Cutting Through The Grey

'Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.' J M Barrie

As 2020 draws to a close, the viral nature and impact of both positive and negative messaging is apparent. We each hear information which confirms our world view. It takes effort to extend the range of sources we monitor and the people we listen to.

My thanks go to the wide range of clients and colleagues I have had conversations with this year. It has been a privilege to support boards, directors and governance professionals as they navigate their organisations through turbulent times. Sharing their stories and exploring the situations they face results in renewed energy and the intention to build innovative solutions. 

Situational Intelligence has been at the heart of my coaching conversations since Dr Laurence Lyons and I published our research in 2012. In November, judging the Chartered Governance Institute Awards, it was gratifying to read how the principles we promote have been successfully applied:

Reading your strategic context accurately.

Understanding the motivations of your key stakeholders.

Recognising how to deploy your strengths situationally.

This year, clients from across several decades have reconnected to share reflections on the transition points in their lives and their hopes and dreams for the future. There are no boiler plate solutions for the challenges we face, but these three vignettes illustrate examples of inspirational behaviour:

Few people combine global strategic awareness with attention to the impact on individuals. In 2005, while writing the Leadership History of British Airways, I interviewed Colin (Lord) Marshall about his 21 year tenure as Chief Executive and Chairman of the airline. His concise analysis of the global sector was coupled with clear recollection of the individuals involved and the impact of strategic change on them. This rare combination of strengths was also apparent in a recent conversation with a Chairman navigating another large organisation through the current global pandemic.

 

In both the public and private sectors, organisations have been creating agile strategies and new organisation models to deliver them. In conversation with board members and governance professionals, those with a clear organisational purpose and embedded values have highlighted how critical these factors are in creating and preserving relationships with their networks of stakeholders during a period of continuing uncertainty. The investment in building trust has paid dividends and there is a natural inclination to collaborate around a shared agenda.

 

The first week of March 2020 was busy. For the first four days I commuted into London to run focus groups, facilitate workshops and attend meetings. On Thursday evening, something prompted me to suggest we go virtual for the Friday meetings. And virtual we stayed. As a founder member of the Future Work Forum launched by Professor David Birchall and Dr Laurence Lyons in 1992, we produced research papers on new ways of working independent of location and time. Virtual comes naturally. Among fellow baby boomers, the transition to virtual hasn’t always been smooth. Directors have highlighted the importance of the technology mentoring they have received from young, enthusiastic reverse mentors and from their governance teams.

 

With these insights in mind, let us all travel hopefully towards 2021.

Or in the words of Ogden Nash in Good Riddance But Now What?

Hark! It’s midnight, children dear.

Duck! Here comes another year.

Applying Situational Intelligence

In a world where existing knowledge is codified and available for those who know where to look, a spirit of enquiry is a strength worth cultivating. And now we have time.

The global pandemic provides periods of frenetic activity interspersed by periods of reflection. This ‘black swan’ event has been on the risk:impact maps of futurists for some time but we don’t always pay attention to voices that don’t share our world view.

Now is certainly the time to gather intelligence, anticipate, plan, respond and re-plan in continuously evolving circumstances.

The search for intelligence which provides certainty may be rather fruitless. Innovative thinking and imagination can appeal as we all seek solutions to universal problems. Collaborative thinking may not respond quickly enough, but conversation is critical.

Now is also the time for kindness and gratitude.  

Over the past two decades of running Cutting Through The Grey, I have been fortunate enough to work with thousands of business leaders and governance professionals from across the globe. Building trusted business relationships has enabled individuals, boards and their organisations to realise the greatest value from our activities together.

In the last 100 days, clients, colleagues and friends have generously contributed their insights to Situational Intelligence stories we have been developing and I am grateful for their time and energy. Together we are creating a different way of thinking.

#Insights2020

January – scanning the horizon

Curiosity is considered a differentiating characteristic of excellent leaders and an essential strength in the boardroom. A director’s ability to ask the right questions and listen to a range of people providing the answers, determines the quality of board intelligence which will inform strategic decisions.

We start 2020 considering the wider world in which we live and exploring a range of sources providing curated insights into the themes preoccupying organisations in the public, private and third sectors.

Most business schools, strategy houses and professional firms publish their insights early in each calendar year, so January provides a wealth of intelligence.

Each year The World Economic Forum gather a global audience in Switzerland.  Davos2020 invited teenagers from around the World to join political and business leaders and explore ‘Stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world.’ Climate change and its financial impact dominated conversations. Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate change activist called for global action now. Other themes included the potential for technology to enrich lives and the way in which we live and share resources. The forum leaves many questions to be answered by individuals, organisations and governments.

McKinsey shared four themes they took away from Davos2020. Highlighting the business cases which have already been made in boardrooms, they point to a change in tone and a decrease in trust, making clarity of purpose and stakeholder understanding critical for organisational success.

PwCs 23^rd CEO Survey involved 1,581 CEOs in 83 countries with 126 CEOs in the UK. Economic uncertainty is perceived as the greatest threat and the focus is on implementing practical measures in order to keep growing. Confidence levels grow from 70 to 90% when considering the 1 and 3 year outlooks. Globally CEOs rank UK as the fourth most important territory for growth.

Scanning and triangulating sources will help avoid the natural bias to seek insights only from those who agree with our world view.  We live in a global, instantly connected environment but the desire to focus on the ‘village’ we inhabit and share and explore patterns with people we trust, may limit our understanding. As Harvard Business School Professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter has exhorted us for decades, we should think global and act local.

During 2020, I look forward to working with my clients as we explore strategic responses to these themes.