It’s important for the leadership of an organization to training its employees on the new structures that are going to be implemented in ensuring the success of the change. The role of each individual must be clearly spelt out. Delegation of responsibilities amongst the various levels of management has proved to be an uphill task in most organization during this process.
Integrity and diligence amongst the employees should be upheld when assigning new responsibilities. Change of leadership style to collaborative creates more chances for leadership especially in the middle and low levels in an organization. It’s important to ensure that those assigned responsibilities don’t take their new found advantage to misuse their positions. For successful transition, it necessary for the leaders to consider the following;
Study the Environment
It’s important for the leaders to have an understanding of the working environment. This will enable the organization to assess the viability of applying the collaborative type of leadership which requires inputs from each employee and the repercussion it will have on the overall performance of the organization. Business leaders must ensure that change of leadership style does not translate to losses. The ‘fruits’ of change are never immediate hence patience is necessary if the desired outcome is to be achieved.
Sharing Responsibilities
In authoritative leadership power and control is anchored on certain individuals. Change of this leadership style will translate into division of power and responsibilities to various departments or persons. It’s important to ensure that the persons who are assigned to head various departments’ posses desired qualities and training to enable them disseminate their responsibilities effectively.
Training
It’s important to have training sessions that enlighten the employees on mechanisms that guide operations during the period of change. This can be achieved through conducting of workshops and seminars by agencies that guide the process.
Development
In organizations where influence and power are centered on individual tend to lack room for personal development. Collaboration amongst different members of an organization in management allows for divergent views and room for discussion. This promotes the ability of involved parties to improve on their interpersonal skills and knowledge of the organization.
Personality
Collaborative leadership requires integrity and personal maturity. Successful application of the style from the authoritative type will require the leader to delegate some of his former responsibilities to others within the organization. The chosen individuals must be persons of value. During crisis in the transition processes, they must be able to understand their surrounding and how they impact on junior employees. They must be able to fit and adjust accordingly. This will help in averting tension that may be associated to the change. The ability of a leader to share his power and control with others is not an easy thing. But in most organizations where it has been implemented, more positive results have been reported. This can be attributed to the fact that change to this style gives more room for others to develop their leadership qualities which eventually impacts positively on the enterprise.
The ability of a leader to gain trust from his subjects is important as it enable good flow of information within an organization (Oates, 2010). Power and control centered on one or a certain small group of individuals lacks appropriate mechanism of gaining access to information and happenings from the employees. Collaborative style brings every member on board making it easy to share information.
A leader who gives room for everyone’s participation encourages team work amongst the workers. This boosts cohesiveness in a working environment which translates to high returns for the organization. The transformation of leadership from power and control to collaborative creates an environment where that a leader is no longer above the others hence he plays a middle role in making decisions for the institution.
Collaboration amongst leaders and workers promotes openness and confidence. In a style of leading where command and control is employed, the followers tend to have a feeling of inferiority. In case of hush and ruthless leader, employees who are deemed to be close to the leader may be mistaken to be traitors by their counterparts who view them as spies. This translates to a divided workforce and an environment of hatred towards others.
Change of leadership style requires input of new ideas in operations. In a system where a leader controls everything, his absence may translate to stagnation of operations. Delegation of responsibilities to different persons means continuity of production even in absence of the leader as most of the employees know the roles and duties they have to undertake.
Success of collaborative leadership is dependent on communication between the leader and his subordinates (Anonymous, 2010). Every person is prone to error at a particular stage in life. Though errors are not encouraged, in case of such, holding a meeting between the leader and the subordinates helps in making rectifications and putting up of measures that can help avert future reoccurrences.
Acceleration of change in style of operation can be encouraged by rewarding departments that have improved efficiency in service delivery. This will act as a challenge to others departments hence triggering an urge to change and achieve.
