What's wrong with current leadership development models and what are the new ones?

1. Future of Leadership
Development
Kevin Wheeler
Australasian Talent Conference
May 2010
Sydney, Australia

2. A Proposition
Traditional leadership development is
designed to:
1. produce people able to make decisions
in reasonably predictable situations.
2. teach how to control information and
rewards.
3. ensure leaders act within expected
boundaries.
4. Take action/ accept accountability alone
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3. Traditional View of Leadership
• It’s Serial
– One leader succeeds another
• It’s Individual
– One and only one leader
• It’s function is to Control
– Makes the decisions. All follow.
• It should be emotionless
– Works objectively and with reference to
facts, data, etc.
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4. • Current leadership is perfectly suited to a
manufacturing world with low complexity & clear
solutions.
• Our development model works when turnover is
low and work doesn’t change very fast.
• Less effective in a complex, global, uncertain world.
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5. Example: BP & Oil Spill
• INTERDEPENDENCIES
– BP leadership
• Oil rig experts
– Field leaders
• Clean-up experts
– Region BP leadership
– Disaster leadership • Ship captains
– Louisiana government • Navy/Coast Guard
– Mississippi government • Fishermen
– U.S. Coast Guard • Volunteers
– President Obama
• Wildlife officials
– Senators
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6. • CREATIVITY
• How to stop a leak
that no one has ever
stopped before?
• COMPLEXITY
– Massive
– This requires multiple
problems to be
addressed
simultaneously.
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7. Other Recent Examples
• Terrorism- How to deal with it from a
corporate perspective
• GFC – How to cope with it
• Recession – impact on sales,
workforce
• Google – do business in China or not
• Iceland volcano explosion/Ash cloud
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8. It a NEW World
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9. Emerging Leadership has to function
• In highly complex situations. . .
• with multiple, global and diverse
interactions and interconnections. . .
• and with very little certainty
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10. The Emerging Leadership Model
• It’s Concurrent
– Several may co-lead at the same time
based on skills or experience
• It’s a Collective activity
– Many leaders /leadership of the team
• It’s Collaborative
– Shared ideas/collective decisions
• Emotion is allowed. It’s Compassionate
– Personalized decisions based on individual
needs and desires.
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11. Leadership Means Being in Tune
with Emotion
SELF-AWARE SOCIALLY-AWARE
RELATIONSHIP-
SELF-MASTERY
BUILDER
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12. Vertical vs. Shared Leadership
• Vertical appropriate • Shared appropriate
– When there is. . . – When there is. . .
• A straightforward • Need for
decision to be made interdependency
• A standard process in • High complexity
place • Need for creativity
• A simple, clear choice
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13. New Concepts
• Broader definition of “leader”
–Concept of “leaderfull”
organizations.
–Acceptance that all roles have
leadership components.
• Rotating leadership
–Different leaders for different times
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14. Divergent Skills
• Traditional Leader • New Leader
– Analytical – Analytical
– Focused/Unwavering – Flexible/Adaptable
– Goal-oriented – Emotionally intelligent
– Expert – Multi-skilled/Generalist
– Controlling – Good listener
– Decisive – Consensus builder
– Defining the work – Open/transparent
– Setting context
I think & decide, you DO! I stimulate and inform, WE do!
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15. LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT’S NEW FOCUS
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16. Creating “T” Shaped Leaders
Emotional, collaborative and communication skills
Technical Expertise
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17. Dealing with Ambiguity
• Developing skills in dealing with
ambiguous situations and solving
unknown problems.
–Simulations
–Scenario planning
–Leveraging of social networks
–Portals of information
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18. Dealing with Complexity
• Learning how to simplify – reduce to
simpler/essential levels.
• Leveraging group knowledge – Crowd-
Sourcing
• Identifying mentors and advisors who
can be quickly accessed.
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19. Dealing with Interdependencies
• Developing cultural competence
• Learning to collaborate
• Consensus decision making
• Building alliances and relationships
• Leveraging social networks
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20. Fostering Creativity
• Exploring and experimenting
• Open to the new and different
• Building diversity into everything
“CEOs identify "creativity" as the most important
leadership competency for the successful
enterprise of the future.”
-IBM's Institute for Business Value, May 2010
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21. Challenging Assumptions
BUDGETS raise cost As little as possible
PLANS limit Have BIG goals
DEADLINES slow things down As fast as you can
RULES are mostly stupid Whatever works
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22. Development’s New Focus
• Focus will be on:
– Leveraging social networks for ideas and learning
– Being mentored (virtual and F2F)
• Using retiring/retired Baby Boomers
• Utilizing online forums
– Development within a Context
– Using portals containing:
• Simulations
• Video scenarios
• Discussion groups
• On-demand learning content
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24. –Less focus on classroom/theory.
–Theory AFTER learning HOW.
–Simulations/interactive problem
solving
–Social networks
–Virtual repairs/lab experiments
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25. From “The Power of Pull”
• Rather than molding individuals to fit
the need of the institution, institutions
will be shaped to provide platforms to
help individuals achieve their full
potential. . .
• The success of institutions will depend
on their ability to amplify the efforts of
individuals. . .
The Power of Pull, by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, Lang Davidson
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26. A 21st Century Leader
• Needs to deliberately practice . . .
– negotiating and getting agreement between
interdependent people/groups.
– assembling harmonious groups.
– Dealing with unpredictable and changing situations.
– achieving business goals with limited to no
control/position power and limited resources.
– motivating and getting results from distributed
people/teams.
– being culturally sensitive and competent.
– accepting transparency, choice and loss of control as a
way of being.
– Challenging assumptions
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27. Some Online Resources
• http://leadershiplearning.org/
• Leadership Development and Social Media
http://vegardig.wordpress.com/
• http://www.leader-values.com/wordpress/
• http://www.byteeoh.com
• http://www.futureoftalent.org
• http://www.siliconyogi.com/andreas/it_profession
al/sol/complexsystems/EmergentLeadership.html
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28. Thanks!
• Write to me at :
• kwheeler@glresources.com
• Follow me on Twitter at:
• www.twitter.com/kwheeler
• Read my blog at:
• http://www.byteeoh.com
• My websites
• www.glresources.com
• www.futureoftalent.org
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