Developing Agile Leadership

We all know that nothing stays the same, but the rate of change in the business world today must be unprecedented. We’ve seen the advent of global competition, rapid technological development and widespread political change. Business has moved from being relatively stable and simple to being increasingly dynamic and complex. As a result, organisations now face a plethora of new challenges and leaders must perform to a higher level in increasingly unpredictable situations.

This new business world requires a new set of leadership skills to ensure high performance. The question is: can we identify leadership and team behaviours that underpin outstanding performance in dynamic, complex and competitive environments? And, more than that, can people learn and develop these skills?

It’s the quest for answers to these questions that drove the founders of the Centre for High Performance Development (CHPD) to research leadership performance for the last 20 years. Simon Foster, a client director with CHPD, explains how its research was developed with institutions such as Harvard and the London Business School.

“We began with simulations. We established organisations to simulate not only the business world, but also the military and national governments. In a simulated situation we could change the environment from being stable and simple to dynamic and complex. Leaders and teams from a variety of industries managed our simulated Organisations for extended periods of up to one year. Essentially, they were wrestling with the problems of running a dynamic organisation in a dynamic environment.

“After some three years of research and the expenditure of several million dollars, we had gained some valuable insights, but wanted more actionable data. A dramatic change in approach was called for. We therefore introduced behavioural observation and slowly patterns of behaviour emerged that correlated with superior performance in dynamic environments. In particular, we identified a cluster of behaviours we now call the ‘thinking behaviours’. With renewed confidence in our methodology, we went on to identify three further clusters of behaviour, which together make 11 ‘high performance behaviours (HPB)’.”

During the 1990s, the 11 HPBs were thoroughly validated at the London Business School and then developed into a form that could be used by organisations across the world.

CHPD’s research suggests that these four clusters of 11 HPBs are the key to successful leadership in today’s complex and dynamic environment. The good news for us is that these behaviours are not innate and can be learned. Furthermore, in its assessment and development of thousands of people around the world, CHPD is yet to find one person who has strengths in all areas.

FOUR CLUSTERS OF BEHAVIOURS

THINKING – Information search, concept formation and conceptual flexibility
The three behaviours in this cluster are crucial to strategy formation, planning and the ability to see the '‘bigger picture’. Whilst they make the highest contribution to performance, they are often the least developed and least valued in most organisations. When these are not well developed, organisations are constantly firefighting, the workforce is often confronted with many uncoordinated initiatives and a lack of information leaves the organisation’s strategy vulnerable.

DEVELOPMENTAL – empathy, teamwork and developing people
These behaviours are relevant to flat, flexible, team-based structures, which have to integrate with other teams. They build the ownership, involvement and commitment of people and nurture their contribution. They improve the performance of people through development of their skills and creation of an atmosphere of learning. When these behaviours are not well developed, an organisation can become fragmented and less than the sum of its parts. For an organisation that relies on the quality of its people, under-development of this cluster represents an absolute limit to its growth.

INSPIRATIONAL – influence, building confidence and presentation
The behaviours in this cluster relate particularly to building confidence and excitement throughout the team and are crucial to achieving ‘buy in’ to ideas. In a crisis where decisions are required quickly, these behaviours create an atmosphere of confidence within the team. Without these behaviours you will see confusion, pessimism and lack of direction.

ACHIEVING – proactivity and continuous improvement
These two behaviours make things happen and break through bureaucracy. They ensure that tasks are structured and that plans and ideas are implemented. They give people responsibility and encourage continuous attention to improving the performance of all aspects of the team. If this cluster is not well developed there may be a lot of talk and little action, a lack of empowerment and too much focus on activities which don’t add value.

So, to return to our earlier question, CHPD’s research shows that you can indeed identify the behaviours that are needed to be a high performing leader in today’s dynamic world. And more than that, these behaviours can be learned. The key then is in identifying where your strengths lie and what you can do to address your areas of weakness. This requires rigorous assessment and observational tools and targeted personal development plans, claims Dan White, client manager with CHPD. An examination of which, we’ll have to leave for another day.