A few weeks ago, writing the posts in this series, I listed 5 levers for sustainable change. Connected leadership was one of them. Under pressure from all sides, facing ever faster and more complex changes, it is now unthinkable to operate in silos and simply watch from the sidelines.

The organizations that survive in this competitive world are those that have put in place structures, mechanisms and behaviors supporting a more engaging leadership style.  This means:

• leaders who are connected to their peers to better help each other; act and make decisions more quickly;
• leaders who are connected to their teams so actions are more fluid and everyone can determine together the path to achieve organizational priorities;
• leaders who are connected on their customers’needs and suppliers’ constraints;
• leaders who are connected to new social media tools such as collaboration platforms to continuously share information with their peers, employees and partners.

In a world where they have access to a wealth of information and tools to express themselves like never before in the history of mankind, employees expect more transparency from their leaders and the opportunity to express their ideas.

Sometimes the skills of leaders to mobilize their teams must be developed. This involves improving aspects such as communicating in an engaging manner, actively listening, creating the proper environment for dialogue, increasingly involving employees in identifying problems and opportunities, and giving them more autonomy in defining and implementating solutions.

Leaders should work at better anticipating changes that may affect the achievement of their goals. To do so, it is in their interest to create opportunities where they can listen to their employees, colleagues, partners or clients who can voice threats and opportunities that they might otherwise have overlooked.

At a time when information is so readily available, is it still realistic to think we can succeed without the cooperation of all those around us? You may say that this is pure utopia? I dare answer you that only organizations that adapt will survive. The winning recipes of the past, we know too well, are not a guarantee of success tomorrow.

What do you think? And are the leaders in your organization fully connected?