Tag: leadership

Categories
HR Tech

Why Agile Leaders Need to Be Master Strategists and Three Ways to Get Started

Written by Chuen Chuen Yeo on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

This article originally appeared as a Council Post on Forbes here.

Albert Einstein is often credited with saying, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

For leaders today, that five minutes packs in even more activities — communicate and create buy-in from key players, then assemble a capable team that will implement the actions decisively and effectively. In a bid to save time, some leaders jump straight to action without fully understanding the context, but a weak, flimsy, poorly constructed solution based on lopsided facts and warped logic almost never goes down well.

From technology disruption to climate change issues to the unwelcome COVID-19 crisis, leaders are now faced with a monumental task of transforming even more complex systems. And the clock is ticking.

If business leadership is a mathematical problem, the rules of engagement have changed. Corporate executives need to embark on a journey to re-understand business challenges and formulate solutions that can work in this new normal. And they must do so with agility.

Businesses require a strategy — a leadership strategy that secures a ready supply of capable leaders — should they wish to survive these tumultuous times. Armed with the right skills, capabilities and mindsets, these agile leaders can ensure that both the short- and long-term business needs are met.

The task of navigating complexities is one that all leaders need to undertake, and it requires people who can handle the cognitive complexity and draw on multiple frames of reference or intelligence at the same time as part of systems leadership.

The Traits of a Master Strategist

In my work as an executive coach, I often support leaders in becoming master strategists by challenging their thinking so they may formulate the best solutions (or assemble a team to do so), communicate with charisma and implement to perfection. We seldom arrive at well-designed solutions unless there is thorough contextual understanding, deep subject-matter-expertise, and clarity of thought. Over the years, I have observed that some corporate professionals do better than others in this area.

These are the traits that I have found are common among those who can call themselves “master strategists”:

1. They ask questions that elevate the quality of discussions and thinking.

2. Key stakeholders often welcome their opinions.

3. They are great storytellers, able to engage and inspire a wide range of audiences, draw them in and involve them in a compelling vision.

Some ask if strategic thinkers are born or developed. Everyone sits somewhere on the spectrum of strategic thinking so instead of asking “Do I have it?” leaders would benefit more if they instead ask, “How do I get better at it?” To remain low on the spectrum of strategic thinking is unthinkable. A leader may have excellent communication skills and the resolve to follow through with bold actions, but the lack of substance — strategy — can be their downfall.

How To Become A Master Strategist?

Here’s the good news: With deliberate and consistent actions, leaders can quickly level up their cognitive abilities and be well on their way to becoming master strategists. Here are three actions that can help you.

1. Incorporate structured reflection into your daily routine.

In his book Sometimes You Win—Sometimes You Learn, leadership guru Dr. John C. Maxwell wrote, “Experience isn’t the best teacher, evaluated experience is.”

There are many learnings leaders can glean from daily experiences, but not having the discipline for regular reflection can mean you will miss them. Structured reflection helps you maximize your learning and experience, be it through daily readings, observations, or interactions. Reflecting in a structured way helps you analyse facts and processes and translate them into future hypotheses and actions. Reflection is a very powerful tool for continuous improvement. I recommend Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Gibb’s Reflective Cycle for this purpose. Both are very easy to implement and offer robust frameworks.

2. Think unconventionally, not automatically.

Thinking is such an automatic process that we often take it for granted. When we ask someone to think, what do we really mean? Given the world has changed so much and things we learn in formal education are often obsolete even before we graduate, we need to unlearn, relearn, and repeat.

Fortunately, there are many powerful thinking frameworks out there. You can tap into visible thinking routines or thinking frameworks to understand problems thoroughly. Paul’s Wheel of Reasoning is a useful critical thinking framework that I have seen work wonders for my clients many times.

3. Understand the needs of others.

Master strategists are great storytellers. In every compelling vision, there’s a part that everyone can play — they can see themselves in your story, hence the strong commitment. The question master strategists must address when communicating with others is, “What’s in it for me? Why should I care about this?”

You could begin by examining your audiences’ motivation, love language, mental models, strengths and more. Keep a lookout for what is important to them, and you will find a way to create the best story that onboards others.

