Leading in a Complex World Utilising the Collective Intelligence of the People

05/26/22 • 35 min

Today, leadership takes place in a challenging context, e.g.,

increasing complexity
increasing speed of change
information overload

Thus, decision-making processes become more difficult. Leaders are at risk of either delaying decisions (gathering more information) or over-simplifying and rushing to decisions.

In an increasingly complex world, single leaders or small groups of leaders can’t have all the answers. Instead, they need to involve the whole team in sense-making and decision-making processes.

Involving more people may seem counterintuitive, as if it delayed decisions further. However, utilising the collective intelligence of the people leads to better decisions and gets buy-in from the start. (See also “How to Speed-Up Corporate Transformation”)

The need to be competent may also keep leaders from involving more people. They associate competence with having all the answers and giving people clear directions and instructions.

Of course, leaders need to have professional knowledge and business acumen. But they do not have to be the smartest person in the room. Today, the leader's role is less of an expert. Instead, leaders must surround themselves with the best talent, align them around a common goal, and create the conditions under which they can be their best.

Ron Heifetz says that leaders must distinguish technical problems from adaptive challenges. For technical problems solutions exist already. A leader or an expert has the answer and can tell people what to do. In contrast, an adaptive challenge is totally new. No experts have the answer yet.

“The leader's job is not to provide the answer, but instead to frame the right questions for which answers are developed and discovered by the collective intelligence of the people.”

Being competent in today’s context is less about knowledge but instead about qualities we have covered in previous episodes such as being humble, understanding that human beings are driven by emotions , and that trust-based relationships are the foundation for performance.

According to Daniel H. Pink, leaders need to turn from bosses who tell others what to do into autonomy supporters. This can be done using coaching skills, including listening and asking powerful questions.

What might keep leaders from utilising the collective intelligence of the people:

The perceived need to express competence by having all the answers and tell others what to do; the fear that asking questions equals looking incompetent.
Past successes, such as frequent promotions, may make leaders think they do know better, they are smarter than others.
They don’t belief in their teams and struggle with letting go of control, or removing themselves from the centre of decision-making.

Reflection Questions for Leaders

How comfortable am I not knowing?
Do I feel I need to have all the answers? Or do I still appear competent when I ask questions and say, “I don't know”?
Do I feel a need to demonstrate I am the smartest person in the room?
If yes: why? How can I let go of this?
How open am I to ways of working that are different from mine?
Do I believe in the potential of the people I'm working with?
What role do I want to take in this process as a leader? Am I going to be the expert, or am I going to be more like a coach, a facilitator, an enabler, or might I be an observer?

More info about us and our work is on our website https://secondcrackleadership.com.

Today, leadership takes place in a challenging context, e.g.,

increasing complexity
increasing speed of change
information overload

Thus, decision-making processes become more difficult. Leaders are at risk of either delaying decisions (gathering more information) or over-simplifying and rushing to decisions.

In an increasingly complex world, single leaders or small groups of leaders can’t have all the answers. Instead, they need to involve the whole team in sense-making and decision-making processes.

The need to be competent may also keep leaders from involving more people. They associate competence with having all the answers and giving people clear directions and instructions.

“The leader's job is not to provide the answer, but instead to frame the right questions for which answers are developed and discovered by the collective intelligence of the people.”

What might keep leaders from utilising the collective intelligence of the people:

The perceived need to express competence by having all the answers and tell others what to do; the fear that asking questions equals looking incompetent.
Past successes, such as frequent promotions, may make leaders think they do know better, they are smarter than others.
They don’t belief in their teams and struggle with letting go of control, or removing themselves from the centre of decision-making.

Reflection Questions for Leaders

How comfortable am I not knowing?
Do I feel I need to have all the answers? Or do I still appear competent when I ask questions and say, “I don't know”?
Do I feel a need to demonstrate I am the smartest person in the room?
If yes: why? How can I let go of this?
How open am I to ways of working that are different from mine?
Do I believe in the potential of the people I'm working with?
What role do I want to take in this process as a leader? Am I going to be the expert, or am I going to be more like a coach, a facilitator, an enabler, or might I be an observer?

More info about us and our work is on our website https://secondcrackleadership.com.

Previous Episode

Why Relationships at Work Matter More than You Might Think

Trust-based relationships at work are the foundation for healthy performance.

We are social beings. However, what is often described as social or psychological is actually biological. Relationships are an essential aspect of evolution: living in groups has been critical for our survival as a species.

We developed capabilities to quickly judge if we can trust others, largely without conscious awareness, sometimes described as “gut feeling” (see neuroception and interoception).

Not only our hunter-gather ancestors benefited from productive human connections. Also in “modern” societies, our well-being depends on sound relationships.

A Harvard study revealed that people who are more socially connected to family, friends, and others are happier and healthier. They live longer than people who are less well-connected, and loneliness leads to less happiness, earlier health decline, and decline in brain function.

Functioning relationships are also critical for motivation and performance at work:

Sirota and Klein identified camaraderie, defined as “having warm, interesting and cooperative relations with others in the workplace“, as a primary goal of people at work.

