Page 45 - MiNDSPACE Issue 2 2022 - Old Mutual Corporate

‘One of the challenges for leadership
relationships that encourage collaboration across ecosystems. The leaders who are not able to make the shift from head to heart will not survive the next five years.’
be successful makes it difficult to successfully build a strong leadership bench,’ wrote Sari Wilde, Managing Vice President at Gartner, in 2019, a year before the pandemic.
Two years of Covid have amplified that uncertainty enormously. So where to next?
THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A GOOD STORY
LEADING THROUGH ONGOING CHANGE
‘The CEO has to be a compassionate storyteller who can weave a story that everyone in the organisation wants to be part of,’ says Davis, ‘to influence a joy-filled, healthy place to work that positively affects the environment and communities around them.’
As Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean and Director of Henley Business School in Africa points out, we always think we can’t manage the change that’s coming, but we somehow get through it. ‘When you’re in the midst of something and dealing with it,
Even those who work with numbers and spreadsheets like CFOs are having to become storytellers. Vice President of Finance at Sage Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Jordaan Burger recently said in a CFO South Africa webinar: ‘It’s something we need to focus on and depending on how well you can tell the story of the numbers, the more you can play the role of being a strategic ally in the business.’
it feels overwhelming. We always think the future is hugely impossible and the past made more sense – but that’s simply not true.’
In addition, says Garrath Rosslee, consulting psychologist and change specialist, the fundamentals remain: ‘Market, functional and commercial understanding are vital, engagement with stakeholders is even more important and measures and deliverables are as non-negotiable as ever. What has changed is technology, speed and the psychological contract. At the same time, understanding and being able to navigate change and facilitate learning have become even more important.’
Telling a good story isn’t just about weaving a narrative, Foster-Pedley notes: ‘You need to craft something that will bring people on board. There is so much data now – but we’re scrabbling for meaning. What people need is simple narratives with deep meaning that have clear rationality. That’s what allows people to act in uncertainty.’
ORGANISATIONAL SENSE-MAKING
Finally, he says, leaders can no longer ignore that everything they do has an impact beyond the company, an impact that goes beyond even employees and other direct stakeholders. ‘Business leaders now are obliged to engage with those unintended consequences,’ he says.
Fundamentally, it’s about sense-making says Foster-Pedley: coping with change relies on how quickly you can make sense of what’s going on. ‘You need the ability to see what’s around you,’ he says, ‘and looking isn’t the same as seeing. Instead
of focusing on the endless pressure of results, become more mindful. Suspend your judgment and take stock of other people’s perspectives, as they may see things differently.
‘The leaders we need now need to be bold. Society is crying out for action as we try to recover from the pandemic and deal with climate change. We need leaders who will take some gambles, who are genuinely prepared to be wrong and be criticised, but most of all who will be bold and act – who will get stuff done.’ M
‘That brings a richer understanding – it’s not a simple causality, it’s a lot more complex – that will allow you to get to the root of a problem. It’s like any situation where you feel threatened or are in trouble – you can waste a lot of energy thrashing around, or you can lie on your back and wait and consider your options before deciding on a course of action.’
workSPACE leadership
to be significantly different within five years. This uncertainty around what the future of work looks like and what skills leaders will need to
development is that most organisations expect more than 40% of leadership roles
Rosslee points out that times of change offer opportunities
to fundamentally alter markets, sectors and internal dynamics. Here, the ability to lead and manage from a process perspective is relevant. ‘This means senior people should both lead and follow, provide stability and tension, facilitate learning and failure, be mechanistic and systemic, assess qualitatively and quantitatively, and measure impact and influence,’ he says. ‘The either/or philosophies of the last decades need to be replaced by a both/and mindset.’
It will mean developing new skills that are more humanity- based to move your organisation through the uncertainty
and complexity ahead. ‘The rapid upskill is to lose the reductionist, exploitative, mechanised outlook that has been the multigenerational wisdom of the industrialised and capitalist world view for centuries,’ says executive coach Colleen Davis.
Mandy Collins is
a content specialist
and business-writing trainer who consults
to companies across a broad range of industries.
‘Senior leaders now have to juggle complexity within their roles. Their role is no longer just about goals, but about building
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