How Good Leaders Navigate Uncertainty - Unveiling Avocado Leadership

What's your leadership style?????

How would you describe it? Do you subscribe to a particular theory or approach? There are many to choose from. Authoritative, collaborative, transactional, situational, ethical, authentic, and servant leadership (just to name a few) are all recognised as established leadership styles and approaches.??

I subscribe to transformational leadership—leading in a way that transforms people into better versions of themselves. I consider the Coaching Leader an example of transformational leadership, while Luminary Leadership is an extension of it.????

What if I asked you if you were an avocado leader?????

Huh???

Never heard of avocado leadership before? Neither had I until recently when I came across some research done by Macquarie Business School during COVID. In 2020, they interviewed leaders of ASX200 companies and 100 mid-to-senior level managers to identify what good leadership looked like in the middle of the pandemic.??

They identified that good leaders demonstrated both empathy and decisiveness. They showed care and compassion towards their staff while still making the tough decisions required for the good of the organisation.??

Thus, they came up with the term avocado leader, someone with a soft and empathetic exterior and a hard, commercially focused core.??

In many ways, the chaos of COVID stripped away the unnecessary and superfluous and focused us on only what was necessary. This occurred in operations, as strategic initiatives were put on hold and core business prioritised. It occurred in budgets as resources were reallocated to ensure business continuity. And in leadership, the core fundamentals of doing the right thing by the organisation and doing the right thing by its people resurfaced as priorities.?

EXTRAORDINARY BUT NOTHING NEW

While this might be new research citing a new leadership label, the concept of balancing people and results is nothing new.??

One of my favourite leadership books is The Extraordinary Leader: Turning good managers into great leaders by Zenger and Folkman. Published in 2002, it draws on data from over 200,000 individuals rated over 25,000 leaders. These numbers are huge in the realm of organisational science, meaning that any conclusions drawn from this research are bound to be significant and compelling.??

In examining the top 10% of leaders, they found that most of them possessed a powerful combination—a focus on results and good interpersonal skills. While possessing one of these competencies increased one's leadership effectiveness, possessing both significantly increased one's chances of being among the most effective leaders.??

This is one of the reasons I am so passionate about coaching. Good coaching not only focuses on achieving hard results and building the capability to do so, but it is also an approach that is relatable, engages people, and builds trust and rapport. Good coaching expresses both of these competencies.?

THE QUESTION OF BALANCE

Every leader has both strengths and weaknesses. Many leaders' greatest strength can become their weakness when they overplay it. When they rely on it too much, they get derailed by the very quality that has made them successful.??

Yet Zenger and Folkman write;

'This research led us to the conclusion that it is not strengths that hurt a person's effectiveness, but strengths standing alone without a counterbalance. That is what creates the perception of a strength pushed too far becoming a weakness.'?

Whether you are a results-focused leader who tends to overlook the people impacts of your decisions or have a track record of prioritising people over results, taking a coaching approach will increase your effectiveness. Just as coaching enhances both results and people focus, it counterbalances one against the other.???

So, where do your strengths lie? Do you possess this powerful combination of focusing on results and strong interpersonal skills? Do you have a hard, commercially focused core wrapped in soft skills and empathy??

If you are looking for where to invest next in your leadership development, the wisest choice is to invest in either your ability to achieve results or your ability to engage with people. If you are strong in one, invest in your counterbalance competency.??

If you want to maximise your ROI and improve in both areas, invest in your ability to coach your people.??

Until next time, lead well.