Post-Heroic Managers and Performance that Matters?

Post-Heroic Managers and Performance that Matters

The Post-Heroic Manager

Charles Handy, the Irish economic and social philosopher stated that “...the heroic manager of the past knew all, could do all, and could solve every problem, (however) the POST-HEROIC MANAGER (of today) asks how every problem can be solved in a way that develops other peoples' capacity to handle it.” ?

As post-heroic managers, we may need to consider how well equipped we are to effectively navigate given a very dynamic VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. And as post-heroic leaders, who have willingly chosen to focus on being highly effective impact players, there will be a need to lead differently — effectively leveraging an “Inverted VUCA” — which is working in a more “agile” way: Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility. And, are we measuring and tracking our performance in these areas??

VUCAMax

What is surprising is that we may actually be at a point of VUCAMax — where we will likely experience exponential growth necessitating new and exponential leadership thinking. Moore’s Law is kicking in — where every 18 months the power of technology is doubling and transforming the world. It’s predicted that we will see 100 years of growth in the next 10 years alone and this “...means (that very likely) every major industry is going to be reinvented over the next 10 years, and there will more opportunity for people who can master these VUCA MAX conditions than ever before.” ?

Mission, Vision and Shared Values (Culture)

How many of us work in organizations with a compelling mission, vision and shared values which are clearly articulated, understood and practiced by everyone, and where they serve as the basis for annual planning, frequent goal-setting and performance tracking? According Jim Collins, a noted management author and consultant, what sets highly successful organizations apart is when they move from having just a vision statement to becoming “truly visionary” — this is when they are “creating alignment — alignment to preserve an organization’s core values, to reinforce its purpose, and to stimulate continued progress towards its aspirations.” If we don’t measure and track these foundational organization performance metrics, we’ll never be able to truly move the dial in all other areas where performance matters.?

Business Purpose

Peter Drucker, the legendary management guru and the “Father of Modern Management” spoke to performance and measurement when he stated that “…Unless we determine what shall be measured and what the yardstick of measurement in an area will be, the area itself will not be seen.”?

It’s likely that Drucker would start a “Performance that Matters” conversation by first addressing the purpose of a business. Is it revenue, EBITDA, enterprise value, or market share? But Drucker states that the purpose of a business is “…to create a customer...the customer is a foundation of a business and keeps it in existence. The customer alone gives employment. And it is to supply the customer that society entrusts wealth-producing resources to the business enterprise.”?

And given this, the fundamental “Performance that Matters” questions that businesses should then be asking are how well are “we” performing and trending in the creation of NEW customers, followed then by the measures of customer retention and satisfaction. Failure to know and track these very basic customer growth performance metrics will likely result in a business challenged in achieving both sustainable growth and competitive advantage.?

Growth Mindset

In addition to the direct customer growth and retention activities there is also the broader, cultural “growth mindset.” Growth mindset leaders and team members are those who enjoy challenges, strive to learn, and consistently see the potential to develop new skills.?

In a study of Fortune 1000 companies it was found that managers of growth-mindset companies indicated that their team members were more innovative, collaborative, committed to learning and growing, and had more leadership potential. And when it comes to performance and outcomes of growth mindset companies, 47% of team members are likelier to say that their colleagues are trustworthy, 34% feel a stronger sense of ownership and commitment to the company, 65% would say that the company supports risk-taking, and 49% would say that the company is likely to foster innovation.?

There are multiple approaches to launch and pursue a growth mindset and here is an example of three actions: 1. engage senior leaders to talk about and role model a growth mindset, 2. employee-awareness campaigns to drive growth mindset adoption, and 3. having on-going measures of how team members experience growth mindset in your company. And to quote Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft, “Don’t be a know-it-all. Be a Learn-it- all.”?

Marketing and Innovation?

Drucker goes on to state that “the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”?

So the next set of performance measures might be marketing effectiveness and the organization’s propensity to innovate — metrics that allow the company to adjust, refine and move swiftly and directly toward achieving market distinctiveness and leadership. Brands today need to be flashing R.E.D. and where everyone is constantly assessing the degree of REDNESS or the brand’s Relevance, Ease and Distinctiveness. Peter Drucker also noted that marketing and innovation are key entrepreneurial functions, and having a culture of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship can truly set an enterprise apart from all others.?

For many established organizations the decision to embrace and move to a more compelling entrepreneurial culture — the process that turns those (creative) ideas into actual innovations, may be daunting, but very possible. Recent research by MIT noted that leaders need to first understand the innovation challenges the company faces, then to know how innovation is currently measured, and lastly, understand the extent to which current measurement practices help or hinder efforts to achieve the organization’s innovation goals. Those that do not embrace or imbed innovation into their culture will be destined to mediocrity, and will eventually be overwhelmed by the competition.?

