Canadian HR Reporter

STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK'S PANEL of thought leaders brings decades of experience from the senior ranks of Canada's business community. eir commentary puts HR management issues into context and looks at the practical implications of proposals and policies. CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 19, 2014 May 19, 2014 EXECUTIVE SERIES EXECUTIVE SERIES 9 www.scnetwork.ca Dave Crisp Leadership in Action Leadership: e fi nal frontier Leadership: e fi nal frontier Four excellent presentations highlighted Strategic Capability Network's all-day 35th anniversary event. Perhaps most signifi - cantly for the future of HR, they all dealt with aspects of leadership — the core is- sue that must be mastered for the great- est fi nancial boost, as well as benefi ts to all stakeholders as people. We can improve technical and policy aspects step by step, includ- ing analytics, organization struc- ture, planning and understanding of globalization. With these, we can learn and implement increas- ingly better practices anyone can copy. ey are issues of fact that can be tested, set down clearly, fol- lowed and enhanced scientifi cally. But unless we can improve leadership — in other words, im- prove ourselves, our own human and therefore potentially variable and fl awed abilities to motivate, engage and encourage innovation — we will not be able to exceed the limits we impose on organizations by demotivating, disengaging and limiting those who work for and with us. rough a highly entertaining stream of humorous, enlightening and entertaining revelations that I trust will come across in the video recordings (available through SC- Network at www.scnetwork.ca), the presenters illustrated what we are up against in leading equally fl awed human beings in challeng- ing situations — and trying to im- prove our own abilities to do so at the same time. is is where the best organi- zations are focusing much more widely today than at any other point in history. Older leadership and strategy models were based heavily on purely rational logic — mechanical theories of what was supposed to work, without much reference to those attempt- ing to apply the "best fi ve skills" or "the seven steps to good strategy formation." What we're finally recogniz- ing is we have to deal directly and honestly with ourselves and our own fl aws and limitations. One idea that kicked off the day is to look at brain function — when do our brain's thinking processes cause us to believe false myths or make decisions biased by our own limited perceptions, and how can we counter some of that? e best advice from the kick- off presenter, psychologist Liz Monroe-Cook, summarizes it easily — pay more attention, stay humble enough to recognize that some things that seem obvious to us are potentially imperfect, and maintain a more open mind, asking others to contribute their input and work with us instead of expecting them to simply follow orders. She points out that our un- derstandings of these fundamen- tals are still in such infancy that we are best to remain vigilant, slow down, avoid multitasking when possible and practise healthy lifestyles and mindfulness — the latter in part to remain open to possible fl awed thinking and bet- ter ideas. More directly for business, Hel- en Kerr — co-president of Toron- to-based KerrSmith Design — led the group through practical dem- onstrations on better guides to dramatic uncertainties we simply do not have the ability to predict eff ectively. Given the vast number of mis- sion statements and strategy bind- ers that collect dust on shelves, her advice to broaden the process to set overall purpose — instead of specifi c corporate objectives — is helpful. She said objectives are too specifi c, and can lock people's scope of thinking and action to goals even after they've become outdated. ey can impede rather than support change. Another great point is objec- tives are more diffi cult to com- municate since they have to be re-interpreted to be specifi c to each division and each level of staff — an exercise that almost never gets completed with suffi - cient co-ordination. Purposes, by contrast, apply to all levels and areas, are easy to communicate and leave some fl exibility and room for each divi- sion and unit to adapt best solu- tions from those closest to actual customers and action. Of course, use of purpose rath- er than specifi c objectives for each team requires diff erent leadership — a style that allows for input and some autonomy, factors that are much prized by staff and there- fore boost engagement, but which are often the exception in many command-and-control-oriented organizations. Kerr's hands-on engagement of the audience in trying to focus their own purposes was not only a great illustration of how the meth- ods would work organizationally, but it also left many with some interesting, personal followup intentions to spend serious time answering some of the questions the process posed for their own lives and applications. In keeping with other present- ers, the message is clear — today's approach to effective strategic planning is equally valuable for individuals, teams and organi- zations, at every level. at fi ts exactly with the concept that leaders must first change and grow themselves if they are to be eff ective at engaging change and growth in their organizations and employees. Peter Jensen's presentation on coaching keys and best behav- iours was engaging as always, again emphasizing that the best leaders and coaches work on the whole person, the whole situation and are not reticent about get- ting into details — large or small, personal or organizational, emo- tional or technical — that aff ect performance. Keys of honesty, trust, caring are well-known — often not easy to fi nd in today's average leader — but clearly needed for better success in future. e message that the concepts from the whole day must work together as a whole continued to be reinforced. ese processes don't work in isolation. Closing out, Edmond Mellina of Orchango presented with Mi- chael Beard, CEO of Ontario's Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), a clear pic- ture of how approaches like these made a dramatic diff erence over three years at TSSA. is illustrat- ed a change challenge with unique