future leadership dev

Future of Leadership Development

Kevin Wheeler

Australasian Talent Conference May 2010

Sydney, Australia

A Proposition

Traditional leadership development is designed to:

1. produce people able to make decisions in reasonably predictable situations.

2. teach how to control information and rewards.

3. ensure leaders act within expected boundaries.

4. Take action/ accept accountability alone

© 2010, Global Learning Resources, Inc. - Authorized Use Only

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Traditional View of Leadership

• It’s Serial –One leader succeeds another

• It’s Individual –One and only one leader

• It’s function is to Control –Makes the decisions. All follow.

• It should be emotionless –Works objectively and with reference to

facts, data, etc. © 2010, Global Learning Resources, Inc. - Authorized Use Only

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• Current leadership is perfectly suited to a manufacturing world with low complexity & clear solutions.

• Our development model works when turnover is low and work doesn’t change very fast.

• Less effective in a complex, global, uncertain world.


Example: BP & Oil Spill

• INTERDEPENDENCIES

– BP leadership

– Field leaders

– Region BP leadership

– Disaster leadership

– Louisiana government

– Mississippi government

– U.S. Coast Guard

– President Obama

– Senators

• Oil rig experts

• Clean-up experts

• Ship captains

• Navy/Coast Guard

• Fishermen

• Volunteers

• Wildlife officials


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• CREATIVITY

• How to stop a leak that no one has ever stopped before?

• COMPLEXITY – Massive

– This requires multiple problems to be addressed simultaneously.

© 2010, Global Learning Resources, Inc. - Authorized Use Only 6

Other Recent Examples

• Terrorism- How to deal with it from a corporate perspective

• GFC – How to cope with it • Recession – impact on sales,

workforce • Google – do business in China or not • Iceland volcano explosion/Ash cloud


It a NEW World


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Emerging Leadership has to function

• In highly complex situations. . .

• with multiple, global and diverse interactions and interconnections. . .

• and with very little certainty


The Emerging Leadership Model

• It’s Concurrent –Several may co-lead at the same time

based on skills or experience • It’s a Collective activity

–Many leaders /leadership of the team • It’s Collaborative

–Shared ideas/collective decisions • Emotion is allowed. It’s Compassionate

–Personalized decisions based on individual needs and desires.


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Leadership Means Being in Tune with Emotion


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SELF-AWARE SOCIALLY-AWARE

SELF-MASTERY RELATIONSHIP-

BUILDER

Vertical vs. Shared Leadership

• Vertical appropriate

– When there is. . . • A straightforward

decision to be made

• A standard process in place

• A simple, clear choice

• Shared appropriate

– When there is. . . • Need for

interdependency

• High complexity

• Need for creativity


New Concepts

• Broader definition of “leader”

–Concept of “leaderfull” organizations.

–Acceptance that all roles have leadership components.

• Rotating leadership

–Different leaders for different times


Divergent Skills

• Traditional Leader

– Analytical

– Focused/Unwavering

– Goal-oriented

– Expert

– Controlling

– Decisive

– Defining the work

• New Leader

– Analytical

– Flexible/Adaptable

– Emotionally intelligent

– Multi-skilled/Generalist

– Good listener

– Consensus builder

– Open/transparent

– Setting context


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I think & decide, you DO! I stimulate and inform, WE do!

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT’S NEW FOCUS


Creating “T” Shaped Leaders


Tech

nic

al E

xpe

rtis

e

Emotional, collaborative and communication skills

Dealing with Ambiguity

• Developing skills in dealing with ambiguous situations and solving unknown problems.

–Simulations

–Scenario planning

–Leveraging of social networks

–Portals of information © 2010, Global Learning Resources, Inc. - Authorized Use Only 17

Dealing with Complexity

• Learning how to simplify – reduce to simpler/essential levels.

• Leveraging group knowledge – Crowd-Sourcing

• Identifying mentors and advisors who can be quickly accessed.


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Dealing with Interdependencies

• Developing cultural competence

• Learning to collaborate

• Consensus decision making

• Building alliances and relationships

• Leveraging social networks


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Fostering Creativity

• Exploring and experimenting

• Open to the new and different

• Building diversity into everything


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“CEOs identify "creativity" as the most important

leadership competency for the successful

enterprise of the future.” -IBM's Institute for Business Value, May 2010

Challenging Assumptions


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PLANS limit Have BIG goals

DEADLINES slow things down As fast as you can

BUDGETS raise cost As little as possible

RULES are mostly stupid Whatever works

Development’s New Focus

• Focus will be on: – Leveraging social networks for ideas and learning – Being mentored (virtual and F2F)

• Using retiring/retired Baby Boomers • Utilizing online forums

– Development within a Context – Using portals containing:

• Simulations • Video scenarios • Discussion groups • On-demand learning content


–Less focus on classroom/theory.

–Theory AFTER learning HOW.

–Simulations/interactive problem solving

–Social networks

–Virtual repairs/lab experiments


From “The Power of Pull”

• Rather than molding individuals to fit the need of the institution, institutions will be shaped to provide platforms to help individuals achieve their full potential. . .

• The success of institutions will depend on their ability to amplify the efforts of individuals. . .


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The Power of Pull, by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, Lang Davidson

A 21st Century Leader

• Needs to deliberately practice . . . – negotiating and getting agreement between

interdependent people/groups. – assembling harmonious groups. – Dealing with unpredictable and changing situations. – achieving business goals with limited to no

control/position power and limited resources. – motivating and getting results from distributed

people/teams. – being culturally sensitive and competent. – accepting transparency, choice and loss of control as a

way of being. – Challenging assumptions


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Some Online Resources

• http://leadershiplearning.org/

• Leadership Development and Social Media http://vegardig.wordpress.com/

• http://www.leader-values.com/wordpress/

• http://www.byteeoh.com

• http://www.futureoftalent.org

• http://www.siliconyogi.com/andreas/it_professional/sol/complexsystems/EmergentLeadership.html


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Thanks! • Write to me at :

• [email protected]

• Follow me on Twitter at: • www.twitter.com/kwheeler

• Read my blog at: • http://www.byteeoh.com

• My websites • www.glresources.com

• www.futureoftalent.org


mailto:[email protected]