Personal change of attitude in a leader goes a long way in helping an organization to attain change in leadership pattern. Change of attitude from ‘I control everything’ to collaboration collaborate is a challenging task as the leader may loses some of responsibility he/she considered prestigious. The ability of followers to realize change in the attitude of their leader is unquestionable. An environment where a leader controls all the operations is mostly characterized by tension and lack of openness. Collaborative leadership requires a working environment characterized by openness and team work. These enable good flow of information amongst different portfolios.
The changing of leadership style and culture in an organization is tedious and requires combined efforts from all the stakeholders in the enterprise as it consumes a lot of time. Its nature requires understanding from the management and the employees. The process may take long duration sometimes ranging from ten-twenty five years for the effects of the change to be fully experienced. Hence, it’s important to ensure that the employees don’t lose faith in the initiative.
Advancements in technology should be incorporated while implementing a change in style of leadership. Computers have revolutionized the operations of many organizations. In command and control type of leadership style all the information and directions originate from the same source. In contrast, collaborative style requires that information is shared amongst various departments within the organization. The discovery of computer networking has enabled the process of sharing and gathering of information to be efficient and faster. This should be accompanied with adequate training of the employees on how to apply the knowledge to make the process of collaboration more efficient.
Adherence to policies some of which may be obsolete and making decisions without consultations has translated to some agencies making losses worth millions of dollars. Collaborative leadership creates avenue for discussion and creates room for flexibility. This has proved to be valuable to most organizations as market trends tend to appreciate and depreciate unexpectedly due to increased natural disasters and terrorism.
A good Leader for an organization is one who adds value to the enterprise and must not take it away when he/she leaves (Whitley, 2010) . Command and control centers authority, power and influence on a certain class or individuals. The absence or exit of such individuals ‘cripples’ business. Embracing collaborative leadership ensures sharing of responsibility. This develops talents and skills amongst various individuals within an organization hence in the event of resignation or exit of a top employee, the organization is not adversely affected as there is are people who can hold in acting capacity before re-hiring.
Changing the nature of operations associated with changes in leadership style can result to resizing or downsizing the number of employees in an organization. This process may not be immediate as adjustments in various departments may be required for the success of leadership style transition. The leader should ensure that the process of change does not affect the morale of the employees. Change in leadership style is commonly associated with anxiety among the employees which can translate to poor performance hence resulting to loss.
Restructuring of leadership from command and control to collaborative is applicable to most organizations or businesses though it cannot be completely discarded but only improved. It’s important to note that there are institutions that can operate effectively only through command and control. The armed forces require command from the top generals. The commands are directed to the middle level officers who further carry the instructions to lieutenants and others in similar ranks for the command to be executed. Hence the type of leadership style can is Autocratic (Kisner, 2010). The commands are not further subjected to discussion by the lower officer rather their role is to execute the directions they are given.
To conclude, it’s important to note that the process of changing the leadership style of organization is a very tedious process that requires a supervisory body that guides the entire process. During initiation stage there are challenges that may be encountered hence tolerance and caution must be observed by the leaders. The restructuring of various departments require adequate training and guidance. A body that monitors the progress attained in implementation of the change should from time to time provide progress reports to the management. The reports will enable the leader to make adjustments as necessary for the success of the process.
References
Anonymous (2010) Leadership Style in Youth Work. Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://www. /Leadership styles in youth work.htm
Kisner M, J (2010) Advantages & Disadvantages of Autocratic Leadership. Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://www.Advantages & Disadvantages of Autocratic Leadership eHow.com.htm
Molly, J (2010) From Command-and-Control to Collaborative Leadership: An Interview with Iva Wilson. Retrieved October 23, 2010from http://www. From Command-and-Control to Collaborative Leadership an Interview with Iva Wilson.htm
Oates, S (2010). Leadership Styles-Autocratic vs Democratic vs Bureaucratic. Retrieved October 25 2010 from http://www.leadership-expert.co.uk/leadership-styles/
Whitley M. (2010) Goodbye, Command and Control. Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://www.pdf.org/leadersbook/121/summer97/whitley.html
