In the world we’re living in today, if we’re not disrupting ourselves, we will soon be disrupted. In other words, making a change <i>before</i> we have to is a much better path to take than making a change <i>because</i> we have to.
Similarly, at an organisational level, your organisation needs to be disruptive or else it will eventually be disrupted. For an organisation to become disruptive, however, it has to start with disruptive leaders. Disruptive or “reinvention-agile” leaders are those who are both willing and able to seek out, accept and diligently explore change, while quickly adapting to unforeseen uncertainties within their industry and market. Essentially, this has to be done at the right time, which means before the organisation gets into trouble, not during, or after, when resources are scarce and fear becomes contagious.
Still, as a leader myself, I also know how difficult it is to decide to consider cannibalising existing activities at the peak or a moment or success. This is partly because success traditionally is accompanied by a natural mindset that favours creating a stable environment not open to any change. But this could potentially paralyse an organisation.
Let’s picture this: innovation leads to growth that continues for a period of time. Then markets become saturated, competitors come into the picture, and revenues suddenly slow down. Naturally, it is only at this point in the cycle that many companies realise they are at risk due to a lack of continued innovation; hence, they become highly susceptible to disruption.
So, my question is, how can a company execute by acting on today’s opportunities while simultaneously innovating and disrupting to avoid disruption? The answer obviously points back to leaders who will embrace and promote a disruptive culture because if they don’t shake organisations from their slumber from within, surely they will struggle to compete in the wider world.
Disruption is, in fact, hard but as leaders we need to be assured that whatever has got us here today will not necessary make us successful going forward. We need to constantly remind ourselves to keep the best of the past and change everything else that is necessary in order to move forward and reinvent. That means we need to fix the roof while the sun is shining because when change happens, whether it is cyclical or structural, it will be at the most insanely rapid pace.
Still, I’d say disruptive leadership is not just about change for the sake of change but it’s more about integrating change into the routine of the company.
In this article, I’d like to propose a few habits that leaders should have in order to become disruptive leaders.
Stop telling people to keep calm and carry on: When the business landscape is shifting and the usual approaches stop working, there’s nothing to be calm about. You can’t just simply tell your people to keep calm and carry on because while you’re keeping calm, others have already advanced and overtaken your position.
Instead, you need to tell your people the truth, empathise with their teams, involve them in their thinking and take them all on a new journey. The truth can sometimes be painful but it’s often the shock of such truth that actually nudges people into taking action.
Get comfortable with uncertainty: When change is the new normal, there’s nothing we can do except to get comfortable with uncertainty. As for leaders, they also need to keep the ship steady as they steer it in uncharted areas as well as new directions.
Here, communication is critical in every process along the way; thus, explain everything in concrete and practical terms to your people, but most of all encourage others to be just as comfortable with the hazy future as you are.
Break the rules and make new ones: There is nothing normal in the disruptive world and the word “normal” itself shouldn’t exist in a disruptive leader’s dictionary. Your aim should always be to be at the forefront of those incoming shockwaves, not behind them.
Breaking the rules is tantamount to embracing disruption. But the bottom line is that when you’re breaking the old rules, don’t forget to create the new ones and inform your employees of these new rules of the game so they’ll be able to play.
Being decisive and being curious: It’s a common trait among leaders to be decisive but particularly during times of chaos, they need to increase their ability to do so. This is because waiting too long to weigh countervailing options or opinions could spell disaster.
Also, they need to always be curious and ask “why” to every possible situation. Questioning implies a healthy scepticism about situations (and even so-called best practices) and can help us understand a situation better. Then we are better positioned to decide how to improve the present for the betterment of the future.
Simply put, in today’s ever-changing world, disruption is here to stay and it means your business model can either be leap-frogged or turned on its head in a matter of seconds. If you wish to stay relevant, the impetus to think disruptively must come from the top.
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Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAsia Center (formerly APMGroup) Southeast Asia’s leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
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