MANGEMENT/ LEADERSHIP SPECIAL ..............................Context is a critical component of effective leadership

Context is a critical component of effective leadership





A brilliant leader in one situation does not necessarily perform well in another, says a McKinsey study By Priyanka Sangani While every company worth its salt runs a number of leadership development programmes, few actually look deeper to analyse whether these initiatives are working for them. Recent research by Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan at McKinsey & Company indicates that part of the problem is that there's no clarity on the kinds of leadership skills or behaviours that organisations should promote. They go on to say that while different situations require different kinds of leaders, there are a few core characteristics which will distinguish a great leader. The authors discussed why leadership development programmes are ineffective and how companies can set this right with Corporate Dossier. Edited excerpts:

Why are so many leadership development programmes ineffective?

We've talked with hundreds of chief executives observing both successful initiatives and ones that run into the sand. In the process, we've identified four of the most common mistakes: One, disregarding the context : Context is a critical component of successful leadership. A brilliant leader in one situation does not necessarily perform well in another. Too many training initiatives we come across rest on the assumption that one size fits all and that the same group of skills or style of leadership is appropriate regardless of strategy, organisational culture or CEO mandate Two, applying trainings detached from on the job reality: When it comes to plan ning the programme's curriculum, companies face a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, there is value in off-site programs (many in university-like settings) that offer participants time to step back and escape the pressing demands of a day job.On the other hand, even after very basic training sessions, adults typically retain just 10% of what they hear in classroom lectures, versus nearly two thirds when they learn by doing Three, underestimating mindsets: Becoming a more effective leader often requires changing behaviour. But al though most companies recognise that this also means adjusting underlying mindsets, too often these organisations are reluctant to address the root causes of why leaders act the way they do.Four, failing to measure results: We frequently find that companies pay lip service to the importance of developing leadership skills but have no evidence to quantify the value of their investment. When businesses fail to track and measure changes in leadership performance over time, they increase the odds that improvement initiatives won't be taken seriously.

What are the key aspects of your research on decoding leadership?

We have analysed data from over 189,000 people in 81 diverse organisations to determine which behaviours of leaders drive effective leadership. We took 20 leadership behaviours, arrived at through a combination of practical experience and academic research, and looked at how organisations with strong leaders were different from organisations with weaker leaders. We found that four leadership behaviours explain 89% of variance between “healthy“ and “unhealthy“ organisations: solving problems effectively, operating with a strong results orientation, seeking different perspectives and supporting others. But there's a caveat: because scores are based on surveys of employees ­ and are therefore likely to describe behaviours which can be observed by them directly ­ mathematically the results may give us a sense of leadership behaviours most relevant at the frontline or middle managers.

How do the highlighted behaviours impact leadership effectiveness?

Solving problems effectively is a key input for decision making for major issues (such as M&A) as well as daily ones (such as how to handle a team dispute). To get it right, organisations must emphasise the need to solve the right problem (not just “a“ problem), to get to a solution that the organisation will im plement (not just to the academically correct answer), the need to spend precious time analysing only what matters (instead of doing analysis “to see what we get“), and shifting mindsets about the criticality of communicating the results simply and clearly.

Operating for results is about not only developing and communicating a vision and setting objectives but also following through to achieve results. Leaders with a strong results orientation tend to emphasise the importance of efficiency and productivity and prioritise the highest-value work.

In a world in constant change, it is essential to monitor trends affecting organisations, grasp changes in the environment, encourage employees to contribute ideas that could improve performance, accurately differentiate between important and unimportant issues and give the appropriate weight to stakeholder concerns. Leaders who do well on this dimension (seeking different perspectives) typically base their decisions on sound analysis and avoid the many biases to which decisions are prone.

By supporting others, leaders build trust, which in turn builds teams and organisations that get things done. Groups that show concern and trust for one another perform much better as they are worried only about external threats (for example, how to capture a new revenue stream) and not spending energy on internal threats (does my boss care about me)

How can companies tailor these findings to their requirements?

We believe that organisations investing in the development of their future leaders should consider three emerging themes: One, importance of recruitment: The recruiting process should consider tools and techniques to identify two traits in the potential new hires: (i) strong problem solving intrinsics (analytical skills, conceptual thinking and sound judgement) and (ii) openness to new ideas and perspectives; Two, focusing foundational leadership development on a few behaviours: Instead of applying a long list of leadership standards, organisations should equip their frontline leaders and middle managers with a small number of competences: (i) Problem Solving competence and (ii) Operating for results (planning, prioritising, target setting, following up, focusing on total value perspective); Three, creating a culture of openness and continuous challenge: Frontline leaders should be listened and engaged and should be incentivised to always look for external perspectives (best practices, customer inputs)

As a CEO how do you drive these behaviours in your organisation?

We suggest as a first step to ground the organisation in a rigorous fact leadership diagnosis that answers questions such as: What is the company's overall leadership effectiveness? Which behaviours do leaders display often? Which do they display rarely?
Next, a development programme can be designed and delivered around the strengths to be bolstered and the gaps that need to be filled.In addition, we believe that any programme must start with CEOs deeply desiring to improve themselves and build their own leadership skills. He or she will be the example and the role model for the whole organisation.

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