idea from anyone in the team could be the winning master
stroke that tilts the organization towards victory. And the collaborator’s job
does not end there, not definitely limited to accepting an idea openly but to
implement it boldly and give due credit to the person for the favourable
outcome. The strings of micro interactions in small measures with all ingenuity
stamp a leader’s triumphs. The artificial barriers are broken down with the
connectedness established and bonded. This inclusive behaviour is one of the
secret recipes for deleting autocratic hierarchical ruling. Creative and
innovative thinking comes when all voices are heard however small they are.
Providing that vital space is the essence of great leadership, maybe a bottom
up approach that could turn a triangle upside down and the incubators for new
ideas could be there.
Conclusions
Leaders are no longer
directors but actors along with co performers on a stage that brings everybody
on the same page and levels that are not dictated by power, position and place.
The new breed cuts through hierarchy, culture, convention to create a space and
domain not only for self but for all to bring out their latent talent and
release their capabilities to bring glory to an enterprise. Leaders today are
collaborative and make others to feel safe and secure albeit not in a comfort
zone or cocooned shells but in total trust and belief. It is the strong
foundation upon which the accomplishments of leaders rest because they believe
that if they do it for others; other would reciprocate in equal measures. Sense
of belongingness supported by the pillars of cooperation and collaborative
community exemplifies futuristic leadership. In the era where dangers lurk in
every corner in the form of recession, sudden and massive changes in
technology, smart rivals catching the organization off guard or simply rivalry
within the organization, leadership roles have assumed greater proportions of
adoptability that has a general dose of commitment, adaptability which sees
transformation which is not a one off affair but a continuous one, agility
relating to transformation in every dimension that ranges from technology to
creativity and inclusiveness, a trait that is unmatched and non pareil!
A leader needs to
reboot to be an adoptive parent more than a biological parent as the former is
bundled with a conscious effort to being committed, sacrificing, accommodative,
adjusting and providing the right opportunities.
The world has undergone
a paradigm shift in the use of technology to communicate, a leader boosts
confidence, builds trust and faith, rectifies mistakes, takes charge and
control all in a virtual paradise through video conferencing, chats, E mails
and other tools all working towards a shared purpose. No direct face to face
interaction with sympathetical looks and a hand on one’s shoulder to show
rapport and with absolutely lesser amount of skill sets that his followers may
have in the present era of digitization. This inversion of expertise makes the
leader to face an uphill challenge to combat the ignorance and he may have to
upgrade and upscale to the higher levels by learning from the lower order and
this reverse osmosis of learning makes a collaborator. To be cumulative in
action through inclusive behaviour is a rudimentary requirement for today’s
leader who operates in a zone of greater autonomy with higher mastery and
faster reaction and response time. The joy and success of leadership rests on
enabling oneself and others as a football coach or a music conductor would,
subtly, vociferously, adroitly and harmoniously – the perfect blend of
leadership styles!
Impediments
to the conceptual study
The opinions, thoughts
and perception are purely based on the understanding of the author and the
inferences drawn are limited to the knowledge capacity of the researcher. Among
the myriad variables that have a vital impact on contemporary leaderships, only
four major components have been analysed in depth. As this is a conceptual
study based on reports, books and essays, the hypothesis has not be proved with
the help of an empirical analysis.
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