Lessons From a Leadership Journey Across the World

This past week, the SHAMBAUGH team and I had the good fortune of leading a global female leadership program. In this intensive three-day event, we covered 21st Century Leadership Trends as well as a vast array of timely and relevant topics from Leading Change, Communicating with Impact, Strategic Leadership, and Developing Strategic Relationships. Addressing these incredible, already successful female leaders was like speaking to a panel at the United Nations, as the women came from many countries including Asia, South Africa, Latin America, Europe, Canada, and the United States. While the women offered diverse perspectives, knowledge, and insights, they also had one notable similarity: all were experiencing significant change at both the company and local levels. These days, many organizations are experiencing significant changes worldwide, creating a situation that calls for leaders to avoid taking for granted their professional reputation and brand.

The Path to Inclusion and Collaboration—What Really Gets in the Way

I spoke at several national conferences over the last few weeks on the topic of 21st Century Leadership, which I call Integrated Leadership. The foundation of this leadership model is based on having an inclusive culture and rich collaboration that effectively taps into the rich and diverse spectrum of talent within an organization. As you have read in many of my previous posts, Integrated Leadership is what drives greater levels of performance, profitability, shareholder value, innovation, and engagement, to name just a few of the organizational and individual benefits.

When I speak on this topic, I’ve noticed a common theme across audiences: while leaders intellectually understand the importance of inclusion and collaboration, it’s much more difficult to actually make the concept stick and have it truly become part of the leadership team’s DNA and culture.

Collaborative Intelligence: The Competitive Advantage for Today’s Organizations

Here is an example of a typical call that I receive from our clients at SHAMBAUGH: An organization is undergoing significant change. To keep pace with the evolving marketplace, customer demands, and industry trends, they need to reexamine their existing culture and leadership models to successfully adapt. Often in such scenarios, the desire to evolve is prompted by the president or CEO attending a conference that referenced the importance of an inclusive and collaborative culture.

In one specific instance, a company president (whom I’ll call Steve) shared with me that his organization had just invested a lot of money in a new IT system that would now cross-integrate information across the organization. Would this do the trick to build a more integrated and collaborative environment, he asked me? I responded that while that’s part of the equation, it’s not the whole solution. What ultimately needs to drive this important shift, I told him, is your leadership—which means that your organization must reinforce the right leadership model to ensure that the proper mindset, behaviors, and culture are first in place. Doing so will ensure lasting results versus a quick fix.