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LEADERSHIP

The new drivers of leadership Pierre Casse sets out what leaders must do to make a difference in today's "turnaround world"

"T he luorld we are getting into is new. What's new?"

Anonymous

"Turnaround world? It has always been a turnaround world!" Anonymous - i.: • > .- - • .

As a result of my dealings with hundreds of executives from many different sectors, I conclude that, in order to perform and enjoy in today's fast changing business world, leaders must consider three critical requirements.

Firstly, they must have a good grasp of the leadership fundamentals. In other words, they must understand the basic requirements of leadership practice, such as the ability to: • provide a clear direction to those with whom

they collaborate • mobilise their people by focusing on selected

key priorities • transform ideas into actions • co-ordinate appropriate actions to generate

tangible results.

Furthermore, they must also appreciate the following three key dimensions of leadership: • leading oneself- the ability to be an effective

role model • leading the team - the ability to help people

in a team to achieve together what they would have been unable to achieve alone

• leading the organisation - the ability to move the organisation forward while making sure continued performance improvement is beneficial to all those involved, as well as to the wider society.

Secondly, leaders must understand that different roles within the organisation require different ways of thinking and behaving. For instance, the leadership requirements at the top of the organisation are not the same as those required in the field. Leaders at board level will need to take a more strategic perspective and focus more on the long term, whereas leaders in the field must necessarily be more short-term focused.

Moreover, the leadership requirements will differ from one function to another and this will inevitably be a determining factor in how people perform as leaders. To illustrate, leaders in the finance function wül arguably require greater proficiency in their analytical and computational skills than those leaders in marketing, who will need a level of intuition more finely tuned to trends in customer preference. The point is that, while there wUl be overlap in some leadership requirements, there will also be function-specific ones to consider.

Thirdly, my research shows clearly that the leadership fundamentals also comprise the following four key drivers: • idea The ability to project oneself into the

future and anticipate what would be necessary to improve on what currently exists

The nature of the situation in which leaders find themselves today requires a step beyond the traditional

February 2014 TJ

LEADERSHIP

Stimulating others' views and actions

Setting up clear objectives

Avoiding procrastination or delay

Questioning the way things are done

Not taking anything for granted

Being selective in choosing my options

Moving things around

Adapting myself to evolving situations

Concentrating my actions on what can make the difference

Communicating with passion

Checking my assumptions from time to time

Responding quickly to opportunities

Avoiding being side-tracked

Appreciating healthy competition

Exploring new ways to get things done

Overriding others in implementation

Looking for quick wins

Getting people excited about new projects

Acting first and thinking next

Disagreeing with others openly and, when needed, forcefully

• process The abihty to organise scarce resources so that ideas can be released effectively and efficiently

• people The ability to generate commitment and engagement among others around ideas, strategies and action plans

• action The ability to transform ideas, strategies and plans into concrete results.

The point that I am trying to make is that the traditional leadership fundamentals are no longer sufficient. Tbe nature of the situation in which leaders find themselves today requires a step beyond the traditional. There are specific leadership requirements more appropriate for the modern era that we must not ignore.

Driver 1

Driver 2

Driver 3

Driver 4

Before highlighting some of the 'new' leadership drivers, I would like you to go through the self- assessment exercise set out on the left, tabulate the results as advised and consider the de-brief, which will explain the potential implications of the results.

A leadersbip self-assessment exercise Please choose in each pair of items, in the boxes above left and right, the one that you think is quite typical of you at work (ie which one you prefer whue working). You will decide at the end whether or not the outcome makes sense for you.

Then, in the table bottom left, circle the numbers you have chosen, add up the number of circles for each driver and record this in the box in the column on the right. The higher the score, the more comfortable you are with that driver.

De-brief Driver one - energy "The energy of the mina Aristotle

is the essence of life"

The rationale underlying the 'energy' driver is that dealing with the challenges that abound in today's world requires a high level of energy. This driver is all about the ability to cope with adverse conditions. It suggests the ability to stand up and fight for one's ideas and values. It is an indication of the extent of one's stamina and the ability to mobilise one's own personal resources in order to persevere and overcome resistance in the pursuit of one's beliefs.

Reflect on your score for driver one. Do you think it is a fair reflection of your current predisposition with respect to the 'energy' driver?

Driver two - focus "The sun's rays do not burn until brought to focus" A G B e U

The second driver is about 'focus'. In a turnaround world full of unexpected surprises and demands, leaders must be able to prioritise and, in so doing, focus on what is important at the moment in question. Since leaders must allocate resources that are scarce, they must focus their attention on the pertinent and avoid inhibiting distractions.

Reflect on your score for driver two and ask yourself how good you are at selecting and focusing on that which is critical for success.

Driver three - speed "In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed" R W Emerson

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The third driver is 'speed'. In a world in which change is rapid and accelerating, leaders must be able to implement key actions quickly. This is not to say that leaders must be able to get everything done at break-neck speed but, certainly, the ability to make progress in vital areas without delay is a key leadership success factor.

