A few years ago, I worked with a group of executives with a major consumer products company in Australia. As we started our planning activities I noted an interesting group trait that needed addressing before we could move on to more productive work. Whenever we would finish a session with an agreement, the individual members would leave and discuss matters again over dinner or in their offices. Sometimes the discussions were calm and rational, other times they were heated. The next morning however it seemed we were right back where we had started the previous day.

After a couple of team activities, a graphic demonstration of how much even 24-hour delays in decision making cost the company and an interesting visual tool to remind everyone of their commitments, the issued was resolved. The incident brought home to me that leaders need to be team builders and team players. They need to develop followers' skills as well as leaders' skills. Collaboration, influence and concensus are becoming more and more important to successful business results, bucking an almost 100-year tradition of heirarchy. The results of recent studies reveal that I'm not the only one thinking so.

The Center for Creative Leadership has released the findings of it's "What's Next? The Changing Nature of Leadership 2007" survey. Chief among the results are suggestions from global business leaders that talent acquisition and development rank among the top issues keeping leaders awake at night, with a large percentage fearing that there will be a major talent shortage in the next 5 years.

Collaboration skills, change leadership, team building (local and across boundaries) and influence without authority are described as the top new skills leaders must have to remain effective. And the requirement for leaders to develop these skills has led to a shift in how they believe their performance should be judged - away from a short-term individualistic approach to a more long-term team development approach.

It will be interesting to work with people placed in leadership positions over the next several years to see if this new mindset results in real change. I'll be doing my best to help it along.

To see the full results of the CCL survey, click here.