On Leadership

Comprehending the crucial success factor of leadership

  • In 20 years of quality management experience I have found that more often than not a root cause in achieving excellent and sustainable service rests with skillful leadership
  • How a team is lead and what the leadership culture is an organization are critical success factors for leadership and service excellence

Leadership is a absolutely crucial and perennial capability

  • Deloitte Global Human Capital trends 2015 study states “…In today’s competitive business environment and rapidly evolving world of work, organizations must continuously develop a robust portfolio of leaders who are ready to engage employees, push forward growth strategies, drive innovation, and work directly with customers. Companies that fail to invest continuously in the leaders of tomorrow may find themselves falling behind their competitors…”. Please do read also the 2016 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends study.
    I strongly agree!
  • Consider the pressures of (regulatory) change. Your institution is in dire need of captains and lieutenants to soundly maneuver the ship through the changing seas, keep everything afloat and keep sailing in calm waters.
  • If you find yourself with exploding budgets, stressed-out work force and not meeting compliance level – take a good look at your culture and level of leadership.

Where to Start

  • Start with commitment to leadership development from the top
  • Answer the question: Leadership for what?
  • Develop inclusive leaders at all levels
  • Make talent development and succession a priority
  • Develop or leverage a capability model
  • Extend boundaries to create new leadership development opportunities

Change without influencing change in people is not sustainable

  • A financial institution highest good are the employees – they create the value.
  • Being that they are human, we have to consider human psychology and behaviour in our business as well
  • In 20 years of quality management experience and my work as a change agent in the enterprises I worked for I have found that excellence and again sustainability is possible only if the individuals are adequately considered.
  • I have found that if an organization can motivate their employees (caveat: that does not imply to please always) then the magic of give-and-take and motivation happens.
  • Let’s have a look at motivation based on what I find a superb summary by Daniel H. Pink (“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”).
  • Now put yourself in the shoes of yourself maybe or one of your colleagues / team members.
    • Not only have the number of regulatory (hence technical) requirements been rising and rising. The pressure to “stay on top of it” and finding the time even just to read all the pages of regulation, let alone understand is scarce.
    • Along come the complexity quantum leap. More and more functions are interlinked and are melting together. Particular finance, risk and controlling. Know-how in each area is just expected of other. Even more it is a crucial success factor that everybody is expert in their and a little in the area of the other. New functions may even be called for.On top comes just plain running the bank type jobs.
    • And the crema on the cappuccino are the relentless ad hoc request of the regulator.
    • How to keep all those demands and dynamics in sync and not to „burn“ your workforce including yourself?
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