ARTICLE The 10 leadership practices for highly capable change leadership Leaders are much defined and discussed, normally based on our own personal experiences of what personality and style works for each of us. Although this is interesting, it is not particularly helpful for developing the practice of leadership, specifically those practices required for the leadership of change. Organisations in any sector face significant leadership challenges if they are going to remain viable in a constantly changing world. Unfortunately, how to lead people through change is still not a common topic for management learning and development programmes. Outlined below are 10 change leadership practices which, when developed and deployed, aim to guarantee sustainable organisational performance and excellence. They have been identified following extensive global research and consultancy, captured in my book Developing Change Leaders. The 10 leadership practices for highly capable change leadership Change leadership is the ability to translate purpose and strategy into reality for people, and to respond to this constant movement over time, thereby maintaining performance and remaining competitive. Leaders are required to be open to progressing their learning (for themselves and their colleagues) and remain agile as the world moves around them. Leaders are required to build clocks and tell the time! There are three change leadership channels which are constantly open to leadership practice, and through which leaders define purpose which influences strategy and culture, leading to directed action in their workplaces. The 10 universal change leadership practices are grouped under these channels of PREDICTING, IMPLEMENTING and EMBEDDING change. PREDICTING change - the ability to access the personal and business environment which informs leadership thoughts, being and actions The firm s strategy during change will depend on the quality of its leaders thinking processes, whilst its practices and policies will be reflected in how leaders are acting with their workforce to secure new ways of working in response to change. Most importantly, how leaders are with their staff, or their being, will determine the personality of the organisation, as demonstrated through the workplace culture and therefore the quality and effectiveness of the service provided to customers and citizens. Leadership practices for PREDICTING change: PRACTICE ONE - Future sense-making combined with strategic thinking Change leaders are required to keep up-to-date with their operating environment; to look out for the emerging trends in their products, services and leadership or other profession, their stakeholder environment and workforce/customer demographics - so as to innovate workplace practices and service operations. Copyright The Leadership Trust 2010 1
This form of collective leadership produced the Apple iphone. PRACTICE TWO Become a cocreator of a learning culture A formula has been adapted from Good to Great companies (Collins, 2001) and advises leaders to continuously re-visit the following three key intersecting business questions through dialogue with each other and their workforce. What can a firm be best in the world at? IMPLEMENTING change: - the ability to make something happen, which constantly adapts and upgrades culture and performance Leadership practices for IMPLEMENTING change: How can its economics work best and most rewardingly for all? What best ignites the passion of its people? This led to Warren Buffet s long-term business partnership and his simple life. PRATICE THREE - Develop mindfulness using three capacities for change leadership decision making When leaders are faced with complex, ambiguous, intractable, or business defining issues or circumstances they are advised to reflect, seek counsel from those with conflicting views and wait for critical events to unfold before making decisions which will have a long-term impact on the organisation. This led to the Obama team s health care reform bill. PRACTICE FOUR - Emotional Intelligence The leadership ability to connect with the fears, hopes, anxieties, dreams and potential of their employees, whilst also setting clear boundaries and expectations, will determine the level of emotional resilience to change and personal commitment to the organisation and continuous self-driven learning. This led to The Leadership Trust. PRACTICE FIVE - Access broadband capability from across the leadership membership Continuing to draw on the knowledge, experience, insights and ideas from across the organisation s leadership, by closely connecting the senior management team to client facing delivery teams, is the key to identifying actions which will lead to success. This led to Nokia s move from primary to hi-tech production. PRACTICE SIX - Develop transcultural competence Ensuring that leaders both understand their own personal values and also value values diversity and can relate to and connect with people from all parts of the business and community. This led to HSBC weathering the financial services global storm. PRACTICE SEVEN - Develop one to many dialogue skills; action learning, facilitation, mediation and process consulting The ability to use learning to solve real business issues, draw out ideas for improving workplace practices, run effective group communication The Leadership Trust 2010 2
