August 2023 (1) – Balancing on Three Legs. What must Leaders Do?

A recent review of scholarly articles on leadership published by the prestigious Harvard Business School (thanks to Ryan Raffelli) suggests that the usual orientations for action by leaders when they face uncertainties are threefold – Analytical, Contextual and Relational.

So what should we know about each of these three orientations in order to decide the most effective style? Let’s use some humour to explore the answers.

The analytical orientation suggests that the leader takes comfort in data. Numbers, Models and Action Frameworks seem to offer unassailable backdrops to decision-making. But is this really and universally true?

The smartness in adopting the analytical orientation is to fully comprehend the limitations imposed by both the fidelity of the data as well as the relevance of the implicit and explicit assumptions being made.

The contextual orientation is all about knowing the cues. It suggests that the leader is comfortable in understanding how the external environment is influencing the situation. But can this result in becoming too cozy, so as to miss the wood for the trees?

The smart leader who wants to use the contextual orientation will never fall prey to knee-jerk reactions; instead such a leader will endeavour to not just qualify but also quantify the extent of the influencing drivers.

Those leaders who prefer a relational orientation, often focus on how others (team members, key stakeholders) perceive or respond to their designed action plans and re-calibrate actions accordingly. The moot point is if this can work in crisis situations.

So while each orientation has its own advantage, the most effective leaders are those that can seamlessly use all three, while understanding their limitations.