Leader's Digest #61 (March 2022)

LEADERS ISSUE 61

MARCH 2022

DIGEST

MAKING

MEANINGFUL

LEADERS DIGEST

Publication Team Editor-in-Chief Ismail Said Editor Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designers Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

* Read our online version to access the hyperlinks to other reference articles made by the author.

Contents

ISSUE 61 I MARCH 2022

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Leadership Is A Journey, Not A Destination

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How Happiness, Anger and Anxiety Can Help You Negotiate

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Attention Leaders: How to Improve Your Problem Solving Skills

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Senior Leaders Are The Catalyst For Innovation

12

Dividing Team Tasks: Is There a Better Way?

Read this issue and past issues online at leadinstitute.com.my/ leaders-digest Scan the QR code below for quicker access:

LET US KNOW If you are encouraged or provoked by any item in the LEADERS DIGEST, we would appreciate if you share your thoughts with us.

Here’s how to reach us: Email: diana@leadinstitute.com.my Content Partners:

Leader’s Digest is a monthly publication by the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service, dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and to inspire our Sarawak Civil Service (SCS) leaders with contemporary leadership principles. It features a range of content contributed by our strategic partners and panel of advisors from renowned global institutions as well as established corporations that we are affiliated with. Occasionally, we have guest contributions from our pool of subject matter experts as well as from our own employees.

The views expressed in the articles published are not necessarily those of Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service Sdn. Bhd. (292980-T). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s permission in writing.

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From the

Editorial Desk Fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Interested?

It is Wednesday and there is a list of ‘to-dos’ on the desk.

The list is a mix between personal, family, social and work goals for the day. Each item on the list has its own scale of urgency. And, as you check through the list, text messages, emails and a number of phone calls come in.

These add more items onto the list.

Now do this.

What to do now?

As much as you want to please others, you would also want to know what’s in it for you. Making meaning is not only about getting top scores for one’s KPI or on the Balanced Scorecard. The more you are able to generate self-satisfaction, these small wins will become your bigger motivators.

How does one prioritize? Perhaps, start by evaluating the value of the activity? How about the length of time it needs to be completed? Is it a stand-alone activity or does it lead to a ‘domino’ effect unto other activities? Is it to be completed based on who asked for it or who it is for? Is it to be done because you like doing it?

Whose meaning is it anyway?

It is not only about the item. It is about of the value it brings or how it promotes something else. For example, the meaning that comes along with the simple act of watering plants lies on how it promotes the plants’ growth; the joy of harvesting the fruits or vegetables brings. Later on, cooking the vegetables brings meaning to the effort and time spent for those who eat the food, the joy, and the end result of having a full stomach, too!

Meaning is therefore about ‘the bigger picture of whatever we do’.

Yes, we could always do something because we like doing it. Perhaps watering plants is relaxing but fact is, even that simple activity brings several positive meaningful consequences.

Go back to the list and draw an additional column next to all those ‘to-do’ items and write the heading as ‘MEANING’. In that column, you may create sub-headings; self, others.

Similarly, leading others also adds on to the to-do list.

Be it at home or at work, having the MEANING ‘column’ as your guide is important in instilling a positive mindset throughout the day’s work. Having meaning in your tasks will help remind you that one side of the column will not be called work anymore.

When meaning is fuzzy, it will feel like the plant gets water but somehow does not grow and, does not bear fruits or vegetables or flowers. It will be there but its meaning, its motivation its inspirational potential will be stunted.

Everything can be given meaning.

Let’s not wait for others to highlight the meaning of what we do because then we will always rely on somebody else to tell us what is of value and what is not. Find your meaning in what you are doing, and you will bear the most amazing fruits, vegetables and flowers.

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LEADERSHIP IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION

BY IAN WOODWARD

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Savor the Ups and Downs in Leadership Every context requires different talents and skills, so leaders must stay deeply aware and learn to adjust themselves along the way.

Whether you are a leader of today or tomorrow – and no matter your field – thinking consciously about leadership is essential, as this will affect your choices, decisions, and performance.

