STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Strategic management is a leadership responsibility. Effective strategy
implementation and control depends on the full commitment of all manages to
supporting and leading strategic initiatives within their areas of supervisory
responsibility. To successfully put strategies into action the entire organization and
all of its resources must be mobilized in support of them. In our dynamic and
often-uncertain environment, the premium is on strategic leadership—the
capability to enthuse people to successfully engage in a process of continuous
change, performance enhancement, and implementation of organizational
strategies. Porter argues that the CEO of a business has to be the chief strategist,
someone who provides strategic leadership.25 He describes the task in the
following way. A strategic leader has to be the guardian of trade-offs. It is the
leader’s job to make sure that the organization’s resources are allocated in ways
consistent with the strategy. This requires the discipline to sort though many
competing ideas and alternatives to stay on course and not get sidetracked. A
strategic leader also needs to create a sense of urgency, not allowing the
organization and its members to grow slow and complacent.. According to Porter,
a strategic leader needs to make sure that everyone understands the strategy.
Unless strategies are understood, the daily tasks and contributions of people lose
context and purpose. Everyone might work very hard, but without alignment to
strategy the impact is dispersed rather than advancing in a common direction to
accomplish the goals. A strategic leader must be a teacher. It is the leader’s job to
teach the strategy and make it a “cause,” says Porter. In order for strategy to work
it must become an ever-present commitment throughout the organization.
Everyone must understand the strategy that makes their organization different from
others. This means that a strategic leader must also be a great communicator,
keeping everyone focused on the organization’s strategic priorities.

Finally, it is important to note that the challenges faced by organizations today

are so complex that it is often difficult for one individual to fulfill all strategic
leadership needs. Strategic management in large firms is increasingly viewed as a
team leadership responsibility. when Michael Dell founded Dell Computer, he did
it in his dormitory room at college. Now the firm operates globally with $30 billion
in sales. Dell is still chairman and CEO, but he has two vice-chairmen to help with
top management tasks. He observes: “I don't think you could do it with one person
there’s way too much to be done.
Food for Thought

Leadership development (LD) involves a lot more than a few well-designed

workshops. It is crucial, first, to align your leadership development efforts with
your organisation's vision, strategy, and culture. Second, it necessary to understand
what all the leadership development components and options are before
committing to particular programs, methods, or LD consultants. Finally, it is
imperative that you broaden your horizons to include individual, team, and
organisational development in your leadership development efforts. Proper design
of your leadership development strategy will help you enhance the impact,
effectiveness, balance, and strategic relevance of your LD efforts.

The following quotes, executive summaries, and models should help you better
navigate the territory.

 Managers maintain the status quo; leaders take their

organisations to new heights.
 The point is not simply to understand the world but to change it.
(Karl Marx)
 The ultimate challenge of leaders who are senior managers is to
develop the next generation of leaders more capable than themselves.
(Dave Ulrich)
 The core purpose of strategic leadership development is not to
build a small pool of successors to senior management, but to create a
talent pool of strategic leaders at all levels of the organisation, and to
cultivate and refine the managerial talents needed to move the
organisation toward its strategic objectives. (Vicere & Fulmer)
  Competencies (skills) without results are useless. Results
without competencies will be erratic, unreliable, and difficult to
replicate in new situations. By understanding the link between
competencies and results, we can identify and develop throughout the
organisation precisely those competencies and perspectives that will
most help the company achieve its long-term strategic objectives.
(Dave Ulrich)
 Athletes may want to develop all of their muscles, but the
reality is that a sprinter needs different muscles than a marathoner. It
would be nice to develop all of our individual, team, and
organisational muscles, but we do not need all muscles in equal
proportions; it is also impossible to focus on everything at once. We
have to understand which individual, team, and organisational
muscles (capabilities) are mission critical.
 Organisations need more people with their eye on the big
picture, taking initiative, and producing results. Leadership
development programs should help your employees:

• Conquer critical business opportunities & challenges

• Enhance competitive advantage
• Increase value delivered to customers
• Translate strategy into action
• Develop future leaders
• Identify new opportunities

New Objectives for Leadership Education

Source: Conger & Benjamin, Building Leaders (Jossey-Bass 1999).
  Creating dialogue, common vision, and shared commitments to facilitate
effective organisational change
 Orientation toward the bottom line (i.e., a business focus)
 Imparting relevant knowledge that can be applied immediately
 Building teams of leaders and leaders of teams
 Disseminating leadership throughout the organisation (leaders at all levels)
 Providing mechanisms/opportunities for both self- & organisational-
developmet.

Advancement from the operational to the strategic level represents one of the most
critical and challenging professional transitions a leader can make. And not all
leaders can make the move successfully. The frequency of senior executive failure,
churn and turnover is significant. Articles such as Fortune magazine’s “Why
CEO’s Fail” (1999) provide numerous high-profile examples. A study by
Manchester Consulting estimates that four in 10 senior leaders fail within the first
18 months on the job (Across the Board, 2000). According to Drake Beam Morin,
Inc.,two thirds of all major companies worldwide have replaced their CEO at least
once since 1995 (Bianco, Lavelle & Merritt, 2000), and a DDI survey of Corporate
Leadership Council members found that approximately three fourths of companies
worldwide are not confident in their capability to effectively staff strategic
leadership positions over the next five years (Corporate Leadership Council, 2000).

