The State of Organizations 2023 - Flipbook - Page 82
That’s likely because most organizations think of
leadership development as a program rather than a
transformative, holistic, “leading self” journey.
To refocus organizations on the importance of at
scale leadership development, CEOs can start by
identifying the leadership behaviors required to help
their organizations meet strategy objectives and
realize stated visions and aspirations. For instance, if
an organization is seeking to become more agile, the
leadership mindset will need to shift from controller
to coach, and the organization will need to establish
new processes and structures for individuals and
teams who will be working in shorter cycles.
The CEO can then work with senior leaders to
commit the resources (finances, people, time,
and assets) needed to create a robust leadership
development engine that addresses the
organization’s needs. To sustain the changes, the
CEO and other senior leaders should measure the
impact of the leadership development efforts: How
did leaders’ behaviors change? How did employees’
behaviors change? How has the culture changed?
Changing behavior at scale
To unleash the full potential of organizations, CEOs
will likely need to make changes that affect company
health and performance. As anyone who has ever
led or worked in an organization understands, at
scale change can be difficult to accomplish and even
harder to sustain, especially now. Leaders’ messages
don’t always break through to employees who may
be working outside of an office, thinking differently
about the nature of workplace relationships, and
already feeling overwhelmed by the idea of yet
another business transformation.
Purposeful
communication
is a skill and
an art.
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The State of Organizations 2023
Change becomes more manageable, however, when
CEOs adopt a human-focused approach to it and
break it down to its essentials. If organizations need
different behaviors (the patterns and practices of how
employers work), they need to encourage different
mindsets (what employees feel, think, and value). And
to foster those new mindsets, leaders need to change
the system (the set of the experiences that influence
mindsets). CEOs must engage employees’ hearts, as
well as their hands and heads.
CEOs will need to act in all three of those areas and,
perhaps most important, commit to inspiring others
by sharing their own personal change stories. In our
experience in working with a range of organizations
across all industries and regions, at scale change
really does need to start from the top. If a CEO
acts in a deliberate way and publicly demonstrates
support for change, there can be a multiplier
effect across the organization. Conversely, change
efforts can stall if leaders’ words and deeds don’t
match. Four key change principles—setting bold
aspirations, looking for role models everywhere,
doubling down on institutional capability building,
and making change personal—can help break down
the transformation challenge.
Set bold aspirations
Using benchmarks and fact-based targets, CEOs
should craft and communicate a bold change
story that clarifies both performance goals and
associated cultural behaviors—for instance, “We
are going to be number one in our market, based
on TSR, and we are going to be an organization that
leverages the talent of every employee.” A corollary
to this principle would be “change; don’t add!”
Purposeful communication is a skill and an art. To
achieve it, leaders, managers, and influencers will
need to be prepared to craft and deliver authentic
messages that show vulnerability and empathy.
Many transformations fall short when CEOs and other
business leaders cast them as special projects rather
than opportunities to change systems and behaviors
for the longer term. If an organization is shifting to a
new reporting system, for instance, it isn’t enough
to offer employees a onetime bonus for using the
system. Rewards and incentives should reflect the
company’s longer-term goal of changing how the
business approaches the reporting task overall.