In my research and teaching, I spend most of my time with very senior global C-suite executives taking courses like INSEAD’s Advanced Management Programme. Yet, when we begin a deep conversation about leadership, I like to show these highly experienced executives a simple picture of pathways in the forest.

Every time we make these decisions, it sets us on a new pathway. Our leadership and career journey only has stopovers. On a pathway, we can also suddenly face disruption, like technology, or an industry-altering business model, which completely changes the way ahead.

Well beyond VUCA Understanding these ideas is even more important in the 21st century, a time when the leadership journey gets increasingly challenging. We are well beyond the acronym VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). We now need to add two Ds to the acronym to reflect the broader context of the journey ahead.

Everyone’s leadership journey will now be in the “D-VUCAD” world. At the front, overshadowing everything, is Disruption (whether in the form of technology, social change, industry reconfiguration or the like). We continue with VUCA. Finally, we add the reality of Diversity (including gender, cross-cultural and intergenerational).

In the D-VUCAD world, your leadership journey will include more frequent pathway changes, all of which should be navigated consciously.

All pathways are a little bit different. You may chance upon rock, stone, sand, grass or paving. Some pathways crisscross, some split off in multiple directions. Some pathways are easy, some are hard, and some are blocked.

This metaphor of forest pathways represents one of the most fundamental insights about leadership: Leadership is a journey, not a destination.

We never actually arrive at the destination of being the very best leader that we can be. We should aspire to this, but this vision is ahead of us as our journey continues. This is not a solo journey. We make pathway decisions about the people we lead, our organisations and ourselves. There may be decisions about a new career opportunity, a new country to work in, a new organisation or a new industry.

A key finding in my research on leadership development, is that many leaders do not think consciously and actively enough about the new pathways they are embarking on when they make leadership or career changes. They re-use the same skills, capabilities and approaches, even when these do not match the new situation.

Take the example of John Little (not his real name), a very senior operating executive I worked with in a programme.

John was an exceptional leader in crisis situations. He would frequently and successfully head crisis project teams in his firm. In such situations, he appropriately used an authoritative leadership style. He was clear, precise and energising, directing the people in his team in delivering the solution.

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Six As for insightfully aware leadership Insightful leaders understand that the following six As can help them navigate their leadership journey:

Context really matters John was eventually promoted to lead a business unit responsible for operations in another country. This was a steady-state business with growth opportunities. He was entering a very different pathway, but he didn’t consciously think about it. John told me that he felt pretty good about himself at the time. He’d just gotten a big promotion based on his track record. However, with no crisis in sight, he started to create some.

He continued to use the same directive leadership approach that had made him successful in the past. Twelve months later, he received his performance feedback.

The feedback from his people was very clear: “You are a micromanaging, authoritarian dictator who never listens, consults or inspires others.” His crisis style didn’t suit his new pathway.

John accepted the feedback and adjusted his approach.

He garnered a first and profound insight about leadership effectiveness: In the leadership journey, context really matters. He became more consciously aware of himself, other people, the context and the purpose of his leadership.

Leaders with “insightful awareness” understand their strengths and talents, as well as what will be their weaknesses in a given context. They understand what will drive or block them at different points of their leadership journey. They set themselves development objectives and priorities accordingly. This ensures that their “personal leadership agenda” stays dynamic.

It is consciously re-assessed in light of the current and future situations. They then commit to making focused and dedicated changes, with reflection, practice, support and feedback. They confront hard questions such as: “Am I the right leader for this pathway?” and “Why am I doing what I’m doing on this pathway?”

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Infographic by Leaderonomics:

6As for Insightfully Aware Leadership

• Awareness – achieving profound awareness of self, others, context and purpose as their leadership grounding point, backed with a commitment to a leadership development agenda or action plan.

• Aspiration – setting a long-term vision to be the best leader they can be, and connecting this to their short-term context and leadership development agenda, reflection, coaching and feedback.

