Ambidextrous Leadership: Balancing Innovation & Execution
Anna Cajot
Leading a think tank for high-stakes negotiations and high-performance leadership ? Transforming negotiation strategies for global executives ? Facilitating 'She's the Negotiator' Initiative
Disclaimer: This article is not intended as a guideline but rather as a reflection on my learnings from Katharina Lange.
If you would like to learn more about Professor Lange’s work, follow the link to read more of her publications.
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Welcome to the New Edition of Experts Insights Digest!
Following up on the previous newsletter, where I discussed the critical role of leadership and innovation in driving both team success and a leader’s professional growth, I’d like to expand on that theme in this edition. This time, I’ll be sharing key takeaways from Katharina Lange, the keynote speaker at the N-Conference 2024.
Katharina Lange is a Professor of Leadership specializing in executive education on leading oneself, teams, and organizations. She focuses on building resilience at the individual, team, and organizational levels, as well as leading customer-centric organizations.
Given the seniority of the audience, her contribution was one of the most inspiring and pivotal moments of the N-Conference 2024.
In this article, I will highlight the following topics:
Dual Transformation Leadership
During her contribution, Katharina presented the concept of a leadership framework, which involves simultaneously optimizing the current business model (exploitation) while identifying and developing new, innovative models (exploration).
Exploitation focuses on driving efficiency, maximizing profits, and refining existing operations for higher performance.
Exploration emphasizes discovering new opportunities through risk-taking, experimentation, and innovation to create future-ready business models.
As an example of such a leadership framework, Katharina highlighted a leader who fosters innovation and encourages new ideas within the company while ensuring that projects remain cost-effective.
She emphasized that although innovation and operational efficiency require distinct mindsets and approaches, the ability to balance these opposing processes within one leader is what generates true value, particularly at the enterprise and board levels.
To address the necessity for this kind of leadership approach, IMD developed a model in which people learn how to balance the need to optimise the core and perform in the current business model with the necessity to transform and create the new. These two dimensions form the strategic foundation of dual transformation, which means being able to execute both simultaneously. The research has shown that achieving this balance requires ambidexterity.
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Ambidexterity is a research-based Leader Performance Model that defines the characteristics and capabilities needed to deliver value from business today while transforming for sustained success tomorrow. It was given the name of ambidexterity because it is just like being able to write with both hands at the same time.
Katharina elaborated that the foundation for this ambidextrous leadership performance model stemmed from research analysing thousands of data points from C-suite executives and CEOs who have survived a business model disruption and/or industry disruption. Despite the diversity in the dataset, a common trait among these leaders was their ability to navigate these transformations at the same time. Notably, only 10-12% of the leaders studied possessed this rare ability. Using the data, they developed five different categories of leadership capabilities.
The Five Dimensions of Ambidextrous Leaders
Operators: Focused on optimizing the current business model, identifying short-term opportunities, and moderating the pace of change.
Transformers: Visionary thinkers who set bold goals, challenge the status quo, and explore long-term growth opportunities.
Katharina mentioned that the role of a transformer is critical for CEOs to drive innovation. If a CEO leans toward operations, having transformative thinkers on the team is essential for future success.
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2. Leading Execution: Implementer vs. Experimenter
Implementers: Focused on pragmatic, timely task completion. They anticipate risks, manage derailers, and solve operational issues efficiently; a profile commonly associated with precision and reliability.
Experimenters: Rare but crucial, they grow new capabilities through disciplined experimentation. True experimentation involves clear, thoughtful testing and integrating future possibilities into the present. It requires a growth mindset, reframing mistakes as opportunities to learn and innovate.
As one of the examples, Katharina mentioned SpaceX - experimentation by revolutionizing space travel. Under the CEO’s leadership, they embody a growth mindset, embracing fast failures to drive breakthroughs in technology and efficiency. This demonstrates how experimentation can reshape industries.
3. Leading people: Conductor vs. Coach
Conductor: A managerial role focused on communicating a clear vision, managing performance, and ensuring tasks are completed efficiently.
Coach: One of the leadership capabilities of CEOs. This role involves instilling a culture of trust and psychological safety in organizations while facilitating accountability, empowerment, and employee growth. This approach requires patience, trust, and the ability to support individuals in their development without offering immediate advice.
Katharina emphasized that an effective leader often shifts between being a conductor and a coach, depending on the situation and the needs of team members. This requires situational judgment and ambidexterity, knowing when to focus on task execution and when to foster personal development.
4. Leading Stakeholders: Administrator vs. Networker
Administrator: This involves navigating formal organizational structures and understanding who to communicate with formally and when to promote ideas. At the enterprise level, knowing how to pull the right strings and identify key contacts is essential for effective negotiation and collaboration.
Networker: Focuses on building relationships through informal channels to enhance communication. By strategically using "weak ties" (casual conversations), they can both gather and disseminate important information.
Katharina mentioned that in an ideal case scenario, an ambidextrous leader has to have the ability to navigate formal procedures for engaging with stakeholders while also leveraging informal networks to accomplish shared objectives.
5. Leading Self: Regenerator vs. Explorer
Regenerator: A crucial dimension of leadership that focuses on self-awareness, resilience, and managing personal energy. It emphasizes the importance of developing habits that help leaders recharge, such as meditation, walks, or other personal rituals.
Explorer: Leads through a core set of personal values and challenges themselves to discover how to achieve their full potential with the goal of personal growth.
Katharina shared that the majority of CEOs she works with put in 70–90-hour weeks. Without effective energy management, this workload can lead to burnout. The immense stress on senior leaders demands resilience, and without recharging habits, it becomes difficult to maintain energy and effectiveness. Managing energy, rather than just time, is essential for long-term success and avoiding career exhaustion. Therefore, she emphasized that leaders should prioritize energy management over time management to sustain their effectiveness and careers.
Organizing for Ambidextrous Leadership
One of the key questions from the audience was whether organizations should separate departments based on their focus (explore versus exploit) or rely on individuals who possess a full spectrum of skills.
Katharina noted that this topic has been a longstanding debate. Some advocate for splitting the organization into distinct entities: one focused on exploitation with tighter financial KPIs, and another a more experimental "greenhouse," where creative disruption occurs and performance is not evaluated in the same way. The challenge with this approach lies in integrating the innovative, exploratory work from the "greenhouse" into the larger, more established business model.
Alternatively, some companies opt to implement an ambidextrous approach throughout the organization. This approach is most effective at the top leadership levels, where CEOs and their direct reports demonstrate ambidexterity in their leadership style. In this model, leaders at the executive level (N-1, N-2, and sometimes N-3) are encouraged to balance both exploration and performance responsibilities. While frontline leaders may focus more on delivering current performance, they are also guided to develop their potential for growth and transformation in the future.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not reflect the views of the Schranner AG.