… Leadership and direction are two different and complementary forms of action. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and changing business environment. And both axes must be developed by people who want to "govern" organizations and participate decisively and actively in their future.
Globalization and information technologies determine the new competitive context in which companies move. Today, they have to face increasing complexity in all areas while they have to assume, and even anticipate, constant change. Graphically, we navigate whitewater rivers.
An effective management brings order and coherence to this complexity: it establishes objectives and the phases to achieve them, seeks and allocates the resources to carry them out and ensures the implementation of the plan by controlling and solving problems.
But to accept, anticipate or produce changes, to the competencies necessary to perform the aforementioned functions, typical of the manager-executive, those of the manager-leader must be added today. Ultimately, leadership provides management with the added value necessary for success.
Leading an organization begins with the task of developing a vision for the future. It is not a statement of wishes or ideals, but rather it means instilling purpose, creating precise long-term projections and strategies, thinking "where do we want to go." Isn't inventing the future the best way to predict it?
But the vision has to be shared. A leader speaks and listens to his collaborators, takes into account their contributions, empowers them to make decisions, as well as fosters team spirit and the exchange of information, knowledge, points of view…. Its objective: that everyone understands and shares the pursued approach and commits to its achievement.
Leading also means facilitating and supporting the development of employees, knowing them well and enhancing their values, encouraging them to innovate and learn. The leader ceases to be a supervisor to be a trainer and advisor.
The results are the fruit of common objectives, motivation and encouragement, trust and a systematic process of continuous improvement. Effective management and leadership get team members to give their best, to use themselves to the limit, to be satisfied with what they are doing (they do things because they want to do them). It is satisfaction and performance, inseparably linked. Under these conditions, people feel responsible, committed, enthusiastic about the project, and continuously learn.
In short, leadership and direction are two different and complementary forms of action. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and changing business environment. And both axes must be developed by people who want to "govern" organizations and participate decisively and actively in their future.
