A chart contrasting the characteristics of traditional and contemporary
leaders.
from: http://www.workforce.com
If your organization is developing people for senior management position,
you're going to have to have a well-defined profile of what you want in
future senior leaders.
In a recent book by William C. Byham, Ph.D., Audrey B. Smith, Ph.D.,
and Matthew J. Paese, Ph.D. entitled Grow Your Own Leaders, the authors
contrast the characteristics of traditional leaders with contemporary
leaders:
|
Traditional Leader
|
Contemporary Leader
|
| Makes all major decisions; solves
team problems; acts as expert |
Shares responsibility with team members;
helps team solve problems |
| Controls work flow; responsible for work group's results |
Promotes self-management and responsibility as well
as ownership of tasks/processes (e.g. direct reports measure own progress
and take corrective action as necessary) |
| Gives answers; plays "expert"
role |
Asks the right questions; allows direct
reports to be experts |
| Lays down the rules |
Articulates and rallies troops around a vision and set
of values |
| Values unanimity/conformity |
Values diverse perspectives |
| Seeks to eliminate conflict |
Sees conflict as an opportunity for synergy and enriched
decision-making |
| Reactive; resists change |
Proactive; initiates change; embraces
change as necessary for organizational survival |
| Focuses on tasks, products, technical skills |
Focuses on processes, people |
| Linear, analytical thinking |
Non-linear, holistic thinking (systems) |
| Seeks functional, specialized expertise |
Seeks cross-functional, cross-cultural expertise |
| Concerned only about own area of responsibility |
Concerned about total organization;
tries to be good partner with other groups within company |
| Fiercely competitive |
Fiercely competitive, but must often partner with competitors,
vendors, customers |
| Concerned only with domestic operations |
Prepared to think on larger, global
scale |
| Thinks of people as interchangeable resources |
Thinks of people as organization's most valuable resource,
knows they are difficult to replace |
| Puts organization's needs before employees'
needs |
Seeks a balance between organization's
and employees' needs |
| Avoids risk |
Takes risk |
| Uses functional, short-term thought process |
Uses systematic, long-term thought process |
© MMI, Development Dimensions International, Inc. Reprinted with
permission from Development Dimensions International, Inc.