Blickle and Hogan categorised getting along as a basic human motive: “Human beings are inherently social and at a deep and often unconscious level need companionship and social acceptance, and they dread rejection and isolation.”

Building productive relationships is a mission-critical task for leaders.

What can leaders do to nurture productive relationships?

1) Attitude: Common how-to advice suggests that leaders should listen more and ask more questions. However, we often neglect that it is not just the “doing” but that the underlying attitude or mindset is crucial: are you really interested in what the other person has to say?

Research suggests that our attitude towards others hugely impacts their performance (c.f. “Pygmalion in the Classroom"). In other words, if you believe the people you work with are heroes, they might become heroes. If you believe they are idiots...

2) Consistency: Building relationships is not a one-time activity. It's about how you show up consistently. Do you come across as authentic? Are you walking your own talk?

3) Understanding emotions: You need to be aware of your emotions, regulate them, get a sense of the emotions of others (empathy), and understand how others respond to your behaviours.

Leaders need to avoid triggering a “fear response” in others, often evoked by tone of voice, facial expressions, and other non-verbal signals submitted and received non-consciously. Instead, they need to nurture emotions such as joy, excitement, and trust.

Emotions are not just “touchy-feely stuff”; what is underlying emotions is a complex neurobiology. E-motions provide energy for action. We have explained this in detail in our Second Crack podcast episode “Emotions @Work - How Leaders Can Release Human Energy in Organizations”

Reflection Questions for Leaders

· At work today, have I made genuine connections with people? How?
· How do other people perceive me/my behaviours?
· How do I think about individuals at work? Do I believe in their potential? Have I already labelled them in a certain way? Do I really believe they can become heroes?

For more info, visit: secondcrackleadership.com.

Next Episode

The Inner Development Goals - The Leadership Model for the Future

There are already hundreds of leadership models. And most companies have well-established competency frameworks for leadership. So why should we care about another model?

In this episode, we explore The Inner Development Goals (IDG) model and why we think IDG is a powerful tool for leadership development and organisational transformation.

WHAT'S IDG?

IDG was created in 2021 by three Swedish organisations: Ekskäret Foundation, The New Division, and the 29K Foundation. The purpose is to draw attention to the development of inner abilities and skills needed for people and organisations to contribute to a more sustainable global society.

"There is a vision of what needs to happen, but progress along this vision has so far been disappointing. We lack the inner capacity to deal with our increasingly complex environment and challenges. Fortunately, modern research shows that the inner abilities we now all need can be developed. This was the starting point for the 'Inner Development Goals' initiative.”

Quote from www.innerdevelopmentgoals.org

WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT IDG

We were immediately drawn to the clear structure: change starts from within, then addressing how we need to develop our thinking, connect and relate to others, collaborate and finally act.

This, in its parts, is nothing new. What is different and powerful is how the parts are put together in an easy-to-understand and easy-to-use framework.

We also like that IDG is co-created by over 1,000 thought leaders, consultants and professionals, combining the best global thinking on leadership. The broad base of support behind IDG makes it generally applicable for all leaders to use.

THE 5 CATEGORIES

IDG is structured along 5 categories, with 23 skills. In this episode, we give a quick introduction to how they are relevant.

Being — Relationship to Self

Thinking — Cognitive Skills

Relating — Caring for Others and the World

Collaborating — Social Skills

Acting — Driving Change

We will cover each category in more detail in separate episodes.

HOW CAN LEADERS BENEFIT FROM IDG?

We have already found immediate use of IDG in our own work as coaches and consultants, applying it with senior leadership teams and in leadership development.

IDG is also an effective tool to help increase momentum and scale in corporate transformation, not only directly related to sustainability. It helps create shared mental models and language for leaders to identify and develop the necessary skills across the organisation.

A third use is in supporting suppliers and other external partners in their development.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Looking at the most complex challenges (e.g. sustainability) your organisation is facing:
- where might a different approach be needed to create more momentum?
- might there be too much focus on the 'technical' aspects and too little on the 'inner development' that enables change?
- where do I/we need to work on my/our' inner development'?
Looking at the current leadership model in your organisation:
- how effective is it in identifying and developing the critical inner skills and qualities that matter most for your transformation and change?
- what inspiration might you draw from the IDG model?

REFERENCES

Find more information related to IDG at innerdevelopmentgoals.org

And more info about us and our work at secondcrackleadership.com

Second Crack — The Leadership Podcast - Leading in a Complex World Utilising the Collective Intelligence of the People

Transcript

Leading in a Complex World Utilising the Collective Intelligence of the People

Second Crack – The Leadership Podcast, Episode #9

by Martin Aldergård and Gerrit Pelzer

[00:00:00] Gerrit: A warm, welcome to Second Crack – The Leadership Podcast. In this show, we explore everyday leadership paradoxes, and dilemmas, and we invite you as our listener to self-reflect. I'm Gerrit Pelzer and I'm joined as usual by my friend and business partner,