The world as we know it now is different. The speed of digitalization has increased in the last few months in this new world created by the pandemic. As a leader, you must stay persistently curious and keep stretching your mind to learn, unlearn and relearn so that you may create the best master strategy.

For more articles on agile leadership click here – ACESENCE

Categories
HR Tech

“Failure”, Innovation and Leadership

Written by Thakur Ajay on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

Fear of Failure is a roadblock to success

Failure is an inevitable part of life, but SMART people know how to make it work for them. One of the biggest roadblocks to success is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is worse than failure itself because it stops you to a life of unrealised potential.

A successful response to failure is all you need.

When testing a new technology often founders and leaders fear failure. 

DON’T fear failure

How can you avoid failure?

-Start Small

-Focus on the journey

-Educate yourself

-Trust yourself

-Ask for help

-Never be afraid of being called

Last but not the least keep referring to the below famous quotes by these legendry innovators and leaders and keep moving ahead:

A great leader is always aware of his ego. Because he believes in the words of Lao Tzu (a great Chinese philosopher) “knowing others is wisdom but knowing yourself is enlightenment”

He knows that the moment he gets aware of his ego he loses 99% of his enemies.

A great leader knows that his arrogance will be his downfall. A great leader knows that Socrates (father of the western philosophy) was right when he said

“The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing”

A great leader knows that to be a great leader he must be a great listener. He knows that ability to listen with patience is a superpower. He knows that one should never listen to reply but always listen to understand. 

A great leader is a great follower. He believes in the wise words of Mark Twain (father of American Literature)

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years”

A great leader respects everyone equally as he believes in the wise words of Albert Einstein (father of Modern Physics)

“I speak and respect everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the University”

A great leader knows that Ideas are nothing and execution is everything. A great leader has a great vision. He knows that leadership is all about translating vision into reality. A great leader always promotes creativity and innovation because he believes in the words of Steve Jobs (founder of apple)

“Innovation is what distinguishes between a leader and a follower”

A great leader knows that his megalomania, narcissism and unscrupulous nature would be his downfall. A great leader believes in the words of Aristotle (father of political science)

“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know”

A great leader believes in constant learning because he knows that once you stop learning, you start dying. A great leader believes in Change as he believes in the Wise words of Winston Churchill (ex-Prime Minister of Great Britain)

“To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often”

A Great Leader knows that mistakes are inevitable, failure is inevitable. He knows that only dead people can avoid making mistakes. He knows that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

A great leader never makes the same mistake twice and he knows that success is nothing but one’s ability to tolerate failure.

A great leader is a man of morals, values and ethics and he believes in the wise words of Warren Buffet (the most successful Investor of all time)

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently.”

A great leader believes in simplicity and patience. He knows that nature doesn’t hurry and yet everything is accomplished.

As he believes in the wise words of Sir Isaac Newton (father of physics)

“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity and nature is pleased with simplicity and nature is no dummy”

A great leader doesn’t find faults or defects he is more interested in finding solutions.

Cheers 🥂

Categories
HR Tech

Leadership in a digital world

Written by Holly Carmichael on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

The future success and effectiveness of leaders and senior executives will depend on how well they respond to the increasingly important role of digitisation through their business models. Regardless of the sector or size of their organisations, leaders must place technology, not as a function of the business, but right at the heart of it.  

This is a topic we discuss frequently within Criticaleye’s global membership Community of leaders and, encouragingly, almost all have digital transformation high on the agenda.

The relationship between digitisation and sustainability is also top of mind for C-suite executives. The pandemic may have been the tipping point for many on ESG(Environment, Social and Governance) issues, but senior teams are now seeing a convergence between digitial innovation and the focus on creating organisations which are sustainable and responding to climate change.  

Digitisation is revolutionising the business landscape, but what does this mean for the capabilities and leadership styles of executives at the top of organisations? One thing is clear, senior executives have had to adapt quickly. Leading innovation and digital transformation requires flexibility, agile thinking and a mindset that is open to learning from others.

Digital capability

Speed of change is forcing a lot to happen all at once. Technology is now integrated across the whole business. It is not a separate function anymore, such as where the responsibility for ‘technology’ was typically siloed.

