Transform Your Leaders
In their research report entitled Global Human Capital Trends 2013, Deloitte surveyed over 1,300 human resources executives from 59 countries. Among the research findings released earlier this year was that 55% of global human capital leaders report problems with their leadership pipeline as one of the three most critical obstacles to growth. A specific area of concern is not having enough leaders that can individually and collaboratively operate across different environments and adapt to change and uncertainty.
What are Transformational Leaders?
A leader that can thrive in uncertainty, create a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and execute the change with the commitment of employees, is considered a transformational leader. I’ve had spirited debates with colleagues and clients about the attitude and behaviors required of this type of leader. Based on my experience, transformational leadership begins from a deep desire to continuously challenge and renew organizations. These leaders reinvent themselves in response to dynamic market pressures and model the way for others. I’ve found the most successful leaders have the unique ability to balance chaos and stability; reflect on and respect the past, envision and articulate the future, and empower team members to take action. This type of leader is very intriguing to me and as the Deloitte research indicates, is in short supply.
Why the Transformational Leadership Shortage is Critical Right Now
The shortage identified by global HR leaders is urgently important because of the concerns and opportunities their CEOs are focused on. 1,330 CEOs from 68 countries participated in PWCs 16th Annual Global CEO Survey, and when asked where they see the main opportunities for growth, the CEOs identified the following priorities:
Top Growth Opportunities for CEOs
- Organic growth in existing domestic markets
- New product or service development
- Organic growth in foreign markets
The survey findings are enlightening – revealing how CEOs are navigating through the environment of uncertainty to find growth, and which markets – old and emerging - they’re targeting. It highlights why and where transformational leaders are needed, now and in the future.
Developing Transformational Leaders
Transformational leaders capitalize on a crisis situation by shaping change and making it work for them. They lead and collaborate with diverse talent to create profitable solutions that drive business results. But how are they developed effectively?
Here are some of the most essential elements for developing transformational leaders and establishing adequate bench strength:
Front-Line Managers – Focus on Change Management, Diversity, and Innovation competencies.
- Change Management: Facilitating the implementation and acceptance of change in the workplace.
- Diversity: Taking key steps in creating a global diversity strategy, global needs assessment/global metrics, managing perceptions of U.S.- centricity and the unwritten rules in a multinational organization.
- Innovation: Generating innovative solutions in work situations; trying different and novel ways to deal with work challenges and opportunities.
Depending on the number of organizational front-line managers, you can choose to focus on the entire pool or target the high-potentials.
Mid-Level Leaders – Focus on Change Leadership, Design Thinking, and Driving Organic Growth-related knowledge, skills and behaviors.
- Change Leadership: Regularly seeking and encouraging others to seek opportunities for others to seek different and innovative approaches to addressing problems and opportunities.
- Design Thinking: Using a set of design tools and methodologies for continuously redesigning a business to achieve both product and process innovation. Design thinking is the ability to combine empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality to analyze and fit solutions to the context.
- Driving Organic Growth: Becoming a “Catalyst” by continually creating new business models, improving customer experience, leveraging value propositions, opening new markets, and launching new products.
Here are some instructional design best practices for both audiences:
Design Approach
- Mix of formal and informal including social learning – Classroom and webcasts, on-demand e-learning and socially engaging communities of practice.
- Action learning and/or cross-functional team projects – Learning embedded in every-day work and team projects that break through silos and focus on objectives such as product innovation, profitability growth and new market expansion.
- Continuous – Both the leadership development programs and the corporate culture seeks to incorporate past lessons from the results of already implemented changes, and new competencies into a continuous improvement program.
WIIFY - What’s in it For You?
Make the same connection made here. Align your leadership development and succession management strategy with the climate of uncertainty your company is facing. Create more transformational leaders to seize the opportunities for growth that your CEO and organization have targeted.
Charlotte Hughes is a Senior Talent Management Consultant with Kimberly-Clark where she is responsible for helping human resources and business leaders with performance improvement and learning solutions that drive business goals. Charlotte has held key talent development roles with other Fortune 500 companies including; Morgan Stanley, Cox Enterprises, and SunTrust. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master’s degree from New York Institute of Technology. Her blog TalentFocus provides news and commentary on leadership, learning & development and talent management.