It is 6:00pm of any usual day, in First One Operations Center, a very large Multinational Bank.Marisa is about to finish her work and thinks to herself: "Ok, as soon as I finish answering these e-mails, I go to the Shopping Center to take a look at the sales". At 6:15pm, she closes her things, she stands up and while saying "See you tomorrow, guys", she makes her way to the door. Half the way out, she hears a voice telling her: "Marisa, are you leaving? Isn't it too early?" She stops her way and clearly recognizes Carlos' voice, her Manager. Marisa takes a look at her watch, and it is 6:20pm. Today, she had arrived 30 minutes earlier so as to close a pending operation, and was leaving 20 minutes later than 6:00pm. What was Carlos expecting from her? Why was he putting such a pressure on her, if there were no pending tasks? Could it be him who wanted to keep a good image at the Managing Director, and thus get a new promotion? –which she surely wouldn't get, as in her last performance review she had been informed that she hadn't met her position expectations and, despite having formally asked, she hadn't still been informed why nor the steps she would have to follow or Programs to fulfill so as to improve her development.This is a well-known story, you may have even experienced it yourself. We should thus wonder which is the Leadership Model Carlos uses. Which is the Leadership Model followed by the Bank? Does it really exist within the First One Bank a Corporate Leadership Model? Or is it that in this part of the world there is no alignment vs. the Corporate Leadership Models or any type of the most Modern Models?For almost 30 years as the Regional HR Vice-President for the Southern Cone of South American of a Leading Multinational Bank, and more than 10 years as a Independent Consultant, working for Multinationals as well as large local Corporations, I performed numerous interventions in which Leadership was the core of the problem to solve. And I have always wondered and, at the same time, asked this same question to Senior Leaders:"If there are in the world so many proofs of the unbelievable results obtained through the implementation of participative Leadership Models, why is it so difficult to implement such a Model in our countries?"Clearly, it was not by simply making this type of question that I would be able to make any contribution to the improvement of Leadership. In some way, I should commit myself to the objective of improving the Leadership Model.During 2001 and 2002, I interviewed several CEOs of highly locally value Multinational Corporations. The interview addressed a clear question:What Do Companies Expect of Their Leaders Today?Traditional expectations existing around Managers and other leaders, do not fulfill today the needs of modern Organizations, as well as traditional systems and structures do no longer fit the Organizations' current challenges.Managers' and other leaders' traditional roles and functions were developed at the time people still thought that Organizations were successful due to the fact that Managers were able to convince employees of doing what they were told.Modern Organizations are dramatically turning to lean structures, in which traditionally hierarchical Management levels, control pyramids, job descriptions, direct supervision and the typical separation between workers and Management are becoming less and less useful. Organizations are finding ways of doing more with less and are rapidly changing into Team Work centered structures, where employees have more empowerment.Organizations with high level of delegation and Team-centered require a different type of leadership, a much more modern Model.This small Study made few years ago resulted in the following conclusions:Leadership"The art of encouraging others so they are willing to fight for a common vision"And What Were the Companies Waiting from Their LeadersThey were waiting from their leaders to: be committed to the Company's strategy
encourage motivation in others
show initiative and proactivity
lead the change
propose and implement improvement
challenge the process, looking for opportunities and assuming risks
consider the Company as a whole and not to be limited to his Area
work under a team spirit
develop and empower their employees
encourage team work
be goal-oriented
be an effective communicator
be flexible at change
be sensitive to the internal an external client's needs
tolerate pressure and frustrationDue to the importance that these answers would have over a future Leadership Model, I included them in all related interventions and, at the same time, I widely spread them.Some few years later, I considered that, perhaps, I should perform a new Leadership Study but this time much more ample from a territorial point of view and also deeper regarding its' contents.This is why by the beginning of 2006, I performed a new Survey among different South American countries, which I called "Towards a New Model of leadership".In this Study, the same concern is shown as in the previous one, but now much more defined, about the concept of Leadership and which steps should be followed so as to obtain a solid development of it.As a result of this Survey, a new definition emerged:"Leadership is one of the most sophisticated types of service, which is more effectively applied when freely motivating other people to make decisions that, although belonging to them, would have never been made within the beneficial influence of this type of leader".This clearly shows an improvement in the conceptual definition. But, what were, in concrete, the Survey results?By focusing on the main answers, results were not too much encouraging.We detail below some of the most critical questions with their percentage of affirmative answers:1) Does your Company have a Talent Pool?
-A.: Affirmative: 50%2) Does it have any methodology for assessing potential leaders?
-A.: Affirmative: 36%3) Does it have any Program or methodology that allows potential leaders to develop their capabilities?
-A.: Affirmative: 34%4) Are your competencies models aligned to corporate values?
-A.: Affirmative: 41%5) Does it have Training Programs oriented to the development and strengthening of leadership capabilities?
-A.: Affirmative: 52%Although the Survey goes deeply into the wide field of Leadership and Leadership Development, we strongly believe that with these answers to our questions, we can easily give an opinion about the current situation of leadership in Latin American countries and the consequences these actions have over the Companies.We still have some pending questions: Which are those major aspects over which we still have to work in order to obtain a remarkable improvement within Companies? Are Companies aware that their difficulty in developing a Leadership Model in accordance to the world we are living will have direct effects on their results? Do they know about the amazing progress and transformations that other Companies have been undertaking, by acting over new Models and Competencies regarding Leadership Development? Should they walk the path of a deep crisis in order to step back from the principle "Why changing, if we are ok?"I deeply consider that the solution exceeds the stage of making new definitions. Concrete and systemic actions are required in order to change this reality.Oscar R. Castello
Director
Castello & Asociados
Tel./Fax: (54-11) 5199-2555
Roque Sáenz Peña 616, 6º Piso Of. 607
C1035AAO - Cap. Fed. - Argentina
E-Mail: ocastello@castello-net.com
Website: www.castello-net.com
International Partner of "Centre for Strategic Management"
Keyword : Participative Leadership
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