Growing Change Agile Leaders - Why, What and How

GROWING CHANGE
AGILE LEADERS
SHARON L RICHMOND
S O U T H B AY O D N E T W O R K
DECEMBER 9, 2013

OUR JOURNEY TODAY
•  Shortage of leaders
•  Knowing what’s needed
•  Broadening our aperture
•  Personality type
•  Leadership Intelligence

•  Five part strategy

(c) 2013 Sharon L Richmond.
Permission granted for personal use, with slides fully intact.

IN A WORLD OF RELENTLESS CHANGE
Shorter
Time
To

Market

Constant

Innovation

New
Business

Models

Frequent

Reorganizations

Contingent

Labor

Stakeholders
&

Steering
Committees

Globalization

Operational

Excellence

Flexible
Workforce

Evolving

Customer
Needs

Big
Data


L E A D E R S A R E M O R E I M P O R TA N T T H A N E V E R

THE GROWING SHORTAGE OF LEADERS
6

•  Demand v. Supply
•  Quality

DEMAND

•  Development
SUPPLY

(c) 2013 Pam Fox Rollin and Sharon L Richmond.

DEMAND: WHAT “THE EXPERTS” SAY
Organizations have huge needs
•  Many leadership openings
•  Few organizations have adequate
succession plans
•  Many succession candidates fail
•  “Grow your own” is best, but takes a
long time


SUPPLY: DEMOGRAPHICS (US)
The pool is shrinking
•  Many people expected to retire
•  Most senior management
•  Not as many in replacement generation,
and “they are different”


QUALITY IS DISAPPOINTING
Not enough, not good enough
•  Senior executives doubt execution
ability
•  Massive spending on leadership training,
with disappointing results
•  Global leaders increasingly dissatisfied
with development offered
•  Circumstances worse at multi-nationals

LEADING IS MORE DEMANDING
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Global roles
Multi-functional and multi-disciplinary
Managing ‘experts’
Information widely distributed
Technology enabled
Geographically dispersed

•  Relentless change

WHERE ARE ALL THE LEADERS?


WHO DO WE SEE?
Need for
leaders
Perceived
pool
“Leaders
are…”

Educated
White men
Older

Right experience,
Right “fit”


?

Like Me

Not Like Me

Good

Bad

IT’S A VUCA WORLD
V = VOLATILITY
U = UNCERTAINTY
C = CHAOTIC
A = AMBIGUOUS


MANY LEADERS AREN’T CUTTING IT
70 % of major initiatives fail to deliver expected value
•  Top-down change does not work
•  Complacency > Urgency
•  Leadership coalition must be strong enough to overcome tradition
and inertia
•  Difficulties of producing real and lasting change are routinely
underestimated
•  Removing culture inhibitors takes enormous courage and political
capital
•  Change messages are lost in a sea of general business
communications
•  Victory declared too soon, and before whole organization feels it
•  Ultimately the change that can be made neither addresses the root
causes or produces lasting value

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS MOST NEEDED?
Last 10 Years

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Next 10 Years

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 


LOTS OF DIFFERENT VIEWS
FROM

TO

Hierarchical authority (most senior)

Adaptable authority (best placed)

Competitive might

Creative domination

Manage to predictable results

Produce in chaotic environments

Plan implementation

Plan for readiness

Risk avoidance

Risk tolerant

Results directed

Values directed

Avoiding complexity

Maneuvering in complexity

Deciding and delegating

Leading change & transformation

Linear thinking

Adaptive thinking

Focus on producing

Focus on learning
Self-awareness; situational
awareness and adaptability


LEADERSHIP IS A PRACTICE
•  Simple model, not easy
•  Develop by building on
strengths
•  Embrace polarity


WHAT LEADERS DO
Set direction
“Where we are
going.”
Inspire and engage
people
“Come on along.”
Mobilize execution
“How to best get the
work done.”

