This is the third in a series of articles following an international panel discussions with TPCL Managing Partners Ulrich Schlattmann, Thomas-Navin Lal, and Reinier Labadie, along with TPCL Partner Marcus de Vasconcelos.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve seen how culture and relationships beat at the heart of TPCL Germany<\/u>. And we\u2019ve examined how the toughest challenge facing Swiss multinationals is looking after their people<\/u>. Now we turn our attention to the wider landscape of leadership in Europe \u2013 and what the future holds.<\/p>\n
Corporates are leaving command-and-control leadership behind<\/strong><\/p>\n Driven by changing demographics and an emerging discontent, businesses are waking up to the need to change. A growing proportion of the workforce in Europe is looking to be able to identify with what a company does. But it is still a challenge for many businesses to give their people that sense of belonging and purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a discussion recently with a senior leader of a multinational company,\u201d says Reinier. \u201cThey were asking, \u2018Where do I get my people from? Everyone wants to go to Google, to Apple, so how do I keep them here?\u2019 Is money the answer? No. Is it the content of the job? No. Businesses need to offer much more if they want to attract people.\u201d<\/p>\n Marcus notes that part of the issue is the gap between generations. There\u2019s pressure from society and younger people to create a different work culture and ethic. But the leaders of many large corporations grew up in a different era and still retain their old means and methods.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vast percentage of senior leaders still believe that command-and-control is the way to go,\u201d says Marcus. \u201cBut they are also smart enough to realise that when they have enough people who want a different approach, they need to change. At the moment this is a rational choice rather than, perhaps, an emotional choice.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the war for talent, I think, is going to force companies to change,\u201d he adds. \u201cAnd those that won\u2019t change won\u2019t survive; it\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n Awareness among leaders is rising<\/strong><\/p>\n Ulrich reflects that the command and control mindset is not easily avoided. He\u2019s been a leadership consultant for many years but now, as a father of three children, he\u2019s realising that he has some command-and-control tendencies in his parenting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to not just raise your kids like you were raised,\u201d says Ulrich. \u201cAnd I think the same is true for managers. How do you unlearn the way you were trained? I think first of all, it\u2019s very important to understand the way you think. Then second, you need to have the strong will to change it. Without this strong will, change won\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Marcus adds that leaders are beginning to realise coaching has the power to help develop this self-awareness. In particular, they are discovering that gaining an awareness of how you impact others can make a huge difference.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a message of hope,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople are realising that through coaching they can develop themselves and help develop others. And this, to me at least, is a huge change from the corporate world I was part of for 20 years.\u201c<\/p>\n Ulrich, too, thinks there is good reason to be optimistic about where leadership is heading in Europe. He remarks on the trend to rename Human Resources as the People Department. On the surface it\u2019s only a name change but it also signifies a change in the way people lead and are led.<\/p>\n How to create the culture shift<\/strong><\/p>\n So businesses are on the move in Europe. But part of the reason some organisations are not achieving greater change, Navin says, is due to what they measure and how they measure it.<\/p>\n Reinier agrees, saying that trouble arises when companies create KPIs that are not linked to the purpose of a company. The numbers such organisations measure may reassure senior leaders but they don\u2019t align directly with the results the company actually needs from a strategic perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a mismatch between what the company does and where they really want to go,\u201d says Reinier. \u201cAnd this creates dissatisfaction in the business. To move forward, companies need to get a holistic view of what they are here for, what they want to reach, how they reach it \u2013 and then cascade it down consistently through the company, including the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Navin notes that a desire to see a return on investment in terms of euros measured is understandable. But the complexities involved in culture change and in coaching mean that it\u2019s very difficult to extrapolate numbers from the equation. At least not directly.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, from a qualitative point of view, we have a lot of information,\u201d says Navin. \u201cWe can see how people use their coaching sessions, how happy they are, and if behaviors change or not. The results in these terms are very promising and are really supporting the work that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaders need to pay attention to such data \u2013 and create new KPIs from it, which are linked to specific, tangible objectives. Otherwise, Marcus adds, change simply doesn\u2019t happen. Not because people are opposed to the shift but because their time is already consumed by trying to meet their other, often more pressured, targets.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we do need to see this in a bigger picture of \u2018what does an organisation want?\u2019\u201d Marcus says. \u201cUnless there\u2019s a clear definition at the top of what an organisation wants to be and how they\u2019re going to achieve it, it\u2019s always going to be difficult to change things further down. Because you\u2019ll always have a bigger picture that doesn\u2019t support it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s about evolution not revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n All of this talk of change doesn\u2019t mean we need to begin from scratch, that corporations should seek to imitate start-ups or that businesses should abandon everything they know. Instead, for companies in Europe, it\u2019s about integrating what we\u2019ve learned from our previous stage of growth, then transcending it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of people in their mid-20s come in full of great ideas,\u201d says Marcus. \u201cBut too often they ignore everything that already exists. For startups, of course, this approach is fantastic. But if you\u2019re coming into an environment where you need to build on pre-existing foundations, it\u2019s about evolution, not revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n