Recently, I had the wonderful experience of facilitating transitions of leaders in a bank with strong social enterprise aims and values. The company owners with much discernment realized that the time has come to bring in tried and tested leaders who possess the technical competence and experience to bring the bank to a new level.
MANAGING LEADER TRANSITIONS
It was a solemn yet fun days of learning how to manage change , getting to know each other at gut level and symbolically turning over responsibility and signaling the ending and closing of a new era. Clearly, the new leader has absorbed quickly what it takes to succeed early and hit the ground running. The outgoing leader had the opportunity to receive testimonials and after a job well done move on to a more strategic level as a member of the Board.
We often take transitions for granted. We always assume we know and can predict how our management teams will react to new leadership. Yet, what we take for granted is most important. Take for example the case of corporate culture especially if the company has a rich history and is relatively strong and stable. In 20 years of consulting with companies, we have seen the pains and travails of new leaders who get into corporations with high hopes and after a year like a fallen star move on to oblivion. Often they leave behind them a lot of unfinished business, sometimes with much hurt and damage to the company and worse for small companies even the risk of bankruptcy and closure.
We have seen how multi-nationals and some local conglomerates today take pains to ensure smooth transitions. The cost truly outweighs the benefits. One can recognize that the learning curve rises rapidly for the incoming leader and the signal of role change helps the outgoing leader adopt news way of doing and acting.
GROUP COACHING
Early this year, we were commissioned by a manufacturing company with headquarters in Europe to do a management development program. But with a new twist. The management team would undergo a two day program at regular intervals then after a month from the conduct of a specific program a one day group coaching program is held. The objective is to practice the skills for a month then come back and raise questions or reinforce learning. It also had the benefit of strengthening the team.
We start the day by identifying key themes. The themes could either be in terms of experiences and learning or could come in the form of questions. Then one by one the themes are presented and discussed in an open space manner. I discovered the use of appreciative inquiry questions kept the discussion flowing. I marveled how the group coaching brought out the collective wisdom of the group and intensified the desire for further learning. The new team members learned not only from the facilitator but also from the experienced team members.
At the end of the day, everybody appeared to have considerably transformed in maturity and competence. We are on to the third program. The benefits are enormous. One, the challenge in management development is tracking and monitoring results and practice back on the job. Group coaching enables this to happen almost automatically. Two, the learning deepen into wisdom as they move rapidly from theory to experience. Three, teamwork is reinforced as the class gains a common language and shared experience.
PHILOSOPHY OF LEADERSHIP
One conglomerate with many subsidiaries realized that beyond the group’s vision, mission and values, they needed to articulate their leadership philosophy. This becomes critical as they prepare their group of companies for a brighter and bigger future. What are their core beliefs around leadership? Is it steward leadership? Is it developing leaders at all levels?
An intervention on exploring leadership philosophy, at the executive level, gained importance. It is designed to take stock of the beliefs that have helped or hindered company progress. Are the beliefs of the founder still effective and beneficial? If yes, then what are the ways to develop future leaders to institutionalize said beliefs? If not, how does one revise these beliefs or improve their practices to keep up with challenging times.
The exercise surfaced the leadership competency dimensions and practices that are critical to success. The company realized that they could no longer embrace wholesale leadership philosophies typically coming from the west. Nor be driven to the extreme that leadership practices from Asia are the only ones that matter. They recognize they have to reflect and dig into their company soul to arrive to what matters. It is a philosophy that can be true through good times but most specially during crisis.
Leadership development, of the right kind is considered a strategic issue. For the company may rise and fall depending on the quality of leaders. In conclusion, I realized that leader development is serious stuff. Companies are finding new ways beyond traditional training or academic schooling to address unique needs of corporations today.
[Tita Datu Puangco is the President and CEO of Ancilla Enterprise Development Consulting, an innovative provider of Organization Development and Training solutions in the ASEAN region. These solutions include strategy development and execution, managing change breakthroughs, brand management, innovation and human resource systems. For your letters/ feedback, kindly email: tita.datu76@gmail.com, For other inquiries, please call 8810-3129/0920-9218332/0917-8348176]
