This week South Australians woke to headlines announcing still more job losses.
Newsreaders announce daily how we now have the highest unemployment levels in the country and it seems the economic outlook is bleak.
It’s true, we do face real challenges ahead, but they are not insurmountable. The key component that will determine if we succeed or fail is the effectiveness of our leadership – not only from government, but also from business and the not-for-profit sector.
Transitioning from an old economy focused on mining and traditional manufacturing to one where organisations must embrace an ever-changing global marketplace, with rapid and often disruptive technological change, is painful. It’s clear we need a new playbook.
Malcolm Turnbull was right when he told us we cannot ‘future-proof’ ourselves.
There’s no escaping change. But we can build better leadership capacity within our organisations to foster strong adaptive and entrepreneurial cultures that will create agile, innovative businesses able to thrive in this uncertain and volatile environment.
A 2015 survey by Deloitte – Leadership: Why a Perennial Issue? (Global Human Capital Trends, Feb, 2015) – found that 86 per cent of businesses surveyed rated leadership as their most critical issue. It’s surprising more companies aren’t thinking of doing something about it. So, what should we be working on?
First, you have to believe you need it. Many people think leadership development is simply just a luxury for big business and not relevant to smaller enterprises and NFP’s, but this is simply not the case.
Every organisation from start-up to growing SME and major multinational needs to actively and continuously build gold-standard leadership skills in their teams – this is what will help them achieve their strategy, grow operations and sales, and, ultimately, to create jobs and growth for South Australia.
US management consultant Jim Collins in his bestseller From Good to Great wrote that every single successful company he examined aspired to and invested in ‘Level 5 Leadership’ from the early years. This involves actively developing a pipeline of people who are self-aware, action-oriented, have a clarity of vision and direction, are measured risk-takers able to seize opportunities and build trust in those they influence – and who have the ability to see around corners and adapt quickly to changing circumstances.
I admit it’s tough. What’s needed today in order to be a good leader is not the same as 30 years ago. It’s much harder now. Controlling from the top, running a tight ship and having all the answers has been replaced with the ability to innovate, collaborate, think creatively, ask the right questions, learn from failure and adapt rapidly to change.
In many ways, leadership teams at successful start-up companies can really epitomise these qualities. And this is the kind of agility that our Prime Minister wants us all to develop.
At the Leaders Institute of South Australia, we work with a diverse cross-section of organisations to help transform future leaders and to empower change. Business needs to understand our problems can’t simply be solved with tax cuts, new subsidies or grants.
We need a different attitude. We need to empower a new breed of ‘intrapreneurs’ within existing businesses and to encourage and build highly engaged and innovative leaders to drive growth.
Building interconnected organisational networks to coach and mentor others will also help. Leaders need to learn how to work better within their organisations, but they also need to collaborate more outside them as well to drive regional innovation.
For example, the Leaders Institute is currently working in the northern suburbs to launch a specially designed Northern Leaders Edge program. Next year a diverse selection of 20 managers and business owners from the area will come together over a 10-month period to learn adaptive leadership skills and to mentor each other in creating change in their business.
The program is ‘experiential’ as opposed to just competency based – it will push people out of their comfort zones, it will force them to examine themselves and how they operate and will change and expand their thinking, it will encourage them to experiment and take risks, and to find ways to guide others in navigating conflict and fear. This is the world of leadership today.
Every organisation in South Australia should be asking themselves what kind of leadership development they have in place now and is it what’s needed to navigate the conditions we’re facing at the moment. There are times when we can’t simply wait for someone to drive the bus – you have to get on it and get started.
Developing a new kind of 21st century leader is the key to diversifying, innovating and creating jobs. This is not a luxury, but a necessity for all of us.
Dr Niki Vincent is the chief executive of the Leaders Institute of South Australia.
