T H E N E W R U L E S O F L E A D E R S H I P D E V E L O P M E N T

T H E N E W R U L E S O F L E A D E R S H I PC O N T E N T I S D E A DC O N T E X T I S K I N G

H E A LT H W E A LT H C A R E E R

T H E N E W R U L E S O F L E A D E R S H I P D E V E L O P M E N T

L E A D E R S H I P I N T H E N E W W O R L D O F W O R K

Shifts predicted in the coming decades will see what is now unthinkable become reality. Every day brings new evidence of the next big revolution: Emergent technologies take off like wildfire, unprecedented advances transform business models and the gig economy constantly evolves the employment market.

These global trends are driving a fundamental shift in the way we live, the way we work and the way we interact with one another. Within organisations, we know that 93% of business executives are planning to make organisational changes in the next two years, in favour of flattening the hierarchy and moving support functions to shared services.1 There is a shift to broader spans of control in management positions and high-value roles taking a greater focus in innovation and design. From an employee perspective, when we asked people in the UK, “What would make a positive impact on your work situation?” they told us that having “leaders who set clear direction” was most important. People expect their employers to “make work work” for their individual circumstances, with an overarching theme of empowerment permeating how business leaders, HR professionals and employees are viewing the world of work.1

Such complex changes require a change in what we recognise as great leadership. Mercer’s latest leadership survey asked organisations what their leaders need to help them deliver results. Their response? An organisation that can grow (83%), innovate (71%) and build through globalisation (55%)2.But, in reality, what companies need are leaders who can respond to the global macro trends that are shaping our world.

Leadership development is an area plagued by tradition and status quo. In pursuit of high engagement scores from participants, development programmes have become removed from the reality of what it takes to lead today. Combining the latest thinking from psychology and neuroscience, we can bring leadership development back to reality.

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Leadership starts with identity. The latest research highlights the importance of leadership identity as the foundation of leadership. Those with a strong leadership identity,3 who view themselves as leaders, are more likely to build their leadership competence and demonstrate greater effectiveness as leaders.4 Identity is therefore the first critical piece to build.

It’s all about context. In the corporate context, effectiveness depends less on the traits of any one leader and more on a company’s competitive challenges, legacies and other shifting forces. The signs are clear: Business realities have become so complex and varied that the guru-led approach to development is no longer delivering the impact required.5 What works for one person will not necessarily work for the next, because the context they operate in is so often radically different.

Only sustainable behaviour change will achieve business impact. Multiple lines of research point to the same simple answer:6 Changing behaviour is not easy. Behaviour change is individual, it takes sustained hard work, it needs rational and emotional drivers, and it happens continuously in the course of everyday leading and working.7

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L E A D E R S H I P J O U R N E Y STo bring this approach to life, development becomes a journey rather than a programme and an experience rather than an event.

Build identity — Encourage leaders to explore the question: “Why do I lead here?” and to create their leadership stories.

Generate awareness — Use assessment tools to support personal insight, with assessment debriefing and coaching to focus action.

Trigger behaviour change through insight, action and reflection — Provide bite-sized digital content and use 90-day cycles to nudge behaviour change. Focus face- to-face time on action, and use peer coaching circles to continue the challenge.

3.

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Virtual Values Lab and Leadership Story

360 Feedback and Strengths Finder

Digital Insights

Impact Discovery

Coaching Circles

Online Community

Action Workshop

Nudges

1 . I D E N T I T Y 2 . AWA R E N E S S

Top innovations that can be incorporated into leadership development journey design:

Digital content In the same way that we learn through the internet, articles, blogs and YouTube, development at work needs to tap into the ways that we learn every day.

Gamification Using gaming elements taps into the neuro-dynamics of motivation, increasing the drive to learn and participate in the process.

Chat bots Chat bots provide real-time interactive feedback to leaders on challenges they face or advice they are seeking. (For example, “How do I give effective feedback?”)

Automated personalisation Data mining on learning consumption can be used to provide personal recaps and ideas to leaders.

Play zone Innovations and ideas beyond content reinvigorate the curiosity of leaders.

Social learning Social technology can be used to build global networks to enable leaders to learn from each other.

