considers strengths over statuses or positions and is supported by cross-functional and project teams.
This realization underscores that potential exists within everyone. The question is how to unleash it. What skills should be developed to become a manager who does not merely issue instructions but instead leads toward collaborative and sustainable development, helping to overcome challenges?
TRAITS OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER IN AN ERA OF CHANGE
This skill means having social sensitivity and the ability to manage relationships at different levels, including within large systems.
A company is a living organism, an ecosystem, where each element (employees, partners, customers, contractors, society, state) exerts an influence on the direction and performance of the system as a whole (see Figure 3).
To gain insight into not just individual shortcomings but the whole picture, one must be an observer with the capacity to take a broader perspective, thinking proactively, and understanding how a combination of different factors shapes the ultimate outcome.
When developing products, adopting the ecosystem approach serves as a significant gravitational force in the market which not only changes the trajectories of competitors, but also compels them to reevaluate their strategies.
Here are some notable examples of ecosystems. Sberbank and Yandex are collaborating to provide a wider range of services within a unified environment – an ecosystem. This marks a significant technological breakthrough[1].
The CEO of Kaspi Bank has also started to create an ecosystem. In their ecosystem, customers can manage finances, make online purchases, compare prices for specific items, participate in loyalty programs, among other options. The primary focus of the company is on enhancing the customer experience with the product, which is reflected in their technology-driven approach: they have interviewed 30,000 consumers, to gather their feedback and needs, and then proceeded to create a product that caters to these needs. All the services are interconnected, complementing each other, and designed around the interests of both customers and partners in the ecosystem. If one evolves, the other follows suit[2].
The Mail.ru Group ecosystem consists of a wide range of offerings, including payment services, a unified identification system (single ID), offline digitization programs, media services, and game libraries. All of these products together form a unified infrastructure where users can access an array of services and find virtually anything they might need[3].
The concept of “vitality quotient” is often associated with activeness but there is a distinct different between the two: activeness refers to external dynamics, while VQ represents an internal resource that stimulates these external dynamics.
The state of charge (the intensity of the desire to live) serves as a vital asset for leaders as it empowers them to overcome resistance, provides the strength to inspire and engage others, and kindles people's hearts with ideas and goals. It often goes hand in hand with charisma, which has no clear or uniform definition but includes the charm, self-confidence, and the persuasive power that naturally emanates from energetically charged leaders.
The leaders who are best remembered are not the ones who never made mistakes but those who actively and stubbornly pursued their goals. Such leaders share their passion and love for the organization's mission with their team, through sincere values, acting as role models, and implementing processes that embody and support the organization's DNA.
I remember very well my onboarding as HR Director for Russia and the CIS in a corporation that was engaged in a global restaurant and other service businesses around the world. As per their onboarding plan, I rose through the ranks from a restaurant worker to a manager of several divisions in different cities in one month.
My scope included studying the operational business, getting to know the team, auditing HR processes, and formulating an HR strategy. Usually, newcomers meet and communicate with colleagues in office meeting rooms. The uniqueness of the onboarding approach proposed to me was to work on actual restaurant sites. This hands-on approach helped me to learn the minutiae of the restaurant business, establish bonds with the team, identify all the growth points to implement the HR management policy, and develop an understanding of the organization's DNA.
The company placed a strong emphasis on maintaining a high level of development energy and continuously improving processes: an innovation forum, the exchange of best practices, and the pursuit of new types of services all contributed to this commitment to improvement.
This 'state of charge' produces very good results when combined with the ability to inspire, motivate, and create a culture of innovation – alongside tools to maintain team engagement and drive, and the capability to sustain and revitalize the resourceful state of both oneself and the team.
Members of teams and participants in cross-functional projects not only can, but must differ in age, experience, skills, and talents. When they collaborate, they serve to complement each other through their diverse competencies and foster an exchange of energy, which, like static electricity, tends to accumulate and electrify the internal potential of the organization, thereby enhancing its performance. This embodies the essence of teamwork. Our collective strength leads to the creation of new value.
A constructive attitude and a desire to reach an agreement enable employees to search for common ground, find compromises, and establish common goals. Gradually, team members align their perspectives and improve the organization's operations. This process fosters the development of a culture of shared values, which not only enhances and accelerates the organization's potential but also extends beyond team morale, promoting a culture of innovation.
The leader’s role is to create the conditions and provide a background for such collaboration. This entails defining tasks with clarity and precision, accompanied by transparent monitoring. The leader should ensure that each participant in the process understands their role and the cause-and-effect relationship of their actions. It is essential to establish direct lines of communication with every level of the organization, providing a platform for everyone to voice their concerns and ideas. The leader should also create a database of knowledge, best practices, and available resources while optimizing processes and eliminating factors that drain the time and energy that are required for productive work.
The mission, discourses, and shared values play an important role. Genuine ambassadors for the company are those employees who not only understand but also identify with the company's values. A person is more inclined to perform tasks that align with their core life principles and interests (the ones that are genuinely held, not just those that are only documented on paper).
Apart from external marketing targeting clients, there's also an internal aspect focused on the team – internal communications. The mission, goals, and values integrated into the processes make up the framework of the organization. The organizational culture, along with its various elements, sets the tone for both offline and online environments within the organization, and this is further reinforced by the support of its leaders.
When I work with teams to formulate or revise their missions and values, every single time we start by posing two fundamental questions “Why are we doing this?” and “How will the organization benefit from it?”
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