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The Leadership Trust 2010 2

This form of collective leadership

produced the Apple iPhone.

PRACTICE TWO Become a co-creator of a learning culture

A formula has been adapted from Goodto Great companies (Collins, 2001) andadvises leaders to continuously re-visitthe following three key intersectingbusiness questions through dialoguewith each other and their workforce.What can a firm be best in the world at?

How can its economics work best and

most rewardingly for all?

What best ignites the passion of itspeople?

This led to Warren Buffets long-termbusiness partnership and his simplelife.

PRATICE THREE- Developmindfulness using three capacities forchange leadership decision making

When leaders are faced with complex,

ambiguous, intractable, or businessdefining issues or circumstances theyare advised to reflect, seek counsel fromthose with conflicting views and wait forcritical events to unfold before makingdecisions which will have a long-termimpact on the organisation.This led to the Obama teams healthcare reform bill.

PRACTICE FOUR- EmotionalIntelligence

The leadership ability to connect with

the fears, hopes, anxieties, dreams andpotential of their employees, whilst alsosetting clear boundaries andexpectations, will determine the level ofemotional resilience to change andpersonal commitment to theorganisation and continuous self-drivenlearning.

This led to The Leadership Trust.

IMPLEMENTINGchange: - the ability to

make something happen, whichconstantly adapts and upgrades cultureand performance

Leadership practices forIMPLEMENTINGchange:

PRACTICE FIVE- Access broadbandcapability from across the leadershipmembership

Continuing to draw on the knowledge,experience, insights and ideas fromacross the organisations leadership, byclosely connecting the seniormanagement team to client facingdelivery teams, is the key to identifyingactions which will lead to success.

This led to Nokias move from primary tohi-tech production.

PRACTICE SIX- Develop trans-cultural competence

Ensuring that leaders both understandtheir own personal values and alsovalue values diversity and can relate toand connect with people from all parts ofthe business and community.

This led to HSBC weathering thefinancial services global storm.

PRACTICE SEVEN- Develop one tomany dialogue skills; action learning,facilitation, mediation and processconsulting

The ability to use learning to solve realbusiness issues, draw out ideas forimproving workplace practices, runeffective group communication


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sessions, resolve conflict and ask critical

questions which challenge and providesolutions for enhancing theorganisations current modus operandi.This led to GB Cyclings prowess.

EMBEDDINGchange - the ability tomake improvement gains stick over timegiven the constant swirl and noiseof change

Leadership practices for EMBEDDINGchange:

PRACTICE EIGHT- Develop totalleadership

Leaders are always in the spotlight andrepresent the reputation of theorganisation at all times. Being aware ofhow your leadership is played out

individually and collectively in both yourbusiness and private life will lead toconsistent and authentic leadership.Role modelling the changes inbehaviour you wish others to make,combined with aligned informal andformal communication channels, isnecessary for sustaining the changesrequired.

This led to the demise of many wellknown leadership personalities!

PRACTICE NINE- Develop one-to-one

relational skills; coaching and mentoring

Change happens one conversation at atime! Being coached/mentored andcoaching/mentoring others promotesand facilitates adaptation to changingcircumstances and providesreinforcement of the changes made. Italso produces emotional resilience tochange for the giver.

This led to many examples of

exceptional leadership developmentrelationships throughout history

PRACTICE TEN- High qualityperformance challenge culture anddialogue

Developing a culture where everydayperformance conversation feels normal,and where specificity and franknessabout what is and is not working well iswelcomed, will lead to many smallimprovement gains that do notnecessitate or rely on big bang change.

A no surprises culture also allowspeople to prepare for changes which willsuit them better.

This will lead to more sustainableimprovement, talent growth andreductions in grief emanating from aworld of insecurity around performanceand employment!

Added together, the 10 changeleadership practices described abovewill ensure the organisation sustains itsbusiness excellence over time.

Leadership challenges, habits andmyths

Commentators are pretty much agreedthat at no time in recent memory haveleaders faced greater challenges,including the legitimacy of and belief inleadership itself. In fact a recent surveyfound confidence in leaders hurtling to aten year low. This at a juncture when areturn to a tough economic climatebrings new urgency to longstandingconcerns about the way organisations

are run, for whose benefit and with whatimpact on society and the planet. Thisis combined with unprecedentedcompetition and scarce resources,changes in governance regulation andwider non-financial corporateperformance indicators, thetransparency effect of technology andthe service expectations of customersand citizens. All these factors mean that


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the 10 leadership practices for highly

capable change leadership are moreimportant than ever.

Organisations today are typicallygrappling with: The challenge of complexity -business, people, technology.

The habit of leadership not being wellengrained, ie insufficient time is spenton leadership activities, for examplestrategy making and future planning.

The myth of the strong leader.

Certainly, leadership will not be goingaway in a hurry. But the challenges aretoo onerous for a single leader. We willneed a mindset shift from individual(group based) management to collective(team based) leadership.

A values led leadership culture

Creating and sustaining a healthy andvibrant organisation which can bothinitiate and sustain businessimprovement change long before the

competition or administrators arebrought in requires a values ledleadership culture which generates alearning to be best learning to bedifferent workplace culture.

This begins with the personal culture ofthe leadership, ie anyone whoinfluences people significantly, not justthose with the indicative leadership jobtitles. Their personal culture consists oftheir everyday observed behaviour andemotions, driven by the personal valueswhich motivate them to act and decide

in certain ways together defining andexpressing what they truly value. Thegreater the degree of values alignmentamongst these people and with theirworkforce, the more clearly defined andstrongly enacted the leadership culturewill be, thereby increasing the capacityto send amplified change signalsthrough values resonant communicationand example setting which connects

people. After all, 80% of a workplace

culture is shaped by demonstrableleadership culture.

As these signals spread through theworkplace, employees pick up on what itboth feels like to work around here andwhat their priorities are their workplaceculture. And we know from researchthat 60% of an organisationsperformance is accounted for by thenature of its workplace culture.

Dr Paul AitkenThe Centre for Applied Leadership

Research

A fuller version of this article isavailable. Please contact Dr Paul Aitkenat The Centre for Applied LeadershipResearch (+ 44 (0)1989 760705) if youwould like to receive a copy. Please alsocontact Dr Aitken if you would like todiscuss how this material can be used tocreate or contribute to your leadershipdevelopment programmes.


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Copyright The Leadership Trust 2010 5

The Leadership Trust

Weston-under-PenyardRoss-on-WyeHerefordshire HR9 7YH

T 01989 767667F 01989 768133E [email protected] leadership.org.uk

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