lisa ashton- dna of the leader of the future: what competencies do we look for, how do we assess...

BIOSS Southern Africa DNA of the leader of the future: what competencies do we look for, how to assess these and how do we develop them? March 2015 Lisa Ashton

THE FUTURE: MANAGING THE UNEXPECTED

Kenneth Boulding:

“the human condi.on can almost be summed up in the observa.on that, whereas

all experience are of the past, all decisions are about the future. The image of the future, therefore, is the key to all choice-‐ orientated behaviour. The character and quality of the images of the future which prevail in a society are therefore the most important clue to its overall

dynamics”.

Alan Kay:

“the best way to predict the future,” Kay said, “is to create it.”

LEADERSHIP AND THE NEXT GENERATION

QUESTION 1

1.   What is understood by “next generaQon” ?

2.   What would their needs be?

CONSIDER THE “NEXT GENERATION” AS A DIFFERENT PARADIGM FOR LEADERSHIP THINKING

QUESTION 2

1.   Will our prevailing paradigms or mental models of thinking about leadership and organisaQons remain relevant or will they be replaced by others?

2.   What would these be?

WHAT LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES DO WE NEED TO DEVELOP AND INCUBATE?

QUESTION 3

How should we change or what should be different? What Challenges will leaders face What skills or competencies will they require?

Some Thoughts on Above QuesQons

THE LEADER OF THE FUTURE

March 2015

CHALLENGES OF THE FUTURE

The ‘leadership’ challenge will not be about knowledge as knowledge is easily available. It will be about the capacity to move people towards co-‐created and shared vision

The challenge will be to manage the dissonance between the generaQons in the workplace

Leadership challenges will be culture, values and ethics and how to bring these together


Authority as we know it will not be a moQvaQonal lever

Coaching and mentoring will become increasingly important

Leaders of the future may be well qualified but may lack experience / depth and leadership skills

The future will be more compeQQve and aggressive

The future will be more about sustainability, values, collaboraQon and co-‐creaQon and developing scalable soluQons for the world


Conscious Capitalism will be required

The future will be a playing field with a limited and bounded environment with depleted resources

Leadership will be needed to create value in a sustainable way within a limited framework.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES WE NEED TO DEVELOP -‐ SOME SUGGESTIONS InnovaQon and creaQvity CollaboraQon & co-‐creaQon

Crading a shared vision of the future;

Ability to Inspire and create Hope

Comfortable with RevoluQon and Risk

Integrity Conscious Capitalism Comfortable with complexity and

uncertainty

EffecQve communicaQon

Ability to relate, understand and interact

Comfortable with complexity and uncertainty

CollecQve mind-‐set

Mindfulness

JusQce, fairness, equity, taking a stand;

Stewardship and statesmanship

AppreciaQon

GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY…WHAT CAN WE DO NOW? WORKABLE SOLUTIONS Start NOW! Take a slice of employees across the different func6ons, and call them the “next genera6on” leaders; Guard against developing a patronising understanding of what “develop” in

“developing the next genera6on of leaders” means Increase the dialogue. Think and talk more about the environment and resources,

managing them in a sustainable manner and iden6fy what innova6on needs to be established;

Encourage more collaboraQon Encourage more engagement

WORKABLE SOLUTIONS

Nurture more understanding amidst diversity; Do more coaching. Coaching is the leadership of tomorrow. In crea6ng collabora6on

plaCorms, leaders must listen, have meaningful conversa6ons and give the opportunity to collaborate. In doing so, they are giving over ownership and responsibility.

Exercise conversaQon and co-‐creaQon extensively; Empower staff. It is crucial to iden6fy people at an entry level and find a way of

empowering them with the skills and competencies that will build the future in terms of the challenges we are currently facing. Coach them inside ins6tu6ons of other societal challenges to broaden their skills and knowledge;

Encourage research and creaQve thinking. There will be a lot of research discussion and crea6ve thinking that will need to take place;

WORKABLE SOLUTIONS

Move the ‘non-‐movers’ Create a new company culture. There needs to be a cri6cal mass of next

genera6on leaders in order to influence the culture. Baby Boomers alone cannot design the incubator. It is important to give the next genera6on the freedom to develop the answers themselves

Introduce more flexibility. Flexibility will be needed and it is crucial to

understand that there is no ‘one size fits all’ in this process; Combine a ‘business orientated’ focus with a ‘society orientated’ focus.

Next genera6on leaders need to assimilate this fundamental change into the business culture of the company

WORKABLE SOLUTIONS

Use sustainability of the company to uplid society. There needs to be a great deal of aLen6on placed on the challenges the country faces. Start an introduc6on of a thought process away from ‘self-‐enrichment’ towards focusing on real upliOment of the community. Ul6mately, this will shiO thinking to focus on how we sustain the company and yet s6ll upliO society;

Reduce management, increase leadership. Next genera6on leaders might mould themselves and make use of the approach of less management and more leadership and, by doing so, inspire people to take responsibility and make a meaningful contribu6on within the company and society;

Challenge the capitalist model as the ONLY way. We might have to add to this model as this is possibly disempowering us due to the profit making drive;

IMPLICATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP: WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?

Whole Person v  Reflec6veness, good judgement and meta-‐cogni6on v  Ability to deal with complexity and uncertainty v  Listening skills, ques6oning skills, observa6on skills v  Empathy, compassion v  Openness, respect, authen6city, open eyes / open mind v  Percep6ve v  Rela6vis6c thinking, non-‐judgemental, detachment v  Knowledge of limits (humility)

Strategies to cope with v  Collabora6ve Strategies v  Skills of collabora6on are limited!

•  Appreciative conversations

•  In appreciation of Slowness

•  Collaborative skills

•  Collective capability

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT?

lisa ashton- dna of the leader of the future: what competencies do we look for, how do we assess...

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