Trusting Times - the skills and attitudes of future leaders

8/9/2019 Trusting Times - the skills and attitudes of future leaders

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Trusting

timesh k ll d


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Executive summary

Key fndings

Facing the uture as a leaderThe confdence actor

Unwillingness to take the plunge

The training gap

The SME eect

Leaders on leadership

Tips or tomorrow

Tips or employers

About Common Purpose

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Contents

This survey was conducted online in January 2007 and projectmanaged by a ull member o the Market Research Society.It comprised o a nationally representative sample o 507leaders who were identifed as such through a series oquestions about their current roles in and outside o work.

The opportunities and threats ahead will not come neatlyparcelled to t the department or division or sector or culture or

even country in which we have arranged ourselves. They will crossboundaries and come through walls - and our leaders need to be

able to do this too.

Julia Middleton, Founder and Chie Executive, Common Purpose, rom her book

Beyond Authority: Leadership in a Changing World


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As the Founder and Chie Executive o

international development organisationCommon Purpose, I talk to people everyday

who tell me that what is demanded o themas heads o businesses, schools, hospitals orcommunities is changing.

They recognise that they need to broaden their infuenceacross whole organisations or outside them i they want tocompete in the modern world. However, when they try todo this, the leadership skills and techniques that have always

worked or them suddenly dont serve them as well. And theyail, oten spectacularly.The motivation behind this research was to nd out howcommon this is by exploring how UK leaders perceive theirroles developing in the uture and how well-equipped theyeel to ace new challenges.

ExecutivesummaryI wasnt surprised to nd out that there is an awareness o the growing importanceo a new set o skills that requires leaders to quit their comort zones and operatear beyond their traditional boundaries and, crucially, work in partnership with otherleaders who may do things dierently. The ability to spot opportunities and threatsrom outside, lead diverse teams and infuence beyond their organisations are allhighlighted by respondents as skills on the rise. This tells us that leaders still needto ocus, but also that they are starting to recognise that the boundaries betweendepartments, organisations, sectors, cultures and countries are blurring and that theycant aord to operate in isolation rom the world around them anymore and expectto stay at the top o their game.

Worryingly, respondents admit that rather than acing up to the challenge, they

approach the unknown with a l ack o condence, or worse, take a step back. Ourresearch uncovered a deep mistrust o the unknown among UK leaders and anunwillingness to take the plunge. In a world o vast organisations, complex networks,cross-sector partnerships, virtual teams, outsourcing, stakeholder management and anincreasingly multicultural workplace, how can we possibly expect to lead when we arentprepared to leave our comort zones and engage more with the outside world?

Unless employers give uture leaders the support and development they need tobreak out o their narrow specialisms and silos, they will miss out on the opportunityto develop the next generation o leaders who can ace the challenges o the uturewithout ear and spot the opportunities and threats ahead.

As I write in the introduction to my book, The opportunities and threats ahead willnot come neatly parcelled to t the department or division or sector or culture or even

country in which we have arranged ourselves. They will cross boundaries and comethrough walls and our leaders need to be able to do this too.

Julia MiddletonFounder and Chie Executive, Common Purpose


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Key ndings

Over hal (53%) o UK leaders wont workwith people they dont already trust.

This is at odds with the new set o skills, ranked by leadersas important in the uture, requiring them to work acrossorganisational boundaries and extend their circles o trust wellbeyond the connes o their own organisations or departments.

When questioned urther about these uture leadershipcompetencies, leaders revealed a lack o condence in theirability to deliver them with over hal doubting they caninfuence outside their organisation or department.

Worryingly, the top our condence crushers or leadersare the same our skil ls that the leaders have earmarked asimportant or the uture.

Moreover, most leadership training doesnt help developthese new skills and leaders are unwilling to take the plungeand practice on the job.


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Spotting opportunities & threats from outside

Leading diverse teams

Influencing beyond my organisation/department

Networking across sectors

Communicating across cultures

Leading organisational change

Cutting through complexity

Motivating & engaging staff

Demonstrating operational & functional credibility

Changing existing procedures

Leading from behind

Growth of importance in the future (%)

Facing theuture as aleader

The rise o outward looking skills

The ability to demonstrate more outward looking leadershipwill become more important in the uture.

