Leader as Navigator
POSTED ON JANUARY 29, 2020
Although oil and vinegar do not mix, they do come together very well with the right condition. The result is a delicious salad dressing. It is made possible with the help of an enabler. A leader today must possess the managerial ability to act as the enabler to appropriately mix wisdom, judgement, grit, and resilience to thread through white water rapids of uncertainty and challenges. The choice of either thriving or collapsing in a moment of competition over your business rivals. Giant corporations of yesteryear drown in the waves of change and undeniably, many are expected to disappear the same way. Thus, managing as a leader today requires a set of navigational skills to drive the business and people to thrive beyond survival in the ever changing market landscape.
Among the leadership goals outlined in a related post on Creativity in Leadership (Tolerating Ambiguity, Accepting Complexity, and Exploring Novelty), the corresponding managerial skills are :
Manager as Innovative Leader– Recognises own or people’s new idea behind an innovation. He or she can envision the development path to make idea into a reality. Indeed, the innovative leaders are equipped with the abilities to share the vision coming out from the new idea or set of new ideas. From there, he or she communicates the vision with enthusiasm to employees, suppliers and business partners. This leader rallies everyone to work together in turning that vision into a reality.
Manager as Change Master – Embraces new ideas and beliefs are ready to introduce change and manage it to become a permanent in their organizations. He or she is familiar with changing needs of the organisation. Mastering change requires the manager to have the talent in using information about the organisation culture, behaviour, attitudes and potentials of its workforce.
Manager as Purposeful Strategist– Possesses foresight to plan, guide or facilitate people toward preferable futures. Unpredictable environment requires strategic responsibility to be taken by all managers, on top of staff tasked with mainly strategist roles in the organization only. Management infused with strategic planning and sound operational implementation follow agile principles in a rapidly changing world.
Building the above skills for managers with leadership roles means you have to take time out of your busy routines to stop, reflect on your leadership approach and learn new ways to achieve results. Go beyond the day to day obligations at work. The ideal learning environment should explore a holistic approach; extending from personal and professional development to business growth.
At IRS Training Sdn Bhd, our experiential leadership and managerial development programs help accelerate creativity and innovation of your leaders, people and organization to higher levels of performance.
Contact Us today to learn more about how our Leader as Navigator program can help develop your manager to manoeuvre your business to thrive beyond surviving in a VUCA world.