Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER March 21, 2016 12 EXECUTIVE SERIES/NEWS Nominate a deserving employer for one of these award categories: Special awards: Visit www.safestemployers.com for details. Nominations close June 1 2016 • Building and Construction • Health Care • Hospitality • Manufacturing • Mining and Natural Resources • Oil and Gas • Public Sector / Non-profit • Retail and Services • Transportation • Utilities and Electrical • Wellness • Psychological Safety • Young Worker Safety • Canada's Best Health + Safety Culture Strategic Partner Diamond Sponsor Reception Sponsor Presented by Event Sponsor Bronze Sponsor Leadership: Why is simple so hard? Strategic capability is often thought of as requiring sophisticated analysis. For many facets of business, such as mar- keting and operations, this may be true. However, when it comes to building strategic leadership capability, it may be as simple as being clear on what is expected and holding lead- ers accountable. The "leadership contract," pre- sented by Vince Molinaro, is de- ceptively simple. Few would ar- gue with its basic premises: • Leadership is a decision. • Leadership is an obligation. • Leadership is hard work. • Leadership is a community. e leadership contract draws on many concepts from publica- tions on leadership, and it also brings to mind concepts such as accountability, trust, integrity and learning from others. Two messages contained within the four statements above provide food for thought for organiza- tions, leaders and aspiring leaders. • The concept of a contract with "terms and conditions": You may immediately think of executive contracts with their provisions for stock options and golden parachutes; it's not that kind of contract. is contract focuses on the expectation a leader will actively work to make an organization or business suc- cessful. It applies both to those who come into an organization and to those already in the orga- nization. Employees who accept leadership roles must under- stand it is more than a promo- tion, a stepping stone or title. It is not something thrust upon a high performer, a technical star or someone exhibiting high po- tential for leading. It is a commit- ment on the part of an individual with related obligations. If the in- dividual is not willing to accept these responsibilities, it is not the role for him. at the individual actively decides whether leader- ship is for him or not is based on the assumption the organization makes its expectations clear and supports the leader and its lead- ership community. • The concept that leaders "work": Leading is not just standing on a rung of the hierar- chy ladder and pointing a direc- tion for followers. Leaders must get their hands dirty with the job of leading. is includes tack- ling tough problems and dealing with things they would prefer to ignore or pass on to others to solve. ey must think beyond their own preferences and com- fort level, their team and their department and look at what needs to be done and then do it. Like other "workers," leaders are not all-knowing. ey must be aware of their knowledge limits and look to others for ideas, in- formation and personal learning and support on how to deal with stress and tough issues. e leadership contract pro- vides a straightforward, under- standable and intuitively appeal- ing framework. However, it is by no means simple. What appears simple and intuitive is often the hardest to achieve. It requires organizations to demonstrate greater clarity and discipline around building their leadership capability and in supporting their leaders with tools and commu- nity. It requires leaders to actively work at managing and leading for company success, even when it requires them to go outside their comfort zone. Karen Gorsline is SCNetwork's lead commentator on strategic capability and leads HR Initiatives, a consult- ing practice focused on facilitation and tailored HR initiatives. Toronto- based, she has taught HR planning, held senior roles in strategy and poli- cy, managed a large decentralized HR function and directed a small busi- ness. She can be reached at gorslin@ pathcom.com. Karen Gorsline Strategic Capability Leading is not just standing on a rung of a hierarchy ladder and pointing a direction. Leaders must get their hands dirty. It sounds cliché but HR has to be a business person first, said Edgar. "From there, you can be part of that conversation, regardless of what the topic is, and provide input, and then you're able to use that to leverage the people ele- ment," he said. "It's important to have that breadth and that per- spective and then you use that to inform what the plans are in terms of people strategy, and that gets into more detail on talent and ca- pability and those sorts of things." HR needs to become more agile to respond to the changing needs of the world, said Edgar. "In reality, it's quite hard to do because it's not a burning plat- form, you can't show the business the return on investment to do these things and it's taking too long, whereas if I close this office over here, then I see the benefits of that immediately, which again isn't a new problem but I think organizations, we and others, are going to have to adapt our cul- ture. Where you don't get that same level of immediate buy-in from leaders, that can be really hard and it's probably... the most important thing we should be shifting. If you don't shift up, then the rest isn't going to sustain itself anyway." It's hard to marshal resources around shifting a culture, he said. "at's often driven when you have a much closer relationship to an end customer who's going to be demanding different things. In our world, we are on the jour- ney to become more customer- centric and we hope to use that as an enabler to change our culture." Sabapathy often reminds busi- ness leaders about the value of organizational culture, and while almost all acknowledge it, they don't always internalize it, he said. So it's important to educate about how culture enables results and execution. In looking at customer experi- ence, whether that's in shopping malls or office buildings, the en- vironment is changing in many ways, such as incorporating con- cepts around health and wellness in buildings, he said, along with the omni-channel retail experience, with more people shopping online. "ere are many business im- peratives but nothing material happens to address them unless you have people with capabilities and behaviours that enable people to address them," said Sabapathy. "You can put marketing people in a room and they'll come up with ideas about the customer experience but it won't make a difference unless you know how to execute and make things con- sistently stick. at's a key area where HR can contribute and I find once I frame it that way, people are all over it and say they need that support. So then HR is front and centre in helping solve a critical business issue; it's very gratifying." Shifting culture ROUNDTABLE < pg. 8 "Where you don't get that immediate buy-in from leaders, that can be hard."

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