Leaders were asked to rank the importance o ten leadershipskills now. They were then asked to rank the importance o

the same set o skill s to their role in the uture.

Skills identied as more important in the uture than now

Growth of importance in the future (%)

Spotting opportunities and threats outside the organisation(+8%), leading diverse teams (+7%) and infuencing outsideorganisations/departments (+5%) all see percentage increasesin importance or uture leaders.The importance o more established leadershipcompetencies remains unchanged in the uture.These results show that leaders are aware that a set onew and more demanding leadership competencies willcontribute to their uture success.

Sector variations

There are some marked dierences between the att itudeso leaders in dierent sectors to the importance o skills inthe uture.

In the public sector, spotting opportunities and threatsoutside the organisation sees a 13 percent increase in

importance in the uture.

Private sector leaders believe that managing diverseteams and infuencing outside organisations will becomesignicantly more important in the uture increases o 10

and nine percent respectively.

In the not-or-prot sector, leaders predict that motivatingand engaging sta will see the greatest increase inimportance over the coming years with this skill increasing inimportance by seven percent.


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Lack o confdence

The results reveal that leaders lack the condence to deliverthe skills o the uture with over hal (51%) citing infuencingoutside their organisation as very dicult to do.

Other top condence crushers are: leading diverse teams(49%) networking across sectors (42%) and spottingopportunities and threats outside the organisation (42%).

Fewer leaders lack the condence to deliver moreestablished leadership skills. Only 22 percent nd

demonstrating operational and unctional credibility dicultto do and only 31 percent are struggling to motivate andengage sta.

Top our uture skills or leadersSpotting opportunities & threats rom outsideLeading diverse teamsInfuencing outside my organisation/departmentNetworking across sectors

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Top our confdence crushersInfuencing outside my organisation/departmentLeading diverse teamsNetworking across sectorsSpotting opportunities & threats rom outside

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Thecondenceactor

The confdence gap

The top our skills identied as more important in the utureis the same set that leaders lack the condence to deliver.

Thereore, we could see trouble at the top in boardroomsand organisations across the UK in the coming years i thisgap isnt bridged.

Lack o condence to deliver uture leadership skills

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Lack of confidence to deliver (%)

Lack of confidence to deliver (%)


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Difference between female and male confidence to deliver skills (%)

Female leaders increased condence to deliver

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Difference between female and male confidence to deliver skills (%)

SME confdence

SME owners are the least likely to doubt their ability tostruggle with any o the ten leadership skills we asked about.This shows that leaders o larger companies may have a lotto learn rom their smaller relatives.

Future confdence by proession

Leaders working in health and education are particularlylacking in condence, with 30 percent and 20 percentrespectively eeling ill-equipped to deal with uture challenges.

Private sector leaders are eeling better equipped to ace the

uture, with only 10 percent admitting that they dont havethe right leadership skills to deliver uture success.

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Taking theplunge

Unwillingness to take the plunge

Leaders arent willing to take the plunge and learn on thejob - 53 percent say they wont work with people they dontalready trust and 40 percent say they wont lead in an areathat they arent already amiliar with.When presented with eight leadership challenges, leadersrevealed trepidation about tackling the unknown, particularly

when it involved them leaving the security o their ownorganisations and trying to infuence outside.The risks and adaptability leaders must have demonstrated in

their earlier careers appears to have been orgotten as soonas they land the top job, with 40 percent saying they arentprepared to lead outside their usual spheres o control in areaswhere they havent previously established their credibility.In an era o outsourcing and cross sector partnerships, it isworrying that a quarter o leaders arent willing to work indicult partnerships to achieve results.In it or themselves? 36 percent o leaders admitted that theywouldnt be prepared to lead a project where they personallymight not get any credit or its success.

Sector stories

A greater proportion o leaders in the private sector (52%)are willing to work with people they dont already trustcompared to leaders in other sectors (40%).

