The traditional concept of leadership based on individual attributes is an old paradigm. Current times demand flexibility and speed in decision making. Currently, democratic and participatory openness has permeated all social and organizational strata.
Generally speaking of leadership we evoke the memory of a great charismatic leader who devastates crowds, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Pope John Paul II or another similar figure. We believe that groups are formed around leaders and that by appointing a leader, he or she will direct a group of people to the successful completion of a specific task. However, the traditional concept of leadership theories based on position, titles, personality or individual traits, is an old paradigm.
Current times demand flexibility and speed in decision-making, which collide with managerial authoritarianism. Currently, the democratic and participatory opening has permeated all the social and organizational strata of the countries that have allowed themselves to experience political change, as is the case in Mexico.
And the organizational field has not been the exception. In addition, the globalization of markets and commercial competition in favor of cost reduction, better quality and higher productivity, seem to be leaving behind the megalomanic and egocentric styles of those who enjoy and abuse power in organizations. In private initiative, management figures based on ludicrousness, cronyism and flattery tend to decrease. New organizations demand results in order to survive.
For this reason, it is important to analyze the new leadership models and their application in these times of great change. First, we will start with the word "leader." In English "lead" has two meanings: as a name it means "lead", and as a verb it translates as "direct, guide, give direction". Thus, the leader who does not lead becomes "lead", an obstacle for the group.
In the last years of the Vietnam War, regular soldiers knew how to deal with rookie officers who hindered their survival: they eliminated them. However, there does not need to be a war to take such drastic measures.
Organizations are reacting to change in the best way they can. Department managers who are not delivering the expected results are being removed or fired.
How much more time will it take to realize that leadership depends neither on titles, nor on position, nor on the person themselves, nor on whoever holds them in power?
In his studies carried out from 1927 to 1932, Elton Mayo discovered the existence and the impact that informal groups have within the organization: once the operators produce what they consider to be their normal quota, they reduce their work rate. And this is where production schedules and improvement projects crash if employees haven't been involved in the change process. This is where person-based leadership proves ineffective.
Fortunately, these times of rapid and uncertain change are forcing organizations to adjust, react, and shake off the stable and secure inertia in which they operated.
Fortunately here, in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, there is a maquiladora company that has already begun to deconstruct its traditional leadership models in favor of a more democratic and participatory style, involving its employees in making decisions that affect them in their work. with the aim of neutralizing resistance and achieving its objectives - both from employees and from businesses.
Frankly, organizations have two options: either involve their employees in the change processes and manage to survive, or they simply disappear.
There is no other, dear businessmen. The decision is completely yours.
