strategy report

Strategic flexibility …

The ability to shift from one dominant strategy to another

Ethics

Compliance-based

ethics programs

Integrity-based

ethics programs

Positive Organisational Behaviour - stems from philosophy of human thriving (the

‘good life’); includes mind and body; is dynamic

Increased risk of burn-out: Recognition that organisations (and their

success require) healthy, strong and capable people

Wellness – leading a life of purpose and quality connection to others; selfregard

and mastery … key is emotions

Employee assistance programs and activities such as mindfulness

Emotional literacy – anxiety, depression, mood surfing

Organisational Health - the organization is a mirror of the individuals working

within it

… a healthy leader is at the heart of a healthy organisation

Getting beyond the BS of leadership

literature…

. Build relationships, networks, connections

. Behave to be respected - not liked

. Learn, evolve and develop – yourself first

and then others

. Influence others – know & use the

techniques

Innovation

The ‘Machine’:

• Policy

• Practice

• Product/Service

• Process

Implementation

Approach Attitudes

What is a learning organisation?

A learning organisation is one “where people continually expand their capacity to

create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of

thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where

people are continually learning how to learn together” (Senge, 2006, p 3).

=> Creating & Coping

– Continuous learning and growing (change)

– Linking the individuals and the organisation as a whole

Link to

Strategic

Leaders

Learning organisations & the 5 principles

Concerns an organisation’s internal environment, focusing on people:

. Processes and procedures, job design;

. Training and development; and

. Selection

Enabled by following the 5 principles of learning organisations:

1. Personal mastery

2. Mental models

3. Building shared vision

4. Team learning

5. Systems thinking

Evaluation: Criticism of Senge’s approach

• Lacks a sound theoretical basis

• Impractical

• Unworkable in bureaucratic organisations

• Lacks connection to the external environment

• Lacks details and support

• Time

• Cost and opportunity cost

The role of organisational leaders in organisational learning

Resistance to change and the absence of effective leadership are

major reasons for why most transformation efforts fail.

• Effective change agents must:

• Make every effort to eliminate policies, procedures, and behaviors

that undermine the change efforts

• Be willing to alter his or her own behavior if it will minimize

resistance

• Be good listeners

How organisational leaders enable organisational learning

• Articulating a compelling reason for change

• Havingopen and regular communications

• Having a road map for implementation

• Havingtraining programs for required skills/competencies

• Forming a coalition of supporters and experts

• Staying the course in spite of perceived difficulties

• Recognizing and rewarding the contributions of others

• Carefully managing resources and priorities

• Keeping the process transparent

• Having a plan for dealing with resistance

Strategic Leaders

Definition:

Strategic leadership is the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility and

empower others to create strategic change as necessary

(Hanson et al., 2010).

Requires:

• Openness

• Managing through others

• Managing an entire enterprise rather than a functional sub-unit

• Coping with change

Personal values:

Evidence suggests top executives have a major effect on a firm’s culture.

Therefore, they impact on organisational activities and performance (Mayer,

Davis & Schoorman, 1995). An organisation’s culture can be a source of

competitive advantage Fiol (1991).

Strategic Leadership

Primary responsibilities:

• Conceptualize the organization’s vision, mission, and core values;

• Oversee the formulation of objectives, strategies, policies, and structures that

translate vision, mission, and core values into business decisions and hopefully

in turn, core competencies;

• Create an environment and culture for organizational learning and mutual

exchange between individuals and groups;

• Serve as ethical steward and role model for the rest; and

• Establish a balanced set of organisational controls.

Strategic leadership

Involves developing long term vision of the firm’s strategic

intent. (Long-term definitions differ – may mean 5-10

years).

• Requires adequate time to develop vision and framework

for implementation.

• Charisma helpful but not a requirement for successful

strategic leadership.

• Key is maintaining direction and structuring the firm

correctly to achieve the vision.

Hodgetts et al (2012)

Strategic Leaders

Transformational leadership is said to be the most effective style:

• Stimulate and inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the

good of the organisation to achieve extraordinary outcomes

• Strongly correlated with:

– lower turnover rates

– higher levels of productivity, employee satisfaction, creativity, goal

attainment and follower well-being

• Involves articulating a vision, breaking from the status quo, providing goals and

a plan, giving meaning or a purpose to goals.

Organisational profits should not be put

ahead of global issues eg, poverty and

climate change

• Developed a “greener business model” using

sustainably sourced materials in its

packaging, acting against deforestation and

ensuring all factories are “zero waste”.

Three ambitious goals aiming to reach by 2020:

1. helping more than a billion people across the

globe improve their health and well-being;

2. halving the environmental footprint of its

products; and

3. sourcing 100% of its agricultural raw

materials sustainably while enhancing the

livelihoods of those working across its supply

chain.

Unilever’s mission => a great place to work

“To achieve our company’s ambition of doubling the

size of our business whilst reducing our

environmental impact and increasing our

positive social impact, it is crucial that we build a

diverse and engaged workforce were everybody

can develop to his or her full potential. The

benefits of having a gender-balanced

organisation are plain to see; it helps power

creativity and innovation, deepens the talent

pool and allows us to better serve our diverse

consumer base.”

Paul Polman

Skill required for strategic leaders: Emotional intelligence (EQ)

The “innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize, remember,

describe, identify, learn from, manage, understand and explain

emotions” http://eqi.org/eidefs.htm

*Watch the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoLVo3snNA0*

EQ Research (Vidyarthi, Anand & Liden, 2014):

• leaders' emotional intelligence = ++ for employees' job performance.

• leader's emotional competence always influences employee's outcomes in a

positive manner, but the relationship is weaker when employees independently

work on their tasks because less direct and frequent contact between the

leader and employees