• Authenticity – developing and challenging themselves using clear self-leadership with an understanding of their personal attributes, emotional and other intelligences, their role modelling and engagement with others.

• Acumen – building personal and team capacity for leadership judgement, agility and decision making about business and people matters, as well as leveraging team diversity and talents.

• Approaches – adopting conscious leadership approaches that match organisational, team and personal capabilities with the needs of the context or situation.

• Altitudes – “flying” at three distinct leadership altitudes: 50,000 feet (vision, strategic, external and organisational); 50 feet (execution, operational, teams and stakeholders); and 5 feet (self and very close personal relations with others). Thinking, acting and communicating seamlessly up and down, without getting trapped at any one altitude*.

These capabilities might include a combination of: Competitiveness (e.g. goal setting and technical skills); Creativity (e.g. innovation and curiosity); Collaboration (e.g. teaming and engagement); Control (e.g. planning and risk mitigation); Cognitions (utilising different kinds of thinking capacities and multiple perspectives); and effective Communication (intrapersonal, interpersonal, group and public).

Capabilities are not emphasised blindly. Insightfully aware leaders emphasise the capabilities required to achieve specific strategic or operational outcomes at the time or in the future. This is how they succeed on the pathway.

For example, a leader in a critical operations role might emphasise control capabilities like implementation and risk management. Meanwhile, a leader developing innovative products or services might emphasise more creative capabilities such as brainstorming or ideation.

Our unconscious is filled with drivers and blockers. The key is to reflect on our leadership consciously, and in context. Every leader’s journey is a personal one – with opportunities to seize and problems to face. Assess your passions, your motivations, your talents and your skills.

Match these to the pathways ahead and adjust where needed. Always be “insightfully aware” as you challenge yourself to be the best leader you can be in the journey stages that you are sharing with others.

In the D-VUCAD world, building on these As allows insightful leaders to harness the specific capabilities their teams, their organisations, their context and they themselves need.

IAN WOODWARD

Professor Ian C. Woodward specialises in Leadership and Communication. He lectures in a range of INSEAD programmes and is Director of the Advanced Management Programme. He was Co-Program Director for the INSEAD Master of Finance degree. He also lectures and consults in leadership and management practice for high performance, as well as leadership and strategic development in organisations as diverse as financial and professional services, utilities, energy and the public sector. He was guest faculty at leading international business schools including Associate Faculty Director for Columbia Business School’s Senior Executive Program.

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ATTENTION LEADERS: HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

Leaders pay close attention!

Every professional needs to be good at solving problems, and this applies whether you are an intern, a CEO or anywhere in between.

Make the solution your focus When dealing with problems in business, it’s easy to get bogged down in the specific details of the conundrum itself, which can be both time-consuming and demoralising.

Those in leadership roles are definitely able to benefit more from having well-developed problem solving skills, because their ability to overcome challenges will have more of an impact on the course of the entire company.

So how can leaders go about building up their repertoire of problem-quashing capabilities? Let’s discuss just some of the best options around.

Be clear about what your problems are You can’t solve problems if you don’t have a rock solid definition of what the issue is in the first place. Likewise if problems are interconnected, you can get distracted by associated concerns, and forget what the original one was.

Clarity helps a lot, and should be your first port of call when approaching problem solving, whether in your life as a leader or in any other context. Achieving it is as simple as making a note of hurdles as soon as you encounter them, providing as much detail as possible, so that you can quantify the challenge and build towards a solution from this foundation.

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It is better to re-frame this process in a positive way by prioritising the search for a solution instead. That does not mean you can dismiss the problem entirely, but rather that the task of solving it is often easier with a small perspective adjustment like this.

Of course solutions can take many forms, and while a short term fix might be useful temporarily, you also need to look towards long term ways for overcoming problems, so that you are ready for them if they reoccur.

For example, if you are having to handle a conflict between two team members, it is wise to work towards a mutually agreeable solution which applies in this particular scenario, as well as establishing options for avoiding similar conflicts in the future.

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Always aim to improve and adapt Good leaders realise that you can always enhance your skills and add new ones to your arsenal, and this definitely goes for problem solving.

