Beyond Flexibility and Adaptability: Leadership Versatility
We often talk about how great leaders demonstrate flexibility and how they can easily adapt to rapidly changing mandates within high-paced environments. Inside companies—from large corporations to start-ups there is constant evolution and disruption. Lately, across news sources and industry forums there are reports on declining tenure rates for CEOs, along with high turnover in C-suites and difficulties in replacing executives.
When interviewing candidates, we hear and observe with frequency a common thread– that an executive was asked to take on a major new initiative such as re-engineering products, re-setting strategy and direction, or overseeing large-scale transformation– and they’re nearing the end of the project, so it’s time to move on– and not within their existing employer.
The speed of everything today— AI and technology, products, services and delivery—requires leaders to quickly adapt and change. As initiatives wrap up it becomes easier for executives to look externally to apply their knowledge and experience elsewhere. They believe they have found success in their ability to perform demanding assignments, and have confidence in their flexibility and adaptability—but is that enough?
Robert E. Kaplan and Robert B. Kaiser conducted a study in 2003 that claimed leaders lean into and overuse their preferred approaches and don’t modify their skills or adopt a polar approach—and therefore they’re not versatile leaders. Kaplan stated that versatility is “the most important component of leading effectively today.” Versatile leaders will consider new, unusual or unpracticed approaches. They also stated that business management is multi-faceted and requires executives to make intellectual adjustments, along with emotional and behavioural adjustments, and that “versatile leaders are able to continually adjust their behaviour, deftly applying the right approach, to the right degree, for the circumstances at hand”.
There is fierce demand for talent, fierce competition to acquire it, and heightened urgency to fill vacancies with replacements who can run faster and perform better than the recently departed.? Clients tend to be steadfast about the profile they want for a vacant leadership position. Executive search practitioners are routinely asked to find individuals with specific expertise, relative experiences and sizeable accomplishments. Clients don’t like to hear they’re asking for an individual who is in short supply, or quite possibly, doesn’t exist in the local market.
While we have long been called upon to lead difficult searches, we know that the elusiveness of the perfect candidate is counterbalanced through the identification of versatile leaders. We have in fact, found candidates that align to the client’s criteria in a manner that could not be better—but in the end, the client selects the “versatile” candidate. We see flexibility and adaptability but tend to eliminate candidates who are coasting on what they know. In a highly competitive marketplace, selecting a versatile leader will pay off innumerably.
A McKinsey & Company article stated: “we’ve observed that the best ones [CEOs] are versatile in the following three ways: they have pursued diverse experiences in their careers, they are constantly curious to learn new things, and they have mastered the dynamics of interacting with a variety of stakeholders…know how to break out of their comfort zones.”
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Our priority is to always find candidates who fit the profile and possess the necessary background and career experiences. Inevitably, however, we are also mapping those requirements to individuals who don’t tick every box. That process is distinct and rigorous, and depends on where and how the original criteria is not being met.? Whether the client requires a candidate who will oversee wholesale organizational change or restructure, realigning strategy and direction, building out a new division, implementing operational frameworks or developing new products/solutions— our mapping addresses both needs and voids related to the assignment as well as to competencies and personality.
Throughout screening processes and interviews we probe candidates to identify leaders who leverage a variety of tools and know how to optimize their lived experiences and apply them to the task at hand. We bring people to the table who express a real desire to tackle the unknown, are open to discovery, and are prepared to dive in. We learn from the candidates how they have seized on opportunities through new or unusual approaches (and let go of the old ones), and whether they had to pivot and swerve and if they can do a U-turn if necessary. These candidates differentiate themselves by not doing what they want—they do what is needed and ?are willing to explore and test and learn along the way. Versatile leaders can solve tough problems in different ways, and they bring exceptional value and success to their organizations. Kaplan/Kaiser emphasize that the versatile leader allows for possibilities…
A versatile leader is an honest, openly communicative and inspiring leader. They are fast thinkers, possess critical assessment and evaluative skills. They are creative. They are intelligent, but curious. They acknowledge their unfamiliarity with a niche area but express appreciation for the intricacies and how they may parallel something they’ve worked on. They’re not held hostage by what they don’t know—they see their deficiencies as a natural way to learn and collaborate.
When the talent pool is shallow, it is out of necessity that we fill more and more positions with leaders who have a track record of versatility. Organizations that are experiencing difficulties in filling vacant positions, or watching talent leave the company, will benefit from selecting versatile leaders.
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