What blocks senior leaders from responding effectively to challenging market conditions?
Or…..
What blocks innovation?
Part of the paper I wrote last year focused on the challenges with overly-hierarchical structures in organisations. You can see a list of them here.
I did a huge amount of research before publishing the paper. My views weren’t all originally mine, they were influenced and shaped by others.
Since then, I’ve seen more and more evidence to support them.
Alongside the structural challenges of hierarchy, are many more behavioural ones.
In my recent client work, I’ve been teasing this out with senior leaders. In challenging times, leaders feel a tension between:
- Wanting to be assertive, decisive and tell people what change they need to deliver? (Parent- Child dynamic).
- Wanting to be curious, collaborative and joined up in our search for a way forward? (Adult – Adult dynamic).
There is no right or wrong. There are so many criteria that creep in to create nuances, and then it’s subjective beyond that too.
But in my view the Adult – Adult dynamic (this is from Transactional Analysis) needs to be dialled up more in most organisations.
Quite simply, it leverages the collective power, intelligence and experience of a group of capable people.
What’s more, it builds more capacity and capability in all areas of the organisation.
In times of great disruption (hardly going to recede any time soon, is it?) agility and responsiveness to client needs is key. We need to constantly innovate ourselves individually, at team level, and organisationally.
And this is why I love the phrase that Rita McGrath shared at the recent Reinvention Summit:
“Snow melts from the edges”.
“In (my book) Seeing Around Corners, I make the point that it’s vital to get out to the edges of an organization if you want to really “see” where big changes are happening. It’s one of the reasons so many senior leaders get blindsided by changes they weren’t expecting. The more senior you are, unfortunately, the more your organization can try to prevent you from seeing and hearing the brutal truth. And the more successful one has been in the past, the less eager to hear potential bad news.”
Dr Rita McGrath – click here for her full blog post
I’d build on Rita’s comments with the increased risk to her point should the Parent – Child dynamic be at play.
If you feel that your team or organisation is clipping its own wings with an overly hierarchical structure, or directive style of leadership, then feel free to get in touch to discuss ways to change.
Because if you don’t change, how will your business last in today’s ever-changing world?
There is no standing still. Snow accumulates or recedes.