Other crucial business skills to develop Problem solving is only one of the business skills for leader and manager types to accrue, and so you should see that by working on and building new abilities in other areas, you can actually help enhance your ability to overcome whatever obstacles lay in your path.

For example, if you are a good collaborator, then you can solve problems more successfully as part of a team, rather than endeavoring to deal with them solo.

Likewise if you are a robust critical thinker, you will be able to size up snafus and turn them into opportunities.

Thus problem solving should not be seen in a vacuum, or as a distinct skill in itself, but rather as an amalgamation of other leadership skills. That said, it remains a foundational feature of good leaders, and is still a sensible focus when you are fleshing out your abilities.

Learn to listen Following on from the discussion of collaboration being a skill that falls under the umbrella of problem solving, it is additionally worth mentioning that listening skills must also be fostered by leaders.

Active listening is advantageous, because it doesn’t mean sitting back and waiting until you have a chance to put your view across.

Instead, it means choosing to engage with what others are saying, and extracting value from their contributions as a result.

Part of this is about choosing to accept the mistakes you have made and taking the chance to learn from them, rather than shifting the blame elsewhere, closing your eyes and ears to the realities of the scenario.

Throughout your career you should be getting better at battling back against all sorts of problems, and with the help of the right team around you, as well as your own adaptability, this will stand you in good stead for long term success.

Concluding considerations It could be argued that problem solving is the primary purpose of any leader. When stewarding a team or helming a whole organisation, the daily duties you fulfil will inevitably be focused on finding the right route forward and navigating obstacles, both internal and external, in order to reach your destination.

Leadership requires finely honed problem solving skills on both a micro and a macro level because of this. And if you operate in a very competitive marketplace, or run a business that is especially susceptible to sudden fluctuations in demand, then being able to overcome conundrums efficiently time after time could mean the difference between weathering storms or faltering when times get tough.

As discussed, you don’t have to do this alone, and ultimately your problem solving prowess will be further enhanced if you are good at delegating. Hiring the right people and trusting them to do well when problems come calling is better than seeing yourself as the only one who is able to conquer concerns.

Leadership isn’t about having the answers to all the questions, but about making use of the other experts within your organisation to find the right path forward. Learning to listen will let you achieve this, whatever dilemmas you face.

The supplementary perk of practising active listening as a leader is that employee satisfaction will also increase, as the people you bring into your confidence will feel valued and respected.

Likewise you can leverage this as a learning opportunity, tapping into the wellspring of knowledge that each team member represents.

Lastly, be open to the possibility that mistakes have been made, and choose to learn and grow from them, as opposed to feeling frustration without taking on-board the lessons it can bring with it.

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A recognition of Sarawak’s struggles

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“

Striving for Sarawak’s rights means ensuring the fulfillment of what is written in the Federal Constitution and MA63. Our people understood that Sarawak has a unique position based on MA63, which contributed to GPS’ landslide victory in the 12th State Election.

Our greater purpose and intention are to further strengthen the identity of Sarawakians. As the head of the Sarawak government, I see that different methods should be planned to raise the economic status of the State because various fundamentals of this State are quite different from those in the peninsula. We have to change as certain procedures are no longer necessary and I hope the next five years things will be done.

The Right Honorable Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg Premier of Sarawak

“

21 December 2021

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Dividing Team Tasks: Is There a Better Way?

BY PHANISH PURANAM

Strong Ties Between Tasks Distribution and Efficiency Self-managed teams may sometimes adopt task divisions that are all wrong for the project.

Managerial intervention can help avoid this.

Suppose you were on a team tasked with manufacturing a single handmade wooden toy. For this project, a few component objects must be made from scratch and slotted together to form the finished piece. How would you break the project into manageable tasks to be divvied up among the team?

If you’re like most people, your default option would likely be to assign each part of the toy to a different individual or sub-team. We could call this method object-based, because it focuses on separately creating the pieces, or intermediate objects, that later unite to make the whole.

