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Don’t Let Your Leadership Go Bust –Part 1

Writer's picture: Helena HutchinsonHelena Hutchinson

“Leadership Is Complex Not Complicated” 


There’s is an ever-increasing shift from complicated to complex. When being a leader or coaching and facilitating leadership development, the more I experience that leadership demands that we navigate this complexity well. Steve Cadigan, former Chief People Officer at LinkedIn was the first person I heard talking about the world being increasingly “complex” over “complicated”. His articulation caught my attention when he said tax law is complicated, there is a right and wrong answer but so often, the world is complex as there are many possibilities, no right or wrong. And it’s complexity that leaders increasingly face.

 

Changes come and continue to come from all angles, social, technological, geopolitical…. and more … and they are not bad!

 

6 generations in the workplace brings great diversity of thought and experience, but this means leading a wider range of different expectations and aspirations. In the past, our focus was connecting people to business purposes and values; now, there is a greater need to understand personal purpose and values. So as leaders we need to tap into individuals to align these two things to enable people to flourish at work.

 

Grass roots movements and high-profile campaigns eg Black Lives Matter, Pride, the ‘Davina effect’ and many more have promoted and elevated a whole raft of valuable issues, inequality, diversity, mental wellbeing, misogyny etc and have done a brilliant job in highlighting and prompting debate and actions to address and bring improvements. These movements and others will continue to bring connection between ‘real life’ and workplaces. Leaders must keep pace, embrace, and work with the new and broad initiatives these movements bring.

 

Post pandemic work environments have changed (for some)– the growth of hybrid working has given some individuals better balance. But this has had an impact on how we create cohesive colleague communities within organisations and galvanise individuals and teams behind organisational strategy and purpose. Hybrid working needs different leadership, as its harder to create psychological safety when people are remote. And we can’t ignore that new ways of working has given rise to a 2-tier work force, split between those that can and cannot work in a hybrid way. These are potential causes of tension a leader must navigate. This post pandemic blog featuring the “Up and thrusting Kevin” from the culture Experiment makes a lot of sense on the subject https://thecultureexperiment.com/collaborate-with-these-people-i-cant-stand-them/

 

The sustainability agenda – On a macro level, employers such as Ikea advocate that every leader should understand the impact of what they are responsible for on the environment as an essential leadership requirement. On a micro level, I worked for one organisation where a prospective employee wouldn’t take the role unless the car on offer was fully electric as they said their children wouldn’t not allow them to drive anything else. A leadership dilemma.

 

Geopolitical factors such as Brexit, the war in Ukraine and situation in Gaza have not only had the practical implications of disruption on supply chains and resources but have brought external politics into workplaces. Colleagues feel the emotional impact of these events and as we encourage everyone to bring themselves to work, leaders need to allow space and the environment for people to express of the impact on them.

 

The pace and scope of technology and digital change is ever increasing. It’s not OK to be

“not tech Savvy” any more. Whatever our starting point is we can’t opt out! Throw into the mix AI, and I’ve seen a split in leaders views on it, some ignoring or even resisting it’s presence, others considering how businesses and the people and culture they lead in will not only be ready but embrace what is to come.


Read how #LeaderLine has shaped the dynamics of many #leaders and their #teams - Living Library | TheActivationProject. To register yourself for #coaching, visit Sign up to LeaderLine | TheActivationProject.  For more information about LeaderLine, visit What we do | TheActivationProject.

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