The question often arises about the need for technology expertise at the top table. Of course, having an experienced CTO or digital evangelist is important, but building a top team which really understands what new technology can do and will bring to the organisation and customers should be the focus. Our Members generally agree that leaders need to empower teams and technology experts across the organisation, as well as playing a key role in how digital transformation is organised and communicated.

Internally, the use of digital solutions to facilitate remote-team management, ensure wellness, and improve productivity is getting to be an increasingly important agenda item. This is not just to do with automation. It’s about the ability to have real-time data which makes a huge difference when employees are going through uncertainty and rapid change.

Leading digital organisations

The past two years have demonstrated what is possible when organisations are forced to make big decisions quickly. Along with more strategic challenges, such as pivoting business models, leaders have had to revisit their softer skills and ask themselves whether they have a leadership style that is fit for the future. Leaders need to be creative and work differently.

When it comes to technology adoption, these new leadership skills are also coming to the fore. Previously considered ‘soft skills’, we’ve seen a lot more focus from leaders on developing their capabilities in this area. Now more than ever, senior executives need the ability to be open, authentic, agile, collaborative and innovative.

Few executives have emerged from the last two years unchanged. It’s clear that some have acclimatised to the new world – and adapted their own styles accordingly – but they are going to be tested harder, their leadership skills will be under greater scrutiny, so they should take time to reflect on their approach.

Categories
HR Tech

Modern Learner & the Organisation

Written by Anupama Lal on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

The emerging context –

Employees certainly consider learning to be an integral part of the value proposition organisations can offer. They want to build portable skills that will be useful for them, not only in the flow of work currently, but which will also add to their profile for future opportunities. They want employers to be secure in the knowledge that investments made in their skill development will benefit the organization here and now and an another organization later. At the same time, they want learning to be a social experience – fun and engaging.

Employers also want to quickly and effectively upskill and reskill their workforce to meet the requirements of this VUCA world. They want to be able to assess current skills levels and build a capability map for skills required in the future, given how quickly skills are becoming obsolete.

Readiness gap –

Are organisations ready to tackle these emerging trends? More than 50% organisations believe their learning approach is not positioned to meet future work needs. Scrap learning (the gap between training that is delivered but not applied on the job) ranges from 45% to 80%. Learner engagement scores continue to pose a challenge – infact with the pandemic, learner engagement using virtual platforms has seen mixed responses – while it has helped build scale, it has not been the best way to nurture skills.

The role of technology –

Technology is a key enabler in helping create an agile and adaptable learning experience.  In the past, deploying learning technology meant setting up an LMS. Now, most organizations have a bouquet of technologies that include next generations, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Learning Experience Platforms (LXP), Learning Content Management Systems (LCMs), Learning Record Systems (LRS), microlearning platforms, simulation tools, and more. The pandemic accelerated action with more than 45% companies making investments in new learning technology.

However, organisations need to be cautious of what they invest in and why? Often, investments are made in the new and shiny in demand products and platforms, but little thought is given to how these platforms will interact with one another to create a seamless experience for learners and all other stakeholders. Research suggests that many organisations are still shy in making the right investments in learning technology or under use the platforms that have been bought e.g. about one third learners say their learning system can curate content and just under half say the system provides opportunities for coaching and mentoring. Further, organisations and learning teams do not have mechanisms to source learning data that will help understand skill gaps and map future needs of the organisation.

What next –

To address the emerging needs of learners and organisations, it is time to get effective in bringing technology, data, and brain science together to ensure the learning eco-system is well-integrated while keeping learners at the center. These are what are called ‘Adaptive Learning Systems’. Using AI, learning products and platforms should be talking to one another and creating a personalized learning road map for each learner. Taking a leaf out of modern-day marketing and consumer behaviour patterns, learning teams and systems should be immersed in data on how learners are behaving, what do they like and learn. It is important that the system speaks to the learner directly, links them to others who are learning about similar topics. The future of skill development is anchored in studying the learner closely and helping them create a personalized approach to career development. This can happen only with the right technology investments and keeping learners and stakeholders at the center to collaborate with one another.