SET DIRECTION


INSPIRE OTHERS


MOBILIZE EXECUTION


THE NEW ESSENCE OF CHANGE
LEADERSHIP
To develop VUCA leaders … develop agility,
adaptability, innovation, collaboration,
communication, openness to change, and other,
higher-order critical thinking skills.
UNC Kenan/Flagler Executive Education, 2013


BUILDING CHANGE AGILITY
(ABILITY TO ADAPT QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY TO CAPITALIZE ON EMERGING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES)

Prioritize &
initiate
change

= Executive Mgmt
= Initiative Leaders;
People Managers

Sponsor
change

= PM, CM,
Initiative team
= ALL employees

Coach
employees
through
change

Lead
change

Assimilate
lessons
learned

Manage
change
Identify
opp’s for
change

Become
resilient

Embed
changes

Ensure
results

Manage
portfolio of
changes

= Ptf Mgt & Exec
Mgmt
= Change coach
(CM, OD, PM, HR…)

Counsel
change
leaders

(c) 2013 Erin McAuley and Sharon L Richmond. Permission granted for personal use, with slides fully intact.

WHAT CHANGE LEADERS DO
Set direction
“Where we are
going.”
Inspire and engage
people
“Come on along.”
Mobilize execution
“How to best get
the work done.”

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Set strategic priorities
Understand what to solve for
Define destination
Clarify measures of success
Communicate “why” and “what”

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Build a strong coalition of Accountables
Incorporate multiple perspectives
Embrace differences of all kinds
En-Courage participation
Welcome and understand concerns
Appeal to varying motivations
Engage people for ‘how’ and ‘when’

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Allocate resources
Clarify accountabilities
Empower decision-makers
Remove barriers
Stay the course
Champion the team’s success


OPENING THE APERTURE
SPOTTING MORE LEADERS

HOW TO SEE MORE LEADERS?
•  Bias and habits of thought keep us from seeing that
we have leaders all throughout our organizations
•  Neuroscience – fear vs support
•  Personality type – organized vs diffuse
•  Emotional intelligence – hard vs soft


NEUROSCIENCE
•  People need social connections
•  Our brains are wired to help us seek social pleasure and
avoid social pain
•  Exclusion, rejection, disapproval, evaluation, unfairness = pain
•  Caring, acceptance, encouragement, fairness, autonomy =
pleasure

•  We must feel safe in order to learn and change
•  Workplaces are ‘polluted’ with stress and anxiety
•  Uncertainty triggers amygdala
•  Lack of control decreases motivation, pain tolerance, health

•  Where there is fear, there is no safety
•  Drives out innovation and creativity
•  Impulses override instincts

NEUROSCIENCE
We have in-built biases

•  We instantly and unconsciously
recognize faces from our own
social group (in-group)
•  We categorize out-group faces
faster than we can detect it
•  Out-group faces activate our
amygdala – “threat and
danger” feeling leads to
characterizing
•  We then mentalize – inferring
traits, motives and perspective
•  We have less empathy for
different others

Bias… is an… automatic response
involving the complex neurological
interplay between prejudice--a
negative emotional reaction to outgroup members--and stereotype,
the cognitive beliefs about those
members.
Like other emotional reactions,
prejudice develops in the
amygdala and is "learned quickly”
David Amodio, Patricia Devine
Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology
Reported in TIME Magazine, May 2012

Google: ProjectImplicit


GOOD NEWS
•  We can improve cognitive control

•  Mindfulness practice – increase awareness
•  Enhance control functions – vigilance, clear action plans,
practice behaviors
•  Set clear and fair procedures to offset categorical thinking

•  We can reframe someone into ‘in group’
•  Create sub-teams
•  Highlight “like me” vs “not like me”
•  Common goals to create identity

•  We can capitalize on diversity

•  Leverage different views, experiences (as well as
knowledge) to benefit the group
•  Decrease anxiety about differences to increase empathy

Findings from David Amodio, Patricia Devine. For more, visit www.amodiolab.org

CREATE A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT


DIFFERENCES AFFECT PERFORMANCE
Interpersonal
Congruence
High

Average

High Performance

Low

Average

Low Performance

Low

Diversity

High

83 teams of 4-6 graduate students across 9 weeks together

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
“Differences are normal and OK”
“I am seen here as I see myself”
“I want to learn from others”

