Leading at the edge of digitisation. Part 1

Disruption of workflows that current leaders are facing, caused by mainly two reasons – constant evolvement of people and development of technologies. And neither of each factor can be affected by individuals or even the entire business community. However, embracing and managing both streams efficiently, filtering negative and retaining positive aspects of today’s business environment is what new leaders must learn to sustain the growth of their companies.

Let’s find out what can be the crucial elements of modern business leadership which allow staying efficient when the globe is digitising and change is the part of everyday life.

As it was done previously, we are going to have a quick look at the situation first to justify the need for such a discussion. Then identify the key aspects of current leadership and critical leadership skills. The initial plan was to assess Elon Musk’s leadership style and skills with identified leader’s capabilities, but it is going to be reviewed in Part 2 as the size of the article is going far over the limits of casual reading standards.

Changing leadership practices in the Era of Digitisation

Auckland is the fourth city in the world with 39% of the foreign-born population after Toronto, Brussels and Dubai according to the latest World migration report (2015). Statistics show annual net migration is growing steadily (please refer to my previous article), which makes the highly diverse New Zealand workforces harder to manage and analyse for recruitment.

A recently posted article (“NZ CEOs maintain business confidence as skills diversify and new risks emerge”, posted 17 Feb 2017) at PwC website shares the survey’s results in which CEOs above all concerned about cyber threats (91%), the availability of key skills (84%) and the speed of technological change (84%). Skills in leadership and emotional intelligence, creativity and innovation and digital are identified as the most valuable yet difficult to recruit.

“Diversity of thought is critical - we have to be recruiting people who think differently if our companies are going to be ready for the future. It is about embracing all aspects of diversity as an everyday business matter – which is something we are focusing on here at PwC New Zealand,” says PwC CEO and Senior Partner - Mark Averill.

According to another report, based on interviews with almost 50 CEOs from all over the world, global leaders should be focused on inputs that will reinforce a strong ethical culture through empowering colleagues and employees using different leadership approaches. Interviewed CEOs are practising less command leadership and instead position themselves as chief designers of company’s culture.

At the interview with McKinsey’s Rik Kirkland world-famous chief executive officer of Nissan Carlos Ghosn speaks about leading effectively in the new environment: “Leaders of the future will also need to have a lot more empathy and sensitivity—not just for people from their own countries, but also for people from different countries and cultures. They are going to need global empathy, which is a lot more difficult. It is a paradox: on the one hand, you have to be more confident and secure, but on the other, you have to be a lot more open and empathetic. You need to listen, but when you make a decision, that’s it—you must be a very hard driver”

Mr Averill concludes: “Building a business that is driven by great ideas has to start with having the right people. You must then support them with the right technology. Trust is equally important; without it you can’t solve the really important problems. Those businesses that are successful at building trust and creating transparency – not just with their clients and within society, but amongst their people as well – will have a competitive advantage.”

Both Mark Averill and Carlos Ghosn explain in their own words the elements of emotional and cultural intelligence, which are the essential elements of leadership in the 21st century.

Key aspects of the modern leadership

Google search will show about 115 million articles related to the key aspects of the modern leadership, and all of them describe traits and skills of a general business leader from various angles. Some of them are worth attention, but most are just detailed lists of skills attributed to generalised leadership profile. 

The list of skills introduced below derives from the symbiosis of cultural and emotional intelligence described implicitly by world-known business leaders and mentioned in leadership-related reports based on interviews with CEOs of a different calibre. This list also based on a subjective understanding of concepts of emotional and cultural intelligence, however forming another list of capabilities is not a primary objective of this article. The most important is an explanation of how leadership capabilities can be developed through everyday practice and also demonstrate the evidence of implementation those capabilities by real-life business leaders.

Before going further, it is important to say that 99% of 115 million leadership related articles are missing one important point: the high technical expertise in the industry the business operates is a basis for any soft skills that is forming a business leader. All soft skills are useless in leadership if you are not demonstrating knowledge and confidence of what company is doing.

