harnessing your helicopter view
DESCRIPTION
Learn about and reflect on your proficient and deficient leadership skillsTRANSCRIPT
6306 ProjectBy: Katy Corcoran
HARNESSING YOUR
HELICOPTER VIEW
Learn about and reflect on your proficient and deficient leadership skills
Brains anyone?
No, just a healthy snack…
Would you want to find a piece of this in your dinner?
You would if you wanted a salty snack!
The light at the end of a tunnel?
No…a pencil sharpener!
A dodge ball?
No sir…a fly’s eye!
It’s all about the view…
An effective leader utilizes a helicopter view of themselves, others, and any organizational decisions.
eeing DifferencesEFFECTIVE LEADERS OBTAIN THE ABILITY TO SEE DIFFERENCES
S
Step 1: Cultural Awareness
Firs
t Understand that leadership practices are molded by your surroundings
Then Realize that
there are diverse and equally workable ways of achieving common goals
Finally Embrace a
learning environment that is open to new information and experiences
Step 2: Invite the Unexpected
Personal discipline and preparation are required to even
notice the unexpected
Learn from counterparts
Immerse yourself in diverse social and business cultures
Intentionally anticipate the unexpected
Unexpected
Are you ready for the new view?• Have any of your
assumptions about leadership been challenged when you have observed dissimilar leadership practices? If so, which ones?
• Do you recognize the existing strengths of diverse people and practices before introducing your own ideas?
• How does your own cultural background shape your leadership style?
Closing the GapEFFECTIVE LEADERS MUST LEARN HOW TO ADDRESS VARIANCES TO ACCOMPLISH ORGANIZATIONAL PURPOSES
Close the gap by building relationships…
Follow local
relationship-building practices
Access local
networks
Let others help you
Obtain an objective cultural guide
Close the gap by frame-shifting…
Be prepared to have new frames of
reference and modify your approach to
various environments without losing sight
of your primary business objective
Modify perspective
and leadership methods as
needed
Alter communication style and tactics as needed
Look forward to taking off!• Are you authentically
committed to relationships with counterparts from different cultures, environments, or backgrounds?
• Do you prioritize relationship-building with colleagues from other backgrounds ahead of your own agenda?
• Do you maintain the same leadership style wherever you go, or modify your style in different environments?
Opening the SystemEFFECTIVE LEADERS APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF EMPLOYEES BEING AWARE OF THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF OWNERSHIP AND LIABILITY
Step 1: Expand Ownership
Organization
Employees
Goal: achieve the optimal balance of centralization and decentralized authority
Step 2: Develop Future Leaders
Leader
Identify and cultivate high-
potential individuals
Be strategic
Widen scope of those who are
driving the change
Champion for others
Goal: work yourself out of a job
Up and away!• Do you set guidelines
that give employees a degree of freedom in shaping projects while also defining limits based upon their ability to contribute effectively?
• Have you created opportunities for high-potential local leaders to serve in more strategic regional and/or global roles?
• Do you develop future global leaders from various cultural backgrounds based on their performance and potential?
Preserving BalanceEFFECTIVE LEADERS PRESERVE A BALANCE THAT ENTAILS KNOWING WHEN TO ADAPT AND WHEN NOT TO ADAPT
Preserve balance by adapting and adding value…
Challenge the status quo
Introduce different
perspectives
Ask questions
Invest the time to learn
about the new environment
before beginning something
new
Build a foundation of
mutual respect and inquiry
Preserving balance by embracing core values and flexibility…
First…Identify your essential core
values
Then…Be ready and willing to
understand and embrace culturally diverse values
What a trip!• Can you manage effectively
within different cultural or environmental context while also raising good questions about the way things are normally done?
• How do you balance learning and teaching? How do you incorporate the ideas of colleagues and customers from other locations while also offering new information and ideas?
• Are you an effective advocate for key personal and corporate values, even in other locations where these differ from local norms?
Establishing SolutionsEFFECTIVE LEADERS EVENTUALLY DELIVER RESULTS
Establishing solutions by
influencing across boundaries…
Influence across functionsThe ability to influence executives
and entry level alike
Freedom to experiment
Opportunity to try new ideas
Creative Resourcefulness
Finding solutions with varying external circumstances
Role expansionThe ability to play the role of human
relations, international business strategy, retail, etc.
Ambassador RoleRepresent the business internally
and externally
Establishing solutions by utilizing third-way solutions…
Ability to put
everything
together
Be a catalyst
Be transpare
nt
Discover common ground
Generate real
solutions
Act as a
bridge
Place needs of
organization and
customers first
Welcome input from
various sources
Build upon worthwhile input from
any sources
Communicate
assumptions
Convey expectations
Be consiste
nt in your
actions
Look at that view!• Have you created a
process that incorporates the ideas of team members from different backgrounds to create the best solutions for the organization?
• How do you persuade people across geographies and organizational lines to get the job done?
• Are you sufficiently transparent that colleagues from like and different cultures understand your expectations?
Seeing differences1. Cultural self-
awareness2. Invite the unexpected
Closing the gap3. Results through
relationships4. Frame-shifting
Opening the system5. Expand ownership
6. Develop future leaders
Preserving balance7. Adapt and add value
8. Core values and flexibility
Establishing solutions9. Influence across
boundaries10. Third-way solutions
Review of 10 key
behaviors that
define great
leaders!
Has the SCOPE of your leadership knowledge broadened?
Describe your new helicopter view of yourself and your organization.
How will you use your new knowledge and personal reflection to better yourself as a domestic and/or global leader?
ReferencesGundling, E., Hogan, T., & Cvitkovich, K. (2011). What is global leadership?
Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey.