New language of leadership
A profound shift is taking place from predictive to non-predictive
demand - from push to pull economics. And if organizations are to adapt
to this, their leaders need to radically reassess their behaviour.
In today's challenging global economic marketplace, the investment
community is demanding more differentiated and sustainable solutions to
growth creation.
Underlying this demand, a profound shift is taking place within the
commercial environment that also requires radical reassessment of
leadership behaviour.
The shift in question is from predictive to non-predictive demand -
from push to pull economics and methodologies.
Push organisations tend to have a top-down design. They have
centralized controls and clear procedures. They are resource-centric and
efficiency-focussed and they restrict participation and involvement in
decision-making. Pull businesses - where the leadership recognize that
demand is highly uncertain - are demonstrably different.
They have an emergent design model, they are highly decentralised,
they promote independent initiatives are loosely coupled, modular,
people-centric and innovation-focussed and encourage open
decision-making.
But not only do they have a different design, they also have a
different language, one that replaces 'military' with 'human'.
Organizations
become organisms
Workforce becomes
talent marketplace
Divisions become
creative nets
Hierarchy becomes
community
Instructions become
tacit interactions
Procedures become ideas
Bullet points become
stories
Metrics becomes
dialogue
Winners and losers become interdependents
But just at the point that companies have to move from
resource-centric to people-centric, their people have a bad dose of
initiative fatigue and even worse, a deep-rooted cynicism.
So the 'new' language detailed above must not just be spoken, but
experienced.
Leaders must replace their faith in the latest guru with faith in
their own instincts and in their people. Fundamentally, to overcome the
cynicism and fatigue, leaders must replace their faith in the latest
guru with faith in their own instincts and in their people.
In this 'quiet revolution', actions speak louder than words. And the
leader's first action should be to ask two fundamental questions: who
are we and where are we going? What are our Values and what is our
Vision?
Within that Vision and Values framework, a leader can engage their
core team in defining the company's commercial purpose and key strategic
platforms that will lead to sustainable growth. But these actions,
fundamental as they are, are not the 'turnkey' to converting the company
from a 'push' to a 'pull' capability.
Instead, the answer to how we succeed in a non predictive environment
lies in the most non-predictive component of every business - its
people.
And the turnkey lies in a third question being asked - not by the
leader this time, but by every single individual in the organization of
themselves.
The third question is what is my value?
The question of individual value relates not to the generic,
commodity commercial experience but to the inherent, intrinsic, personal
quality that defines each of us uniquely.
By the act of this question being asked, the leader begins a process
that unleashes the human potential of the organization.
And by the fact that it matters to the business that each individual
defines their value, it demonstrates that this is not another
initiative; that this is not borrowed or ersatz.
This allows each individual to find out where they 'fit' -
independent of their role, title, function, department and division -
and provides the third and critical, 'holding pin'.
Ultimately, it creates alignment between Values, Value and Vision and
therefore between the growth of the individual and the growth of the
company.
In so doing, the leader liberates the human capital of the business
and answers the question the investment community has been asking
persistently. How do you create differentiated and sustainable growth in
an environment where demand is non predictive and where you have already
made all the cuts and efficiencies it is possible (or wise) to make?
Behavioural change of this significance does not come easily. It is
profound and once begun is a longterm commitment. There are three
distinctive phases leaders have to take their people through in order to
achieve their collective goals.
The first 'Alignment' phase can be ugly, but the company must be big
enough to sponsor criticism and give vent to emotions - otherwise there
is no legitimate progress possible. People have to get past the myriad
of frustrations or politics before being able to look forward.
They must be treated as adults with something of value to say right
from the start. The second 'Value' phase invites individuals to define
their personal Value in the terms described previously, and then to
share it with their peers in the form of a story.
This again helps to communicate complex issues; allows others to
identify with and give feedback to each individual; embraces emotion as
a resource to be valued within business; and brings 'the whole person'
into the work environment, not just the title.
It also allows the individual to 'hear' their own story and how
others interpret it. The complete process is powerful and motivating and
helps each individual 'lock -in' their Value with the company's Vision
and Values.
Finally, the 'Implications' phase moves beyond 'speech' to 'action'.
It is where 'individual accountability' is generated to a degree and
with an integrity that no annual goals and assessment program ever could
achieve.
This breeds the interdependency from which a new sense of
collaboration, unity of purpose and community are created. These are the
foundations of a 'pull' organism.
This in turn begins a process of 'influencing up'.
By taking responsibility for that which they can (rather than moaning
about it as they did in the past) individuals and teams then effectively
isolate those issues beyond their reach that are the responsibility of
their management to 'fix' - and so on up.
The issues that go 'up' the chain tend to be significant. The senior
managers cannot dodge the bullet as they have their own Value to deliver
and for once the 'political' conspiracy is a positive force.
The issues may be structural, procedural, hierarchical, resource,
skills and development, investment, competitive ideas etc, etc. In fact
all the issues that in the old and failing 'push' system, sowed the
seeds of discontent with employees and the investment community alike.
Which brings us back to leaders - to you, the person, the human being
reading this article.
You, if things have gone well, will have some of the toughest
questions to deal with from your own people, but from the analysts and
the investment community only the sound of applause as they wonder at
how you turned your company to one that thrives in these uncertain, non
predictive times.
And all in such a short time frame, in the face of unprecedented
competitive and society challenges and without a drop of blood being
spilled. Managment-issues.com |