Has leadership kept pace with the unfathomable challenges we face?  We have excelled at helping leaders from the inside out by focusing on leadership style, characteristics, and skillsets.  However, we have avoided advancing leadership mastery in terms of systems and situational awareness. We must fill the external attention vacuum.

Peter Drucker’s stated that leadership“has little to do with ‘leadership quality’ and even less to do with ‘charisma.’ Its essence is performance,”and I agree with his focus on results.  Flexibility, agility, timing, and situational awareness enable leaders to leverage new opportunities and prevent blind spots.

Organizations are more integrated, customer expectations have increased, and resources have become more constrained. And to make it even more challenging, this greater complexitymeans that no one person can have all the answers. Instead of becoming the solution provider, leaders need to ask the right questions and evaluate alternatives. Luckily, this is not rocket science or a matter of IQ.  It requires committing to conducting an environmental scan,which can be done using six situational mindsetsto uncover information before jumping to a decision.

Asking questions covering six different spheresproduces a comprehensive understanding of present challenges and opportunities.  Questions include:

• What new approaches or creative options can we investigate?
• How can we improve customer service and retention?
• How can we become a truly seamless and effective organization?
• What can improve our quality and efficiency?
• How can we foster collaboration, engagement,and learning?
• What can we do now to ensure a prosperous future?

Vacuums collapse when we find a way to fill them.  Leadership today needs to include systems thinking, organizational insights, and environmental scanning for organizations to thrive.

“Breaking the Vacuum Around Leadership” was originally published on 10 July 2019 at BizCatalyst360.

About Author:

Dr. Mary Lippitt,  an award-winning author, consultant, and speaker, founded Enterprise Management Ltd. to help leaders with critical analysis.  Her new book, Situational Mindsets:  Targeting What Matters When It Matters was published last year with a Foreword from Daivd Covey. She can be reached at mlippitt@enterprisemgt.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/marylippitt/