Another approach could be to divide the work into activities that apply across all the parts, such as cutting, painting, and varnishing. Without considering the specifics of the project, such as the number of finished pieces needed, or the skills

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required to make the various parts, it’s impossible to judge which way would be more effective; but one thing is certain; it is unlikely that the object-based division would always be better.

Nevertheless the tendency to pick object-based task division regardless of the task can be very powerful. This issue is relevant when organising any new projects for which there is no organisational precedent. In a recently completed piece of research “Object Salience in the Division of Labour: Experimental Evidence” (forthcoming in Management Science), Marlo Raveendran of University of California, Riverside, Massimo Warglien of Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia and I found that there is a demonstrable tendency toward object-based rather than activity-based division of labour that is stronger in teams than individuals, and this tendency can sometimes lead projects down the road to failure.

Objectivity vs. Object Salience

We asked 80 undergraduates at a science and tech university – as either groups or individuals – how they would go about assembling toy models based on instructional diagrams, with promised financial rewards for correct and complete answers.

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In the group experiments, students were given five minutes for planning and 45 minutes to assemble the actual models.

In the individual experiments, the participants did not get their hands dirty but instead had to decide how many people they would recruit for the hypothetical job, and what tasks to assign to each.

To simulate project variance, all the subjects were given two different toy models in succession: one largely made up of components that could be assembled by themselves and integrated later, the other much more of an interconnected whole. Clearly, it makes much more sense to do object-based divisions in the former case and activity-based ones in the latter.

Activating Your Teams

But as we’ve seen, what’s good for a team’s comfort level may not be so from a performance perspective. When taking on new projects, it is useful for managers to remind their teams to consider multiple possibilities when dividing tasks.

It doesn’t take a lot to get people to see past objects. In a follow-up experiment we conducted, simply inserting oneline descriptions of activities into the instructions was enough to tip individuals’ attention toward activity-based solutions.

But both groups and individuals devoted more energy and attention to object-based tasks in both sessions, no matter what the project seemed to call for. Not surprisingly, the few groups that divided some tasks according to activity performed almost twice as well in the assembly phase as groups that chose a purely object-based approach.

These days, no one wants to be seen as a micromanager.

However, this study implies that it would behoove leaders to take an interest in how, not just whether, their teams get the job done. When an old team meets a brand-new project, there could be problems as the tendency to divide by objects gets stronger the more set in their ways a team becomes. Assigning task division to a centralised agent who doesn’t share the history of the group may help to avoid this.

Group Dynamics

What It Means for Organisations

The tendency toward division of labour by object was weaker for individuals than groups. Those who decided on the task division and allocation for the more integrated, less decomposable toy model alone tended to distribute their attention more equally between object-based and activitybased tasks. Across the entire experiment, groups chose a far greater number of object-based tasks than individuals.

The experiments also showed that it takes very little time (less than an hour) for groups to establish habitual working patterns that then self-replicate regardless of the given project’s demands. Indeed, we found that during the planning stage of session two, discussions in every single group initially focused on preserving the social structure established in the first session.

Of course, it is not news that teams tend to be communal creatures of habit whose inner workings are at least as much about social dynamics as about performance. However, a consequence of this is that established teams may gravitate more toward object-based division because it allows members greater control over the patterns of social interaction. It is easier to maintain a stable structure of sub-teams when different objects exist to which people can be assigned in order to preserve prior patterns of working together (and apart).

The choice between activity and object based division of labour arises at many levels in organisations and not just within work teams: for example, when deciding whether to form units by function (for example, R&D, sales, manufacturing) or by adopting a divisional structure (for example, units for household appliances, TVs).

It’s not that one method of dividing tasks is better than the other. Each has its advantages. Structuring by activity achieves economies of scale and experience that allow for a high degree of specialisation, whereas a focus on objects enables tight integration of all related activities that depend on each other– i.e. customisation.

So if you have very little time to bring a complex niche product to market, the object-based approach may be better. If the need to scale up and cut costs arises, a switch to activitybased may be what the doctor ordered. The important thing is for leaders to become fluent in both approaches and make these choices with their eyes open.

