Strategy

In: Leadership, Strategy

Bringing cross functional teams together can introduce new problems. When teams can’t decide the team dynamics break down. It is easy for the leaders to blame a lack of trust or poor communication. However the problem is not the team’s ability to work together it is a reflection of the decision making process. In a cross functional team, each member represents their own faction of the organisation. Ultimately this sees the prioritisation of resources and all critical decisions delegated up to the leader. The team are unable to break an impasse and agree on a preferred outcome. The result – team members are frustrated because they perceive the leader is dictating all decisions. “The CEO blames the executives for indecisiveness; they resent the CEO for acting like a dictator. If this sounds familiar, you’ve experienced what I call the dictator-by-default syndrome.“ Bob Frisch HBR November 2008 Putting The Idea Into PracticeContinue Reading

In: Leadership, Strategy

Leadership is a profoundly personal face to face relationship, trust is established when leaders treat each other as valued. Strategic Effectiveness requires leaders build highly resilient highly effective teams that can weather the impacts of the current global pressures. High performing teams require authentic leadership, which involves honouring the moral obligation to care genuinely for others in the teams welfare. “Leaders who are trustworthy create interpersonal relationships based upon open communication, demonstrate personal competence, exhibit by their actions a commitment to others’ welfare, and model unflagging integrity” Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C. & Davis, J. D. (2007). “An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust: Past, Present, and Future.” Academy of Management Review, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 344-354. Effective leadership involves establishing relationships that unite individuals and engage them as owners and partners. Relationships with team members need to be based on authenticity and empathy. Many organisations still have leaders thatContinue Reading

Red Teaming

In: Leadership, Strategy

This article explains how to use Red Teaming as a way to develop contingency plans for any potential outcome. Based on experience from Operation Desert Storm, Retired Colonel Sean Hannah writes from his personal experience about how the US Army builds contingency plans referred to as Red Teaming and how you can leverage that is corporate leadership. How do you get a force totaling a massive 150,000 soldiers in strength to execute a substantially changed plan in stride, maneuvering divisions into new positions and directions of attack across an approximately 100-mile front, while maintaining coordination, synchronization, logistical support and effective performance? The US Army operates in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) contexts where plans are not just likely to change but are expected to change. This thinking is highly applicable to any organisation dealing with VUCA, as most companies are right now during the pandemic. Red Teaming Process hasContinue Reading

In: Crisis Management, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy

Synopsis of an article from London Business School by Michael Jacobides and Stefan Stern, Published 1st May 2020 In this article the authors ask us to consider how your company will get through the pandemic successfully they go onto challenge us to rethink and reinvent business and leadership models. To cope with the crisis you may need to make very significant and rapid changes, but given the fact that you are doing this during a crisis may lead to inertia, doubt or fear. Crisis Leadership Looks Different Leaders must respond directly and address the realities, staff are looking for their leaders to provide honest, simple, clear and direct messages. “When the situation is dire people need to be told,” he says. “You have to have a clear, bold, realistic narrative.” Provide a clear sense of direction, which is robust and consistently communicated – even if it is not good news.Continue Reading