Private sector leaders are also more willing to take overcomplicated projects (80%) compared to leaders in thepublic sector.

SME owners are less willing (64%) than other leaders (76%) towork in dicult partnerships to achieve results.

Courage and age

According to the results, younger leaders are less risk adversethan their older counterparts. The willingness to take overcomplicated projects decreases as leaders get older 80percent o 18-34 year olds are willing to do this comparedwith 67 percent o over 45 year olds.

Leadership challenges

Working with people you dont already trust

Taking a leading role in an area you are not already amiliar with

Managing a project that you wont necessarily get the credit or

Leading individuals who you have no allocated authority over

Taking over complicated projects that others are wary o

Working in dicult partnerships to achieve results

Managing upwards to get things done

Dealing with a problem or issue, beore being asked to

Level o unwillingness

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40%

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18%

Unwillingness to take the plunge into the unknown


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Thetraining gap

A look at leadership training

When questioned about the leadership training they hadreceived, it was clear that it is ailing to bridge the gapbetween uture skills and condence.

The majority o leadership training received ocussed onskills within the organisation - 72 percent o leaders havebeen taught how to develop a vision and strategy or theirorganisation.

The second highest skill developed through training ocussedon the mindset o the leader themselves, with 65 percent

saying that their training to date had transormed the waythey think as a leader.

In stark contrast, well under hal (40%) have received

training to help manage external stakeholders.

These results highlight a need or leadership training thatbroadens leaders horizons well beyond the connes o theirown organisations or teams.

Skills covered by leadership trainingDeveloping a vision & strategy - 72%

Transforming the way I think -65%

Leading diverse teams - 48%

Managing external stakeholders - 40%

None of these -5%


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TheSME eect

Owners o SMEs are least likely to have

undertaken any orm o leadershiptraining (32%).

However, they are eeling more condent about their abilityto deliver the kind o leadership required or the uture. Only58 percent o them lack condence delivering any o the seto skills. This gures rising to 69 percent among other leaders.

Looking at SME condence to deliver individual skills,the only two that they eel less condent in deliveringthan other leaders are communicating across cultures and

motivating and engaging sta.

SME owners and other leaders rate their abilities to buildcross sector networks as the same.

The increased condence o SME leaders to deliverleadership skills compared to non SME leaders

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Increased confidence (%)

Increased confidence (%)

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SME leaders

Other leaders

Lack of confidence

Lack o condence to deliver uture skills

Lack of confidence

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Leaders onleadership

All quotes taken rom Beyond Authority:

Leadership in a Changing Worldby Julia Middleton.

There are centripetal orces in human nature. People lookinwards rather than outwards and the urther you go out, theharder it gets. Leadership development needs to seriouslyinvest in taking people o the tramlines and out o theircomort zone.Sir Derek Higgs, Chair, Alliance and Leicester plc;Chair o the Independent Review o Non-Executive Directors

It happens again and again. Bright, aggressive managers movequickly up an organisation and then, quite suddenly, nd

themselves becalmed. The skil ls that seemed to be servingthem so well are just not enough.Sir David Bell, Executive Director o Pearson plc;Chair, The Financial Times

All o us nd leaving our comort zones hard: we see italmost as leaving the Earths atmosphere. Perhaps we needreminding that a move to another sector or subject wont beutterly unrecognisable.Moira Wallace, Director General,Crime, Policing & Counter Terrorism, Home Oce

Most o us are developed to be ollowers, agents o organisations. We are encouragedto stick to our core circle and to try to keep away rom the boundaries. At the most, wego into boundary management, watching the outside world rom in here and trying toanalyse it. Then, suddenly, we get appointed to the top job and have to deal with theoutside world.Sir David Varney, Chair, HM Revenues & Customs; ormer Chair o O

2and prior to that

Chie Executive o Shell and Chie Executive, British Gas

Lets ace it, many leaders dont like it when they are not the boss. They have workedhard to get where they are, and they want to enjoy it. But, or me, one o the key roles oa leader is to push the boundaries out. Leaders have to make people eel uncomortable.To do this, you have to eel uncomortable yoursel.

