Once upon a time, not so long ago, a new type of war broke out - a War for Talent. It arose as a result of some rather significant, painful and ugly lessons that had been learned the hard way. It arose when people came to understand that the idea of building an army of "followers" did not actually serve the organization all that well.

Gradually, some came to believe that the ultimate strategic and competitive advantage, on this new battlefield, would be the ability to enlist an army made up entirely of leaders. At the end of the day, these "new world" organizations proved to be victorious. Once they had built an organization full of talented, intelligent, and motivated people they recognized the need to lead differently. They came to understand the special way in which you lead leaders.

Marching Forward

We all know the "command and control" approach to management has been rendered null and void and has been relegated to the scrap heap of history. Organizations and employees everywhere have been crying out for years that they want a new model, an organization full of people empowered to make tougher decisions, create bold breakthroughs and drive sustainable change.

In 1997 Warren Bennis accurately predicted just this kind of future. He wrote a groundbreaking book entitled "Managing People is like Herding Cats" that spoke to the challenges imbedded in this type of culture.

In an equally important book, "First Among Equals", David Maister writes "most often, you will be working with highly talented people who know what to do and how to do it … your essential skill will be to help … fulfill their potential by influencing … feelings, attitudes, and emotions."

In both cases, the message is clear. The process of leading leaders is different, challenging and requires a new approach and mindset.

Understanding Leaders

To effectively navigate this new course and make the transition to a high performance organization comprised of leaders, the senior executives must first make a commitment to understanding what makes these new leaders tick. It all begins with recognizing that leadership today is more about relationships than it is about position. The quality, candour and focus of the strategic conversations you need to have with these new leaders is the first and most critical step.

These new leaders understand their personal value more fully than any group before them. They have options and they will exercise them and if your organization cannot satisfy their needs – present and future - they will choose to "invest" their personal equity elsewhere.

That is not to say they have no concern or regard for loyalty. Quite the contrary. The difference is, these new leaders want to have an impact on how the organization runs and, in some cases, a say in who ultimately runs the organization.

If they don't get it where they are, they will find a place where they can.

Networks, Smart Mobs and The Core Group

In order to accomplish this level of power and influence, the new leaders are wired to carefully and meticulously develop their own constituencies or core groups within the organization. These networks are typically comprised of employees at various levels and they are highly influential in terms of determining how "votes" are cast either for or against the direction set from the top.

In some cases, these constituencies actually extend outside of the organization, and may include other social networks within suppliers, customers and even competitors. Remember, these leaders measure progress differently and they are all about writing multiple options to be executed in the future.

Leading the Revolution

Harnessing the power, passion, influence and intellect of these leaders is key.

For the most part, the radical, sustainable change you want to see in both performance and cultural terms will not happen by your hands alone. It will be the leaders who emerge from within the "middle class" – the middle management ranks – who will be the most important.

As with every revolution, the ultimate decision to commit to battle, to proactively change the way things, to overthrow the status quo begins deep within the middle class. As they are the ones with the most to gain and the most to lose, their decision is what will spark the revolution and will be the key to your success.

Leadership Conversations

The ability to lead leaders calls for a much wider and smarter use of a powerful (if often underused) tool in the leaders tool box - the courageous conversation.

These new leaders have their own ideas, motivations, needs and desires.

They are impatient.

They do not fear change but will resist being changed by others.

The key for senior executives is to develop the skills and the courage to have effective conversations with these new leaders in order to help them feel valued and keep them reinvesting every day.

In Our Opinion
The Beacon Group's Keys to Effective Leader to Leader Conversations

Understand - The leaders in your organization joined for a reason. Understanding their personal mission, vision and values as they relate to the organization will help you when communicating with them.

Make it personal - Leaders come in every size shape and style. By using their "language" you can make effective use of your time with that leader to let them know they are a key part of the process.

Ask, don't tell - Keep in mind, these leaders have options. They simply will not tolerate being spoken to in a manner that diminishes their "status". Be aware that these leaders have tremendous knowledge, and your job is ask them to share their knowledge.

Teach - If your organization recognizes certain employees as leaders, you can rest assured that they possess many key leadership skills. With that being said, every great leader understands that their effectiveness increases as they continue to learn. When leading leaders, you will be more effective if you can position yourself as a coach or mentor.

Our Monthly Rant
Ego Check

In prehistoric times, power was determined simply by access and availability.

In agrarian times, power was measured by what you did with what you had availability of - usually how fertile your land was.

In the industrial era, power was measured by how fast your machine could turn produce into product.

Today, power is measured not by what you have, or what you do, or what you produce but by how much you share. The antique premise that knowledge alone is power is dead and yet many people still fall victim to this false logic. They seem to forget that acquiring knowledge is an endless process and that it is the rate of accumulation not the hoarding of knowledge that is the key to staying relevant and being "powerful". In simple terms, the best way to accumulate new knowledge is to share yours with someone else.

The true net worth of this new leader will be whether or not their rate of knowledge accumulation and transfer is high enough and managing the "cash flows" produced from this new series of economic transactions will be the major role of the senior executive who chooses to lead leaders rather than lead followers.