How to succeed in 21st Century business ?

It has been proven beyond doubt that  Command and Control leadership style a.k.a C2 style leadership does not work.  As  Dean Anderson describes, the C2 style is based on some of the following assumptions:

• Leaders know best
• Leaders should know where they are going (goals, outcomes) and must predetermine the plan for how to get there (process)
• Controlling human behaviour and action during implementation—so there is minimal variance from the predetermined plan—is a requirement of success

The impacts of this style, as described by Dean include:

Command and control as a change leadership style destroys virtually any chance of success in nine out of ten transformational change efforts. For starters, command and control:

• Limits the engagement and commitment you must develop in your employees, and often actually promotes resistance
• Lessens your chances of creating a change process that will lead to success
• Keeps you from being able to make the real-time course corrections during implementation that are necessary for optimal results
• Minimizes attention to necessary people issues like consistent communications and emotional reactions to change

Mr Mullen, the chief executive of port and rail operator Asciano in the Australian says,

"(A) seminal shift is under way where employees do not necessarily think that the boss knows best anymore and the power of social networking means that such views are exchanged widely and instantly

He also says ….
"The people we employ today . . . want to be able to bring their own tablet or other device to work rather than using the standard IT department-prescribed personal computer," Mr Mullen says.

"They want to work from home in the morning or the evening outside of work hours, and they want to take flexible holidays and remain in touch while they are away. Social networking is part of their lives."

The danger for managers who want to preserve the old order of nine-to-five workplaces and a hierarchy that assumes the boss is always right is that they lose their best staff. Some may even leave to set up a rival business.

"Failure to embrace the new way of working will literally see older, established businesses go to the wall and Generation X- and Y-led new businesses take their place," Mr Mullen says.

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