aspects (as all organizations face), but one that was achieved without the usual fi ring of resistors, and achieved with goodwill, ahead of schedule despite the initial ap- pearance of being impossible. All these stories leave hope that organizations — and more particularly those who lead them — can and do learn if they set out to do so, and such learning dra- matically improves results as well as producing far better work envi- ronments for all of us. Dave Crisp is a Toronto-based writer and thought leader for Strategic Ca- pability Network with a wealth of ex- perience, including 14 years leading HR at Hudson Bay Co. where he took the 70,000-employee retailer to "best company to work for" status. See www. balance-and-results.com. Great leaders choose to grow Great leaders choose to grow Typically, organizations use "growth" in terms of specifi c results and outcomes that are often incremental and predictable. ere may be periods of growth spurts, stable progress and even setbacks, but growth is not associated with choice, es- pecially uncomfortable choices. Organi- zations need leaders who challenge them- selves outside their comfort zone to add to their capabilities and broaden choices for organizations. Liz Monroe-Cook provided some thoughts on how to manage thinking more eff ectively: pay at- tention to sleep, exercise and nu- trition; put more focus on being present in the moment; choose to prioritize when fresh; be aware of thinking and self-talk and how to change it through disruption and replacement with new thinking; understand the interplay between rational thinking and emotional impacts; practise to build strength and confi dence but not be lulled into overconfi dence. Helen Kerr's starting point for managing change in turbulent times is infusing more informa- tion into the process to broaden perspectives, challenge assump- tions and to begin to sense what the future may hold. Peter Jensen's coaching model begins with a foundation of man- aging one's self. This includes understanding your impact on others and taking conscious, self-management action. He also challenged assumptions around a coach's role. While coaches obvi- ously want to support overall suc- cess, success requires a coach to help others learn from loss, mis- takes and adversity. e coach also needs to help others use imagery for positive action and to uncover and work through barriers to attaining a desired goal. To support this, the coach needs to challenge his own assumptions about what is occur- ring by asking questions, listen- ing, challenging the learner's as- sumptions and providing specifi c, relevant feedback. Expanding the tool kit rough a series of group exercis- es, Monroe-Cook demonstrated that the belief we can multitask effi ciently and eff ectively is highly overrated. Even with focused ef- fort, participants were not suc- cessful at performing competing activities. It was clear that mak- ing choices and priorities are needed to focus successful task performance. Kerr compared reactive, strate- gic and purpose-based responses. One response is to simply react. ere may be times when an im- mediate relief or solution is re- quired but organizations in reac- tive mode leave themselves open to ad hoc, inconsistent action. A strategic response focuses on what the organization is trying to achieve but runs the risk of being overly rigid or irrelevant in rap- idly changing environments, cre- ating confusion as the response becomes misaligned with the emerging realities. A purposeful response focuses on: What am I here for? How can I help? More information on the en- vironment and constant moni- toring of trends are needed to signal changes. is information can then be incorporated into an evolving understanding of the world and its impacts. e guid- ing principles can be translated into action plans and applied to outcomes that matter most. In turbulent times, a purpose- ful approach to change was seen to be the most successful option where there are high degrees of uncertainty. Understanding the potential scenarios, the needed investment and application of various responses gives leaders a broader tool kit of understanding around how and when to apply various responses. Jensen described a process where athletes confronted chal- lenges and blockages they faced. By working through a series of scenarios and responses, they were better prepared — physi- cally, mentally and tactically — to respond to challenging situations. Often scenario planning is viewed as theoretical, time-consuming and somewhat academic but his basic, applied-scenario envision- ing, response identifi cation and related preparation pave the way for optimum performance. Michael Beard of TSSA faced another challenge. e not-for- profi t was very stable in terms of legislation, its mandate and its workforce. But becoming complacent in some of its key responsibilities and relying on its monopolistic position, TSSA was not taking full advantage of available skills and resources and faced resistance to fees and any increases. It refocused from be- ing primarily compliance- and enforcement-oriented to being a valued advocate and recognized authority. is was a conscious response to leverage the high skill set, level of resources and passion and motivation of employees with regard to safety. e response to internally motivate and achieve the goals required a commitment to a culture change, a change management infrastructure and approach, and new and diff erent systems and processes. Leaders who are self-confi dent and rely on their past experience, trade on their charisma or posi- tion, don't examine their assump- tions or ignore what is happening around them do a disservice to their organizations. Leaders need to continue to grow by managing themselves and expanding their tool kit of responses. Karen Gorsline is SCNetwork's lead commentator on strategic capability and leads HR Initiatives, a consulting practice focused on facilitation and tailored HR initiatives. Toronto-based, she has taught HR planning, held senior roles in strategy and policy, managed a large decentralized HR function and directed a small business. She can be reached at gorslin@pathcom.com. Karen Gorsline Strategic Capability Unless we improve leadership, we won't be able to exceed limits.

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