Global leaders are facing a time unlike any before in history where a situation can easily be both threat and opportunity. As the world becomes more ‘flat’,  global leaders must rely more heavily on their followers and place greater investment in the leader follower relationship.

Especially in those industries that have been long-standing bastions of hierarchical and bureaucratic organizational structure, compartmentalized communications frameworks and antiquated recycled solution sets that never seem to quite hit the mark (Burton, et. al., 2011). How might global leaders within these industries and sectors improve their leadership? This question is much more complex than it would appear on its surface.

Surprisingly, many executives and high-level, global leaders receive fairly minimal leadership training once they achieve a certain position within their organization’s hierarchy. Considering the vast array of circumstances in which leaders exert their influence on clients, colleagues, competitors and key stake holders. – and that is just speaking to their role as organization leaders and does not even break the surface of leadership roles engaged in as thought leaders, mentors, community leaders and heads/ partners of the household (Gabel, 2012).

There are three global leadership principles that leaders must engage in to ensure a successful leader follower relationship:

1. They must use their power and influence to enhance others.

2. They must limit time and effort spent rehashing the past and pursue future opportunity.

3. They must become fanatically focused on the few ‘main things’.

Using Power and Influence to Enhance Others

Drew (2010) observed that there is a perceived added measure of credibility based on a leader’s efforts to engage the willing involvement of others. In his observation, Drew notes that the way a leader uses their power and influence communicates volumes about their character and values.

True leadership and influence are simply not sustainable if employed through the use of coercive tactics and imposing one’s power to oppress others. Rather, true leadership and influence are more effectively achieved by using one’s power and influence to enable others to achieve worthwhile goals. Those who intentionally set out to seize power for their own selfish means are typically those who are the weakest, laziest and least capable of influencing. Paradoxically, a leader’s ability to restrain from ‘taking over’ as a means to achieve their agenda demonstrates the right type of power and facilitates a sense of freedom and opens up new doors to opportunities the future may present (Drew, 2010).

In the field of health care, many clinicians overestimate their ability to influence patient actions and treatment compliance based on their expert and informational powers alone. Even in situations where patients may be open to the influences of positional (legitimate), reward and coercive power the chances of their following the treatment plan the provider has laid out for them is squarely grounded in their perception of whether they can trust the care giver and whether the care giver truly does care for their well-being (Drew, 2010). This provides a clear example of how the leader – follower relationship can not survive in an environment it which trust, respect and genuine follower empowerment do not exist.

Limited Focus on the Past, While Concentrating on the Future

While reflecting on the past can be useful for learning and understanding, focusing on the future allows leaders to free themselves from the constraints of the present with its unyielding circumstances and limiting realities and enjoy a future tense where possibilities abound and can be tailored to their own vision of what the future should be.

In Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shake Up Your Business? (2010), leaders are introduced to examples of how trends in global warming and the recession hold implications on client expectations of products, how potential consumers interact with one another using their products and the value future users will place on the products relative to their beliefs, aspirations and habits. The authors also note that while many managers can articulate the trends of the day, they are found lacking in their ability to appreciate the subtle yet profound ways trends are influencing their primary target markets. Leaders mistakenly assume the future is just a linear progression of the present when nothing could be further from the truth (Canton, 2006).

The United States and many westernized cultures are operating under the erroneous assumption that the world is without limited resources and the future is such an abstraction that it is not worth giving thought to tomorrow. Global leaders understand that to take responsibility for tomorrow means having to take actions today which will be challenging and will not serve short-term proclivities (Slaughter, 1993).

Fanatical Fixation on the Main Things

It has been noted that Lean In author, Facebook COO and one of the youngest Billionaires in history, Sheryl Sandberg has a sign on her boardroom door which reads “RUTHLESSLY PRIORITIZE” (Luscombe, 2013). It serves as a reminder for she and her staff that many things can be done but deciding on and doing the right things will be the difference between success and failure. The ‘To Do List’ is extremely transient priorities a constantly being placed on and then removed from the list. Leaders must take ownership and constantly monitor the activities they place the greatest importance upon.

A fundamental tenet of Project Management, encourages leaders to identify key stakeholders, assess their power and influence in helping the organization reach its objectives and understand their needs, desires and expectations. This approach recognizes that there are only so many hours in a day and that by targeting those key stakeholders and drivers that yield the greatest impact greatly improves the chances for successful and efficiently delivered products, services or results (PMBOK, 2013).

In health care, there is a problem with identifying what is truly important. Svensson et. al. (2014) note that oftentimes the care that is given is unimportant while the important care is withheld. As healthcare becomes increasingly customized beginning with the selection of health care insurance plans, to the selection of providers and practices, to the medications and medical devices prescribes. What most do not see is the invisible cost for arbitrary variances based on the vast range of options available and the disparities in pricing which act to exacerbate the issue. If leaders in healthcare were to place less focus on rolling out new products and building the next ‘better mouse trap’, to gain meager amounts of market share, the entire healthcare system would benefit and enjoy a simpler, more easily executable, outcome – driven focus that is lean, manageable and expeditiously caters to the actual needs of the health care consumer (Basu, 2005).

Conclusion

Leaders leave an indelible mark on their organizations and on the lives of the people who work with them. They have attained their power and influence through various means but the way they apply them will speak volumes about their character and beliefs.

By being mindful of the 3 principles discussed, global leaders will achieve their ultimate objectives by focusing energies of helping others, they will look to the future and its possibilities which far exceed the limitations of the past and present, leaders will also find they achieve more by keeping their scope small but tackling their goals in big innovative ways.

Reference

A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge. (2013). 5th Ed. Project Management Institute.

Basu, A. (2006). “Doing more with less,” Project Management for Product Development In Healthcare Setting. PMI Asia-Pacific Global Conference Proceedings. pp. 1-8.

Burton, R. M., Obel, B., DeSanctis, G. (2011). 2nd Ed. Organizational Design: A step-by-step approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Canton, J. (2006). The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World in the Next 20 Years. New York: Penguin Group US.

Drew, G. M. (2010). Enabling or “Real” Power and Influence in Leadership. Journal of Leadership Studies. 4(1). pp. 47-58.

Gabel, S. (2012). Power, Leadership and Transformation: The Doctor’s potential for influence. Medical Education 2012. v. 46. pp. 1152 – 1160.

Luscombe, B. (2013). Confidence Woman. Time. 181 (10). pp. 34 – 42.

Slaughter, R. A. (1993, April). Futures concepts. Futures, 25(3), 289-315.

Svensson, C. K., Ascione, F. J., Bauman, J. L., Brueggmeier, R. W., Letendre, D. E., Roberts, J. C., Speedie, M. C. (2014). Are We Producing Innovators and Leaders or Change Resisters and Followers? American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 75 (7). pp. 1 – 7.