Leadership dynamics

I am an unrelenting student of leadership dynamics and the transforming role as well as of the authentic leader to consistently connect with his people and successfully achieve purpose in spite of uncertainty and the “dizzying” speed of change. He is never startled anytime surprises show up.

The leader plans, organizes, manages and supervises intelligence and skills “on the right path”. He forges ahead with adaptable skills and intense levels of curiosity. What drives him is the mindset that it can be done better. He is creative and keeps achieving better performance and exceptional results. He seeks to always transform the growth model, and make necessary structural adjustments to improve outcomes.

He is the leader of the remarkably value-adding orchestra with differentiation as framework. He distills dynamic capabilities, enables enhanced performance and aligns perspectives and actions. He guides opportunities, and challenges the work force into positive experiences. His vision is clear and engaging. He exemplifies best practices, behaviours and attitude. He is open to feedbacks and demonstrates flexibility. He hears and encourages opinions in an unfiltered way so that best decisions are made deliberately and carefully.

He drives and fosters a collaborative culture through team engagement and thereby achieves focus and concentration. Smart leaders co-create strategies and plans with the employees.

Winning in business is the ability to adapt, learn and respond to the pace of change in the marketplace. There are three response types, according to Professor Dave Ulrich (author of Human Resource Champions: next agenda for adding value and delivering results). They are: initiatives, processes (I have extensively discussed this subject in one of my write-ups), and cultural or workplace adaptations. This means, leaders have to continuously adjust strategies in response to changes and uncertainty in the environment (economy and industry dynamics, market conditions and competing forces).

A key response dynamic is creatively revving-up employee contribution by paying good attention to workforce needs, employee education and communication. Also, by improving the value of work through decision-making processes, approvals and meaningful team building meetings (and other activities). The workforce must feel included regularly. We must create an improvement mentality and mindsets though inclusion efforts.

A very powerful leverage is to turn demand for products or services into resources. Foster workforce best contributions through a work environment that encourages reward for accomplishing goals, openness and excitement. Employees and associates must “give their minds and not just their feet”. They must put their energy into organizational goals. We must engage the mind and soul of every member of the work force. “If no one hears the voice of the employee, the voice may be silenced to the detriment of the organization”. Organisations must achieve maximally increased output with employee inputs. Leaders must relate with workforce to create positive energy, enthusiasm and momentum. The Leader, as they say, is the “unicorn” who uses team work effectively to mobilize employees to shift norms and attitudes. Peter Drucker says, we can lift employee’s vision to high insights and thereby, effectively build individual capacities.

Let me draw our attention to some pitfalls in strategy planning and operations management. To enhance effectiveness in strategic initiatives, strategy should be used to achieve access and control of decisions and resources. Strategy is a tool to guide the organisation towards its goals. It is definitely not the means. Strategy initiatives are not bureaucratic exercises. They guide the dynamic and practical processes that drive business success. Carefully analyze your unique situations and use the insights to formulate informed strategies.

Employees must understand their roles in the strategic, tactical and operational plans. There must be effective communication and coordination between these three planning levels so that we can achieve two things namely: effective implementation and flexibility.

Also, leadership must support the strategy and its formulation process because its role is crucial in its management, especially for direction and commitment.

We should use strategic plans as benchmarks for regularly evaluating goals against changing circumstances. Strategic planning is foundational to successful execution such as direction, identification of risks, resource allocation and ensuring that there are no missed opportunities.

Let me stress that strategic planning and management dynamics can only achieve their goals in a collaborative environment. There must be inputs from employees. Apart from ensuring buy-in, their expertise will enrich the process. As I said earlier, smart leaders co-create strategies and plans with the employees.

I will not do justice to this write-up without explaining few things on the S-curve dynamic (the Success curve). The S-curve most significantly, demonstrates the dynamics of today’s challenging business activities.

It has three (3) stages. The awareness stage that highlights innovative opportunities. It creates awareness for change because leaders with new ideas, thoughts and concepts, will refuse to be bogged down by the status quo. There must be adaptation and innovation.

The second stage is UNDERSTANDING. The reality of doing successful business, “moves them along and up the success curve”. Leaders become acquainted and are able to comprehend and accept new ideas and opportunities.

The third stage is the application, or the “know-how stage through application”. Leaders, because of the S-curve dynamics, commit, adopt and institutionalize change and commute it into tangible values. This transition leads to continuous adjustment of business planning, business processes and rewards.

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