Super Leadership - Review that needed in the Organization

In 1989, Charles Manz and Henry Sims Jr. introduced the concept of the "SuperLeader." A SuperLeader, they wrote, is "one who leads others to lead themselves."

Twelve years later, Manz, a professor of business leadership at the University of Massachusetts, and Sims, a professor of management and organization at the University of Maryland, have resurrected the concept in their book, The New SuperLeadership.

What's changed? The authors say the information age has created a complex workplace that changes rapidly and emphasizes autonomous work roles. "The best of all leaders," they write, "is the one who helps people so that eventually they don't need him or her."

Among the strategies SuperLeaders adopt are the following:

* Listen more and talk less.

* Ask more questions and give fewer answers.

* Foster learning from mistakes, not fear of consequences.

* Share information, rather than hoarding it.

* Encourage teamwork and collaboration, not competition.

Manz and Sims provide strategies for developing self-leadership traits, as well as instilling them in others. In addition, The New SuperLeadership offers profiles of SuperLeader executives, including Dennis Bakke of AES Corp. and Southwest Airlines' founder Herb Kelleher.

In the chapter "Leading Organizational Cultures to Self-Leadership," Manz and Sims note that human resource systems play an important role in developing SuperLeaders. Decisions about workflow, staffing, performance appraisal and compensation dictate how successful an organization will be in fostering self-leadership. The authors note, for example, that a pay system can emphasize "the accomplishment of narrow performance objectives" or "initiative and risk-taking."

Training is also an important factor. In the 21st century, Manz and Sims predict, "The top-down, hard-nosed autocrat will become an artifact of history, replaced by leaders who are obsessed with the development of their followers."

(Source: HR Magazine. Oct 2001. FindArticles.com. 26 Oct. 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_10_46/ai_79305567)