In 2010, IBM interviewed over 1,500 CEO's worldwide to learn what
their top challenges were and their strategies for addressing them (Capitalising on Complexity: Insights from the Global CEO).
Two challenges emerged at the top of the list: 1) escalating
complexity, and 2) building the creative capacity in leadership to deal
with it. These same two themes remain in IBM's 2012 and 2014 studies as
well. Complexity will only continue to escalate, as well as the
leadership challenge to deal with it.
Let's bring this closer to home. It is no surprise then, that the
environments in which we work and live are becoming increasingly more
complex. We are experiencing the mix of mounting challenges, multiple
polarities and problems and complex situations with hidden points of
leverage.
Within organizations these complexities require leaders to decide when
and how they need to evolve and transform themselves to meet these
challenges head on. It requires different ways of thinking, acting and
being ~ a higher level of consciousness. Failure to adapt and evolve
results in the ways of the Dinosaurs. Einstein said, "The solutions to
our current problems can't be solved from the level of consciousness
that created them." They can only be solved with a higher order of
leadership consciousness, one that is more elaborate than the complexity
we face.
The VUCA model identifies the internal and external conditions affecting organization's and their leaders today. VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Briefly.....
Volatility ~ the nature, speed, volume, and
magnitude of change that is not in a predictable pattern. Think of
turbulence with increasing intensity and persisting for longer periods
than in the past.
Uncertainty ~ the lack of predictability in
issues and events. These volatile times make it difficult for leaders
to use past issues and events as predictors of future outcomes, making
forecasting extremely difficult and challenging.
Complexity ~ there are often
numerous and difficult to understand causes and mitigating factors (both
inside and outside the organization) involved in a problem. This layer
of complexity, added to the turbulence of change and the absence of past
predictors, adds to the difficulty of decision making. It also leads to
confusion, which can cause ambiguity.
Ambiguity ~ the lack of clarity about the
meaning of an event or the causes which leads to an increasing challenge
of accurately conceptualizing threats and opportunities. It can be the
‘who, what, where, how, and why’ behind the things that are happening
that are unclear and hard to ascertain.
Clearly VUCA puts the effectiveness of leadership at a premium. How are
leaders individually and collectively evolving to meet these challenges?
Does the organizational culture match and reward this premium?
Within the executive and senior leadership team ranks there is much
dialogue around the level of leaders individual and collective
development, that must, at a minimum, keep pace with the rate of change
and increasing complexity. Not to keep pace is to become less effective
and relevant. Let me again ask, "how are you and your leaders evolving
to meet these challenges? What are your organizational and leadership
development strategies and tactics in developing more agile and
conscious leaders? How are you fostering a culture that rewards
behaviors and retains agile leaders in a VUCA environment?
Mastering leadership is not easily developed. In fact, it is uncommon and rare. Why is that? Here are three possible reasons:
- Bookstores, social media, conferences and workshops are full of the
latest secrets to leadership success. Much of it reduces the development
of leaders to a set of quick-fix skills and steps. We're busy people
and we are accustomed to getting things right away. We'll use those new
skills and steps for a couple of weeks, but we'll always revert back to
our old behaviors, thoughts and actions. There is no sustainable growth
or development.
- Developing leadership effectiveness often gets sidelined because we
resist the vulnerability of learning and changing. Additionally, we
carefully guard our credibility and want to be seen as a highly capable
and strong leader. To be viewed as effective others turn to and expect
us to get things done and we do. Mostly, we respond automatically
reacting to people and situations. So what's wrong with that? It is a
leadership blind spot we call Too Much Autopilot! Autopilot
helps leaders get things done. It is about doing things the way we've
always done them and getting the same outcomes. However, autopilot and
growth don't go together. If we want new outcomes we have to disengage
the Autopilot. It takes courage to face the truth about ourselves.
- Most of the development of leadership effectiveness is driven towards
skill and competency development. That's good and needed, but growing as
a leader is more than dressing the part or raising your EQ or getting
smarter at a leadership competency like delegation, time management,
communications. Leadership growth encompasses all of these and more. It
requires transformation. To be the best version of yourself, you need to
understand that the development of your leadership effectiveness into
mastery is a profound process and requires a restructuring and
transforming of oneself into a higher form. Then you will begin to
understand why it is not for the faint of heart. Why it is rare and
uncommon and a journey with no shortcuts.
The VUCA inherent in today’s business world is the “new normal”, and it
is profoundly changing not only how organizations do business, but how
leaders lead. The skills and abilities leaders once needed to help their
organizations thrive are no longer sufficient. Today, much more is
required of our leaders.
Executive and leadership coaches and other talent management
professionals can help leaders succeed in today’s VUCA environment by
providing a confidential and partnering relationship that helps the
leader understand "autopilot", turn it off and see the possibilities of
change. It is this new awareness and consciousness and the partnering
relationship that takes leaders through personal transformation. The
commitment to develop effective leadership as a strategic priority, in
this VUCA world, must be made because of its dramatic impact on leaders
and organizational performance. What is your destiny? Are you ready,
willing and able?
I hope this article has been helpful. What are your thoughts? How would
you begin to break through and begin shifting your focus and behaviors
in achieving new and different outcomes? We would love to hear from you
with comments or questions. Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.
In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make
clear. Coaching is a powerful process of coaching leaders through
personal transformation that enables the leader to reveal and illuminate
their authentic leadership style.
