Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog

Leadershift: leading through social collaboration

Leadershift is about reinventing leadership---in that only a series of shifts in leaders' mindsets will help us meet the challenges of our times. 

The new leadershift modus operandi is a type of leadership, non-hierarchical in form, that facilitates the collaboration of a self-selected group.  The leader is an integral part in the generation of a narrative that builds and sustains this group's valuable and co-created outcomes.

In today's virtual environment of social media, the paradox of self-directed systems rely on the best leaders for their existence, yet they don't actually need any ongoing leadership to exist.  An example would be the Woman Leadership Network at www.WomanLeadership.com where women around the world mentor other women in building leadership capability.

In leadershift, reputation is the commitment the leader has shown to the community rather than the effectiveness by which they have made it work for their benefit.  The source of your power as a leader is the community.  It alone gives legitimacy to the role it is asking you to play.  That role is to make the community stronger.  When you use your power for any other purpose, or when the community feels that you have not added the value it expected, it will withdraw that support.

Jobless in America

Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000.  According to the Labor Department's latest numbers, from July, only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed.

Despite signs that the economy has resumed growing, unemployed Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are getting worse.  Even though the pace of layoffs is slowing, many companies remain anxious about growth prospects in the months ahead, making them reluctant to add to their payrolls.