PHANISH PURANAM

Phanish Puranam is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Strategy and Organisation Design at INSEAD.

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How Happiness, Anger and Anxiety Can Help You Negotiate

BY ALENA KOMAROMI

Correlation Between Emotions and Negotiations Don’t suppress your emotions – harness them to negotiate better.

Will, a marketing manager, was anxious about his upcoming review as he knew that his company was about to cut his department budget once again. During the review, his boss, Felicia, praised him for meeting a number of ambitious targets he had set.

However, as the Covid crisis had hit other divisions, compensation had to be slashed across the board. Will was initially angry that he would be paid less despite meeting his own targets. But he managed to keep a happy, upbeat attitude throughout the call, which ended on a positive note: Felicia agreed for Will to contribute 25 percent of his time to the logistics department, a skills-enhancing move he had been hoping for.

Emotions can add value to a negotiation

You might have heard the advice “Separate the people from the problem”, which was pioneered by Roger Fisher and William Ury in their 1981 negotiation classic, Getting to Yes. The idea is to set aside any potentially damaging emotions you might have about your counterpart and rather focus on the problem at hand in order to reach an agreement.

It may sound like great advice, but in practice, it is hard to ignore overpowering emotions. While seasoned negotiators, such as real estate agents, might stay cool after sealing scores of similar deals, most negotiators are bound to be overcome by emotions at some point. After all, the oldest structure in our brains is the centre of emotions.

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In fact, emotions may even be critical for decision making.

In 1848, Phineas Gage, a railroad construction supervisor, suffered an accident which left him with a large iron rod driven through his head. Although he survived, the rod destroyed much of his left frontal lobe. Gage’s intelligence was left intact, but at least by some accounts, his ability to make decisions was severely limited because he could not process emotions.

“Research over the last couple of decades suggests that emotions (expressed or felt) can serve as valuable negotiation aids.”

Instead of trying to act like a robot, it may be more helpful to recognise – and harness the power of – the emotions experienced during a negotiation. Just like in our scenario above, virtually every negotiator experiences three emotions: happiness, anger and anxiety. Let’s examine them one by one to see the influence they might wield.

Happiness

Everyone likes to be around happy people, but in a negotiation, displaying happiness might signal that you are more flexible and that, thus, smaller concessions are needed. On the other hand, negotiators who express happiness during a negotiation are perceived as more trustworthy and as having higher integrity than negotiators who remain neutral or display ambivalence and anger, particularly in a competitive context.

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Similarly, in a cooperative context, outwardly happy negotiators are seen as more moral and competent than ambivalent ones. When counterparties do not know each other prior to the negotiation, expressing happiness increases your likeability and the willingness of your counterparty to share information in a cooperative scenario.

Since happiness enhances relationship building and the exchange of information, it would be wise to reserve this emotion for the pre-negotiation stage – when parties discuss their interests and generate options – as well as for the post-negotiation stage. To ensure that your counterparty does not misinterpret your signs of happiness as an (excessive) willingness to concede, it is best to appear neutral during the bargaining phase of a negotiation.

However, you should also avoid appearing ambivalent as you may be perceived as less moral and competent.

Anger

Just like happiness, expressions of anger could have a positive or negative impact on a negotiation. A recent meta-analysis of 64 different studies revealed that showing anger can lead to gains by soliciting concessions from the counterpart. However, the anger must be deeply felt, as staged anger can backfire.

“Fake displays of anger are associated with increased demands and lesser concessions by the counterpart.”

Low-power negotiators are more likely to infer that anger means toughness and to offer concessions to high-power counterparts. High-power negotiators, on the other hand, are less likely to concede to the demands of a low-power counterpart expressing negative emotions. Of course, the gains obtained from displays of anger involve a tradeoff: Counterparties subjected to this treatment become unwilling to trust and work in future with the “angry” negotiator.