1.     Deep Self-Awareness

Understanding of the own strengths and weaknesses is a must for any kind of leader and not only in business. In my opinion, awareness of own weaknesses is even more critical when it is related to people management.  Accepting shortcomings and seeking for improvement and help from colleagues is what makes you a self-aware leader. Showing your team that no one is perfect with your own example can contribute to building credibility and trust within your organisation.

Emotional awareness is what differentiates a deep self-aware leader from just a self-aware leader - the ability to analyse own emotions and emotions of others at any point in time. Also, recognise what drives you out of control of your own emotions and people you work with. Use this information productively in various tasks – both internal like building teams and external like price negotiations with clients.

How to improve:

-       Ask for a 360-degree feedback from your colleagues about your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. It is a good way to develop and demonstrate the team that you appreciate their opinion and also willing to get better in things influencing their everyday life. It can be a structured and scheduled process like 6-month or yearly activity. My recommendation is to ask the similar questions in different ways to get the most honest feedback from introvert teammates.

-       Constant monitoring of your personal emotions by asking yourself after business meetings – How and what I feel right now? Describe your emotions in details – madness, excitement, frustration, lack of strength, etc.

-       The next part is to analyse why you feel this way and how your current feelings differentiate from emotions you have had in a similar situation previously. Checking the status of your emotions will lead you to the trigger of your emotions which will also be the indicator of your increased emotional awareness.

-       Keeping a journal to record your emotions daily and compare results can help a lot on your way to deep self-aware leadership.

2.     Communication with clarity

You should not be the best orator or writer across the town to become a great leader. However new leaders must learn how to communicate with clarity especially in the world full of different kind of noises. At the same time the general elements of clarity in communication are old as the world:

-       Truthfulness. Even negative information must be delivered to your audience in a truthful, honest and smart way.

-       Optimism. Leaders cannot afford to be broken even in the most troubling situations. The team expect nothing but a leader with a confident hand and positive attitude.

-       Logic. In communication, logic is 50% of clarity, and your speech backed by a sound reasoning is the easiest motivator for your followers.

Leaders with high Emotional intelligence know how to manage their emotions to stay logical and optimistic under any circumstances. Bringing the truth to the table in an appropriate emotional way is also a valuable capability of the emotionally intelligent leader which should not be underestimated.

How to improve:

-       Learn to summarise. In today’s reality when the time is precious as never before, summarising information correctly is a crucial capability of a new leader. If you pitch the idea to someone, keep in mind that your listener will ignore your initiative if he or she does not get interested in first 20 seconds of your speech. Spend time on chewing your message, play out different versions of your speech – 5-minute version, then 3-minute, then 1-minute.

-       Be prepared. Train yourself to predict different scenarios when delivering the message. There are always at least 2 or 3 different scenarios in every discussion. Some questions can be completely unrelated to the topic, but your answers may blur the clarity of the whole message you are trying to communicate.

-       Avoid Jargon. Especially when communicating with someone out of your area of operations. Every company and industry have its own professional jargon phrases, which meaning can be unclear for even someone who works in the same environment.

-       Think of the right medium for the message. Face-to-face, e-mail, video conferencing – the sender of the information is responsible for clarity. Learn to assess the type of your message and outcomes needed: if it is a simple update on a situation - video conferencing is always an option, but when the engagement or buy-in is required consider a personal meeting as the best solution.

-       Pay attention to the body language. As an example, if you notice some of the key receivers avoid eye contact or easily distracted it can be a sign of unproductive outcomes for your efforts. Those signs may signify impatience of your listener as well as yawning is a sign of tiredness. Postponing the discussion is not the worst intention in such situation.

-       Wrap-up appropriately. Be especially clear at the end of the conversation. Conclude what actions will be taken, stress on deadlines correctly: avoid saying “as soon as possible” and set a precise date and time instead, confirm in writing if it is needed.