Confidence is an important attribute in any situation, especially
when leading yourself and leading others. Confidence can be understated
as a natural expression of ability, expertise and self-regard. Humility
is a word that comes to mind. It can also be bold and at times brash
and cocky ~ to the point of being over confident. We all have a choice
on how we want to exhibit our strengths, our confidence. The important
thing is how and why we are making those choices.
For example, how aware and conscious are you when you make your
choices? Are you on automatic pilot? How committed are you to your
choices? How are those choices impacting how you show up in all
situations and conversations and how others see you? What are your
results? For instance, one can choose to under utilize confidence by
being more compliant and protecting or overused in the form of
controlling.
It is critical for a leader to fully understand how and why they do
the things they do. To be consciously aware to turn off the
autopilot. As a leadership and executive coach, I find in myself and
those I work with that our key strengths can also be our greatest
weakness. I am also fortunate to know a number of truly confident
people, who have turned off the autopilot and really developed their
ability to mindfully use new behaviors that lead to new outcomes. It
comes as no surprise they all share a number of qualities and these 8
are what I have observed.
1. They take a stand not because they think they are always right… but because they are not afraid to be wrong.
Cocky and conceited people tend to take a position and then proclaim,
bluster, and totally disregard differing opinions or points of view.
They know they’re right – and they want (actually they need)
you to know it too (see controlling). Their behavior isn’t a sign of
confidence, though; it’s the hallmark of an intellectual bully.
Truly confident people don’t mind being proven wrong. They feel finding out what is right is a lot more important than being right.
And when they’re wrong, they’re secure enough to back down graciously.
Truly confident people often admit they’re wrong or don’t have all the
answers; intellectual bullies never do.
2. They freely ask for help.
The more success you have moving up and through the leadership ladder
can be an increasingly isolating experience. Where then do you turn for
help? Who can you be vulnerable with about your weaknesses? To whom can
you admit that you do not possess all the answers? Many people feel
asking for help is a sign of weakness; implicit in the request is a lack
of knowledge, skill, or experience.
I have found well developed and confident leaders are
secure enough to admit a weakness and seek others for help. Not only
because they are secure enough to admit they need help but also because
they know that when they seek help they pay the person they ask a huge
compliment. Saying, “Can you help me?” shows tremendous respect for that
individual’s expertise and judgment. Otherwise you wouldn't ask.
3. They listen way more than they speak.
Bragging is a mask for insecurity. Truly confident people are quiet
and unassuming. They already know what they think; they want to know
what you think.
So they ask open-ended questions that give other people the freedom
to be thoughtful and introspective: They ask what you do, how you do it,
what you like about it, what you learned from it… and what they should
do if they find themselves in a similar situation.
Truly confident people realize they know a lot, but they wish they
knew more… and they know the only way to learn more is to listen more
and develop as a leader.
4. They shine the spotlight on others.
Maybe they did most of the work. And maybe they turned a bunch of
individuals into a high performance team. Here’s the difference, truly
confident people don’t need the glory; they know what they’ve achieved.
They don’t need the validation of others, because true validation comes
from within.
So they stand back and celebrate their accomplishments through
others. They stand back and let others shine – a confidence boost that
helps those people become truly confident, too.
5. They don't put down other people.
Generally speaking, the people who like to gossip, who like to speak
badly of others, do so because they hope by comparison to make
themselves look better.
The only comparison a truly confident person makes is to the person
she was yesterday – and to the person she hopes to someday become.
6. They own their mistakes.
Insecurity tends to breed artificiality; confidence breeds sincerity and honesty.
That’s why truly confident people admit their mistakes. They dine out
on their screw-ups. They don’t mind serving as a cautionary tale. They
don’t mind being a source of a learning lesson for others and for
themselves.
7. They think, “Why not me?”
Many people feel they have to wait to be promoted, to be discovered, to be selected, to be chosen.
Truly confident people know that access is almost universal. They can
connect with almost anyone through social media. (Everyone you know
knows someone you should know.) They know they can create their own
products, build their own relationships and networks, choose their own
path – they can choose to follow whatever course they wish. And very
quietly, without calling attention to themselves, they go out and do it.
8. They constantly work on their personal development.
They understand that to make leadership growth last they need to
remain curious and be patient. They realize that over time to find
substantive growth that leads to substantive change in them they must be
highly curious. This is hard for leaders because everyone looks to them
for answers. Confident leaders are very curious about themselves.
They also realize that change does not happen overnight. Real change
takes time and patience. They have a mantra that says, “I am not going
to change overnight, but I can begin to change overnight.”
As a leader, maybe you share all of these qualities of confident
leaders or maybe a few. If it is the later are you asking yourself “how
can I develop more of these qualities and how do I start?” Will Rogers
said it best when he said, “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll
get run over if you just sit there.” If you want to grow and be more
confident, you must change. Change involves the unknown. The unknown is
risky. Real personal growth is risky, but the rewards are profound.
I hope this article has been helpful. What are your thoughts on this
topic? How would you begin to break through and begin shifting your
focus on becoming a more self aware and confident leader? We would love
to hear from you with comments or questions. Send me a note via email at
brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.
In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make
clear. Coaching is a powerful process of coaching leaders through
personal transformation that enables the leader to reveal and illuminate
their authentic leadership style.
