MENTORING FOR A CHANGE
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In situations of change and transition, people rethink their identity and presence, the impressions they make, concerns about what others may say about them when they are not in the room, how they find their own voice and what new behaviours and new thinking is needed.
When dealing with change accelerators and reversals or opportunities and challenges, our sense of agency (efficacy and control) and dignity (inherent value) are important factors that shape our responses.
Effective executives synergise what the strategy means for their part of the business (purpose and direction); prioritise what needs to be done (focus); know what they need to do within, across, and outside the organisation (connectivity and dependencies); develop customer centricity (processes and service) communicate for clarity and connection (influence); be a maker and giver of talent (capability); manage roadblocks and risks (governance); set and monitor the right performance and information (achieve and evaluate); ‘questions-coach’ style for positive impact with his or her own teams (engagement); shape the organisational tone, behaviour, power-dynamic, conversation and reputation (cultural custodian).
ALL MANAGEMENT IS CHANGE MANAGEMENT
"All things flow, nothing abides. You cannot step into the same river twice, for the waters are continually flowing on. Nothing is permanent except change.”- Heraclitus
“Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it – but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”- Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Your passion for making a change must be greater than your fear of failure and the alternative cost.”- Uri Levine
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”- Jane Goodall
“Most fundamentally history is not the study of the past. History is the study of change. It is trying to understand how things change.”- Yuval Noah Harari
“How to give feedback without being a jerk: Be a coach, not a critic. Aim to help, not attack.; Don't assert opinion as fact. You're sharing your subjective reaction, not the objective truth. Be honest, not brutal. Be direct in what you say, but kind in how you say it.”- Adam Grant
REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
Do you know the difference between a tension, dilemma and a paradox?
What are your drivers of high performance?
What is your ‘personal why’ and leadership philosophy?
What type of leader do you want to be?
How will you make it happen?
Can you recognise when to go upstream to develop a new strategy or options?
Do you know how change happens?
What will need to change?
Which of your skills have a use-by date?
What are the ways to renew, up-skill and re-position capabilities?
How do you retain the human side of leading?
CHANGE AND EMOTION
There is no doubt different situations will emerge and patterns ebb and flow in the coming year. Restructures, turbulent markets, performance and capital pressures are just a few complexities. Not to mention, variable returns on career investments.
It is not unusual to feel powerful in some situations and powerless in others. In reality, we take up power and influence as a managerial leader in many different ways. Nearly all of us have felt anxious or heard the voice of our inner critic during our careers at one time or another. It can be after a promotion, moving into a new job, entering a new workplace or taking on a first board role. For some, the feelings of anxiety are temporary and dissipate as one finds their feet. In other words, they are a sign that you are stretching your capabilities.
To cope, some draw on high levels of self-efficacy, nous, resilience and an innate comfort with ambiguity. For others, remaining agile, competent and relevant, triggers anxiety.
Then there are those who are passively swept along by waves of activity. Working ‘in’ a career and not ‘on’ it, has limitations. It may mean a series of positions that essentially repeat the same experience. It can result in underdeveloped skills for a future role or diminished value and power.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO TO BE BETTER PREPARED?
“We must all learn to manage ourselves ... to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution ... which means knowing our values and strengths ... choosing how and when to change the work we do ... doing what we are good at and by working in ways that fit our abilities.” (adapted from Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker)
Change before you have to, is sound advice. Yet, the greater risk would be acting with outdated logic. The human side of change is complicated. Beliefs that help one succeed can be barriers to bring about needed change.
Of course intelligent people know how to solve a problem, but it is the most astute who know how not to get into the problem in the first place. They are smarter about the career curve, recognising when to go upstream to develop a new strategy or further options. If not paranoid, they are highly alert. These traits give them the insight to recognise a pending inflection point, initiating the necessary actions to avoid derailment, or worse, a career crisis.
Mentoring conversations with these executives reinforces using change as a time to construct their future, developing tactics to expand the space in which they operate (context, positioning and energy) and extend their personal and professional reach (influence and connections.)
PROTECTING YOUR CAREER CAPITAL
Think about those successful executives who do take charge of their career. They willingly try more different things to exploit returns. They trust, but verify. Being great advocates of accountability they take control, calculating any risk and actively managing it.
Divergent thinking stretches assumptions about how their career will evolve. Pushing boundaries, parallel paths are created to intelligently experiment with possibilities, test new directions and find segues to suit capabilities. Strategies are fundamentally about choice, difference and advantage. Flexibility is as much about deciding what not to do, as it is about deciding what will be done.
Having come to terms with the fact that some skills, while effective, have a use-by date, they look for ways to renew, up-skill and re-position. They have a strategic eye toward the emerging. More than just repackaging their background, they look for multipliers. Recombining competencies gives increased options to move between functions, divisions or industries to secure their career if needed..
Protecting their ‘career capital' is paramount. Reputation, within their organisation and among external communities, is vital. Highly connected with intricate networks and built social capital, they frame and shape others’ views of who they are and what they can accomplish.
They want their voice to matter. They actively seek to secure their special position with those who count, drawing on their consummate stakeholder management. Voice is about being heard, clear visibility and the weight to negotiate prized career moves, key assignments and the right level of reward. They assess their value, credibility and currencies based on how close they are with the most senior leaders in the business. This gives them the clout to be involved in decisions. Executive decision-making is not just about strategy and technical expertise – it relies strongly on authority, political savvy, conflict management and trust.
Strategically, executives must be adaptive, having the ability to leverage change into a source of advantage.
NAVIGATING THE MENTORING LANDSCAPE
“Mentors, Sponsors, Advisors and Coaches: these are the people who you trust for guidance, wisdom and as a trusted sounding board. They help you learn, discover, solve problems and share ideas. They assist you decide what matters, what creates meaning and which measures of success or failure are realistic. A mentor helps you ‘find your voice,’ an advisor helps you ‘build content and tone of voice,’ a sponsor will ‘get your voice heard at the table,’ and a coach ‘strengthens your voice.’ They can also help you assess any structural, affiliation and behaviour traps with contacts and stakeholders.”- Dianne Jacobs
“How do I choose a mentor-coach and what should I look for?" is a natural question. Look for someone who is compatible, but has enough of a contrast to bring new perspectives. Someone who has the expertise you would need to work through the 'how' and the 'why'; that you could trust and respect. You would want a good listener and someone who has your interests at heart to the extent that they will encourage a frank dialogue on both sides and support you through the changes that will need to be made.”- Dianne Jacobs
Most executives understand that the higher they are, the more difficult it is to talk about their real issues or concerns – and to do so free from the weight of company expectations. It is even harder to find effective and neutral listeners. Whether the objective is to be more effective in a role, to assess next-level strategies or contribute to a board, it helps to have trusted guidance.
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