Leader as Differentiator

ON the face level, the job of the leader in business is to provide the “right answers”: he accomplishes tasks, deals with people and draws on adaptive systems as well as neuroscience to take decisions. He also superintends revenue operations by optimizing sales, service and process. The adaptive framework and its adaptive dimensions entail the following: skilled and active interpretation, evaluation of observations, communication and information.
The leader is brilliant and energetic. Always brimming with a prosperous today and even a more prosperous tomorrow. He is stable when faced with challenges and spontaneous situations. He exudes hope and brightens perceptions of team members and other stakeholders.
Today, that the stakes in business are higher, he is adaptable, innovative and deeply committed to excellence. His success is dependent on two sets of skills, namely; the basics that is, strategy execution and the differentiators or unique skills (ability to succeed in variety of situations). His performance comes from his ability to learn and grow. He grows potentials with skills, performance with learning. He is disciplined to deliver. His cornerstone element of improvement and development, is agile learning with its hallmarks of flexibility, maximizing opportunities and taking responsibility for broadening knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Adaptive leadership today, occupies a unique position in leadership literature. The leader, in this model helps the followers to adjust to today’s reality. Adaptive work offers a prescriptive approach. It is values-based, useful, practical and applicable in different situations. It is the diagnostic and interpretative model of leadership. You make an interpretation of facts before you then make meaning out of it. It sits on two metaphors: the “balcony” for problem solving and enablement of problem solving by the leader. This is very strategic and the leader asks questions like: “What is going on?” “Who is interacting and who is not?”. The “Dance floor” depicts the “ground level” where the leader can be involved and can witness all interactions.
Business Agility enables the smart organisation to be nimble. An agile organisation can quickly and easily respond to changes internally and externally so as to deliver meaningful and timely value to customers. The organisation innovates, adapts structures and grows leaders. It transforms itself effectively and efficiently and takes absolute charge of accelerations and disruptions in the marketplace.
Fundamental components of business agility include: ability to deliver fast and responsibly without losing market share to smart and agile competitors. Products and services impact better and new customer segments are created.
An agile mindset is a set of values and principles that enables organisations create great products and services. The organisation uses processes and smart tools, software over boring documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation and efficient as well as effective response to change.
An agile team delivers design development, testing, deployment, feedback from customers. Feedbacks are fed back into the cycle and they enable agile changes. Also, customer feedbacks enable delivery at lower costs. The mindset of agile team members consists of the following: rhythm rand cadence, quick change that aligns with priorities. Agile leaders provide shared vision and always support team members. Also, speed and responsiveness to customer needs. This model successfully tackles unpredictability, uncertainty and complex situations.
Leaders, in order to be differentiators, must lean more on sales efficiency and effectiveness to deliver value. Sales enablement is no longer a marginal concept and you cannot achieve desirable results from generic programming. There must be upscaling of sales team members, right talents must be deployed to perform the right roles and the leader must have a winners’ mindset for sales process execution.
Let me conclude with customer experience (CX) and marketing/sales.
CX in its agile format, drives customer centricity in organisations by sharing knowledge and best practices that foster sustainable growth and sure-profitability. It is the only way an organisation can truly stand out and be different. With CX, the leader can convincingly create and actualize brand promise in the marketplace. CX is pivotal to value-driven activities in the organisation. It enriches the lives of customers, team members and other stakeholders.
The framework (or essential pillars) of business specific CX’s opportunities and improvements, consists of the following actions. We must think like a customer and provide never-to-be forgotten experiences. We must provide trusted advice. We must put into practice what customers are saying.
CX is the quintessential metric of successful businesses. It guarantees the achievement of an integrated customer strategy by tracking and learning the customer journey daily. It compels an organisation to pragmatically shape cultures and guide behavioursin order to regularly satisfy customers.
Marketing and sales play a very crucial role in CX as the customers’ advocate. We connect to customers’ experiences, build on them, learn more about the customer and achieve more of what interests him. We therefore, tailor marketing and sales enablement efforts towards what customers are interested in.
Be a CX-led organisation, have a CX culture across every function and of course, manage touchpoints excellently. Be deliberate and thoughtful on how you daily increase and optimize these touchpoints.
An agile CX practice is about engagement with the customer. It is about loyalty. It is about bringing in new customers.
The leader as differentiator must grow the goals. He must not settle for “just good enough”. He must constantly challenge himself and his team members. He must step out of his comfort zone and embrace new ideas as well as new ways of doing things.

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