In practice, real anger might benefit high-power negotiators in a one-off transaction. For the benefit of building trust and safeguarding future interactions, however, parties interested in the continuity of the relationship are advised to leave displays of anger aside.

Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the most pervasive emotions experienced by negotiators, especially as they are about to begin a negotiation. This is unsurprising because negotiations are associated with high uncertainty and a lack of control.

While anger often motivates individuals to escalate a conflict, anxiety promotes a “flight” response in some negotiators. Anxious negotiators tend to make lower first offers, respond quicker to offers and exit bargaining situations earlier. Ultimately, they obtain worse outcomes.

Interestingly, anxiety remains mostly harmless for people who believe in their ability to negotiate effectively (what researchers term “high negotiation self-efficacy”). In this case, the stress caused by negotiations results in arousal, which at moderate levels improves performance on difficult tasks that require attention, memory and problem solving.

As such, it is worth trying to reframe negotiations as an exciting challenge – or at least in a more positive light – in order to bring anxiety to more manageable levels. Another coping strategy would be to improve self-efficacy through additional negotiation training.

In our performance review story above, Will encountered all three emotions – anxiety, anger and happiness – during an important conversation with his boss. Anxious about the fate of his job, he channelled his fear into preparing well for the meeting. While he felt angry by the salary cuts despite his own excellent performance, he was ultimately happy to retain his job. With all emotions properly managed, he maintained a great working relationship with his boss, which helped him get his foot in the door of another department.

ALENA KOMAROMI

Alena Komaromi is an INSEAD MBA, Entrepreneur and Financial Services professional, most recently in Wealth Management in Zürich, Switzerland. A keen follower of win-win negotiations strategies, Alena likes to write articles and blogs on this topic. She received a Master’s degree in Energy, Trade and Finance from Cass Business School.

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SENIOR LEADERS ARE THE CATALYST FOR INNOVATION

BY BEN M. BENSAOU

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Innovation is Critical for Organisations to Survive The important role of leaders in giving their employees the space and permission to get creative.

Not every CEO can be the next Steve Jobs, constantly conjuring up game-changing new ideas and revolutionary products. But what all CEOs and senior leaders can be is champions for innovation within their own organisations. They are the ones who can help give their employees the freedom and space to get creative, while also setting the boundaries within which this innovation can take place.

The former CEO of Finnish lifestyle brand Fiskars, Kari Kauniskangas, described his approach to the challenge of embedding innovation into his organisation this way: “It’s important for me to make sure our people have the desire, will and freedom to find better ways of doing business. In search of new ideas, we have to give them permission to go crazy! But we also have to create boxes that define their focus and challenge people to innovate in the areas of greatest need.”

Transformation through innovation The impact of such leadership can be extremely powerful, helping a company to open up new product lines, move into new markets or even redefine its overall purpose or mission. Take the case of Ecocem, a small cement manufacturer that was looking to compete in a tradition-minded industry dominated by a handful of big companies. Founder and managing director Donal O’Riain realised that if Ecocem wanted to stand out from the competition, it needed to leverage the power of innovation to help address an unmet customer need.

For O’Riain, that need was a way to reduce the high environmental impact of cement. The production of cement is very energy-intensive and accounts for around 8 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions annually. Yet there had been little or no effort within the industry to find a more sustainable solution.

Despite concerns from Ecocem’s board, O’Riain dedicated significant financial resources to research and development of potential solutions. He gave the company a clear direction by redefining its motto as ‘Innovation Driving Sustainability.’ He also created a special technology subcommittee, which saw members of his board liaise with managers working on key innovation projects. Not only did this give initiallysceptical board members an insight into the potential benefits of the innovations, it also helped offer further inspiration to Ecocem’s innovators by showing them that they had the support from some of the most important people in the organisation.

As a result, the Ecocem team were able to take advantage of an underused technological innovation – Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) – to develop a cement substitute which was just as strong as traditional cement products but had a much smaller carbon footprint.

