How to sequence an antidote for ailing leaders

Excerpts from BUSINESS on August 26, 2024 by Stephen Wyatt,

Traditional leadership approaches break down because we never truly know the future. Previously, with fewer factors in play and a slower rate of change, leaders could formulate confident forecasts and wait for confirmatory data. Now, delays come with significant penalties. Leaders can address the misalignment between the current leadership reality and traditional leadership practices with a simple formula.

Levels of trust in business, media, and government leaders remain low, but the fundamental function of leadership has not changed.

• Major shifts in systemic complexity, talent and expectation demand a new approach to leadership.

• The antidote to the leadership crisis can be expressed in four steps: adapt, ally,  aspire, accelerate.

Three-quarters of HR directors from major corporations believe their organizations lack the leadership needed for today’s challenges and the bench-depth for tomorrow.

Despite these issues, the fundamental function of leadership has not changed. The current crisis stems from a misalignment between today’s leadership context and the skills and mindsets that have traditionally shaped leadership practices. This misalignment can be corrected by acknowledging existing shortcomings, identifying necessary adjustments, and supporting leaders in evolving.

There are three dominant shifts that require distinctive adjustments in leadership practice and mindset:

#1. Engage with systemic complexity

Adapt

Leaders have always needed to balance working ‘on’ the business (reshaping and repositioning for the future) with working ‘in’ the business (achieving current results). Today, working ‘on’ the business is an almost constant requirement, not restricted to the annual planning cycle and strategy review.

Leaders need to be adaptive. In a dynamic and ever-changing context, forward-leaning leaders must adopt an experimenter’s mindset. They should make decisions that build momentum and create more options for the future, rather than setting out on a presumed correct path. Course-correction should be expected and celebrated; leaders must peer into the unknown, acknowledge uncertainty, and still take timely decisions to increase optionality and enhance adaptability.

#2. A new talent equation

Ally

The World Economic Forum forecasts that 6 out of 10 jobs will be changed due to new technology adoption by 2030. The talent market today is characterized by increased churn, languishing engagement, and reduced trust and loyalty. The multi-generational workforce highlights significant differences in attitudes toward work and career.

Today’s leaders need to form alliances within and beyond their teams. People come together as unique individuals, each playing a part in the alliance network for current initiatives. Roles do not define them. Today’s employee might be tonight’s social media critic or tomorrow’s investor. Individualism is increasing, and people want to be seen and embraced for who they are, not how they conform.

Leaders must appreciate that they are the minority. It is the leader’s job to lead, making themselves relatable and forming alliances with people “not like me.” Leaders should strive to ensure a positive experience for everyone, genuinely caring for those around them and providing flexibility within policies to equitably accommodate individual circumstances without compromising performance objectives.

#3. Broader expectations and greater scrutiny

Aspire

Today, an increasingly broad array of stakeholders expects leaders to be aware of and respond to their concerns. Leaders need to make decisions that move the enterprise forward positively, despite uncertainties and complexities.

Leaders who achieve positive impact have deep positive convictions and the courage to expose themselves to hostilities. While popularity can be gained by describing an attractive vision, effective delivery requires being anchored, authentic, and consistent. Personal aspiration motivates leaders, helps navigate uncertainty, reinforces resilience against criticism and setbacks, and fosters trust and followership.

Accelerate

Your time and energy are limited, so you need to learn faster. There’s a crisis of leadership, and you are the solution. Take ownership of your development and accelerate the development of others around you. Role-model humble curiosity and continuous learning. Demonstrate and build your capacity to be adaptive, to ally with others, and to pursue your aspirations with conviction and courage.

Leadership is in a crisis, but the antidote is known: Aspire, Ally, Adapt, Accelerate.