The Needs of a Leader in the 21st Century.

I would say that the best Leadership practices for a 21st Century organization are those which add value to the teams producing the goods which in turn increases productivity and effectiveness. In my opinion the Leadership practices to best achieve this are Visionary Leadership, Collaborative participative leadership and Situational leadership practices.

When in a leadership role of an organization or section one would always need to understand what the organization or sections vision is and where the organization currently is at. Two words are always mentioned when assessing an organization or section, these are Efficiency and Effectiveness. Efficiency being the way things are done by employing systems and procedures. Effectiveness talks about the vision and direction of the organization or section. Added to that is the focusing of energy in a forward direction.

By looking at specific statistics related to the organization or section one would be able to plot the organization or sections position in relation to Dick Ruhe’s illustration below.

Astray Ultimate

Align System and Vision Manage Effectiveness and Efficiency

EFFECTIVENESS

Lost Questing

Start with a vision You are seeking a vision

EFFICIENCY

If your organization is neither efficient nor effective then they most likely fall into the “LOST” quadrant. The resolve here is to develop a vision for your staff to buy into and strive for efficient and effective results. In my opinion your leadership style in this situation would need to lean towards Visionary and Situational practices.

If you are high on efficiency and low on effectiveness then you are most likely “QUESTING” and would need to adopt a vision that compliments your high efficiency. This would thus need your leadership practice to lean towards a visionary and collaborative participative...