Business coach, Eva Jenkins wonders whether courses in management and leadership philosophies will keep pace with a President who understands that innovations and technology are key drivers for a major turnaround.
As President Obama becomes our nation’s CEO, D.C. area business coach Eva Jenkins wonders if the President’s important message that a highly motivated, innovative, nimble, and techno-savvy work force will be the driver of change is being heard by today’s business or taught to future generation of business leaders. “The word ‘nimble’ is crucial,” she emphasizes. “It’
“Obama is working in the same kind of hostile environment that many mangers find themselves in,” says Jenkins. “There’
Perhaps the biggest burden is restoring trust.
Whom Do You Trust?
Trust is a key and basic component to any relationship weather on a personal or professional level. And trust, observes Jenkins, is in very short supply whether you are talking about doing business in the halls of government or on Main Street. “Executives and senior leaders are unclear themselves as to their own roles and to their own futures. In the meantime, beneath them, the do-ers’...the actual workforce itself...is functioning in a similar atmosphere of fear and powerlessness, suspicious of their leaders,” she says.
And why not? “Even in good times, most senior leaders...especially in large organizations...were hardly visible to the rank and file. With the exception of an annual corporate function or a disembodied video ‘town hall’ rah-rah session, leaders weren’t seen or heard. After decades of lay-low leadership, that self-protective style has trickled down to the workforce.
“It’s a sad state of affairs when an employee thinks, ‘If I stay under the radar I will not get fired or downsized.
Visible Trust
To combat this tendency, Jenkins encourages leaders and senior managers to take a page from the Obama leadership playbook. She notes that President Obama has been highly visible, talking ‘directly’
“I think the President understands the importance that putting a ‘human face’ on business can have,” observes Jenkins. “The seismic shift in our political and economic landscape has left everyone feeling lost and shell-shocked.”
The antidote will come from business leaders.
“Don’t hide in your office. Do not be afraid of talking with your staff honestly, alerting them to anticipated changes, and preparing them for continuous, unforeseen challenges, too,” says Jenkins. “With the economic downturn, with the middle management virtually being wiped away and millions of workers laid off, this old American Industrial churn and burn mentality leaves behind lots of psychologically disabled executives and employees.“
On the Horizon
Jenkins wonders what is happening in today’s corporate culture to address this situation. “How can companies regain the trust of senior leadership? How can leaders re-engage employees? What needs to happen in order to ‘clean up’ American business and get the economy striving again?”
Business schools may provide some of the answers. Jenkins hopes that academia will seize on the financial crisis as a prime "teachable moment" to educate the leaders who will steer business in the future. “I hope future executives are taught to cope with any eventuality to ensure long-term success rather than to make money with the short-sighted business plans that have led America into a devastating cycle of cataclysmic booms and busts.”
About Eva Jenkins
Eva Jenkins is an experienced business coach with more than two decades of success helping corporations and individuals. She utilizes a ‘total body’ approach to personal and professional success to help her clients achieve the balance required to function at peak potential. It is a purposeful integration of mind and body for optimum success. For more information, please contact (571) 247-5830.
