Can you see the wood?
Our work has become increasingly specialised. As knowledge and technology have advanced so working roles have become narrower, but deeper. In medicine specialisms such as pathology, microbiology and virology have all developed into complex career paths in recent years.
In finance, law and in management the picture is the same, with new specialist fields driven in part by advancing knowledge and technology, but also by legal, social and environmental considerations.
The result is that many managers struggle to adapt when promoted to roles where strategic thinking is essential, notably to company boardrooms. Stepping outside their specialist silo they find that what’s got them this far – focus and depth of knowledge – doesn’t work so well around the boardroom table.
Several of my recent coachees have been people who have been extremely good in their field but who are now finding the step up to board level, or equivalent, difficult. Good support and training can help people understand their new legal and financial duties, but this only goes so far. What is required is a different mindset and outlook.
Thinking strategically
In my experience coachees often raise the question as to what strategic thinking really is and why it matters. They may have read the theories. Most of them understand, for example, the importance of wider market conditions which affect their organisation. They learn to ask good questions and to adapt to the dynamics of the senior leadership team, over time.
However, part of the problem is deeper. It revolves around how these newly promoted people see themselves and their new role. Many have measured their career to date by their own endeavours. Indeed, their promotion will in part be because they have been focused and are experts in their field. This next step requires something different, a change in perspective or mindset, in three areas.
The first is switching from ‘me’ to ‘us’ when approaching issues. This requires a detachment from their work to date and their individual executive role. It requires an ability to think as a member of a board, and to contribute jointly.
Leading not doing
The second change in mindset follows the first and is about moving away from ‘doing’ to ‘leading’. What do I mean by this? The role of director, or their equivalent in a public sector body, is not to ask ‘what can I do about this’. Instead, the key is to understand the problem (and potential solutions) in the round and only then to identify what the whole organisation needs to achieve to overcome that problem. By setting that direction the individual may well have a role to play, but clearly, they cannot do it all themselves. Indeed, their value lies in enabling everyone in the organisation to play their part.
Stepping back isn’t easy
I confess to initially struggling with this when first becoming a Minister of State in the Coalition Government in 2010. Having been self-employed prior to Westminster, I was very hands-on and so I needed to learn that as Minister my role was set the direction, to enable civil servants and others to implement. Stepping back isn’t easy.
Seeing the wood, for the trees
The third change in perspective requires our specialist to think in the round, to understand the big picture – the context within which the organisation operates. This will be an economic context, but also a legal, financial and social context. It is also increasingly an environmental context.
Our increasingly specialised world of work makes this transition far harder. People’s understanding of the wider world – of economics, of geo-politics, of social trends outside their immediate circle – has narrowed sharply in recent years.
Social media is compounding the problem
Social media is compounding the problem. We can now choose the news we get or the political slant, as well as the topics we choose to ignore. This is a recognised problem in our public debate, with people only listening to those with whom they agree, creating echo chambers, deaf to alternative perspectives.
This has implications for future leaders of business and organisations. The breadth of knowledge we need to chart the right direction demands being open to many different sources of information, opinion, and ideas. Without this, people will fail to see the wood, for the trees.
I have coached or mentored several senior business leaders on this issue and would be pleased to see if I can help you. Go to ‘How I coach’ for more about my approach and my contact details.
