by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

“The organization of the future will be ‘purpose-driven,’ where people understand what the organization is trying to accomplish and why, and are strongly committed to its success…It will be one where relationships are based upon trust, not coercion, where the staff can ‘manage’ themselves…” Dean Tucker, author of book ‘Using the Power of Purpose: How to Overcome Bureaucracy and Achieve Extraordinary Business Success’  

    This quote seems to address what Millennials, Gen Yers and Gen C people are looking for. Two

to three days later, this writer was exposed to the September 2014 edition of Sirota, Inc’s.,

newsletter. Sirota is one of the pre-eminent international employee survey organizations.

Its Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Lewis Garrard, wrote an article entitled, “Living in a

VUCA World.”

VUCA was his acronym for the organization dynamics of today: where V=Volatility, U=Uncertainty, C=Complexity and A=Ambiguity. He goes on to write, ‘This is the new normal. If your leaders have not come to terms with this fact, your organization may be headed for trouble.’

Bear in mind, Sirota surveys around 1 million employees per year across the globe, covering small and large companies. It is in a strong position to gauge staff engagement levels and detect trends and changes in workplace-people sentiment. He pointed out, “When we analyse survey items that measure employee perceptions of leadership and management effectiveness, we are seeing some alarming trends.”

In particular, he noted:

1) Companies not keeping up with the rate of change –  In 2007, 65% of employees felt their enterprise was responding effectively to change. That had dropped to 55% within five years.

2) Organizations are struggling with efficiency – Only 60% of staff felt their organization was positioned to meet customer demands and stave off competition. This was 73% five years previously.

3) Staff feel their input is not being heard – Only 46% of staff felt executives were taking action on their ideas. And only 37% felt their executives had taken effective action on their survey output.

4) Confidence and clarity is declining – In 2007, 82% of staff had confidence in the future of their company. In the most recent survey, that had dropped to 76%. Sirota had also spotted that staff ratings of their senior executives’ ability to provide a clear picture of their organization’s future decreased from 74% to 67% over the same period.

To this writer, these findings are hardly surprising. He expects the trend to continue downward in those organizations which persist with a “command and control” culture. The rapidly increasing workplace population of Gen Yers, Millennials and Gen C people will demand a shift to “purpose-driven” cultures. Not only that, they will also expect a “partnership-driven” approach.

The increasing resistance, by these younger generations, to traditional “command and control” approaches is borne out by Sirota’s surveys, but it is also frustrating for executives who grew up in prior environments and instinctively want to perpetuate them. Such executives are comfortable with the notion of planning, organizing, directing and controlling, as well as the whole principle of policies and procedures, so they can keep their fingers totally in their organization’s pie.

Such executive behavior was appropriate when market intelligence and other vital information was hard to come by. However, in our information age, the younger generations have key data at their finger-tips and their organization’s secrets are much more transparent. Younger people view technology as doing most of the grunt work, while they focus on more purpose-filled projects.

Younger generation attitudes are typified by a recent survey which showed that: They would be quite happy with an exciting $40K position, than one paying $100K but was boring. Boring probably meaning one where they had little latitude, purpose or input.

In Garrard’s newsletter article, mentioned earlier, he proceeded to make some recommendations. Unfortunately the first one was a traditional management statement as follows:

‘a) Architect a strategic plan that establishes clear goals, accountabilities and structures that drive performance.’

If ever there was a listing of command and control statements that would perplex younger workers, this one would be in the top five. Because strategic planning is not only outdated but it is also an oxymoron, especially as you cannot analyze and synthesize simultaneously.

Establishing clear goals – usually numerical – is far inferior to articulating positive human outcomes, from a motivational perspective. Accountability can easily be perceived as a threat, rather than encouraging people to set their own winning standards. Structure is usually something people rebel against, as opposed to involving them in devising a coherent and compelling framework. In each case, the latter alternatives indicated are far more appealing to younger generations.

The time has come for executives to step out of their ‘command and control’ uniforms and instead place their efforts into building a compelling purpose with positive human outcomes. As Dean Tucker’s opening quote implies: By sharing and involving people in workplace intentions, most of them will step up to the plate. As he states later: “After all, we’re dealing with adults.” If we don’t treat our people as adults, they won’t behave like adults.

There are increasing numbers of enlightened organizations that demonstrate “purpose-driven” cultures which in turn produce far more favorable results: such as, Nucor Steel, SAS Software, Zappo Shoes, Menlo Innovations, Whole Foods, SouthWest Airlines, Zingerman’s, the former Continental Airlines, and so forth. Look them up.

The legacy of outdated business terminology and pursuing “making money” – as the sole reason for being in business – installs two big hurdles. Instead:

» Focus on giving all enterprise stakeholders an extraordinary experience, which will enable those enterprises to make all the money their markets will allow.

» Pursuit of synergistic models like Strategic Framing – along with more purpose-building, modern options,  rather than linear-thinking Strategic Planning – will enable ventures to stimulate younger generations in a far more profitable way. (Read Ari Weinzweig’s book “Building a Great Business,” or Richard Sheridan’s “Joy Inc: How we built a workplace people love,” then you will see how it can be done. They have built companies that executives come from all over the world to discover for themselves.)

Better still, if you go and visit with Ari and Rick’s companies, in the same town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, you will be convinced that it pays dividends to throw off the old “command and control” mantel and become an enlightened leader.

If you wish to become an enlightened leader, talk with: