Rebel leaders and corporate mindset - part 3
The problem with the way things are
We seek business solutions that are profitable, personalised, nimble and innovative yet many of our present systems cripple potential solutions before they even begin.
Many corporates have a list of go-to reasons that prevent real transformation, despite the best of intentions:
PROBLEM MINDSET 1: Don’t worry, we’ve got a whole department for that!
Attempting to remain relevant, Corporate Mindset sometimes produces a well-meaning simulation of the Rebel Leader which seems both exciting and safer. This symbolic challenger positions as a crusader for change and emerges in reaction to frustration and the value of innovation. Different from a Rebel Leader, it responds to what already exists by following Corporate Mindset assumptions and tweaked protocols. The real result is negotiation, compromise and fatigue, parading as breakthrough and change.
The crusader can have an effect. They can make incremental change and they can sometimes activate a groundswell. However, if this grows enough to have systemic impact, the system will ‘eat it’. This means that the momentum of change gets colonised and reworked back into the Corporate Mindset system, using compromise languages like bottom line, business logic, trade-offs and trendy branding.
Populist corporate revolutions and semi-innovations have seemed comforting in the past, because they looked like change. Unfortunately, too often they were actually just lids to cover the boiling frog. Terminologies changed, restructuring was reworked, brands and logos updated, but the underlying protocols and processes remained unchanged.
Many that tried to initiate meaningful organisational change instead experienced slow, numbing deflation and a sense of ‘I suppose a small step is better than nothing’. This kind of compromise seems easier than the stubborn, slow application of transformative principles. It’s a version of going-with-the-flow. However, many Rebel Leaders-to-be were overwhelmed and anxious with the frustrated knowledge that more was necessary. Now Covid-19 has made it extremely clear: lip service is not enough. Real, radical action is essential.
PROBLEM MINDSET 2: Yes, but!
The density of corporate processes and the unwieldy weight of decision-making continues to make change risky – even if only at a sub-conscious level. Many people are trying to maintain a business-as-usual attitude, resisting the opportunity to stop and reassess everything. The left-over habits of BC (Before Corona) feed the fear of putting our heads above the parapet: heads will roll, egos will flare and profit margins may be affected! Corporate Mindset is instinctively against the essential risks required to make a real difference. The fear of shareholder wrath, lost value and profit margins is deeply embedded (truth is, these losses were already happening BC and will continue AC. Ironically, disruptions make business-as-usual behaviours hold more tightly, become more risk averse and invest in more due process.)
PROBLEM MINDSET 3: Our staff aren’t ready
Another aspect that prevents Corporate Mindset from embracing Rebel Leaders, is the relationship to personal power. Because business is a breeding ground for strong egos, power has become a difficult concept for people to navigate. There are complexities about the value and relevance of individual power in corporations. Rebel Leaders cultivate engagement and presence, this has innate power. Corporate Mindset is resistant to giving Rebel Leaders fertile ground because it feels like surrendering power and control.
Systemic power creates politics, mediocrity, and imbalanced dynamics. People without autonomy develop stress, anxiety and neurosis. People thrust into power positions, or those that grasp for them, become burned out. Rebel Leaders, exhausted in the system, often find themselves wrestling all these dynamics, rather than having the impact they and their organisations desire.
Within Corporate Mindset the freedom required for full expression of unusual, potentially vital talent seems impossible. The challenge is that Now demands we rapidly adjust for the unknown and survival-innovation will be a continuing Must for a while to come. Instead of fearing the challenge of difference, organisations can find ways to open to more flow and transformation. Truth is, Rebel Leaders just need simple frameworks and practices to activate and maintain their mojo and Corporate Mindset can learn how to embrace and mentor their value.
We can and we must
We need excellence, agility and inspired solutions. We need brave people who are prepared to lead in new ways. We need to stop losing and denying this potential. So much talent, skill and wisdom has long been trying to toe the line: numbed from pushing against systemic obstacles; shamed or frustrated by compromise; wearied from fighting self-doubt and imposter syndrome. There is a way to reframe process, protocol and function in corporates. Many resist the seeming complexities, but the Covid-19 catalyst washed excuses away. Changes are the new reality and many layers of complexity need to be considered. It is possible to do so successfully and without total chaos, but it takes a mindset shift.
For this, we need to cultivate Rebel Leaders.
Speak to dialogue. We facilitate, coach and mentor Rebel Leaders.
Extract: Principles for Rebel Leadership –by Lesanne Brooke
This piece is taken from a series of papers designed to stimulate discussion and explore practical case studies in dialogue’s School for Rebel Leaders programme. Inspired to activate transformative thinking and leading, this work emerges from decades of practice in the art of leadership and our desire to support ethical, engaged excellence in the changing world. The intention is to collaborate in creating future-fit business practices with power and impact.