What are the main challenges leaders have been faced with in light of the COVID-19 pandemic? How have you assisted them with these?
Different leaders faced different challenges. The one challenge that I heard about the most is how to engage teams in the virtual environment. Leaders couldn’t rely on seeing people in the hall or at the “water cooler,” to have a quick conversation.
Leaders needed to shift. Leaders needed to see people as people. They no longer saw someone as “a direct report” or “my boss.” They saw people at work, juggling homeschooling, worried about elderly parents, and trying to figure out what tomorrow would bring.
The role I played with my clients was to create the space for them to tune into how COVID was impacting them. Then to develop strategies to take care of themselves, so they could be fully present and listen to what was going on for people in their teams. To listen to what was important. To listen to what people needed. To offer support so people could navigate the uncertainty, take care of their family, and still be engaged and productive at work.
Many leaders grew from the experience, becoming more compassionate, understanding, and flexible with others.
You work with diverse leaders – what are the key areas they seem to struggle with?
I hear it time and time again. Diverse leaders struggle with being their authentic selves. It may look different depending on the ethnicity, but it all boils down to trying to fit in. It makes me sad that diverse leaders need to invest energy to fit in—whether it be to try to speak better English or hold back in a meeting because they don’t want to be seen as aggressive. Their energy would be better spent collaborating with a team to come up with innovative solutions to help others. If we can help leaders from different racial and ethnic backgrounds leave their “armour” at the door and bring their true selves to work, companies can do amazing things.
What are your key tips for achieving great culture within an organisation?
Culture is the oxygen people breathe in a company. If it is good, people thrive and achieve more than they ever imagined. It fuels the communication, collaboration, and creative thinking of teams in companies.
I believe culture is created in the moments that matter. It’s those micro-actions that are seemingly insignificant but shape how people experience the culture at a company. Think about how many actions leaders take every day. It’s as innocuous as a leader accepting to have a “meeting before the meeting.” It’s as powerful as a leader asking everyone to voice their opinion in a controversial conversation. It’s as important as celebrating someone who tried a new approach and failed but learned a lot of lessons in the process.
Most of these things people won’t see first-hand; they will hear the stories though. They will hear the stories about how the boss didn’t take the meeting and asked the person to raise their concerns so everyone could hear the information at once. They will hear the stories about how the leader asked everyone to chime into the conversation and made a decision based on the input of the most junior person in the room. They will hear the stories about the person who failed fast (or slow) and got an award at a company dinner.
Diverse leaders struggle with being their authentic selves.
How do you help leaders to achieve this?
I work with clients to be thoughtful about what they want to create in their culture to drive performance. What values are important to instil in the company? What behaviours do they want to infuse in the culture? What will they do differently to role model the behaviours that will create the culture they want? What will they unlearn or let go of to show others what they expect in the company?
Most of what we do is shaped by beliefs and assumptions we learned at some point in our lives and careers. Through coaching conversations, leaders are able to explore and understand their deeply held beliefs and assumptions that inform how they lead. They challenge whether or not these beliefs and assumptions are still serving them and helping them create the culture they want to create or if they are stopping them.
Then, as clients realise some of their deeply held beliefs are holding them back, we explore new beliefs and assumptions that feel right to them. As clients see new ways to lead, they expand the ways they can show up as a leader to create the culture that drives performance.
With diversity & inclusion becoming a more and more important priority for organisations, what are the things that all CEOs need to do to create a place where everyone belongs?
That is the million-dollar question. It starts with a mindset; a mindset that not everyone has to be just like me to be successful. A mindset that there are different paths, different definitions of success, and different experiences that are valuable and matter. A mindset that I may not know all the answers and if I ask people who are different from me, I may see something I didn’t see before; something I didn’t know. And that is brilliant!
Once they have the mindset to be open to difference, then, CEOs can see how multifaceted and talented people are without thinking about their identity, background, or experiences. It’s understanding, respecting and tapping into these differences – this is where the magic starts to happen.
