The Harvard Business Review is currently running a series on 'The Future of Leadership'. The idea of 'leading from behind', while not entirely new, is highlighted there as one that will gain currency into the future.
Author Linda Hill argues that its time has now come due specifically to several factors:
The psychological contract has changed
The old transactional relationship between employer and employee - I need a job and you need my labour - is no longer enough. Increasingly, people are seeking more meaning and purpose in their lives and expect the organisation they work for to add to this. There is a need for people to feel valued for who they are and to feel aligned with a positive contribution to something larger than themselves.
Innovation will increasingly drive the competitive edge
This core element of a successful organisation will increasingly depend on continual breakthroughs rather than traditional incremental innovation. More and more, innovation is the result of collaborative work involving a diverse group of people. Sustained innovation happens when each individual has the opportunity to demonstrate what Walt Disney Vice President Greg Brandeau calls "a slice of genius". In other words, breakthroughs happen when ordinary people are empowered to make extraordinary contributions.
Building communities that can innovate
To feel fulfilled and empowered, employees must know that they are contributing to the whole. Leaders therefore need to create an environment where people find meaning in their engagement with the organisational community. This must have a common purpose, values and rules of engagement about how people should interact and problem-solve together. A shared purpose brings the people together and makes them willing to do the hard work of innovation.
Three organisational capabilities for innovation
- Creative abrasion (the ability to generate ideas through intellectual discourse and debate)
- Creative agility (the ability to test and refine ideas through quick pursuit)
- Creative resolution (the ability to make decisions in an integrative manner)
Leading from behind - a final thought from Nelson Mandela
In his autobiography, Mandela compares a great leader with a shepherd:
"He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realising that all along they are being directed from behind."