Changing Leadership for Changing Times

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Changing Leadership

"... innovations don't require genius, just a willingness to question the way things

have always been done." ...Robert J. Kriegel with Louis Patler from ... If It Ain't Broke . . . Break It!

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The World is Changing so We Have to Change How We Lead

As technology enables workers to decentralize their work, clocking "in" and "out" will no longer be necessary. Workers may rarely be in the office, and their working hours may bear little resemblance to the traditional nine-to-five schedule.

What might the workplace look like in the year 2020?

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Changes We Can Expect Though office buildings will not disappear, the

space inside them will be reconfigured to support a workforce that comes in primarily to attend meetings and retrieve data

The office of the future will be a place for focused work that requires true collaboration. It will also be a key site for socializing and cementing the relationships that keep an organization going.

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Why Is This Important to Workforce Planning?

Keeping employees is a key strategy for workforce planning

The #1 reason people look for another job is they do not like their supervisor

The need for leadership to be accepted and respected by employees is one of the most important strategies to employee retention

Leaders need to be more innovative and flexible in the future to lead in a changing workplace

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The Current State of Leadership

What Is Working Now? What is Not Working?

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Leadership Skills to Take Us to the Future

Empowerment Building Trust Flexibility/Creativity Attachment to the Outcome – No

attachment to the process

7Source: Drawing by Leo Cullum in The New Yorker, copyright ©1986 The New Yorker Magazine. Reprinted by permission.

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Empowerment - Defined

Granting employees the autonomy to assume more responsibility within an organization and strengthening their sense of effectiveness

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Empowerment Includes:

Letting employees complete their work in their own way within parameters

Assisting employees to eliminate unnecessary work in order to streamline tasks

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Four Aspects of Empowerment Meaning – their work is important Competence – confidence in their ability,

self-efficacy Self-determination – autonomy to decide

how to do the work Impact – influence in their work unit

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How Managers Empower Employees

Solicit input on a regular basis Ask for help in solving problems Let employees make progressively

harder decisions Remove bureaucratic obstacles

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How Managers Empower Employees (Cont’d)

Ask questions rather than supplying all the answers

Provide workers with info they need Give employees freedom to respond

to customer needs Serve as a role model Coach employees to mastery

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Managers Still Have To: Know what is going on Set or communicate the direction Make decisions subordinates cannot

make Ensure that employees are on course Offer a guiding hand and open doors

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Managers Still Have To (cont’d):

Ensure employees have necessary skills to assume greater autonomy and responsibility

Ensure employees have information needed to make decisions

Assess performance

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Trust: The Foundation of Leadership

TrustA positive expectation that another will not—through words, actions, or decisions—act opportunistically

Trust is a history-dependent process (familiarity) based on relevant but limited samples of experience (risk)

Dimensions of Trust Integrity

Honesty and truthfulness

CompetenceAn individual’s technical and interpersonal

knowledge and skills

ConsistencyAn individual’s reliability, predictability, and

good judgment in handling situations

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Dimensions of Trust (Cont’d)

LoyaltyThe willingness to protect and save face for

another person

OpennessReliance on the person to give you the full

truth

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Basic Principles of Trust Mistrust drives out trust Trust begets trust Decline or downsizing tests the highest levels of

trust Trust increases cohesion Mistrusting groups self-destruct Mistrust generally reduces productivity

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Building Trust At a DistanceThe lack of face-to-face contact in electronic communications removes the nonverbal cues that support verbal interactions: There is no supporting context to assist the

receiver with interpretation of an electronic communication

The structure and tone of electronic messages can strongly affect the response of receivers

An individual’s verbal and written communications may not be the same

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Building Blocks for Changing How We Lead:

Awareness – of why the change is needed Desire – to support and participate in the

change Knowledge – of how to change Ability – to implement new skills and

behaviors Reinforcement – to sustain the change

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Another aspect of leadership is…The work – it will have to change in order to

meet the needs of a changing world

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Choosing Wisely

Organizations have fewer resources and people to get the work done. ‘Doing more with less’ does not equate to working people harder and longer. Retreat, renewal, and balance are required for any employee to be productive and stay motivated. 

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Choosing Wisely (Cont’d)

Organizations that simply work people harder will lose them when the economy turns aroundDoing more with less should mean choosing wisely – choose very carefully where you will spend your time, energy, and money

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Choose Wisely by Answering: What work do you or your department do

currently that is not directly tied to the mission of the organization or to the reason your job or department exists? 

Why do you think you or your department do the work?

If the work is necessary, can you streamline the process?

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Choose Wisely by Answering:

If you or your department quit doing the work, what would happen?

How much time will you or your department save by not doing this work?

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In Conclusion

Einstein Said: The Definition of Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result

Doing the same thing you have always done in radically changing times is a recipe for failure

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About FutureDecisions

Karen Arnold and Kevin Williams, managing partners in FutureDecisions LLC have over 50 years of senior leadership experience in human resources, organizational development and change management.

Contact FutureDecisions at: info@futuredecisions.com