3.     Sensitivity to Cultural Diversity

Sensitivity to cultural diversity derives from the overall cultural intelligence, while personal sensitivity comes from the experience of communication with other cultures in working environment. Simply put, it is an ability to recognise, embrace and learn about people who are culturally different and interpret their behaviours and backgrounds as unique rather than generalise them from a personal perspective.

How to improve:

-       The first step is to practice a simple exercise based on observation of others’ behaviour, record in writing what you see and how such behaviours are different from yours.

-       Notice and analyse how people from other cultures act and react on your decisions and actions in different situations.

-       Be focused on your own behaviour during intercultural interactions. Note for yourself when such interactions are successful and when are not. Analyse what body language or emotions you have used during successful and unsuccessful interactions. Record all the emotions or elements of body language you did not understand from your companion.

4.     Active listening

As the part of social awareness concept, active listening is a communication technique which requires the listener to fully concentrate on the meaning of what collocutor is saying rather than passively hearing the message.

The notion of Active listening can be divided into three categories:

-       The ability to hear out the other person

-       The skill that helps the speaker to remain engaged in conversation

-       The capacity to remember what is being said by the speaker

How to improve:

To gradually develop the group of active listening skills it is important to start focusing on verbal and non-verbal signs of active listening. Keep in my mind that signs described below can be inappropriate in some situations and intercultural interactions.

Non-verbal

Smile – small smile is the sign for the speaker he or she is being listened and understood

Eye Contact – encouraging sign for the speaker, especially if it is combined with nods and smile

Mirroring – a sign of sympathy to the speaker and your engagement in conversation

Postures – can be various, but leaning slightly forward or resting the head on the one hand, is a sign of interest in a discussion.

Verbal

Questioning – asking relevant questions in time to show your attention and also clarify what has been said.

Reflection – paraphrasing what was said to show comprehension.

Summarisation – provide a summary of the message in your own words and logic to give a chance for the speaker to correct if necessary.

Remembering – mentioning details or ideas from the previous conversations is a sign for the speaker that he has been listened previously, which also encourage the positive attitude to continue.

5.     Inspire a Shared Vision

One of the primary objectives of a leader is to visualise the outcome of personal and team’s efforts. But having a sense where you are taking the business and your people is not enough these days. The new leader’s core capability is inspiring a shared vision. Each word in this phrase is crucial for leadership – inspiration, shared and vision. The vision only starts with the leader and then through inspiration leaders can improve, expand and sustain the vision with the people they lead. Drawing the bright picture of accomplishment for the team once is easy. Keep the feeling of coming success live in the team is the most difficult task for any leader.

How to improve:

-       Understand what the team values the most and visualise the future with shared values in mind. Usually, motivators come around three most important aspects – Significance (desire to be valued and involved in relevant projects), satisfaction (enjoying the process on the way to visualised future) and security (financial, health, relationships)

-       At the same time, not everyone is similarly motivated. That is why it is important to build a guiding coalition of individuals respected in the team and know exactly how those individuals are motivated. They will help to sustain the visualised image and motivate the rest of the team.

-       Be closer to the people you work with so they can understand how you got to the picture you are visualising. Allocate the extra time to work together with your team on goals and milestones on the way to the vision.

-       Use Friday after work catch-ups and workplace celebrations to remind the vision in relaxed and friendly manner. Create a simple sticky vision statement that all in your team can quickly repeat when asked.

6.     Knowing your organisation surroundings

Knowing your organisation surroundings means to control and understand your company’s culture which is critical for completion of goals and support of the vision. It may be a challenging task if you spent not enough time at the office and sometimes even harder when you spent so much time with the team that you are not able to see things clearly and describe the culture of your company. It is important to step back and observe your work environment with fresh eyes.

