The Working Week 63 with Sean Weafer

In today's business world, it's time to put an end to "suit" thinking and embrace "rebel" thinking. So says Wayne's guest on the Working Week this week, coach and mentor, Sean Weafer.

Sean is (among many others things), a founder member and an Honorary Vice President of the Association for Coaching, based in London. He is currently working on a new book, Rebel in a Business Suit.

The old ways of business leadership are changing, Seam explains, and leaders need help. We are moving away from the old age energies (competition, dominance, power through intimidation or subjugation, the cult of the 'self') which have served to develop our physical and mental powers through technology to a new age of energies (connection, co-operation, power through collaboration and the global community) which are about our growth as individuals and communities.

What this means in the workplace is that tech-savvy knowledge workers are no longer responding to 'command and control' management. They are looking for more meaning and purpose in their work and not just a job. They have less interest in security than in personal mobility. And jobs are no longer jobs – they are contracts.

This change in values has brought a revolution to the modern workplace. Today's employees are rebels looking for networking, collaboration, appreciation and communication - and so managers need to change the way they operate in order to connect with and engage them.

Rather than the hierarchy-led process of the suit era, management must increasingly be about the exercise of "soft" power - communication, networking, collaboration and persuasion. It's about developing emotional equity – collaboration and co-creation – in order to build engagement.

Listen to the podcast to find out more and discover some practical steps that organisations can take to meet this challenge.

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