Collective leadership is a style of leadership where multiple individuals exercise their leadership roles within a group – and then the entire group provides leadership to the wider organisation. It’s a fluid and flexible approach to leadership, where roles and resultant accountabilities evolve in response to changing circumstances. As a result, the power of a leadership team practising collective leadership …
If you believe your organisation would benefit from greater collective leadership then how can it be established? One of the most effective ways is to introduce a set of operating principles, where an operating principle is a conscious choice about how an organisation has decided to operate. It’s a conscious choice between two, or more, equally valid alternatives. In the …
The influence of exogenous forces can rapidly change the context within which organisations operate, and the future they can bring. The recent COVID-19 Coronavirus is an example of one such exogenous force. A force that in recent months has dramatically changed the context of millions of people and thousands of organisations across the globe. What’s more, the impact of COVID-19 …
Strategy is important. It’s important because good strategy provides focus and guidance on what leaders need to do to make their organisation successful in the long term. But how is strategy developed? Is it something the CEO instinctively believes in or is it the result of a formal process led by the head of strategy and supported by external consultants? …
Developing strategy and delivering change continue to be a challenge for many organisations. As a result, many leaders are shifting their focus from strategy to agility. The logic is that if their organisations were agile they would be more responsive to change and strategy would not be needed. While there is some merit to this argument, being agile is not …
Without question we are living in a period of great uncertainty. It’s often said, but is no less true, that the context within which organisations operate today is changing at an unprecedented rate. For many leaders this is a challenging time, particularly for those whose careers have progressed during years of relative stability. The one thing we do know is …
Was your organisation intentionally designed or has it evolved over time? Is the way it operates a result of informed choices aimed at realising its strategic intent or an outcome of repeated compromises aimed at optimising what’s already in place? Is your organisation agile and able to respond to ever-changing threats and opportunities, or one that is inflexible and difficult …
Strategy is one of those words that is often overused and frequently misused. What do we really mean by strategy and what is its real purpose? In our book Beyond Default my co-author and I argue that the real purpose of strategy, particularly corporate strategy, is to change the trajectory of an organisation, from one leading it to its ‘default …
Beyond Default offers a different and innovative approach to developing strategy and delivering change. The approach is based upon a set of core ideas that collectively present a point of view on this important topic. These 20 core ideas are: The context within which an organisation operates is often more powerful than the strategies and resources that its leaders deploy …
If you’re a senior executive and someone asks you what makes organisations agile, could you confidently explain how digital architecture enables or inhibits business agility? Would you offer an opinion on ‘kappa’ architecture and the importance of having a data pipeline? If not, then you’re unlikely to be taking the necessary actions needed to make your business agile. These, and …
