Making Sense of Leadership

Having shared the 5 steps in the ‘Make it Human’ model I am left reflecting on the key themes in our emerging world of work and what this means for leadership.

To make work human we need to find fulfilling and sustainable opportunities. In this quest, we are increasingly encountering dichotomies where we need to impact both outcomes:

For leaders - navigating these paradoxes and leading businesses through novel and changing times - demands new priorities. Recent research reveals organisations have been prioritizing social skills over technical knowledge and skill for many years. The days of distant, autocratic, all-knowing leaders is fast becoming the past and a new era has already begun.

The paradox of leadership

For decades, leadership models focused on developing a specific style to be successful. PwC’s Leadership Paradoxes sums up the need to balance both often opposed sides to succeed, e.g. ‘Humble Hero’ and ‘Strategic Executor’. PwC say: “To truly differentiate yourself as a leader, learning how to comfortably inhabit both elements of each paradox will be critical to your success.” Similarly, Jordan, Wade and Teracino (2020) outline 7 leadership ‘tensions’ – the skill being knowing when to deploy which approach.

Other recent models emphasise the criticality of human traits, in particular empathy and adaptability. Gartner’s ‘Human Leader’ model highlights the need for authenticity – to role-model safe self-expression at work; empathy – addressing broader life needs of people; and adaptivity – curating individualized experiences and opportunities. Their research goes on to show that those demonstrating human leadership drive greater levels of retention, engagement and well-being. Despite this benefit, Gartner suggests only 29% of employees feel their leaders model these behaviours.

As a leader it can feel daunting. Suddenly, the focus is on being you, authentically, and: Creating an inspiring purpose-led vision pulling together diverse groups to focus on a bigger cause; consistently and proactively communicating (even when things are unknown); facilitating psychologically safe cultures where people feel able to express themselves and innovate whilst driving consistent performance; never settling – being on the front-foot looking at the next risk or opportunity to drive transformation; and nurturing trusting and caring relationships – role-modelling this from the top with teams and partners, recognizing that success is about the team and organizational legacy you create.

All this, whilst remaining humble and prepared to admit to not knowing all the answers.

We are certainly looking for a very different leader to that described in Carlyle’s ‘Great Man’ theory (1840). This is one of the earliest known theories of leadership and suggests that leaders are born with capabilities greater than others, rising to the top in moments of need. Of course, we have since learned leadership is much more complex, hard-earned and certainly not limited by gender, with research exploring multiple lenses - situational leadership, transactional styles, transformational styles, authentic leadership, servant leadership, etc.

All seeing, all knowing… All sensing

In today’s complex and molten world, I see another layer of skill in leaders who make a lasting impact - leadership senses. Standout leaders use their senses to guide every action, they pause if things don't feel quite right, prepared to backtrack on initial ideas as the situation changes or new information comes to light (something those recently leading the UK Government have definitely struggled with!) Defining characteristics include: Listening, consulting, re-thinking, discussing and openly sharing their feelings and senses, almost turning 'leadership' into a group objective whilst being prepared to make clear decisions and carve the future path.

I see leadership senses as a multiplier. Behavioural capabilities, market knowledge, wisdom from experience can be multiplied when a leader is able to pull upon these 5 senses to intuitively read a situation and context, and nimbly shift gear to align their approach:

Drawing upon these 5 senses, a leader can anticipate where challenges might emerge, what’s most important right now (e.g. we are about to embark on a period of change, we really need to tune-in and listen to our people to understand their feelings so that it lands well), and when plans should be revised because the timing now isn’t right or the thinking flawed (recognizing how significant events change the landscape, i.e. societal events cutting to topics of equity and inclusion or economic changes impacting peoples’ lives). Their leadership senses help them to feel their way through ambiguous and complex information - keeping what’s critically important at the heart of their decisions and actions. ?A leader can have stacks of experience and capability, but in today’s world, a lack of leadership ‘sense’ can be ?their undoing – as a well-planned but ill-timed initiative comes crashing down.

We aren’t always, however, instinctively drawn to the ‘sensing’ leaders. Looking around organisations and governments, it is clear to see those with these leadership senses aren’t consistently being hired or rising to the top. The narcissistic, Machiavellian and sociopathic leaders keep emerging, particularly in times of crisis, with the trail of destruction taking decades to repair.

To nurture leadership senses we must get better at:

1. Identifying the traits and behaviours that drive the broader societal outcomes we strive to achieve
2. Creating fair and objective people systems and processes for identifying, hiring, developing and promoting individuals with the optimal skills to deliver this, and -
3. Being prepared to confront and deal with those demonstrating ego-led, dark-side traits to ensure they are not rewarded or able to breed toxic cultures .

The weight of the world = more shoulders?

Indeed, perhaps it is also time to consider whether the top leadership roles are truly built for one person. Joint leadership could, by design, bring better balance and sustainability. At the very least, organisations need to consider the dynamic of the team around the leader. Ensuring people, processes and systems enable check and balance, and that one person doesn’t buckle under the immense weight of unprecedented scenarios and decision-making.

Being a leader is hard. There is no playbook to follow for every scenario. And now with pressure on organisations to achieve the right balance of profitable and sustainable; aligned and diverse; empowering and consistently growing, leaders who develop strong leadership senses and intuition for the optimal course, will forge the path ahead.