by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®
“Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.” Seth Godin, American business author
Conventional management (CM) just assumes that once you have a profit stream, you just keep churning out the widgets to keep that stream going. This was largely true during the industrial age, although our fast moving technology and social media age has changed all that. Enlightened leader-ship (EL), on the other hand, is designed to constantly reframe ones view of our marketplace to keep up with or remain ahead of nonstop market evolutions.
EL complements the five steps normally associated with CM. Those CM steps are: PROJECT the required numbers, PLAN for those numbers, ORGANIZE for those numbers, DIRECT everyone involved to achieve those numbers, and
CONTROL everything to ensure those numbers are secured. This is the formula we’ve pretty much pursued since the early part of the 20th-century. The profit stream is largely and quietly fed back to owners and/or shareholders. This system is still alive and unfortunately well-used today.
The complementary enlightened leadership (EL) five phases on the other hand, give us the framework ENVISION where are we going, POSITION ourselves properly for the journey, ENGAGE those who will help us get there, COLLABORATE with all those who can assist us get there, and ORCHESTRATE everything in the most productive way before we move on to the next cycle. Such a framework provides a seamless cycle that flows like a flywheel, except that the venture follows the performance graph of a helix as it grows in size.
It’s predicated on producing at least 15% profit margins, once it’s beyond its immediate start-up phase. These profits are appropriately shared between owners/shareholders, leaders and staff working in the venture, and the remainder re-invested back into the enterprise. Such a model and outcome create rather an exciting perspective for both enlightened leaders (ELs) and our burgeoning Millennial and Gen Zers. The latter two are about to become the backbone of our current workforce.
Millennials and our future enlightened leaders will love it because the Envision-Decision Clarity, Phase 1 – see our pictograph above – incorporates behavioral economics, which reflect people’s attitudes and desires, versus just fixating on conventional economics; by way of pure numbers. It will also involve making principle decisions through utilizing a breakthrough technique called option solving. ‘Option solving’ works at its best when you involve an appropriate group of people that can offer ‘Wisdom of the Crowd’ insights. You will discover more about this in our book Part 2.
Enlightened leaders (ELs) and Millennials-Gen Zers will appreciate its Position-Pathfind, Phase 2, mode because it offers insightful Success Strategy and Strategic Framing tools. These will view people as central to their success rather than just being ‘pairs of hands.’ Additionally it will invoke ‘effective’ rather than purely ‘efficient’ strategies: where effectiveness brings greater innovation, breakthroughs and resource utilization. You will find out more on this in our book Part 3.
Millennials and their ELs will also value its Engage-Involve, Phase 3, because it introduces definitive venture roles such as Visionists instead of CEOs, Strategists as opposed to Executives, Team Leaders rather than Supervisors, and Contributors versus Employees. Additionally, it exposes them to a groundbreaking motivational approach called PEACAM: where P= Purpose, E= Equality, A= Achievement, C= Camaraderie, A= Autonomy and M= Mastery. These are intrinsic-inspiring motivators. Compare these with our conventional CIGFAM mode: where C= Competition, I= Incentives, G= Goals, F= Fear, A= Accountability and M= Measure-ment. These are extrinsic, ‘force-feed’ motivators. PEACAM sparks a ‘Want to’ attitude, while CIGFAM induces a ‘Have to’ work environment. You will discover more on these factors in our book Part 4.
Enlightened leaders (ELs) and Millennials prefer its Collaborate-Teamwork, Phase 4, because it places a greater emphasis on working in ‘pairs’ rather than alone. There are already many current pairings, such as police-car pairs, pilot pairs, special forces pairs, ambulance team pairs, surgeon pairs, and even married-couple pairs. Pairs are much more reliable, productive and personally rewarding work units. Beyond this, there are Breakthrough and Operating Teams consisting of 6-7 complementary members. There are also Heter-archies, led from the center, rather than Hierarchies that are managed from the top-down. You will learn more about these ideas in our book Part 5.
Millennials and ELs will embrace its Orchestrate-Build Momentum, Phase 5, because its Operating and Strategic Streaming activities will ensure that leaders and their teams – at all levels – properly apportion their time between TODAY and TOMORROW events. Such prioritization will increase ‘momentum’ rather than relying upon conventional management ‘stop-n-go.’ From there they can Re-Envision, with due Decision Clarity, to pursue a fresh and enhanced performance cycle. No time wasted going from one to the next. You will extend your knowledge about these factors in our book Part 6.
This Journey of Enlightened Leadership will offer current and future ventures a far more dynamic and market sensitive framework. It will provide exciting, visionary destinations calibrated by intermediary milestones, rather than break-your-flow goals with rigid timelines. Such a framework will also meet the demands of our fast moving technology and social media age. When will you transform your venture? Segment 2 of our book will provide you with the practical application approach to do that.
To learn more about leadership forums to initiate all this, talk with: