Culture and Leadership Must Evolve for Success (2)

Equipping leaders

Last week I shared research from Gartner that stated, “current culture and leadership strategies are no longer realistic.” The best organisations are seeing the distributed / remote workforce as an opportunity, not a disruption.

This is an opportunity to reshape culture and leadership for the distributed workforce.

The Gartner article “Evolve Culture and Leadership for a Hybrid World ” says the first thing that needs to be done is to understand remote work is not a threat to workplace culture or leadership success - it is an opportunity to strengthen them.

Once there is that understanding, and recognition that current culture and leadership strategies are no longer realistic today, work can take place to make the culture thrive across a distributed workforce and meet employee expectations for more authenticity, empathy, and adaptability from leaders.

You must Intentionally reinforce greater and more impactful ways for people to connect with your culture - both emotionally and through their day-to-day work and experiences. I wrote about his last week.

You must ensure leaders take a more human (authentic, empathetic, and adaptive) approach to overseeing people and work, and this is what I am writing about in this week’s newsletter.

The majority (90%) of HR leaders in the Gartner research say that future success requires leaders to operate in a more human way. Although on average, just over 1 in 4 are likely to be human leaders; when HR uses a human approach to support leaders, the number goes up to nearly 1 in 2.

Currently, leaders are ill-equipped to lead the workforce of the future. Only 39% of HR leaders and 49% of employees agree that leaders in their organisations have the capabilities they need to succeed in the future.

Organisations must equip their leaders to operate in a more human way – not only for employees but for the success of the organisation. Employees of human leaders are more engaged and therefore less likely to leave the organisation. They have better well-being and perform at a higher level.

Human leaders are a rare commodity. Organisations can create more human leaders by understanding and addressing the emotional barriers that prevent them from becoming more human.

Gartner refers to these are doubtful achievers, fearful believers, and uncertain strivers.

There are three components of human leadership: authentic, empathetic, and adaptive.

Emotional barriers

There are three types of leaders that prevent human leadership.

Doubtful achievers

28% of leaders doubt that human leadership is important to achieve business objectives.

These leaders believe their job is to grow the business and emotions have no place in the workplace.

These leaders need a compelling data-driven business case to change. Even then, they may have entrenched beliefs based on their own experiences that oppose the data. In this case, they need inspiration from trusted sources – peers and employees themselves – to bring about change.

Fearful believers

21% of leaders fear the vulnerability and risk associated with human leadership.

These leaders fear that by becoming more human and personal they could unknowingly cross a line. Focussed coaching and training can eliminate the fear. The key is to understand that fear is a natural response. Leaders can be helped to understand that fear is healthy when it is managed. We can show leaders that they do not have to eliminate fear to exhibit positive behaviours. They can do so despite it.

Uncertain strivers

22% of leaders feel uncertain about how to effectively deliver human leadership.

These leaders are uncertain about how to deliver human leadership. They lack confidence and question whether they are meeting differing employee expectations, wants and needs.

When employee needs and preferences are increasingly variable, there are so many ways in which leaders can respond that they can become overwhelmed. We can build confidence by supporting these leaders’ judgement by limiting scope and ambiguity.

Components of human leadership

There are three components of human leadership. Human leaders must be authentic, empathetic, and adaptive.

Authentic

We can all sense when someone is not being authentic, and we will not trust them as a result. We don’t believe what they say, and we do not believe what they do is without self-interest. If leaders want to be trusted, they must be authentic. Period.

Leaders must be authentic, vulnerable, and transparent with their employees. These are the leaders that generate trust and confidence. Authentic leaders are self-aware. They recognise their strengths and weakness and are prepared to share them. They are prepared to share their own mistakes and be vulnerable in the process. They allow (and encourage) all employees to share their ideas, opinions, concerns, and experiences. They listen to all sides of an argument without bias or judgement.

