Focal Leadership

Leadership

The interim leader – a compelling context

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interim leader

An interim leader is one of the most valuable, yet unexploited, resources for building organizational health in the modern era. Diane Mulcahy describes the context for interim leadership in The Gig Economy: “Companies are taking previous full-time jobs and breaking them down into smaller projects or tasks to be automated, outsourced, or contracted out. It’s cheaper, more flexible, and more efficient to do so.” This broad premise is the context for interim or gig leaders. Interim leaders do more than just fill “jobs”, they assume significant leadership roles in growing organizations worldwide.

During the 1990’s, authors Charles Handy and William Bridges predicted changes to the world of work that are especially relevant to the rise of gig leaders. Consider Handy’s analogy of a doughnut in The Empty Raincoat. The doughnut comprises a central core of key employees and an outside hole comprised of portfolio workers who provide the ultimate in flexibility and effectiveness. In Handy’s earlier book, The Age of Unreason, he predicted a “shamrock organization, based around a core of essential executives and workers supported by outside contractors and part-time resources.” In Job Shift William Bridges states, “Work will not be contained in the familiar envelopes we call jobs”. He even uses the term “gig” when postulating that “the terms of work have been reframed away from positions and towards assignments or even gigs.” These doughnuts, shamrocks, and gigs shape the context for the advent of interim leadership.

Handy and Bridges’ vision can be seen today in the rise of the “gig economy”. A 2017 report on U.S. employment from Upwork and the Freelancers Union reveals that more than ever, professionals are choosing to freelance; in fact, up to 35% of the total U.S. workforce in 2017 were contract, freelance workers. According to the research paper The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015 (March 29th, 2016) published by Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger, “94% of net job growth in the past decade was in the alternative work category (non-permanent employment)”, and interim leaders are at the cutting edge of this trend in the world of work. In addition, human resource professionals observe a global shift over the last decade in demand for those who perform jobs focused on skills, rather than career paths. This is driven by organizational needs for speed and agility which fuel the increasing requirement to supplement the permanent workforce with other talented professionals. It is much faster, for example, to hire a contract worker than a permanent professional. In addition, new technologies and options for virtual work fuel these shifts in the workforce and the ways organizations and gig workers connect.

In Accelerate (XLR8), John Kotter paints a picture of the world of work: “The world is now changing at a rate at which the basic systems, structures, and cultures built over the past century cannot keep up with the demands being placed on them.” He discusses a constant organizational challenge related to this: “You find yourself going back again and again to the same small number of trusted people to lead key initiatives. That puts obvious limits on what can be done and at what speed.” One way in which Kotter suggests this challenge can be alleviated is to, “selectively hire people who see and appreciate the true turbulence you face.” This is an opportunity for interim leaders.

A 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends survey suggests, “As organizations become more digital, they face a growing imperative to redesign themselves to move faster, adapt more quickly, learn rapidly, and embrace dynamic career demands. Leading organizations are moving past the design phase to actively build this new organization.” Also, there is the impact of the attitude of millennials towards work that indicates a growing acceptance of the gig economy. Many millennials are confident about virtual employment, intent on making an impact throughout their careers, and eager to find an ideal work-life balance. As the twenty-first century progresses, the traditional working relationship between employer and employee is likely to keep transforming.

For more information, Rise of the Gig Leaders provides a detailed analysis of interim leadership. Please check-out the YouTube link as an introduction to the book https://youtu.be/iHMesdPFbro  

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!