The world has changed. Business is changing, and at the same time, sociocultural shifts are taking place that are causing people to seek a deeper meaning in their work lives. This quest, coupled with intense economic pressures, has resulted in a new relationship between employees and the organization, born out of an attempt to manage tension, find answers, and remain stable in a highly turbulent environment. Thus, they are seeking to unite to learn, to rethink the ways in which the company does business in order to survive (psychologically and financially) and thrive.
People want to define their lives and their work on their own terms. Employees want to enjoy their work, feel they can make a contribution, feel respected as individuals, learn, and grow. However, the workplace was not friendly or flexible enough to accommodate social changes. Consequently, its inhabitants were forced to "adapt" to an adverse reality out of fear or necessity, and to live with their natural resistances and feelings of rebellion, along with the insecurity that change brings.
Change is the constant.
Organizational transformation must be framed by principles as profound as personal growth, vision, trust, creativity, purpose, leadership, and professionalism, while also seeking to cultivate a spirit that is both individual and collective.
And it is in this context that the figure of the leader emerges most powerfully. Today, the leader responsible for helping their organization transform must foster growth and be at the forefront of cultural change.
Most managers have been trained in traditional Western organizations to adopt a hierarchical, command-and-control mentality.
The work was summarized in organizing, controlling, solving problems and overcoming resistance.
However, "managing" people is the key to not creating a learning organization. Even today, many managers fail to understand how manipulative most approaches to human resources are, and how these approaches invisibly undermine their true purpose: performance excellence.
These systems must be replaced if we want to create non-manipulative, high-performing organizations—organizations of the highest quality. The necessary change involves moving from "managing" people to educating and nurturing them.
Moving from this conventional stance to transformational coaching requires more than learning a few new management techniques. It requires us to change the way we think and act. It requires us to discover how we think about our roles and the results we try to achieve with people in order to transform both our thinking and our behavior.
Why is it necessary to change at such a profound level? Can't business be kept out of the personal realm? Why can't we learn a few techniques and begin to lead change?
The reality is that everyone brings their personal baggage to work: attitudes, behaviors, habits, needs, desires, fears, roles, and conditioning.
Our beliefs have a great influence on how we interact with people. What we believe tends to determine how we behave toward others. Our behavior tends to influence the quality of the relationships we establish, which in turn affects their own behavior. This, of course, influences the results we receive from those people. In turn, these same results reinforce our belief in their righteousness.
For example, if we believe that a manager is supposed to be strict and inflexible with the rules, we will likely be harsh in punishing those who break them. In turn, those who report to us will become conservative and stop taking risks. As a result, the department will do everything right, but others will gain management approval for seeking creative solutions to business problems. Out of frustration, we will cling more tightly to our belief and increase our adherence to the rules. This cycle is self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating.
At the other extreme, if we believe that collaboration between people leads to better results, we will be open in our thinking and encourage others to be open as well, sharing needs and ideas to find solutions. Relationships become more open and trusting; the people we lead are more willing to take risks and present ideas, and we achieve better results.
The easiest way to break the power of this cycle is to start with your own beliefs. Which beliefs support leadership and which ones support leadership?
Here is a short list:
| BOSS / SUPERVISOR / MANAGER | LEADER / COACH / FACILITATOR |
| The boss thinks his job is to push or lead people. | The leader believes that his role is to lift people up and support them. |
| The boss believes he should address people in monologues and lectures. | The leader believes in generating dialogue with people by asking and listening. |
| The boss believes he must control others through the decisions he makes. | The leader believes that he must facilitate others to make decisions and implement them. |
| The boss thinks he knows the answers. | The leader believes he must seek the answers. |
| The boss triggers insecurity by administering a healthy dose of fear as an effective way to gain complicity. | The leader believes that goals and values must be used to inspire commitment and stimulate creativity. |
| The boss thinks his job is to point out mistakes. | The leader believes his job is to celebrate learning. |
| The boss believes he must solve problems and make decisions. | The leader believes that he must help others to make decisions and solve problems. |
| The boss believes he should delegate responsibility. | The leader believes he must model responsibility. |
| The boss believes he must create structures and procedures for people to comply with. | The leader believes he must generate a vision and promote flexibility through values and guidelines for behavior. |
| The boss believes he must do things correctly. | The leader believes he must do the right things. |
| The boss believes that power lies in his knowledge. | The leader believes that his power comes with his vulnerability. |
More "in tune" with their employees, the new leader is oriented toward interpersonal relationships and creates enough intimacy to unleash the human spirit. In the learning organization, we assume that everyone can be a source of useful ideas, that learning flows both upward and downward, new ideas are valued, and a mistake is simply a learning opportunity.
These transformational leaders provide the critical foundation through which each employee can develop, transform, grow, and flourish in ambiguity. They model and transmit the skills necessary to build a learning organization. They do not shirk their responsibilities but invite all their employees to interpret the ideal future in terms of each individual role, thus bridging the gap between reality and the desired state.
The new leader understands this organizational model and dramatically breaks with the old management paradigm. He becomes a facilitator, moral engineer, mentor, relationship builder, trainer, and model of the values required by all stakeholders: trustworthiness, authenticity, courage, willingness, and belonging.
We are moving toward total integration, where it is possible to be the same at work and in personal life. The new leader fosters the intimacy necessary for the individual's true self to reveal itself, in an environment of naturalness and acceptance. He or she motivates employees to release the energy previously spent protecting themselves, in order to demonstrate the importance of shared feelings and demonstrate that the company supports people who want to learn.
As long as people seek authenticity, compassion, integrity, and meaning outside of work, these new insights and growth will come to work with them. We need to create workplaces that nurture and promote personal and organizational change. We need to discover that we can access deeper meaning in our work lives.
Organizations must transform to survive. Their people must transform for the organization to do so. This happens with the help of change agents, leaders who possess unique characteristics. Corporations need to generate understanding and a willingness to develop these leaders, who are essential to the health of the organization.
Transformational leadership occurs when managers elevate the interests of their employees, generate willingness and acceptance of the group's mission and purpose, and motivate their own people to look beyond their own interests for the good of the group as a whole. New leaders have an extraordinary effect on their employees because they generate meaning for them.
The transformational leader can create the necessary conditions in which employees experience self-esteem, connection, and dignity that enable them to create and feel alive, be heard and cared for, be reborn, live their values, self-discover, take risks in a safe environment and live meaningfully, and significantly contribute to the art and practice of a learning organization.
