Media Coverage: This webinar is part of the IACCM “Ask the Expert” webinar series. To access the original webinar, click here

Contribution by

• Albert Froom, Managing Partner at Leaders Trust International Netherlands / AltoPartners Netherlands (email: a.froom@altopartners.com)
• Chris Donkin, Partner at Inzito Partnership / AltoPartners United Kingdom (email: c.donkin@altopartners.com)
• Cheryl D’Cruz Young, Managing Director at Diversified Search / AltoPartners USA (email: c.dcruzyoung@altopartners.com)

On April 28, 2016, Albert Froom, Chris Donkin and Cheryl D’Cruz Young represented AltoPartners when they hosted a panel discussion for the IACCM as part of the “Ask The Expert” webinar series. This panel discussion centred on leadership development and the critical skills needed to help individuals progress in their careers to become valued members of the C-Suite.

AltoPartners is proud to collaborate with IACCM, International Association for Contract & Commercial Management, and is recognized as the Global Provider of Executive Search for the IACCM. Through this collaboration, AltoPartners supports IACCM members with leadership, senior executive and mission critical talent to achieve business excellence.

Leadership Development – Core Values

The past decennium shows important developments in the corporate governance systems of most Western countries. Integrity problems and failing supervision have led to numerous scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat and Ahold and more recently Volkswagen. As a result, financial markets have introduced stringent corporate governance regulations. These initiatives for these reforms have been seen, to restore the public’s trust, ensuring that appropriate “checks and balances” are in place.

Over the past decade, one of the most significant trends impacting the C-Suite is the focus on the C-Suite structure and composition, with diversity being a cornerstone of that governance focus. While diversity continues to be a key focus area in 2016, the C-Suite are increasingly grappling with issues relating to shareholder activism, accountability and transparency, enhanced regulations, and importantly, the impact of digital disruption and technology on organisations. The C-Suite members come under close scrutiny of the public and activist shareholders. As a consequence, members of the C-Suite are increasingly faced with the challenge of “demonstrate effective leadership, quality decision making processes and the ability to exercise corporate controls”. Trust between members in the C-Suite is important for the effectiveness of that C-Suite team.

General demands for C-Suite leaders to be successful are the necessary experience and knowledge of the business at hand. But the team also need complimentary skills, with a focus on innovation and the way the company works seen as crucial success factors. A focus on innovation and an agile, entrepreneurial attitude working on social innovation is considered valuable today. The ability to look for new paradigms, and working within them, is crucial for success. To be a successful C-Suite leader you need to keep yourself updated to the relevant changes taking place around you. Mirroring societal trends, the C-Suite role will become more visible, more active and will be seen as an interconnector. The culture and behaviour of people in the company gains more attention and the “tone at the top” – leaders who “walk the talk” – are valued.

Executive Search companies look for experienced candidates that are willing to not only put a lot of time and effort in, but also the right composition of personalities and characters, expertise and intuition will let the C-Suite excel. Complementarity is the key and can be found in diversity. The C-Suite team are increasingly facing challenges regarding collaboration and interaction, and with regard to the skills and qualities like integrity, professionalism, and knowledge but also openness and honesty also seen as important.

A successful C-Suite leader rates integrity, knowledge and experience, and professional as key personal attributes to possess. However, the C-Suite team as a whole very often rate openness, honest, complementarity and involvement as key attributes.

Ask yourself, “Do I possess these skills and which should I develop? Am I listening? Am I learning?” It is often not about the “what” but the “how”.

Learning Agility and Adaptability

Each of the leadership attributes of strategic flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, innovative thinking, cultural dexterity and self-awareness have value and at different times as leaders you may need one more than the others, but all of them are reflective of a broader capacity… learning agility, which has emerged as the leading predictor of future leadership capability, more than IQ, EQ or an MBA.

An increasingly complex and ambiguous business environment, where volatility and uncertainty have become the new normal and challenges associated with accelerated rates of change and the disruptive effects of new technologies are exacerbated by slowing rates of market growth in many sectors, the application of direct experience is no longer enough.

In the past, when the rate of change was relatively linear, it was easier to learn from particular career experience and then when confronted with a similar challenge, effectively “copy and paste” a proven solution. However, we are now confronted by new and completely different challenges from which we have no direct or easily transferable experience. This explains why learning agility becomes increasingly important.

Executives who are more learning agile are better able to learn from experience and then adapt and apply that learning to perform successfully in completely new or unfamiliar situations. The important questions to ask are “What makes someone learning agile and what can you do to develop your learning agility?”… Only 15% of the population is naturally learning agile, but learning agility can be developed – it is down to the individual and their willingness to do that.

Columbia University identified four learning agility ‘enablers’ and one ‘derailer’. These enablers are: 1. Innovation – adopting a growth mindset 2. Performance – observing and listening 3. Reflecting – self-awareness and feedback 4. Risk-taking – progressive risk-taking and pioneering

Being defensive is a learning agility derailer.

In terms of behaviour, performance and results at work, high-learning agile individuals are significantly more social and are more likely to take charge. They continually refine their thinking and their work. They are more organised, more driven and more methodical. They are more organised, more driven and more methodical. They are more likely to create new plans and ideas, seek complexity and readily accept change and innovation. They are calm and able to cope with the stress of new, unfamiliar situations.

To become more learning agile, you need to: 1. Adopt a growth mindset 2. Seek to identify patterns in complex situations and look for transferable knowledge and insights 3. Engage in counterfactual thinking – seek feedback 4. Look for “stretch assignments” that take you out of your comfort zone, particularly those assignments where success is not guaranteed. Seek opportunities to work across functional teams and to collaborate in new ways. 5. Avoid being defensive – acknowledge your failures and capture the key learnings

Developing learning agility is not easy – it takes effort and commitment but it can be achieved. Recognise its attributes and that it is an asset that you need to cultivate in yourself and in your business. After that, you need to create accurate assessment methodologies, put systems in place to identify and create career paths to get the most out of people.

The Leadership Development Journey

As Jim Collins identified in his book “Good to Great”, the essential ingredient in taking a company to greatness is having a Level 5 leaders – someone who possesses self-awareness and authentic. As individuals and leaders, we evolve over time, with greater growth taking place during the tough challenging times, hence the need to take “stretch assignments” that take you out of your comfort zone. To drive growth and development, you need evaluated experience. Ask yourself when last you had a 360 Performance Appraisal and what growth points you took out from that appraisal.

Characteristics of the Five Levels of Leadership 1. Elementary Leadership 2. Winning at all costs – at this level, the leader operates out of self-interest, focussed on winning and on specific outcomes 3. As the Level 2 leader evolves, they develop more trust and seek team unity 4. Goals and Standards – leaders at this level are proactive rather than reactive, they have a healthy approach to conflict management. They listen, they observe and they tap into their full view of experiences to guide their decision making. 5. Wisdom – leaders at this level are motivated by doing the right thing for the right reasons. They seek and incorporate the input of others and have the wisdom to ask for feedback from others. They are self-aware, authentic and focussed on the development of others for the good of the organisation.

To become an effective leader, you must define your leadership development journey and the milestones that you want to achieve in that journey to becoming a Level Five leader. You need to understand what is important for you both on a personal and professional level. And, you must decide on your leadership destination.

Ensure that you have addressed any obstacles that can stand in your way, assess your strengths and weaknesses and identify actions to address the gaps identified. Leaders rarely fail due to lack of competence. Competence is necessary but it is not sufficient to be a good leader.