It’s no exaggeration to say that change is now the new normal. Moreover, business is becoming ever more complex and moving at greater speed, yet not many leaders feel that their organisations are adjusting or preparing fast enough to handle the next level of change and complexity they are facing.
What’s more, disruption is now part of every business landscape, and change is no longer linear and predictable. Technology-driven disruption of entire markets and industries can happen overnight; non-traditional competitors could appear without warning anytime, and with devastating impact.
In other words, the game has completely changed; thus, businesses and leaders need to disrupt themselves in order to stay agile and relevant.
However, we can’t simply ignore that fact that for an organisation to become disruptive, it has to start with disruptive leaders.
In the world we are living in today, if leaders are not disrupting themselves, they will be left with no other option but soon to be disrupted. Therefore, changing before you have to is a much better path to take than changing because you have to.
So, what’s the implication for leaders to do to stay competitive when change is the new normal in this disruptive era, and what does it take to respond to these challenges?
In the world of the unknown, it may not always be possible for leaders to provide a clear direction and guidance for the team. Increasingly, leaders will often find themselves in a situation where they have no answers.
In reality, future leaders need to shift away from giving actual answers to engaging and challenging their people to articulate their “purpose” — in other words, help them understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, and challenge themselves to do things differently. In other words, instead of “directing”, leaders must “connect and inspire” their people with purpose and allow them to choose the path to reach the desired purpose themselves.
To apply this new strategy, leaders need to make sure that they can sufficiently stretch their own perspectives and see the world from different angles. They have to be able to tell stories and engage people in ways that make them feel inspired and connected. Moreover, leaders have to develop a mindset where they can stay positive and spot the opportunities rather than problems in the situation they are facing.
Also, to survive in a much more complex world, leaders must empower their people to execute new ideas. This does not necessary imply that leaders need to be creative. It’s more about them leading the organisation in the ways that help their people to continuously see outside perspectives, dare to take risks, and be creative.
To do this, leaders themselves must value differences, seek to understand and appreciate the variety people bring to a team or organisation, and encourage openness to diverse thinking within the organisation.
So, in order to come up with innovative solutions or creative problem-solving, it’s equally important to build a workplace where people are moving from the silo- and function-based focus to a more collaborative and integrative focus.
This involves creating a work routine in which people are encouraged to work cross-functionally, provided with communication and information exchange opportunities, as well as performance and reward systems that incentivise them to help one another find solutions and solve problems cross-functionally.
A good start is for leaders to operate with an outward mindset that will allow them to see others as people like themselves, whose goals, objectives, needs and challenges matter to them. This is where effective collaboration toward common objectives and goals takes place. It will have a transformational effect on relationships while improving the abilities of teams, departments, and eventually whole organisations to work productively together.
When a leader operates with an outward mindset, he or she will become truly accountable for the objectives and results of the organisation as a whole, and be able to resolve possible conflicts without resorting to a blame culture. As well, such leaders have the self-awareness to lead with an outward mindset example by becoming more effective in every moment and situation, and eventually bring out the true potentials in themselves and others.
Simply put, to lead through a disruptive change, we need leaders who don’t have to know the best answers, but ones who can inspire people with the possibilities, be there to support them throughout the journey and promote collaboration and innovative thinking through the application of an outward mindset for the betterment of the organisation.
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Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAsia Center (formerly APMGroup) Southeast Asia's leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
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