They are open and honest both in sharing information and their feelings. When they do not have the answer to a question, they will admit the fact, and take action to find the answer. When they have been unable to take an action they committed to, they openly and honestly explain the reasons why and the additional actions they are going to take. They engage in status-quo communication. In addition to openly and honestly communicating when things are going to change, they also communicate things are not changing. They do not allow rumour and conjecture to fill communication vacuums and recognise that employees need a sense of certainty and stability.

Authentic leaders lead by example and thereby foster authenticity and transparency among their teams. These leaders put the needs of the organisation and team over their own needs. They are consistent, reliable, and possess integrity. Authentic leaders inspire trust and motivation.

?Empathetic

Human leaders are empathetic. They show that they truly understand the situation, perspective, and experience of their employees. Empathy is easy to say but often hard to practice. We all have our filters, biases, and preconceived ideas. All of those must be removed if we are to be truly empathetic.

Empathy has never been more important than it is now. Every one of us has experienced the pandemic in different ways. We have all had different concerns, anxieties, and fears. Leaders must be truly empathetic if they are to assist their employees with the right support and guidance.

We often describe empathy as walking a mile in another person’s shoes. I would rather describe it as understanding how the other person feels walking a mile in their own shoes. When leaders truly understand and can show true care and compassion, there is trust. When an employee believes that their leader understands their situation and is willing to work towards something better, there is trust.

Adaptive

I like to use the analogy of a shepherd when I describe adaptive leadership. “What does a 5,000-year-old Asia Minor profession have to do with adaptive leadership?” I hear you say.

The best description comes from Pope Francis . In an address to his leadership (i.e., his bishops) in November 2013, he described how shepherd leaders look after their followers.

“To do so, he will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind and -- above all -- allowing the flock to strike out on new paths”.

What this means for adaptive leaders is that they must be able to lead from the front, lead from within the team’s core, and lead from behind.

Adaptive leaders are just that – adaptive. They will lead from the front when clear direction is needed, and uncertainty or anxiety may be restricting team performance. They will lead from the core when the team need more detail and they need to check in on how the team and its members are faring. They will lead from the back to support those who may be struggling but also to let those upfront take the lead and explore their leadership capabilities and competencies.

These adaptive leaders are brave enough to lead from the front, especially when faced with a crisis. They are visible and maintain the bigger picture.

Adaptive leaders have the resolution to lead from the centre, intentionally seek feedback from the team and act on what they receive.

Adaptive leaders who lead from behind do not have the insecurity and fear that someone upfront will threaten their position

Adaptive leaders move between these positions in an agile manner in response to the needs of the individual, team, and organisation. They adapt to changes in the environment in which they operate.

The environment in which we operate today is one of increasing complexity and uncertainty. The systems and structures we are attempting to leverage today will be superseded tomorrow. What got us here will not get us there.

The pandemic of 2020 and 2021 fundamentally changed the way we work and disrupted many of the long-held beliefs we had regarding how we organise ourselves. The next major disruption is right around the corner. It may not be another pandemic but whatever it is, the chances are we will not see it coming.

As the cover of the publication “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organisation and the World ” by whom I call the fathers of adaptive leadership – Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linksy – says:

“We live in a time of danger and opportunity. Individuals, organizations, communities, and countries must continuously adapt to new realities to simply survive. Wanting more, wanting to thrive even under constantly shifting and often perilous conditions, people in all sectors are called upon to lead with the courage and skill to challenge the status quo, deploy themselves with agility, and mobilize others to step into the unknown.”

Wrap

Leadership MUST evolve in the new era of work. Employees are demanding it. They want human leadership – leaders who are authentic, empathetic, and adaptive. You must do it not just for employees but for the success of the organisation.

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I am an organisational change management rebel?WITH?a cause.?

I am the author of seven books on organisational change, workforce resilience, leadership capability uplift and leading remote teams.

I am an international keynote speaker, consultant, facilitator, coach, and mentor.

I am passionate about enabling individuals and organisations to be the very best they can be through performance enablement, outstanding leadership, adaptation, agility, and resilience in the face of constant and uncertain change.

I would love to work with you and your organisation. Contact me?here .