AchieveGlobal's blog

Reflecting on Leadership

By Craig Perrin

This is the fourth of seven posts on AchieveGlobal's international study of leadership today, "Developing the 21st-Century Leader." Be sure to read the complete report.

There's nothing like a long look in the mirror to motivate needed change. Gazing thoughtfully at your reflection can reveal positives to build on and negatives to improve or eradicate.

The same goes for business leaders: Those who often reflect on their own strengths and liabilities are far more likely to transform unproductive behaviors into behaviors that make them stronger and more effective.

Our recent research into how leaders can succeed in the 21^st century uncovered six zones or groups of best practices: Reflection, Society, Diversity, Ingenuity, People, and Business. Of them, Reflection is perhaps the most central.

To leverage strengths and remove the blind spots that lead to poor decisions, reflective leaders habitually assess their own motives, beliefs, attitudes, and actions.

If "the more you look, the more you see," as the adage goes, it should be no surprise that reflective leaders tend to succeed in other zones, as well. Why this spillover effect for the zone of Reflection?

It's quite simple.

The practices grouped under Reflection help leaders assess their performance in other zones. Because reflective leaders see their place in the big picture, they tend to "take responsibility for their own mistakes" (the highest-rated practice in our global survey). In this way, reflection helps them clarify what makes them strong and where they can improve in every zone. 

I ’m a Leader – So What Do You Expect?

By Craig Perrin We recently concluded a worldwide study of what’s different about leading in the 21st century. What we learned will re-shape both what we say about leaders and how we develop leaders at all levels. Given the 21st-century coming together of peoples, economies, and cultures, we were pleasantly surprised to find a firm picture of good leadership emerging from our research.  Effective leaders, we learned, tend to focus their efforts in six distinct “zones of leadership”:

• Reflection: The tendency to evaluate one’s own motives, beliefs, attitudes, and actions.
• Society: The tendency to apply principles – such as fairness, respect, and “the greater good” – to balance individual and group welfare.
• Diversity: The tendency to value human differences, including gender, ethnicity, age, culture, beliefs, and work styles.
• Ingenuity: The tendency to offer and execute practical ideas and enable others to do the same.
• People: The tendency to engage the hearts, minds, and actions of others in productive work.
• Business: The tendency to make and execute sound plans and decisions.

While individual contributors and leaders at all levels in Asia, Europe, and North America endorsed these six “zones,” the relative importance of the zones (and of 42 specific behaviors that comprise the zones) differed by organizational level and global region. My limited point here: Good leadership in part is relative to the expectations of those being lead. If I’m a senior leader, for example, I may see profitable operation as my highest priority. Everyone else, however – all the people I lead – may see my ability to admit my mistakes as the bellwether of my credibility. Until I meet that expectation, I’m less likely to secure the commitment and effort that promote profitable operation. This and many other implications of our study will be the focus of a comprehensive report due out this Fall.

Ethics in a Fuzzy Yellow Ball

By Craig Perrin Forgive another sports analogy. Hey, my blogmate made me do it! In a recent French Open tennis match, Serena Williams cracked a ball point blank at her opponent, Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez – a painful and totally legal part of tennis. Slo-mo revealed that the ball ricocheted off Martinez’ arm, then racquet, and dribbled, unplayable, into Williams’ court. Williams apologized, expecting the point to be hers (a player touched by the ball loses the point). To Williams’ surprise, the umpire gave the point and game to Martinez, who had to know she was hit – but said nothing. An ethical lapse in sports usually does little lasting harm (here, Williams won the match). An ethical lapse or cascade of lapses in business can do tremendous harm, as we’ve seen in the global recession. The recession in fact has raised global awareness of the need for ethical business practices:

• At the Harvard Business School, for example, many spring graduates are signing a new code of ethics. In their “MBA Oath,” students promise to “serve the common good” and refrain from advancing “their own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others.
• In a 2009 AchieveGlobal survey, respondents worldwide singled out at least two behaviors required for ethical leadership in the 21st century: “Openly admit your mistakes” and “Act not just to obey the law, but to promote the common good.”

Had Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez followed that advice, she’d have conceded the point. Had certain business and political leaders followed it – in one of the few positive effects of our economic crisis – we might not be reminded to reflect on these matters. Your thoughts are invited and welcome.

Top Corporate Actions Affecting Employee Morale In This Trying Economy

By: Chris Blauth We all have at least one thing in common these days. Uncertainty. The way we handle important decisions has been greatly affected by the downturn in the economy. Maybe now you feel slightly uncomfortable spending money on luxuries, or are a bit uneasy about how you diversify your portfolio of investments. Now we all are managing our decisions – and our life – differently. This change in thinking and behavior also translates into the business world. Like their teams, leaders feel the sting of what is now considered daily business events, such as budget cuts, office and plant closures, insolvency, and layoffs. In addition to pressures leaders feel themselves to meet corporate expectations, they also face the challenge of motivating others to execute actions that will help to attain goals. This is especially tough when companies are having to make serious cuts – in many aspects of the business. According to our research: • 75.2 percent of companies have cut discretionary spending. • 65.2 percent have stopped hiring. • 51.2 percent have frozen pay. • 49.8 percent have laid off employees. • 20 percent have cut working hours. • 19.6 percent have reduced employee benefits. • And 15.2 percent have closed locations. Which of the above actions, that your organization has been forced to make, do you think has impacted employee morale the most?