Transformational Leadership. Social Entrepreneurship

Every Wednesday, this Transformational Leadership blog features a series on leadership or personal development. This is the first part of our Leadership Anticipation and Directions series. To get the upcoming articles on this series, please subscribe to our blog feed.

Pilots stay right at the nose of their aircraft. A driver of any vehicle has to stay at the front seat. And the leader has to stay at the helm of the organization and exercise leadership foresight!

Leaders have to see the road ahead. Will the journey be smooth? Is the direction clear? Are there hazards along the way? Should he change some parts of the plan? Is the organization still in the right road? How can the leaders make the right decision?

Leading an organization is just like going through a long trip. Some parts of the journey are well known while the others may remain a mystery.

Before any long trip, a good driver checks if the vehicle is in good working condition—the clutch, the tires, the brakes and all the controls should be A-okay. In the same way, the leader should check the organization if its divisions, agencies and its individual members are up to the challenge of the journey ahead. This will prevent damage if the organization eventually runs into difficult terrain.

Know the terrain of the country. A race track driver may drive real fast. But driving in open country is more difficult. Imagine if you have to drive through the Australian outback for the first time. The trip will be bumpy, difficult and tiring! But even if the road is difficult, if you know the terrain, you can navigate through it more easily.

For the organization, knowing the terrain means undertaking market research. What do the clients, customers or audience want? How can they be best served given the resources of the organization? How about the competition? If this were a race, what edge does the competition have that your organization doesn’t? How can you ensure market leadership?

Get a roadmap. For pioneering organization, navigating unfamiliar territories involve trial and error. Yes, it can be costly. Yes, it can be difficult. But the rewards are great. Financial analysts and advisers usually say that the greater the risk, the greater the returns. Part of the anticipation process is learning how much risk the organization is willing to take.

A roadmap for your organization is essentially a strategic plan that you come up with. Don’t take strategic planning lightly. It can spell the difference between success and failure.

Stick to the plan but don’t be afraid to make changes. Not everything can be anticipated. Even the best laid plans have some loopholes. Whenever you encounter a dead end along the way, don’t be afraid to take a detour. Modify your plan if needed. Go around the problem. Skirt it. Or confront it head on. Just make sure that you will arrive at the destination in one piece.

Leadership in the twenty-first century promises to be a rollercoaster with the breakneck speed of innovation in various technologies. The leader has got to learn how to navigate through this and implement the necessary changes in the organization.

image credit: Kaptain Kobold via Flickr

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