Focal Leadership

Leadership

3 Dimensions of Savvy Leadership

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savvySavvy – shrewdness and practical knowledge; the ability to make good judgments

Defining great leadership is often less tangible than check marks against competency or value frameworks. The concept of savvy leaders is one that can be defined as simply, “leaders who get it”. Leaders who know how to navigate organizations, relationships, and cultures. Leaders whose decision making is sound and well-intentioned. Leaders who have a “je ne sais quoi” about them (a quality that cannot be easily described or defined).

 

Here are three dimensions of savvy leadership that make distinctive leaders:

Organizational
Organizations are complex and unique. They can be incredibly mature and have existed for more than 100 years, maybe metamorphosing on many occasions. Or they can be vibrant start-ups. Of course, there are variations in between.
Ronald Heifetz, Marty Linsky and Alexander Grashow discuss the subtleties of organizations in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: “To identify adaptive challenges confronting an organization, look beyond what people are saying about them. Listen to the song beneath the words.”
Leaders who “listen to the song beneath the words” have a profound organizational savvy about them. These leaders detect the ebbs and flows of an organization. They understand the pulse, the rhythm, and the direction of an organization. In their leading they have a passion and belief in the organization – to grow or change it.

Relational
Relational savvy is critical in leadership. Navigating through relationships with skill, sensitivity and selectivity is a core leadership capability.
Emotional intelligence is the heartbeat of relational savvy. Knowing oneself profoundly, understanding others in a deep way, and having an intuitive antenna to read context, are all part of being emotionally intelligent. Often the best leader is one who draws from his or her maturity, insight, and foresight to ensure that relationships support the mission and goals at hand, rather than undermine or damage them.
Demonstrating a collaborative, engaging, and curious mindset is a great way to build a rapport that leads to trust. Trust is a commodity that lies at the root of relationship savvy. Inspiring, believing in, and empowering others are all ways to develop trust. There is also a very personal element to trust and relationship savvy – leaders who show vulnerability, personal interest, and intentional purpose have a solid foundation for strong and meaningful relationships.

Cultural
How does a leader “read” the culture of an organization? “How things get done around here”, is a useful definition of culture.
Edgar Schein describes culture in Organizational Culture and Leadership as operating at three levels: artefacts, espoused values, and the deepest level of basic assumptions. It is important to understand the impact of artefacts, values, and assumptions in the way an organization operates, relationships are built, and work gets done. Schein expands his definition of culture as, “a multidimensional, multifaceted phenomenon, not easily reduced to a few major dimensions.” Leaders who have cultural savvy are truly skillful, connected, and effective.
Reading, imbibing, and interpreting culture are essential for a leader to navigate the nuances of daily decision making and relationship management. Being in touch with organizational tapestry and patterns ensures intelligent and insightful leadership behavior.

Savvy leadership may not be easily assessed in scientific ways, but it is observable – hence the need for leadership assessment to be a continual process and not just an aberration of talent management.

An integrated leadership development strategy

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integratedDesigning a leadership develop strategy is a great step forward in proactive stewardship of organizational talent. Integrating it into the operational and strategic infrastructure is a more intricate but essential task.
Developing leaders is never an isolated activity. Lying at the root of initiatives and programs is the “why”. This might seem obvious, but many organizations invest heavily in development, without following through with the multiple value-added essentials.
Probably the most obvious reason for leadership development is to enhance the capability of leaders to inspire, engage, and mobilize employees. Doing this better should enhance the performance and potential of the organization through its employee base. Sometimes the need to retain and attract good leaders is also a reason for providing development opportunities.
These reasons alone do not maximize the value of a leadership development strategy, no matter how well thought out and leading-edge it is.
There is the “so what” to consider when designing a leadership development strategy.
For example, do better developed leaders impact the organizational succession plan? They should do. A return on investment for developing leaders should be individuals who are accelerated and better-positioned to take on alternative, higher-value roles. Without integrating the outcomes of leadership development into succession management and talent management, a golden opportunity is missed to deliver rationale for the investment.
Integrating a leadership development strategy into the business strategy is also essential to gain maximum value. This means keeping the focus of the strategy relevant and current to the direction and values of the business. Many organizations simply get into a rut of repeating the same leadership programs repeatedly, without revitalizing them to be 100% relevant to the trajectory and priorities of the business. Investing in the design of leadership development programs is significant, allowing them to become detached from the business strategy and culture is irresponsible.
Another way in which a leadership development strategy can be integrated is to tie it to organizational design and development. As the design of the organization is adjusted to accommodate the business climate, strategic direction, and operational efficiencies, so the leadership development strategy needs to evolve accordingly. Rather than just responding to change, leadership development professionals can take a lead in the design of strategy by working with business strategists and planners to drive change. Flagship leadership development programs can be at the forefront of cultural and directional strategy.
Another aspect of integration is related to the content of the strategy. External SME’s, leaders as teachers, immersions, projects, coaching, off-sites, and personal learning, are all helpful elements for leadership development programs. Integrating these types of stimulating development activities ensures that learning is vibrant and impactful – provided the content and facilitation is first class!
Integrating a leadership development strategy into the organizational is more than just providing programs for leadership transitions or to address specific initiatives. It needs to be integrated by design and intention, with a constant focus on value and the future. Leadership development strategists prove their value by ensuring the development of leaders is core to an integrated business strategy.

