Leaders "face more paradoxical demands than ever

Citation

(2003), "Leaders "face more paradoxical demands than ever", Career Development International, Vol. 8 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi.2003.13708gab.002

Leaders "face more paradoxical demands than ever"

Leaders "face more paradoxical demands than ever"

In the wake of the recession and corporate-accountability scandals, leaders are increasingly challenged by paradoxical demands, according to a new study.

Leadership at the Core and on the Edge, by global career-management services company Lee Hecht Harrison, is based on interviews with 100 senior-level leaders at multinational, Fortune 500 companies, as well as universities and professional-service organizations.

Andrea Huff, executive vice-president of Lee Hecht Harrison's leadership-development and coaching practice, said that while leaders have always faced paradoxes, they are becoming more pronounced as a result of the scrutiny and performance pressure leaders are subject to today.

"As in past economic downturns, most executives must inevitably reduce staff and other costs while retaining the remaining employees," said Andrea Huff. "At the same time, they are charged with increasing productivity, innovation and customer loyalty and maintaining a competitive advantage. But today, the pace is faster, the stakes are higher and diverse constituencies are more demanding. The leaders we interviewed indicated that they consistently face these pulls in their day-to-day role as leaders and need to find ways to become better at managing competing demands."

Respondents cited many paradoxes inherent in leading their organizations. "For example, some noted the need both to focus on the company's core operations and still create competitive breakthroughs," said Andrea Huff. "Others cited the challenge of reinforcing their organization's values and traditions while also encouraging change."

Of the numerous paradoxes the leaders mentioned, the following were most frequently identified:

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  Be more hands-on the business, less hands-on the people. Executives stated they are now more conscious of keeping their eye on the operations of the day-to-day business. And in order best to develop their people, they need to increase both their autonomy and authority.

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  Seek diverse points of view, drive unified action. A leader must seek out new business ideas and strategies from various perspectives, while leading everyone to support a unified decision.

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  Promote experimentation, contain risk. Leaders must take chances to stay competitive in ever-changing markets, while safeguarding their business.

Andrea Huff explained that meeting these paradoxical demands requires leaders constantly to shift gears. "The leaders we talked to have found that it is no longer effective to be either strategists or tacticians, decision-makers or ones who delegate, innovators or keepers of the status quo. They must be able to be all these things, depending on the needs of the situation. They need a broad skill set, the ability to deploy a range of opposing behaviours, the insight to know when each type of behaviour is required and the agility to pivot quickly and seamlessly between them."

What is important, said Andrea Huff, "is that leaders recognize and embrace the healthy tension of the paradoxes they face each day. Leaders who are able to meet paradoxical demands successfully drive results for their organizations."

Study participant Fred Harburg, chief learning officer of Motorola, observed: "As leaders, fully utilizing the concept of paradoxes is one of our most powerful sources of innovation."