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As the context becomes more complex, the component parts more dynamic/less deterministic and organisations more fluid, then leaders are increasingly struggling to keep up. Many run harder only to stand still - the "Red Queen" effect. The reality, underpinned by findings of our research, is that leaders today know less than 10% of the solutions to the problems facing the organisations they lead.......
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Leaders are expected (and expect themselves) to know the solutions. The reality is they do not. So they do not know, and for the most part they KNOW they do not know. But they cannot say they do not know - when was the last AGM you went to when the CEO stood up and said "Sure beats me - any suggestions?". So leaders run hard to find out, or often pretend they know (or fool themselves into thinking they actually do). Meanwhile......
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....those at the bottom (where the solutions are generally known) know those at the top do not know, but they EXPECT them to know: "The company should..." "Management should....".
The charade is complete - those at the top pretend to know, those at the bottom pretend not to know, and the middle get stretched!
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As leaders increasingly struggle, the acquisition of knowledge is seen as a possible answer - the more one knows, the more certain things can be. Even that can be a charade as the diagram opposite shows - it charts the level of knowledge against the level of volatility. As can be seen they are closely related. Whilst causality is not the same as correlation, it seems the more we know, the less certain things are. Perhaps it is not so much what we know that is important, as what we do. Hopefully this site will give some ideas for that.
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One of the results of this tragic charade is that leaders spend a large amount of time doing things which are not needed, Often they get in the way. And for some, if they did a whole lot less they would get a whole lot more done. Our research shows (using the Eisenhower/Covey Matrix) that most leaders spend over 60% on things which are not important, mainly due to delusion of self or by others (unintentional!).
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| Where leaders typically spend time |
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Is there a way out of this charade? Yes there is - by having a different and wider view about organisational leadership and what needs to be in place for a different approach to take hold and reduce waste (more details).....
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