As our society changes, so do the skills our business leaders need to succeed.

After World War II, our nation's male-dominated work force had lots of exposure to the military organizational structure. What emerged was a command-and-control mentality with matching gray flannel suits. This top-down leadership style worked for a few decades, until international competition forced changes. The workplace needed agility, creativity and problem-solving, not the inflexible strategic plans of command-and-control management.

By the mid-80s, technology was becoming deeply embedded in society while agility and speed-to-market emerged as important competitive traits. The demand for people who understood technology outpaced the supply, so in order to attract talent, employers became increasingly worker-friendly. Leadership stressed casual wear over flannel suits and participative management over command and control.

But the push for participation went too far, resulting in endless meetings where the process became more important than the output. The new leader was Mr. Casual, who always seemed to need more information, often postponing decisions until competitive advantages were lost.

As outsourcing gained momentum, our work groups shrank and job scopes grew. We worked longer hours in our jeans and sweatshirts, yet the organization still struggled as individual responsibility and accountability lagged behind growing job scopes. Exactly who was responsible for what? Quality suffered.

Leadership began to be defined exclusively as looking at the big picture, creating the strategic plan while never meddling in the operational details to implement the vision. The company sat there looking good but going nowhere, struggling with the same issues year after year, until foreign competition had nibbled its once-dominant market share into a Swiss cheese of nothingness.

Now things have changed again.

Today's leadership skills center around helping smaller work groups create new products and bring those products to market faster than ever before. The need for speed forces modern leaders to limit input to key individuals and make decisions in a timely fashion. Keeping teams lean, agile and increasingly productive are the main management challenges in a world of free-flowing information, overbuilt manufacturing capacity and cheap foreign labor.

The fast and small outperform the large and slow. This is a tough game to play, but here are some tips that can help you win:

• You must lead if someone is to follow. Great leaders are ethical, honest and hard-working employees. Yes, ethics do count, as does a sincere dedication to quality.

• Execution of the plan is everything. The big picture is important, but strong leaders train their workers in the tactics necessary to accomplish the vision. They know where the company needs to go - and how to get there.

• Innovation is paramount to long-term success. Creating a work environment where internally generated ideas increase productivity and product development is essential. Employees need to feel that their opinions are encouraged, listened to and considered.

• Let employees know what is expected of them. Expectations are the benchmarks against which we measure progress. If expectations are unclear, outcomes will be disappointing.

• Give employees the tools to do their work. We've all been there - high expectations, no resources. This is a very frustrating situation to be in. Good leaders involve employees in prioritizing the budget for productivity-enhancing tools.

• Match employees' talents to the job. The best leaders identify the natural abilities of their workers and put them in roles where those skills are needed.

• Give recognition or praise for doing good work. The best leaders give their work teams some sort of praise or recognition every month. This recognition isn't fluff, it's focused on clearly communicated performance outcomes and has the following characteristics: it's positive, it's immediate and it's specific.

Marty Schulz is a business counselor for Linn-Benton Community College's Business Development Center. He can be reached at 757-8944, ext. 5145, or marty.schulz@linnbenton.edu.