Diversity becomes productive

LEADERSHIP COMES IN ALL TYPES
ISTJ:
Responsible Executors
ISTP:
Nimble Pragmatists
ESTP:
Dynamic Mavericks
ESTJ:
Efficient Drivers
ISFJ:
Dedicated Stewards
ISFP:
Practical Custodians
ESFP:
Enthusiastic
Improvisers
•  ESFJ:
Committed Builders
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

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¡ 

¡ 
¡ 
¡ 
¡ 
¡ 
¡ 
¡ 
¡ 

INFJ: Insightful Motivators
INFP: Inspired Crusaders
ENFP: Impassioned
Catalysts
ENFJ: Engaging Mobilizers
INTJ:
Visionary Strategists
INTP: Expansive Analyzers
ENTP: Innovative Explorers
ENTJ: Strategic Directors

Age and maturity
Power and status
Values and motivation
(c) 2013 Sharon L Richmond. Introduction to Type and Leadership

PERSONALITY TYPE AND LEADERSHIP
•  Making good decisions in ambiguous conditions
•  Communicating and pursuing a clear vision
•  Building effective working relationships
•  Making full use of each person’s abilities
•  Being adaptable and open to change – and
helping other do the same
•  Tolerating and inviting healthy disagreements and
conflict


HOW CAN TYPE HELP GROW LEADERS?
•  Many ways to lead
•  Everyone has the potential: will & skill
•  Choice is critical
•  Blind spots are related to type preferences
•  Conscious and intentional development take
energy and patience, and reinforcement
• 


EQ: WHY LEADERS DERAIL
Four key derailers1
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 

Problems with interpersonal relationships
Failure to meet business objectives
Failure to build and lead a team
Inability to change or adapt during a transition

EQ abilities differentiate those who succeed
1

Center for Creative Leadership, Van Velsor and Leslie, 1995

HOW EQ HELPS GROW LEADERS
•  Understanding Self improves confidence and
courage
•  Understanding Others improves empathy,
compassion, valuing differences, knowledge of
motivators and priorities
•  Managing Self improves communication,
innovation, and influencing
•  Managing Social Interactions – adds it all up for
improved collaboration and innovation, as well as
mobilizing for execution

HOW CAN YOU GROW MORE AGILE
LEADERS IN YOUR WORKPLACE?
•  Small group discussion
•  Call outs


FIVE STEP STRATEGY
GROWING CHANGE LEADERS

CULTIVATE LEADERS
•  Broaden your images of “leader”
•  Update competency models
•  Review succession Hi-Po’s
•  Measure outcomes (advances)

•  Leverage past investments
•  Personality type
•  Interpersonal skills
•  EQ / Resilience skills

HELP LEADERS EXPAND THEIR ROLE
Target-Driven:
Let’s deepen
your learning

Facilitating

Coaching

Leading

Sports
Coaching
Training
Helper-Driven:
Here’s what you
need to learn

Mentoring
Consulting

Supervising
Helper-Driven:
Do as I say

Target-Driven:
Do as you will

Please do not use without explicit permission. Pending publication.

HELP LEADERS WALK THEIR TALK
•  Define clear behavioral indicators of what the values
look like in action
•  Build a feedback-rich culture (skills and courage)
•  Provide an interpersonal awareness curriculum that
includes engaged executives
•  Provide leaders with coaching on their own behaviors
•  Provide regular feedback loop to leaders – so they know
how they are being perceived and can self-correct
•  Teach leaders to coach others for development
•  Eliminate stacked rank evaluations


FIVE PART STRATEGY
1.  Have leaders as cultural exemplars.
2.  Systems fully aligned to support behaviors
3.  Leaders learn how to coach for growth
4.  Hi-po leaders get top projects, with best exec

sponsors to develop them
5.  Leaders advance only when proven
Leaders developing leaders.

Leadership is the wise use of
power.
Power is the capacity to translate
intention into reality and sustain it.
- Warren Bennis

Thank you!
Sharon L Richmond
sharon@sharonrichmond.com
650-269-0618
Executive Coaching  Change Leadership  Team Effectiveness

Growing Change Agile Leaders - Why, What and How

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