Leadership as a Conversation and Communication
As shared in the first post in this series, Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind in June’s Harvard Business Review wrote about leadership as a conversation.
They state in today’s connected and flatter organizations a communicate-and-collaborate style not commmmand-and-control works best.
“The command-and-control approach to management has … become less viable. Globalization, new technologies, and changes in how companies create value and interact with customers.”
Communication today is more dynamic and connected. Further, even if the person in charge doesn’t want those under them to have a voice. They do. For great proof of this, look at the Arab Spring.
In Building a Winning Business, I dedicate a section of the book to communication. To be successful, communication needs to be institutionalized and backed up with systems and processes. At Intertech, we’ve done this–from an enterprise “Intertech-only” social network to leadership team daily huddles at day’s end to a yearly Town Hall where employees, minus management, share their thoughts on the business.
Next post: The leadership communication new realities
An article I wrote was published in the Star Tribune. The article is called “Online educators can learn from business” and can be