With all of the challenges CEOs face today, what is your one best piece of advice to lead in today’s world?
Listen.
There are so many things that create noise today. News. Social media. Employees. Politics. Supply. The list goes on and on. It’s so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind and lose sight of the one thing that will propel the company’s performance. The people. Listening to people can open doors to opportunities you never knew you had. Listening to people can keep you relevant in the marketplace. Listening to people can teach you how to be a better leader, to inspire, motivate, engage your organisation. It sounds so simple, yet it’s so hard to do.
Contact details:
https://www.stephanielaplante.com/
stephanie@leadershipspace.us
By Ajit Menon from Blacklight Advisory
Whistleblowing was dealt a further blow last month after fresh allegations emerged over the conduct of senior executives in the City of London.
Barclays CEO Jes Staley was reprimanded after he attempted to uncover the identity of an internal company whistleblower. Staley was reported to the FCA after he tried on several occasions to find out which staff member had raised concerns about the conduct of senior executives. These revelations represent a fresh setback in the City’s mission to improve its chequered record on whistleblowing.
While putting in place formal whistleblowing procedures is hugely important, fostering a healthy company culture is the most effective way of ensuring people feel they can speak out about poor practice. In good cultures, a safe environment for whistleblowers is a no-brainer. Individuals must feel that they can safely raise concerns about suspect behaviour without fear of recrimination. Banks that do not support staff to call out misconduct risk are doing irrevocable damage to their standing with employees, regulators, customers and the public at large.
Why is culture important? Corporate culture is built on a set of values that is understood and shared by everyone in an organisation. As a consultant, I have worked with a number of different organisations in financial services. Many companies explicitly state that they encourage their staff to be open and speak out when necessary. In reality however, firms often fail to put policy into practice.
Whistleblowing can involve emotion-laden moral dilemmas and conflicting loyalties. The most important thing is to create a culture where employees feel connected with the purpose and goals of the organisation. Companies in which staff feel that they have a stake in the future of the business are much more likely to foster healthy culture of calling out bad behaviour than firms which fail to engage with their employees.
It is not enough to ensure that there is a robust process or set of rules, it also requires the appropriate conditions for people to come forward without fear. Leaders play a big role in creating this environment, with bosses driving the culture in an organisation. If leaders act against the values that the organisation stands for, this serves only to undermine the culture.
Business leaders have to walk a tight rope of ensuring commercial success without compromising relationships with staff and customers. In seeking to identify the Barclays whistleblower, Jes Staley probably felt he was trying to protect the interests of the business. By failing to be seen to be doing the right thing, however, Staley has done Barclays considerable harm.
So what can organisations do to promote a healthy corporate culture? Creating the right atmosphere is not easy and it takes a lot of time, commitment and effort on the part of bosses. Most importantly, it needs willingness to engage in the process. This is not for the faint-hearted.
FIVE STEPS TO BUILDING A STRONG CULTURE
- Build a culture of openness: Invite challenge and ‘wicked questions’ from your staff. Organise leadership dialogues where junior members of staff are encouraged to engage in challenging dialogue with senior staff. Show them that it’s ok to question their superiors when appropriate.
- Put your policy into practice: Don’t leave your value statements on walls and mousepads. Get your employees engaged in a dialogue around what they mean, what behaviours are acceptable and what is non-negotiable. Embed your values in your people processes – from how you hire, reward and retain your people.
- Make the formal process safe: Leave the whistleblowing procedure to the experts in compliance. Do not get involved with the official process. Employees must feel secure that the process is absolutely robust.
- Be a role model: As leaders, show others that it’s ok to question when we think something is not in the interest of the organisation.
- Focus on behaviour: It’s easy to get bogged down in procedure and paperwork, rather than making a difference in the real world. Focus on changing behaviour, rather than writing new rules.
Business leaders that fail to live their firm’s values through their actions will pay the price in the future. Culture must be a clear priority in UK financial services going forward.
Blacklight Advisory is change management consultancy that helps financial service companies overhaul their corporate culture.
