Leadership Development
On 15th November we held an interactive seminar in the City of London to explore how to develop the leadership capacity needed to work through the enormous global challenges faced by companies, public sector organisations and society as a whole. Our thinking was prompted by the well known quote from Albert Einstein:
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein
In the same way; we will not solve the leadership challenges of the future with the same kind of leadership that created them and that means our approaches to developing leadership must also change.
What are the challenges for leadership in the future?
We prompted the discussion by identifying some of the key future challenges and built on these through our discussions to generate the following:
- 7 billion people and growing; with significant geographic shifts in global population
- Climate change and sustainability
- Shifts in the centres of economic and political power; the Asian century and the growth in Latin America
- Networked society; less boundaried systems – creating change in the nature of organisations and they ways in which people interact
- Economic turbulence; increasing uncertainty; a more volatile world. Possibly a move from the prevailing European model for the role of government
- Generational interaction; Gen Y and Millennials having a different attitudes to power and authority
- Increasing focus on “me” rather than “us” and we”
What do we understand by leadership and how is this thinking evolving?
We explored the essential elements of leadership as the relationships between leader(s), purpose(s) and followers. These are shaped by each other; energise and are energised by each other. It is not simply about position or formal authority but about taking leadership in the moment; acting from a commitment to purpose and a connection to others.
Purpose draws out the leaders as well as leaders finding their purpose; the key is the link to their underlying beliefs, motivations and commitments. It is increasingly important for people who take leadership to be clear and authentic about what they are committed to; what is the change they want to make happen and why. Leaders are often those who articulate a purpose or vision which others can identify with become engaged with.
It also emphasises the significance of personal values; that people are clear what they believe in and stand for. Shared values are part of the relationship between those taking leadership and those that are prepared to follow and there needs to be some alignment in belief and commitment. We discussed the power of drawing these out from people rather than trying to impose them from outside and the challenge that may arise if values are quite different.
Leadership also flows between people and is not vested in any one individual. There is an increasing focus on collective leadership and the role of leadership teams. Often people work in partnership across networks of relationships as a result of flatter structures, e-enablement and also working across organisation boundaries on a shared endeavour. This means people flow from followership to leadership and back; creating reciprocal leadership. These networks extend beyond organisations and people taking leadership are often working in the spaces between rather within.
It was noted though that if the days of the hero leader are gone in practice it still lives on in the minds of many in organisations and the media; the search for someone to offer the glib solutions in uncertain times. In practice leaders may be responsible for more but can control less and they need to develop an ability to see the patterns of interaction and understand how their actions and behaviour can influence change.
Key roles of leadership are to articulate, orchestrate, resource, develop and energise.
What might this mean for leadership development in future?
The world has spent many millions on leadership development in recent years but some recently published research from DDI suggests that only 1 in 3 leaders and their HR teams believe this has been highly effective. We wonder if this is because much of this investment is based on a limited understanding of the nature of leadership and the best ways to develop it. Some of the things we believe are important include a focus on:
- Growing the capacity to lead in the future, with an awareness of the different challenges this may involve
- The shift from leader to leadership development; engaging communities and teams of leaders, preferably as they are working on real business challenges
- Systemic insight; understand the opportunities and limits for action
- Reflective learning; excellence science offers insights on the need for relentless experiments; feedback and new stretch objectives. In a collaborative world this needs to be applied to collective learning
- Leaders growing leadership in others; increase their capacity for coaching and developing others
- Stepping beyond boundaries and involving others e.g customers, partners and the wider community
- A deep consideration of the person; nurturing and drawing out individual values and passions as well as uncovering their assumptions and challenging those that limit them; helping people unlearn as they develop
This means customised learning designs, combining different approaches that include a strong connection between development and current work set in the context of the challenges for leadership in the future.
View Seminar Slide Deck
