Selected Readings - How Is Your Leadership Changing
In this online article, Margaret Wheatley asserts that leadership has taken "a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control", which is causing "worker disengagement, few organizations are succeeding at solving problems, and leaders are being scapegoated and fired".
She argues that this trend should, and can be, reversed by focussing on a more participatory style of leadership that promotes 'self-management'. Wheatley urges her readers to contemplate their own leadership style, and provides 10 key questions to guide them through this process:
- What's changed in the way you make decisions? Have you come to rely on the same group of advisors? Do you try to engage those who have a stake in the decision?
- What's happening to staff motivation? How does it compare to a few years ago?
- How often do you find yourself invoking rules, policies or regulations to get staff to do something?
- How often do you respond to a problem by developing a new policy?
- What information are you no longer sharing with staff? Where are you more transparent?&
- What's the level of trust in your organization right now? How does this compare to two to three years ago?
- When people make mistakes, what happens? Are staff encouraged to learn from their experience? Or is there a search for someone to blame?
- What's the level of risk-taking in the organization? How does this compare to two to three years ago?
- How often have you reorganized in the past few years? What have you learned from that?
- How's your personal energy and motivation these days? How does this compare to a few years ago?