Culture change is more than an event!

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dnaChanging an organizational culture is never achieved by only designing a creative event or workshop to inspire leadership of the desired change.

For some, the temptation of designing a culture change workshop and hoping that this carries momentum, is too enticing to resist. Effort is placed into designing innovative and high-impact activities that it is hoped will bring about transformation. Only too often, these high-cost and high-profile events deliver hype and not culture change.

In essence there is nothing wrong with culture change workshops, but these need to be considered as part of an integrated program that impacts the DNA of the organization for change to be lasting.

The model of changing culture provided by Connors and Smith in Change the Culture shows the deeply embedded activities that need to be considered, i.e. results, actions, beliefs, experiences.

When planning a culture change program, attention needs to be given to all parts of the organization. These include leadership, processes, and day-to-day practices. Starting from the top is always the most appropriate first step, given that leaders are ultimately accountable for the culture of the organization.

Leaders need to know “why” the culture needs to change. Without this beacon of purpose, culture change lacks meaning and impact. Embracing the reason for culture change is often triggered by the need for greater competitiveness, differentiation, diversification, or integration. Sometimes this occurs post-merger, or frequently to build cohesion following numerous acquisitions. It can be instigated to achieve business advantage or sometimes to address a high attrition rate. Whatever the reason, leaders need to have a passionate and authentic story to tell the organization and every stakeholder. Just to embark on a culture change program because it’s what many organizations are doing, is no reason to invest in this type of initiative.

Conducting assessments and reviewing organizational analytics are often part of a culture change program. These activities can be very helpful in understanding the data that lies at the root of why changes are necessary. They are possibly the easiest part of a culture change program. It’s not hard to inspect data. It is however much more challenging knowing what to do about it.

Leaders often need to change the way they communicate and lead in general. Most of all, leaders need to coach and engage employees in a manner that gains their trust, discretionary effort, and belief. When leaders lead well, employees are engaged. When employees are valued, rewarded, and empowered, the energy in an organization is palpable.

The best culture change programs are well thought out initiatives that span the whole organization and which also address the processes that underpin the operating model. The best laid plans need to be defined from the get-go, not incrementally defined as the process gathers momentum. Engaging employees from the inception of a culture change program, communicating openly, and investing in actions that do indeed speak louder than words, is a great combination for achieving culture change.

Culture is often defined as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization”. The emphasis of “shared” sets the tone for an integrated culture change program where everyone is involved, impacted, and inspired.

Leadership and making great decisions

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decisionsInability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure. John C. Maxwell

Analyzing critical qualities of leaders often invokes much debate. Decision-making is arguably near the very top of the list.

There are many things that characterize good decision-making; timing, justification, judgement, and outcomes, to name but a few. There are also many elements that lead to good decision-making; experience, collaboration, insight, and analysis. The many qualities that result in excellent decision-making appear to contain some intangibles, e.g. wisdom as well as knowledge, and intuition as well as understanding. But it is essential to consider this leadership trait as a learned quality as well as an innate one.

A case study highlighting the implications of decision-making

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2011, a White House commission blamed oil giant BP and its partners for a series of cost-cutting decisions and an inadequate safety system. In November 2012, BP plead guilty to the U.S. government on 11 counts of manslaughter, two misdemeanors and a felony count of lying to Congress. In July 2015, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion in fines, the largest corporate settlement in U.S. history. The neglect and poor decisions that led to the eventual spill may have been prevented if the company hadn’t ignored the warning signs that something was going wrong on the rig and had evaluated critical data better.

This example shows how leadership decision-making is critical, not just at executive levels. It also illustrates that the consequences of decision-making are rarely limited to the immediate timeline and persons. The environmental, personal, and financial fall-out to this disaster were far-reaching.

