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Leadership Relevant to Today's Followers
Leadership is an evolving concept and increasingly relates to vision and the 'meaning' needs of followers. What are the triggers which have contributed to this shift? In 1994 House and Podsakoff summarised the behaviors and approaches of "outstanding leaders" that they had obtained from some of the more modern theories and research findings. I am keen to share this research because I believe that it demonstrates what people are really looking for and need from those who dare to say that they are leaders. The attributes or "styles" cover: 1.Vision. They articulate a sense of purpose, which strikes a note of truth and acknowledgement with peoples deeply-held values and beliefs. Often there is a focus on the future which describes a better situation or set of circumstances. 2.Passion and Self-Sacrifice. They display a passion for, and have a strong conviction of, what they regard as the rightness of their purpose. As a consequence, they can engage in outstanding or extraordinary behavior and make remarkable self-sacrifices in the interest of achieving it. 3.Confidence, Determination, and Persistence. Outstanding examples display a high degree of faith in themselves and great confidence that they will achieve their goal, purpose or mission. They often have a high degree of self-confidence and moral conviction because their vision usually challenges the status quo and, therefore, may offend those who have a stake in preserving the established order. 
4.Image-Building. As outstanding role models, they are aware of their own image. They recognize the necessity of people seeing them as competent, credible, and trustworthy. 5.Role-modeling. Image awareness results in effective role-modeling because people identify with their values and adopt some of their aims and objectives. 6.External Representation. They act as spokespersons for their organizations and symbolically represent those organizations to external groups. 7.Expectations of and Confidence in Followers. They have expectations of high performance from their people and consistently communicate this confidence, along with a strong belief in peoples' ability to achieve high performance. 8.Selective Motivation. They arouse the motivation to complete the mission in those who follow them. 9.Frame alignment. To persuade the people to accept and implement change, they engage in "frame alignment". This means that they link peoples' interests, values, and beliefs, to those of both themselves and the organisation - so that the activities, goals, and beliefs of both become alligned and complementary. 10.Inspirational Communication. They often, but not always, communicate their message in an inspirational manner using vivid stories, slogans, symbols, and ceremonies. Research has also shown that organisations are experiencing a change in the approach to leadership over the past five years. New approaches emphasise collaboration not competition.
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