A good starting point in moving in this direction would be to introduce "job crafting” or the re-framing of jobs to be more meaningful and aligned with team members’ interests and values. And you will know when you have arrived at a more entrepreneurial culture and climate when you can answer yes to the following questions: 1. Do you try to learn new things at work?, 2. Do you ask your boss to coach or mentor you? , and?3. Do you often take on more tasks than your role formally requires??

Leadership and Engagement

Recent global research conducted by the Gallup organization and published in the book: It’s the Manager , outlined the key success attributes for the very best managers. They found that these “best” managers did five key things: 1. They set clear expectations, 2. They defined employee roles, 3. they created trusting environments, 4. they encouraged and promoted employee growth and development, and 5., they continuously raised the bar and encouraged high performance.?

It was also found that these “best” managers created a climate of empowerment, engagement, enlightenment and continuous learning, and where there was the sharing authority and power with vs. over team members. They were also aware of and recognized their business as ever-changing, and maintained a keen focus on innovation and on developing a customer-centric strategy with team members who understood individual and collective responsibilities in order to meet customer needs and expectations. They also worked extremely hard at closing the distance between team members and the customers they served.?

Another “Performance that Matters” is leadership communication and collaboration. Gallup research also revealed that high-performing leaders and managers understood their role in the communication process. They scheduled regular one-on-one conversations, they used collaborative approaches, and they created strong levels of trust.?

These high-performing managers also experienced increased levels of employee engagement — which is the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace. The data shows that with engaged workers, business units have a 23% higher profit compared with business units with miserable workers. And teams with thriving and engaged workers saw significantly lower absenteeism, turnover and accidents, and they experience higher customer loyalty. Lastly, these high-performing leaders maintained a heightened intent to change, and their commitment to change resulted in an enhanced brand and greater customer and team member satisfaction.?

The Global Performance Scorecard

Globally, there are many great examples of highly successful businesses which have crafted and successfully executed compelling strategies, and which have also been quite successful in establishing effective “performance that matter” scorecards. However, there is significant work yet to be done when considering the broad, global business performance scorecard:?

• 67 % of well-formulated strategies fail?
• Only 21% of team members are engaged?
• 60% of people are emotionally detached at work and 19% are miserable?
• 70% of managers are "just there" or “poor" with 70% of engagement directly attributable to managers?
• 70-90% of mergers and acquisitions fail?
• 90% of start-ups fail

Our Leadership Crucible

As we consider the significance of our roles as a post-heroic, VUCAMax leaders, we may also wish to measure and track our leadership performance as found in the breakthrough research of Dr. Warren Bennis, “The Father of Modern Leadership.” ?

According to Bennis, “All of (the) leaders (he studied), whatever their age, brought to their (leadership) crucibles four essential skills or competencies. These are the attributes that allow leaders to grow from their crucibles (their defining experiences), instead of being destroyed.”?

These essential and defining qualities of leaders were found in every culture and context. “They are the attributes that sustain and define leaders, not just in our digital age, but in every era, every public area, every business and boardroom... In every case, THE quality most responsible for their successful navigation of these formative experiences was their adaptive capacity — their almost magical ability to transcend adversity, with all the attendant stresses, and to emerge stronger than before...the ability to THRIVE in stressful situations... And however gifted, great leaders emerge only when they can find the proper stage, a forum that allows them to exercise their gifts and skills.”

The four leadership competencies and abilities that can result in performance that matters are: 1. their adaptive capacity or hardiness: the perseverance and toughness that can enable one to emerge from challenging circumstances without losing hope. These are “first-class noticers” they pay close attention to what is happening around them and see things that others might miss, and they understand when to dig deeper so that they can make informed decisions about the most appropriate action — they focus on learning and more learning, proactively seizing opportunities, and being creative, 2. they engage others by creating shared meaning by encouraging dissent, expressing empathy and being obsessive communicators, 3. these leaders have their own unique, compelling and authentic voice where they reinforce purpose, they maintain a level of humble self-awareness and self-confidence, and they consistently exhibit high levels of emotional intelligence, and 4. They operate with the highest degree of integrity. They remain ambitious, they constantly work on their competence and they operate with a moral compass.?

Post-Heroic Leaders and Performance that Matters?

There is a need for more authentic and vulnerable leaders who focus on creating and maintaining cultures of openness, honesty and empathy. These are leaders that create environments where managers challenge the status quo and they then enjoy an organization that is more open to new ideas. They find that their managers become more “original” and care about making the organization better, rather than defending it as it stands. And they are more motivated to advance the organization’s mission.?

As more leaders actively lean into topics and conversations, they may find that their team members are encouraged and enabled to share their very best thinking and truly deliver “Performance that Matters.”?

“Management is practice. Its essence is not knowing but doing. Its test is not logic but results. Its only authority is performance.” Peter Drucker

Mark Béliczky

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/beliczkyseniorexecutive/

[email protected]

+1 571.228.2341