The last decade has witnessed a resurgence of interest in leadership – a trend which is likely to continue throughout the 21st century. This is not simply a fad without foundation. The foundation is very solid. Put simply, global prosperity and wellbeing are increasingly determined by good leadership as the world rapidly becomes more dynamic, complex, competitive and interconnected. In fact, studies have shown that up to 40% of business performance is determined by the capability of the leader.
So just how capable are our leaders? Work at the Centre for High Performance Development (CHPD) has researched and assessed the key characteristics of successful leadership in this complex environment for the last 20 years. One of the results of this research has been to establish four behavioural clusters that represent successful leadership. These are:
THINKING – an ability to search information, form concepts and have conceptual flexibility
DEVELOPMENTAL – demonstrating empathy, teamwork, and the ability to develop people around you
INSPIRATIONAL – having influence, building confidence and being able to present yourself and ideas successfully
ACHIEVING – being proactive and striving for continuous improvement
Studies have shown that the first cluster of behaviours above - thinking - make the highest contribution to an organization’s performance. Whilst much emphasis has traditionally been placed on the leadership behaviours related to effective action, far less attention has been devoted to these thinking behaviours. As a result these behaviours are often the least developed and least valued in most organizations. When these are not well developed, organizations are constantly fire-fighting, the workforce is often confronted with many un-coordinated initiatives and a lack of information leaves the organization’s strategy vulnerable.
The reason for this lack of attention on thinking behaviours has largely been practical – how do you assess and measure how someone actually thinks? We are familiar with understanding what someone thinks, but not how they think.
If you can assess how someone thinks then you can get a much better understanding of the capability of the leaders, both existing and potential, in your organization.
A new simulation-based assessment tool has been designed specifically to look at this ‘how’ of thinking – it’s called ThoughtLeader. It has taken 40 years to develop and its core technology has been the subject of more than 350 peer-reviewed articles. ThoughtLeader is only available from CHPD.
Keen to develop your thinking skills now? Take a few tips from Keith Liddiard, managing director global new business development at the Centre for High Performance Development
1. When gathering information to develop a strategy, task someone in your team who is most different from you in style and experience – particularly in how they gather information - to help. This will ensure a richness and breadth of information.
2. Keep updated regularly on the Political, Economic, Social and Technological, (P.E.S.T), world. Subscribe to a different monthly publication to inform each of these elements.
3. Give yourself an immovable, 90-minute slot in your diary every other week for uninterrupted thinking time. During this time re- read your one year and three year business objectives. Take a step back and think about what is and isn’t moving you towards these and really analyze the root cause. Commit to one action before next time that will start to deal with the root cause and move you towards your strategic objective.
4. Next time you develop a strategy or plan, describe the key elements of the strategy on a single PowerPoint slide with no more than six bullet points. Do that before you think about implementation or make a final decision on the way to go. Now think of a second strategy that is radically different but of equal weight and describe it similarly. Then evaluate both looking at the pros and cons of each. See if there is a solution that combines the upsides of both. Only then make a decision and move to implementation.
5. Play games that cause you to be creative rather than solve puzzles. (‘Pictionary’ rather than crosswords or sudoko!)
