As leaders drive innovation and adaptation at relentless speeds, they must sustain a core enduring vision to keep their organizations focused. They also must communicate clarity amid the seeming chaos and churn. Coaches reflect this in their survey feedback, listing “clarifying purpose” and “articulating meaning,” as well as “creating and communicating vision,” as top coaching needs for leaders in times of volatility and uncertainty.
While coaches previously may have helped individual leaders craft and articulate a vision, moving forward they see the need for leaders to co- create the vision by engaging a wider network of relationships. One respondent summed up the comments of many: “Coaches will have to move beyond the realm of the one-to-one, isolated coaching relationship. They will need to be engaged in and understand the business, the organizational and social systems, the dynamics of the senior team.” Such responses suggest that, beyond working with leaders to clarify vision and direction, coaches also should work with leaders’ broader teams to support shared meaning, coherent action, and agreed upon practices.
New skills for new global realities.
In contemporary businesses, a leader’s teams increasingly are drawn from distant and disparate populations. The number of multinational companies has more than doubled since 1990 (Krell 2013). The use of global talent across national boundaries has increased by 42% in the past decade (Ernst and Young 2011), and, as businesses further incorporate digital information and mobile applications, location is becoming less of an impediment to expansion beyond cultural and national lines (The Conference Board 2012; Ernst and Young 2011).
Emerging markets’ share of financial assets is expected to double by 2020 (National Intelligence Council 2012), and 40% of that growth will come from China and India alone (Ernst and Young 2011). The Hay Group (2011) reported that digital knowledge will continue to accelerate this global economic growth through innovation as information is shared across boundaries. Growth, innovation, and global leadership are tightly interconnected, requiring leaders who can navigate these complex interdependencies while envisioning and communicating a clear path forward.
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