Diana Parker, Chair, Withers Worldwide

Everyone can think o all the other amazing things you should be doing. Somehow youhave to do the right ones, and be brave enough, and independent enough, to say no to

the wrong ones.Sir Gerry Robinson, Chair, Moto Hospitality Ltd and star o TV seriesCan Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?

I learnt that it was not just about having the right idea: you had to infuence andpersuade and you needed others to be on board i you wanted to achieve anything, andI had to trust people.Sir John Rose, Chie Executive, Rolls-Royce plc

Even in the big organisations, with highly proessional employees, its like leading

volunteers because you are not paying people enough to stay just or the money.Chris Mathias, partner, CMG Partners and Arbor Ventures

Only the most arrogant individuals use the credibility and even the mystique o theirsuccess in one world to claim credibility in a new one. Leadership skills are transerableto new areas to some extent. But rst, you need to assess the landscape, understand theissues, become amiliar with the power sources, and most importantly, understand theculture. This takes considerable time and commitment.Douglas Miller, Chair, European Venture Philanthropy Association


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Facing theuture as aleader:

tips ortomorrow

Leave the comort o your own team or organisation and meetand learn rom people who work in dierent areas to you.Take risks and be prepared to tackle the unknown.Dont rely solely on intellectual rigour to justiy your ideas.Passion wins arguments and gathers supporters.Build turbulent networks o people who see the world dierentlyto you and who will challenge as much as support you.Become a silo-slayer. Discover where there are needlessbarriers between teams or organisations and break them down.Dont be araid to be a rebel. Challenge everything and dontaccept that the way we do things around here is always theright way.

Become a bureaucracy-basher. I a process is needlesslycomplicated, learn to bypass the time-wasters.Power lies in unexpected places and not always at the top.Recognise this and i youre trying to change something, ndout who really has the power to help you.Learn to navigate across the whole organisation and betweendierent organisations and sectors. By widening your radar

youll be better equipped to spot new opportunities andthreats to your organisation or team.Grow a thick skin. I youre going to try and change somethingthat doesnt automatically all under your remit expect to beasked the question by what right?

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Growingutureleaders:

tips oremployers

Protect the rebels. Genuine change-makers are rare and havethe potential to do great things.Give rising stars in your organisation the chance to work oncross-organisational projects that will get them wideningtheir experience.Avoid building a culture where employees are encouraged tostick to their own knitting. Think about ways to share ideasacross the whole organisation.Look or leaders in unusual places. Recognise that new ideascan come rom anyone anywhere in the organisation andmake sure the processes are in place so that these are heard.Encourage people to step outside their comort zonesand set individual targets to insist that employees candemonstrate how they have done this.Avoid the instinct to see the leaders with simple and tidysolutions as the most eective. Resisting the urge to tidyis an important skill or leaders who want to extend their

infuence beyond their circles o control.Dont recruit the usual suspects into leadership positions.Recognise that leaders rom other sectors or organisations willbring with them new skills that will benet the organisation.Listen to passionate people and dont only allow yoursel tobe persuaded by intellectual rigour.Encourage and support employees who take up leadershiproles outside o work. Recognise that the skills they will learnwill make them a better leader in work too.

Invest in leadership development that will help your leadersocus on external issues such as stakeholder management.

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AboutCommonPurpose

Common Purpose is an independent leadership organisation that

improves the way organisations and society work by developingleaders o all ages, backgrounds and sectors. Common Purpose

operates throughout the UK and worldwide in Ireland, Sweden,The Netherlands, South Arica, Germany and Hungary.

Since 1989, more than 20,000 leaders rom across the UK havegraduated rom one or more o its programmes and over 70%

o the FTSE 100 companies have used Common Purpose orproessional development.

Dubbed the street-wise MBA, Common Purpose participants goout into the communities where they live and work to grapple

with real-lie issues together.

For urther inormation visit www.commonpurpose.org

Documents

Trusting Times - the skills and attitudes of future leaders