workplace leadership for the 21st century: are we ready ... · big challenges require a different...
TRANSCRIPT
Business operating margins have become more volatile
• Operating margins for listed firms have doubled since 1980
Market leadership is no longer a position of strength
• 1970: 2 percent
• 2014: 15 percent
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Pro
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Labour productivity growth Long-term average
Source: OECD
Big challenges require a different approach
(I don’t mean a different personal style of leadership)
Businesses, large and small, need to think about leadership as an organisational capability
• How it facilitates organisational agility
• Enable greater flexibility, open boundaries within organisations
• Productivity and profitability
• The ability to adapt and change to meet emerging challenges
• Sustainable competitive advantage
It’s not surprising therefore that researchers have devoted a lot of time to thinking about how this works
“Leading at the edge”
Requires an understanding of
• Sense-making - how to read the external environment
• Sense giving – how to communicate what it means for the organisation before disaster happens
Highlights the need for • Technical work - centred in identifying and solving
problems
• Adaptive work – enabling people to learn and adapt their behaviour, often in situations that involve losses and trade-offs
• Involves the need to create innovation and experimentation
• A culture more receptive to learning and creativity – and are quicker to grasp new opportunities
⁻ An acceptance of risk taking and failure
⁻ Implied bottom-up experimentation
⁻ Accepting internal disruption
⁻ And the need often to destroy old models or lines of business to create new ones
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PostgradDegree
GradDip/Grad
Cert
BachDegree
AdvDip/Dip
Cert III/IV Cert I/II Cert (nd) No non-school qual
Managers Highly Skilled Semi-skilled Low skilled
• 2000 businesses representative of the Australian population of businesses
• 2500 workplaces
• 5000-7500 employees
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SD D Neither D orA
A SA DK
Organisation snr manager
Workplace snr manager
Frontline manager
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A SA DK
Organisation snrmanager
Workplace snr manager
Frontline manager
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SD D Neither Dor A
A SA DK
Organisation snrmanager
Workplace snr manager
Frontline mananger
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SD D Neither D or A A SA DK
Helps me understand how myobjectives and goals relate topthat of the organization
Makes many decisions togetherwith me
Believes in my ability to performat a high level
Allows me to do my job my way
• Attention to WH&S is associated with better workplace performance
• WHS is a signal of wider leadership capability to manage a business well
• The value of WHS leadership • Efficient work practices • Employee-centred • Strong workplace culture • Risk management • Continuous improvement • Strategic value
• Work & workplaces are undergoing significant change
• This change is driven by a number of factors
• It requires effective business and workplace leadership
• WH&S provides a critical vehicle for demonstrating the value of workplace leadership
• Many Australian workplaces do not have the leaderships capabilities required to meet these challenges