Grow Your Own Leaders (Byham, Smith & Paese, 2000),more and more
executives have recognized the importance of recruiting, identifying and preparing
effective leaders; it remains one of management’s highest priorities. With the
speed of change facing business today, the need for effective seniorlevel strategic
leaders, who can formulate and execute business strategies to produce desired
results, is seen as critical to the very survival of the business. Contrasted with
operational leaders, whose primary role is to manage day-to-day business
operations, leaders who transition from operational to strategic leadership must
assume a variety of key roles to achieve longerterm strategic business results in
pursuit of profitable sales growth, increased market share, implementation of
change, and the strategic alliances that will help achieve these goals. Quite often,
one of the biggest barriers to success in making the transition to strategic
leadership is a lack of insight into the roles that leaders need to assume at the
senior strategic level. A taxonomy is needed that defines and helps to clarify the
nature of these roles and the transition leaders must make to perform well in these
roles. This in turn will help better prepare leaders to be successful, and to provide a
framework for their development and deployment.

DEFINING THE SHIFT FROM OPERATIONAL TO STRATEGIC

LEADERSHIP
Based on extensive experience in assessment, development, and coaching of senior
leaders, DDI has identified nine such roles (see sidebar on the next page) that
characterize senior strategic leadership. These roles describe the situations of
senior strategic leadership, and reflect the most vital and important functions of
today’s successful leaders. While strategic leaders are not typically engaged in all
nine roles “all the time,” they will often be involved in situations related to more
than one role at any given time. The relative importance placed on each role is
dependent upon the business situation in which the leader is engaged. Thus, in one
situation a strategic leader may initially be focused on developing a longrange
course of action or set of goals to align with the organization’s vision (the
“Strategist” role). The focus might then subsequently shift to building passion and
commitment toward those goals among the people who need to take ownership of
the strategy or vision (the “Captivator” role). The nine roles have general
applicability across all senior leadership positions, and are not unique to any
particular job; however, the particular focus on any given role at a point in time
will be determined by the business issues being addressed at that time. Ideally, an
executive team would collectively represent capabilities across the full spectrum of
these roles. Following are the nine key strategic leadership roles and brief
definitions of each. A more complete description, including illustrations for each,
is included in the appendix.

NAVIGATOR—clearly and quickly works through the complexity of key issues,

problems and opportunities to affect actions (e.g., leverage opportunities and
resolve issues).

STRATEGIST—develops a long-range course of action or set of goals to align

with the organization’s vision.

ENTREPRENEUR—Identifies and exploits opportunities for new products,

services, and markets.

MOBILIZER— Proactively builds and aligns stakeholders, capabilities, and

resources for getting things done quickly and achieving complex objectives.

TALENT ADVOCATE—Attracts, develops, and retains talent to ensure that

people with the right skills and motivations to meet business needs are in the right
place at the right time.
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Just because leaders have been highly successful in operational/functional roles
doesn’t ensure their success as senior strategic leaders. Yet organizations routinely
rely on these very people to move into these critical roles. The result—senior
strategic leaders who are unprepared to effectively deal with the situations and
challenges they must face. Through the powerful content and hands-on leadership
simulation of Strategic Leadership Experience, participants will learn how to think
and act more strategically—to strategize ways to grow the business, gain
acceptance of their strategies, and execute them to achieve desired business results.
Session Objectives
Helps leaders:
> Improve their ability to deliver better business results by applying the nine
leadership roles in the workplace.
> Bridge the gap from operational to strategic leadership.
> Minimize detailers that can impede their success as a senior leader.
> Establish peer networks across organizations and functions.

CAPTIVATOR—Builds passion and commitment toward a common goal.

GLOBAL THINKER—Integrates information from all sources to develop a

well-informed, diverse perspective that can be used to optimize organizational
performance.

CHANGE DRIVER—Creates an environment that embraces change; makes

change happen—even if the change is radical— and helps others to accept new
ideas.
ENTERPRISE GUARDIAN—Ensures shareholder value through courageous
decision-making that supports enterprise—or unit-wide interests. These nine roles
are important at senior strategic levels because they help leaders understand what
to do to be strategic. They address the broader challenges leaders face as they
transition from managing more narrowly focused “silos,” to taking on the
challenges of more enterprise-wide leadership. These challenges include factors
such as their increased span of influence, loss of tactical control, broader
consequences of failure, the business scope they are addressing, their own
visibility, and a greater variety in stakeholders they need to satisfy. Several factors
will determine a leader’s success or failure in meeting these challenges, such as his
or her underlying skills or leadership competencies, knowledge, experience, and
executive derailers.