When launching a project, leaders must be decisive and have a clear idea of the pace with which the plan should be executed.

Looking to tbe leadersbip researcb, tbe following findings are clear: • time pressure can be a condition for ensuring

high quality results provided the pressure is not unmanageable and becomes counter-productive

• high achievers are people who enjoy working to tight deadlines provided they have freedom over the way in which they design and organise their work

• everything cannot be urgent! Leaders must decide on what is critical. Leaders who claim that aU projects and actions are critical, and should be implemented at bigb speed, soon lose their credibility.

Reflect on your score for driver three. Is it in line with the perception that you have of yourself? What could it mean for you as a leader?

Driver 4 - cballenge "A powerful idea communicates some of its strength to him who challenges it" . . M Proust

The fourth driver is 'challenge'. Leaders who make a real impact are usually those who refuse to accept the status quo. Such leaders are careful not to take anything for granted; they challenge our assumptions and provoke us out of our complacency.

Challenging leaders are those who can use different reference points when looking at a situation. They continually question and probe to generate numerous potential options to problems at hand.

Reflect on your score for driver four. As you do so, consider the following questions. How good are you at: • accepting new and innovative ways of looking at

the problems with which you are faced? • recruiting people who think very differently

to you? • taking risks by listening to tbose proposals tbat

may, at first sigbt, look esoteric and unsound?

Enjoying moving at a fast pace

Mobilising people around some key tasks

Initiating lively discussions

Always iooking for better ways to get things done

Being quick at solving problems

Accepting and exploiting conflicts

Achieving and then moving on

inspiring people's imagination

investing time and effort in well-selected actions

Avoiding consensus and compromise

Leading by objectives

Getting bored with repetitive actions

Leading with stamina

Separating what's critical from what's trivial

Getting people to take initiative

Criticising traditional ways of performing

Avoiding the wait-and-see position

Making critical choices

Enjoying work pressure (up to a point)

Resenting any form of conditioning

Some leadership implications The four drivers that I have outlined in tbis article imply that, in order to prove effective, leaders must make special efforts in the management of their teams, organisations and even countries. In doing so, they must bear in mind some implications wben deciding on what they must do to ensure success.

Create a top team able to activate the four drivers, in the right way and at the right time Leaders in close collaboration with the executive in charge must prove complementary. They must have the ability to look at any situation from the perspective of the four drivers and ask:

ders who make a real act are usually those refuse to accept the ^ quo

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LEADERSHIP

Professor Pierre Casse is professor of leadership at the Moscow School of Management- Skolkovo. He can be contacted via www. skolkovo.ru

• do we have the required stamina to face the problems at hand or to take advantage of the existing opportunities?

• are we able to choose from all the options the ones that will really make a difference?

• how good are we at moving fast in some key areas and making it happen before anybody else does?

• do we have the courage to question our own perceptions and decisions while everything is telling us that we are right?

The organisational leader will also have to manage the top team in such a way that the confrontations and contradictions between the drivers are a source of synergy, not destruction.

Create a corporate culture that is conducive to using the four drivers This implies that the organisation's value system must support and promote the application of the four drivers. People should feel comfortable with ambiguity, paradox and contradiction. Corporate key players will have to understand that the traditional decision making based on 'either/or' is over. They wiU have to accept that the right way to decide is now characterised by an 'either/and' approach!

This is not going to be easy to do. Many people will resist the use of the four drivers and feel extremely iU at ease with the new behaviours.

However, generating buy-in will require a systematic approach from top leaders of which the most important component wiU be acting as a role model.

Assess the validity of the four drivers as well as their effectiveness overall and in specific situations There is also a need for leaders to continually review and assess the validity and effectiveness of the four drivers. In fact, in some situations there is a good chance that the reverse of what is recommended in this article could be more relevant and effective. For instance: • to shoot for different objectives simultaneously

to increase the probability that one will prove to be the right one

• to let others take the big risk may prove wiser in some highly competitive situations

• to decrease the energy level and release collaborators so that they get the chance to grow from their own experiences

• to stop challenging the existing situation and just move with what we have can be the best way to succeed in some circumstances.

Conclusions The best leadership models are those that leaders themselves invent. Having said that, leaders can, of course, find inspiration from other executives, academics and from the results of research in the field. Nevertheless, the best route to success for any person in a leadership position is to come up with the mind-sets and behaviours that will provide a good match between the individual leader and the requirements of the situation in which he may find himself

This implies that the leader will need the ability to: • know himself in terms of strengths

and weaknesses • make a diagnosis of the situation in which he

finds himself, in terms of the requirements for success

• understand and measure the impact of his own behaviours on the situation at hand.

Any diagnosis should then ideally lead to some decisions regarding the leadership behaviour that has been employed. The leader must determine whether the behaviour is effective and, if not, how it might be improved. TJ

TJ February 2014 ..trainingjournal.com

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