Leadership takes a team

For our CEO's to improve, the key will be embracing a commitment to change:Pic Getty.

According to leadership consultants Human Synergistics, who have been operating in New Zealand since 1979, Kiwi CEO's are underperforming and could be doing more to lead local businesses to better outcomes.

Human Synergistics' leadership consultant Neil McGregor says the most interesting and important outcome from his years of research is that New Zealand leaders tend to be less constructive and effective and in general more defensive than leaders he has measured around the rest of the world.

"Our data indicates quite clearly that more constructive individuals who focus on achievable goals, share their thoughts and opinions and support and encourage their people are rated significantly higher (at 38%) more effective in both task and interpersonal effectiveness," says McGregor, "rather than those relying on defensive behaviours, such as being overly concerned with status, avoiding conflict or set unrealistic goals."

He says effective managers and leaders are effective at both task accomplishment and interpersonal relationships. They are good at what they do and they work well with others.

"Of course, we also work with some of these very effective leaders and in essence the readiness and willingness of these leaders to engage in their own leadership development is critical," says McGregor. "We see more and more leaders in New Zealand not only believing it's important for them to have a mindset of ongoing mastery of leadership, but also the willingness to do something about it."

He believes some managers need to develop a more personable approach, while many others need a more rigorous direction to create clarity of purpose - there's no one solution fits all approach to the problem.

His advice for CEO's is for all members of the executive team to have as their primary role the task of leading the business.

"All too often executive team meetings turn into a debate around who gets their hands on scarce resources," says McGregor. "So, rather than taking an enterprise view they take their own functional view. This is not good for the business and it's the CEO's role to manage this focus."

With this in mind, he sees leadership as a shared concept in a business.

"No one person can lead the business - it takes a team," says McGregor. "CEO's need to coach their team members and others of influence in the business to come aboard the shared purpose."

However, he says creating a high performance team isn't easy and if it were, everyone would be doing it.

"A performance equation we like to use to identify opportunities is Performance = Capability x Motivation x Opportunity (p = m x c x o)," says McGregor. "I like the equation because a leader can use it with an individual, a team or the entire organisation to audit where the strengths and opportunities might be."

For our CEO's to improve, McGregor believes the key will be the willingness and commitment to change.

"We are seeing more and more New Zealand leaders admitting they don't have it all right and they are willing to show some vulnerability from the CEO level down to say we need to be better at leading into the future and are doing something about it," says McGregor. "We also see leaders supporting and challenging leaders at all levels to move into a more purpose driven way of leading their teams."

Human Synergistics are holding their 13th annual conference on leadership in Auckland on November 3rd, featuring a range of experts, including Google's #1 ranked futurist Thomas Frey, young entrepreneur Jake Millar, 'Nanogirl' Dr Michelle Dickinson, Cigna CEO Lance Walker and Fiona Michel, the Chief HR Officer at the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB).

The conference theme is 'Sharing Wisdom', which is about having a growth mindset to create truly wise, effective and responsible organisations.

One of the speakers at the conference is HRINZ Supportive CEO of the Year Lance Walker from Cigna, who McGregor says is a good role model for those wanting to create high performing teams.

"Lance Walker understands as CEO that the strategies of the organisation won't be delivered unless the culture and team environment enables his people to confidently engage with them," says McGregor. "So, he's consciously building the culture to support performance (with the help of his senior team). He's also a very lively and approachable character who helps his people be clear about what's important in their roles and what the priorities are, and he's good at recognising progress and success (both individually and collectively)."

So, if New Zealand CEO's aren't performing well now, how will they respond in an era of disruptive change?

"The world's moving faster and faster and the business world is really going from a mind-set of, 'How do we try to predict, plan, control and execute on a specific plan?' to a mind-set that's more about, 'How can we get fast feedback loops? How do we constantly sense and respond and build the organisation around adaptability and resilience and longevity?'" says McGregor.

"To do this we must focus on the human value chain and create the space for our leaders to create the environment for their people to be at their best."

Thankfully, it all comes back to the number eight wire mentality ingrained on the Kiwi psyche, which is about being inventive and adapting what you have to find a solution.

As Charles Darwin said: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

Human Synergistics' 13th Annual Conference on Leadership and Culture is hosted in Christchurch (October 31), Wellington (November 1) and Auckland (November 3). Email careers@nzherald.co.nz for the chance to win a double pass to the Auckland conference and workshop on November 3, valued at over $1200. Please put your address and contact details in the body of the email, and use Synergistics Please in the subject line.