T H E N E W R U L E S O F L E A D E R S H I P D E V E L O P M E N T

M E R C E R ’ S L E A D E R S H I P S O L U T I O N SMercer has more than 15 years of experience in leadership assessment and development, with more than 100 professionals and 300 affiliates worldwide. We believe a new approach to developing leaders is required to be successful in this environment of disruption with continuous pressures for financial results. Our work focuses on creating personalised leadership journeys and driving behavioural change to equip leaders at all levels with the capabilities required to execute business strategy.

Our Approach

We begin by understanding the unique business context and sharing world-class practices from the fields of neuroscience, behaviour change and digital learning. This is followed by a design process to co-create a new leadership assessment and development solution that will deliver business outcomes and a personalised experience for each leader.

Bespoke Leadership Design and Delivery

Our end-to-end design of leadership development solutions allows us to create bespoke assessment and development journeys for first-line, midlevel executive leaders as well as targeted segments, such as high potentials or early talent populations.

The business context and on-the-job work realities form the backbone of our leadership development solutions. Mercer’s leadership development journeys incorporate the latest insights from neuroscience, digital learning trends and leadership academia to create long-term behavioural change.

Examples of leadership development designs include: business accelerators to build entrepreneurial skills, digital communities for leaders to discuss personal leadership challenges and rotation programmes for top global talent.Our team of world-class affiliates, partners and project managers bring these experiences to life and allow us to deliver global programmes in more than 30 countries.

Assessment and Coaching

Mercer works with organisations that need to make strategic decisions about:

• Organisational capability — evaluating leadership capabilities against what the business needs to deliver• Mergers and acquisitions — understanding people risk factors during an acquisition process and/or supporting the

selection process for internal roles post-acquisition• Leadership investment — directing budgetary spend at the most needed leadership capability areas

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To do this, Mercer uses blended assessment to identify potential, readiness and fit for leadership roles. Our proprietary leadership tools for assessment and development include:

• Mercer’s Engaging Leader assessment combines the best in Hogan personality assessment with engagement data to understand the impact leaders have on their teams.8

• For global organisations, Mercer’s Global Leadership Profile assesses the key attributes for global leaders, based on research from Jay Conger.9

This is complemented with a broader suite of best-in-class psychometrics and virtual assessment solutions for evidence-based talent decision-making. Leadership coaching is another important component of realising the benefits of assessment. Mercer’s accredited coaches support the debriefing of assessment data and long-term coaching relationships to accelerate personal development.

Leadership Strategy and Portfolio Refresh

Mercer works with clients that are looking to:

• Align leadership strategy to a new business strategy• Set new expectations for leaders throughout the organisation• Refresh the leadership development portfolio

The work we do is based on a foundation of workforce data to understand current and future gaps within leadership populations. Our leadership consultants also conduct in-depth interviews and run workshops to determine requirements and current gaps in leadership effectiveness.

This allows you to define what success looks like and determine the most successful development journey for each leadership level. The real value of this approach is to prioritise your initiatives, inform investment decisions and ensure the best return on your leadership development budget.

1 Mercer. Global Talent Trends, 2017.2 Turnbull S, Lyons L and Tweed A. Connecting Leadership to Value, 2015.3 Avolio BJ, Walumbwa FO and Weber TJ. “Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions,” Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 60,

pp. 421–449.4 Day DV and Dragoni L. “Leadership Development: An Outcome-Oriented Review Based on Time and Levels of Analyses,” Annual Review of

Organisational Psychology and Organisational Behaviour, Volume 2(1), pp. 133–156.5 Day DV. “Leadership Development: A Review in Context,” The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 11(4), pp. 581–613.6 Peters K. “Neuroscience, Learning and Change,” The Ashridge Journal, Spring 2011 Issue, pp. 44–47.7 Duhigg C. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, New York: Random House, 2012.8 Hogan and Mercer | Sirota. The Engaging Leader, available at http://www.theengagingleader.com, accessed 25 May 2017.9 Mercer’s Global Leadership Development: Executive Summary, available at https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/global/

Talent/Mobilize-BrochureTalentReview.pdf, accessed 25 May 2017.

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G E T I N T O U C H

NATALIE JACQUEMINTalent Strategy Practice Leader, Europe

natalie.jacquemin@mercer.com+44 20 7178 5368

@NatalieJacq

ANNA SEELYLeadership Development Consultant

anna.seely@mercer.com+44 20 7178 3402

@Anna_Seely_

LISA LYONSLeadership Development Consultant

lisa.lyons@mercer.com+44 20 7178 3167

@LisaMaryLyons

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