How to improve:

-       Look at your surroundings as an outsider. Try to observe your employees’ interactions. How people negotiate and resolve conflicts. How managers interact with reporting employees, identify common body language.  Making notes may help to analyse the observations.

-       Pay attention to various objects and office artefacts. How personal workplaces are organised, how furniture is arranged. What is placed on the walls and what private items sit on the desks like photos, fidgets, plants etc.

-       Allocate extra time on observing emotions as it is the primary indicator of company’s culture. Try to identify what drives positive emotions in everyday working routine and what makes your employees upset. Identify employees who avoid conflicts and who is comfortable in debates. What is employees’ reaction to your actions, like when you are entering the room or walk by their tables?

-       All these observations will help you to assess your company’s culture and understand if it is strong enough for completing your current and future objectives.

7.     Leading by example

It may sound strange, but leaders are always leading by example whether they are aware of that or not. What matters is what kind of models they are and how it affects the company’s culture. Leading by example becomes a cliché, however, in practice, such leadership are still relatively rare as it assumes to be performed in and out of the workplace to be genuine. The most important aspect of leading by example is to carry your own share in overall weight and also find strengths to help others on the way to success.

How to improve

-       Ask your team how they understand leading by example and what they expect you to do. It will raise the attention to your efforts to be the behavioural model for organisation’s benefit.

-       Engage in a teamwork when it is appropriate and while taking the leading role in the task stay at the same level with the team and encourage feedback on your performance.

-       If you ask your employee to do a particular task, share your experience if you completed similar tasks previously or had a resembling experience in the past.

-       If you want everyone to take something seriously, you have to show you also take it seriously. If health and safety are crucial in your work environment, then attend and pass the health and safety course with your team.

-       Cease micromanagement. People do not appreciate it at any levels. Visualise the outcomes, set goals and milestones, then step back. Let the team do the work and innovate on the way. Giving such example will encourage your managers to practice the same. 

8.     Embracing change

Embracing change in work and life is important for growing as a leader and being a better leader for the company. At the same time, it is always associated with risk and uncertainty. Whether it is a new phase of regulations at the industry level, technological shift to a new accounting platform or loss of the key employee, every leader has to deal with the change in efficient and timely manner. Embracing new perspectives can be a structured process and should flow from the top leadership level down to each employee in your business.

How to improve:

-       At leader’s level, the change management starts with accepting change by an honest evaluation of your own change management skills. After that think of someone from the management team who will be informed first of coming transformations to be sure you have support in the first place before sharing a new vision.

-       Evaluate your company’s vision by contrasting with the current state of the business. Assess the reason of the coming change and develop a new innovative vision for your business.

-       Shorten the planning horizon for the new strategy and break the change management plan into small action steps.

-       Get rid of the “ain’t broke, don’t fix” mindset for yourself before going with an announcement to your team. Communicate all aspects of change to your team clearly and speak with integrity. Be true to your word, and do not apologise for implementing change.

-       Help your employees to step outside their comfort zones by promoting new ways of thinking. This can be accomplished by creating and executing a plan to carry out the vision together with your team.

-       After sharing new tasks according to the change management plan give your employees more flexibility to break old habits, like flexible work hours or opportunity to work remotely. At the end of the day, people have different individual needs to go through the process of change with the company.

-       Failures may happen in the way of change however it should be addressed correctly. If it happens - admit it fast, react even faster and in the most inexpensive way for your team. Do not let failures stop you from going through your change management plan.

-       Celebrate success with your team at each achieved milestone.

Back in 1999, at the dawn of the era of Digitization Carlos Ghosn was among the first CEOs who can be called new global leaders and his words from the interview will be the best way to wrap up the first part of this article:

“I believe no one is born a good leader. Leaders become leaders when they are recognised as such by other people. When I came to Japan in 1999, I was viewed with deep scepticism by employees. But I worked hard to deliver performance, connect with people and always build my industry intelligence. Through this process, I have gained the trust of our employees, and together we have delivered results.”

To be continued…