With the changes taking place rapidly with time, new challenges are created, necessitating required changes in our companies.
One of the requirements of today's life is speed, with which the things are required to be completed. This requires changes in leadership too, & the answer appears to be eLeadership. We should aim for that type of leadership, where people show their respect & love to them, even after their leaving the company. These leaders are with vision, who can create a proper
environment in the company, take risks & hard decisions even with incomplete information. We have to take note of the electronic revolution taking place, & fix & transform our company internally & externally suitably. In seven Chapters of this book, the authors have discussed its various aspects, stated that eLeadership is about connecting people, & given a five step model. It is based on research, their consulting experience, & many real life examples. They feel that with continuous changes in business practices, we must create an environment at workplace, where we all can be flexible & innovate at fast speed. With this model, changes can be made right up to the ground level, creating an environment such that both old & new generations can work together effectively, by closing the generation gap. The economy of 21 st century is based on creativity, ideas, & thoughts, & for this purpose, people should be allowed to express themselves freely, the talents of the people should be utilized, & people respected & retained in the companies. For competitive edge in business, our environment should be such that, talented people put in their best, new ideas are encouraged & good work is appreciated & rewarded.
In one of the important Chapters, the authors have indicated that important point is, identifying & rewarding the best individuals, teams & departments in the company. They have stated the 20/60/20 rule for any work force, & that such best people are likely to come from the first 20%, who should be brought into the limelight, & their approach & results should be celebrated. This will motivate all others for similar results, respect, appreciation & honour. Such persons should be identified, beyond the already known & already publicized names, out of those who have done some thing worthwhile, but have not come in focus yet. We should use various means of internal communications, for circulating the success stories. For collecting information & data for these stories, we can appoint reporters in various parts of the organization. We should identify the change champions, & form a team for sharing of the ideas & recognizing them. Top managers should be made the key communicators for identifying them. For making the new environment, we must share their stories with others, honestly, fully & publicly, giving their ups & downs. This applies to team efforts also. This will motivate other people also,& such heroes will be created in larger numbers, esp. from the 60% bracket of people, so that they can also be creative. Of course, the recognition should also be equally fast, otherwise it will lose its charm.
This abstract writer's experience in his own management career is that, people are the real assets. The earlier we recognize this fact, better it is. Treating the people properly & without any discrimination, makes the people remove the obstacles in the path of progress on their own, thus leading to loyalty & good results. It is a well written book, containing several practical recommendations & guidelines, esp. for inspiring our employees. It is meant for the leadership to study, understand & implement in their organizations for eventual benefits.