While it took a significant investment of time, negotiation, research and resources to persuade regulators and clients of the true potential of switching to GGBS, the company was able to reshape their whole business model around this innovation. From being just another cement company, Ecocem is now firmly positioned as an environmentally conscious organisation whose range of innovative products are helping customers meet their key sustainability targets.

Reframing: a key process of innovating Ecocem is a classic example of a CEO helping to reframe a company’s purpose.

“Reframing is a key mechanism for an organisation to adjust (and in some cases dramatically change) its current objective to react to shifting external and internal realities and help better prepare it for the future. ”

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LEADERS DIGEST

For Ecocem, that meant changing their mission and embracing a new innovative product to meet the demands of a more sustainable future.

In my book, Built to Innovate, I identify reframing, along with creation and integration, as one of the three key processes needed to embed what I term an innovating engine into any organisation’s DNA. As I’ve explained in previous articles in this series, creation is about giving employees the tools and motivation to generate ideas, while integration is about connecting these ideas, innovators, and resources across an organisation and linking them to the execution engine.

Reframing is the practice of challenging assumptions that may hinder such innovation by encouraging team members to change their mindsets and reimagine their ways of working (as displayed in the graphic below).

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In other words, it’s the CEO and their senior leader’s duty to take on the role of chief reframing officer, helping to broaden or redirect the company’s collective purpose and open up new spaces and avenues for everyone to look for new ideas inside the new larger ‘mental box’.

From commodity supplier to innovating partner Kordsa, a Turkish manufacturer of tyre fabric, is another good example of a company that successfully reframed its mission through the impetus of its senior leaders.

Under the direction of then-CEO Cenk Alper, Kordsa transformed its purpose from simple commodity supplier to ‘the Reinforcer.’ By working in partnership with customers and noncustomers, Kordsa started to develop innovative reinforcement solutions beyond the tyre industry, opening up whole new markets in the construction, electronics and aerospace sectors.

LEADERS DIGEST

As with the case of Ecocem, this transformation was driven by the CEO taking the lead when it came to demonstrating a commitment to innovation, through training and investment, across the organisation.

Alper, who is now the CEO of Sabancı Holding, of which Kordsa is a group company, has since reframed Kordsa’s mission again: to become a company that looks to ‘Reinforce Life’ by combining high-value-added reinforcement technologies with innovation in order to create sustainable value for all its stakeholders and society.

Reframing is everyone’s responsibility Even though leaders of an organisation have a key role to play in the reframing process by creating the permission and space to innovate, it would be wrong to think it is solely their responsibility. As is the case with implementing the creation and integration processes driving the innovating engine, reframing can only be effective only if everyone, from frontline workers, middle management to senior leaders, is fully activated and contributing.

engine so that the frontline workers feel they have permission to innovate. They help the frontline team feel confident in creating the ideas and then ensure that the good ideas are given the opportunity to be acted upon and implemented.

What the examples of Ecocem and Kordsa show is that the actions of senior leaders can be the catalyst for this innovating process to get started. By challenging current assumptions and the status quo, promoting transparency and demonstrating a willingness to experiment in their deeds and actions, a leader can help turn an organisation, even in a tradition-minded industry, into a powerhouse of innovation.

Frontline workers’ daily interaction with customers (and noncustomers) doesn’t just make them vital as a source of creative new ideas; it also means they are the best placed to provide concrete feedback on the validity of the current assumptions and beliefs around an organisation’s ways of doing business. Indeed, the popular Japanese concept of gemba is based on the idea that spending time at ‘the real place’ where your business value is created, be that a client meeting or the factory floor, is an excellent source of new ideas and new perspectives.

Of course, frontline workers need to feel confident enough to challenge their bosses and the team and bring any new ideas and innovations to light. This is where middle managers come into the reframing process.

They are the ones who are responsible for creating fair process and embedding a climate of trust and psychological safety in the workings of the innovating

BEN M. BENSAOU

Ben M. Bensaou is a Professor of Technology Management and Professor of Asian Business and Comparative Management at INSEAD. He served as Dean of Executive Education from 2018 to 2020.

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