Developing decision-making skills

Developing leaders to become better-decision makers is a major challenge. Some of the ways that this can be achieved are:
• Secondment – experience in diverse organizational roles, e.g. international assignments. This broadens the exposure of leaders to other environments thus expanding knowledge and understanding, leading to more informed decision-making
• Mentoring – access to a more senior leader who can guide, advise, and recommend a leader in decision-making
• Shadowing – working alongside another leader in an unfamiliar role which adds learning and understanding to facilitate more informed decision-making
• Case studies – practicing decision-making using a classroom scenario and receiving feedback from experts on the quality of decision-making
• Projects – Tackling a specific assignment that requires collaboration and action to develop decision-making behaviors
• Learning – Expanding the cognitive and emotional intelligence of leaders through formal and informal learning to provoke more informed decision-making
• Methodologies – Establishing formal methodologies such as project management, change management, and strategic planning can all lead to better, more collaborative decision-making

Leadership development initiatives need to incorporate elements of the above to be effective. It is important to evaluate any investment in developing leaders as a bottom-line impact arising from better decision-making. A McKinsey report of January 2014 titled Why Leadership Development Programs Fail, highlights the need for context, real work, considering mindsets, and measuring results, as the best environment for building such initiatives.

Helpful development tools

Apart from the “activity-based” initiatives above, it can also be helpful to consider techniques in developing better decision-making. Chip & Dan Heath provide a helpful pneumonic in their book Decisive – How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (2013) …… WRAP.

• Widen Your Options – You encounter a choice. Narrow framing can make you miss options (unduly limiting the options considered)
• Reality-test Your Assumptions – You analyze your options. Confirmation bias can lead you to gather self-serving info (information that bolsters beliefs)
• Attain Distance Before Deciding – You make a choice. Short-term emotion can often tempt you to make the wrong one (being swayed by emotions that will fade)
• Prepare To Be Wrong – Live with it. You’ll often be over-confident about how the future will unfold (too much faith in our predictions)

Using a framework such as this to test decision-making can be a helpful exercise, especially as an objective balance to the instinctive or traditional ways decisions are made.

Benjamin Franklin had a model for decision-making which he called “Moral Algebra”:
• “Divide half a sheet of paper by a line into two columns, writing over the one Pro and over the other Con. Over the next three or four days, add factors to the two columns as they occur to you. Estimate the respective weights of each factor and where two, one on each side, appear equal – strike them both out. If a Pro equals two Cons, strike all three out – follow this pattern based on respective weights on either side. Find where the balance lies, and if nothing of further importance arises over the next day or two, come to a determination accordingly.”

Whilst Chip & Dan Heath’s model might appear broader in design, any model that enhances the quality of decision-making is helpful.

A leader’s ability to make empathetic, collaborative, and strategic decisions which positively impact their employees, organization, and all stakeholders, is one of the most critical qualities of great leadership. Investment in building this ability is time and money well spent!

Why character always matters in leadership

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characterCharacter is a much-debated aspect of leadership. There are many who consider exemplary character to be important for good leadership. There are also many who don’t care, as long as a leader is delivering results.

Let us consider the trajectory of each argument:

• Important: Leadership with an integral moral code based on integrity, honesty and transparency will develop a culture that reflects this. In fact, the whole argument concerning the importance of character is about outcomes. Leadership with these character traits requires followers to consider values, standards, and behavior as significant in the way results are achieved.

• Not important: Leadership that considers a good and upright character as optional, will encourage followers who regard the end as always justifying the means. Values, morals, or methods do not matter. By definition, this type of leadership will develop an “anything goes” type of culture.

An interesting case study is the recent scandal consuming the Australian cricket team. Leaders decided that cheating is ok in the pursuit of success. A culture of spitefulness, abuse, and aggression develops in that sort of environment, or maybe this culture spawned cheating as an acceptable strategy. Not that all other national teams are paragons of virtue – far from it! Has the need to win at all costs resulted in the death of good sporting behavior? Thankfully there are still leaders in the sporting world who maintain a virtuous character.

Politics is a murky world that I’d rather not delve into too much. But leaders who lie, deceive, and besmirch, rather than show a passion for truth, integrity, and praise, do not endear themselves to many. Maybe that’s why voting often seems to be either, (a) the lesser of evils, or (b) policy regardless of leader.

In the business world, the character of leaders has the potential to impact many. Not only members of the leadership team, but all employees, customers, and suppliers. Leaders of good character will encourage a good culture. These leaders develop a way of working and relating that has a moral foundation. Those who interact with these leaders get to know and understand their basis of operating. Recruitment of new employees requires a standard based on good character, not just competence.

Character isn’t just a moral consideration. Character is also defined by how people serve, speak, and show-up. Character can be described as personality, pedigree, or practice. It is the “whole person”, not just what a leader does or achieves. Character is rarely aligned with charisma but is often associated with caliber.

There are many examples of leadership character being excused when results are good. It takes a lot of courage to challenge character even when results are outstanding. Thankfully, there are also examples of organizations where character is paramount in the way results are achieved.

Bringing the spotlight onto character cannot simply be achieved by adopting a competency model or defining a set of organizational values. Although both are excellent. When leaders of character are promoted, honored, and rewarded, organizations and everyone connected with them benefit. Keeping the focus on character will ensure high caliber leaders in the 21st century.