sessions, resolve conflict and ask critical questions which challenge and provide solutions for enhancing the organisation s current modus operandi. This led to GB Cycling s prowess. EMBEDDING change - the ability to make improvement gains stick over time given the constant swirl and noise of change Leadership practices for EMBEDDING change: PRACTICE EIGHT - Develop total leadership Leaders are always in the spotlight and represent the reputation of the organisation at all times. Being aware of how your leadership is played out individually and collectively in both your business and private life will lead to consistent and authentic leadership. Role modelling the changes in behaviour you wish others to make, combined with aligned informal and formal communication channels, is necessary for sustaining the changes required. This led to the demise of many well known leadership personalities! PRACTICE NINE - Develop one-to-one relational skills; coaching and mentoring Change happens one conversation at a time! Being coached/mentored and coaching/mentoring others promotes and facilitates adaptation to changing circumstances and provides reinforcement of the changes made. It also produces emotional resilience to change for the giver. This led to many examples of exceptional leadership development relationships throughout history PRACTICE TEN - High quality performance challenge culture and dialogue Developing a culture where everyday performance conversation feels normal, and where specificity and frankness about what is and is not working well is welcomed, will lead to many small improvement gains that do not necessitate or rely on big bang change. A no surprises culture also allows people to prepare for changes which will suit them better. This will lead to more sustainable improvement, talent growth and reductions in grief emanating from a world of insecurity around performance and employment! Added together, the 10 change leadership practices described above will ensure the organisation sustains its business excellence over time. Leadership challenges, habits and myths Commentators are pretty much agreed that at no time in recent memory have leaders faced greater challenges, including the legitimacy of and belief in leadership itself. In fact a recent survey found confidence in leaders hurtling to a ten year low. This at a juncture when a return to a tough economic climate brings new urgency to longstanding concerns about the way organisations are run, for whose benefit and with what impact on society and the planet. This is combined with unprecedented competition and scarce resources, changes in governance regulation and wider non-financial corporate performance indicators, the transparency effect of technology and the service expectations of customers and citizens. All these factors mean that The Leadership Trust 2010 3
the 10 leadership practices for highly capable change leadership are more important than ever. Organisations today are typically grappling with: The challenge of complexity - business, people, technology. The habit of leadership not being well engrained, ie insufficient time is spent on leadership activities, for example strategy making and future planning. The myth of the strong leader. Certainly, leadership will not be going away in a hurry. But the challenges are too onerous for a single leader. We will need a mindset shift from individual (group based) management to collective (team based) leadership. A values led leadership culture Creating and sustaining a healthy and vibrant organisation which can both initiate and sustain business improvement change long before the competition or administrators are brought in requires a values led leadership culture which generates a learning to be best learning to be different workplace culture. people. After all, 80% of a workplace culture is shaped by demonstrable leadership culture. As these signals spread through the workplace, employees pick up on what it both feels like to work around here and what their priorities are their workplace culture. And we know from research that 60% of an organisation s performance is accounted for by the nature of its workplace culture. Dr Paul Aitken The Centre for Applied Leadership Research A fuller version of this article is available. Please contact Dr Paul Aitken at The Centre for Applied Leadership Research (+ 44 (0)1989 760705) if you would like to receive a copy. Please also contact Dr Aitken if you would like to discuss how this material can be used to create or contribute to your leadership development programmes. This begins with the personal culture of the leadership, ie anyone who influences people significantly, not just those with the indicative leadership job titles. Their personal culture consists of their everyday observed behaviour and emotions, driven by the personal values which motivate them to act and decide in certain ways together defining and expressing what they truly value. The greater the degree of values alignment amongst these people and with their workforce, the more clearly defined and strongly enacted the leadership culture will be, thereby increasing the capacity to send amplified change signals through values resonant communication and example setting which connects The Leadership Trust 2010 4
The Leadership Trust Weston-under-Penyard Ross-on-Wye Herefordshire HR9 7YH T 01989 767667 F 01989 768133 E enquiries@leadership.org.uk W leadership.org.uk Copyright The Leadership Trust 2010 5