INsight/ Human Capital Forgotten

Photo by janita himawati.

Nusa Dua, 24 May 2024 — It’s high time for organizations to invest in leadership development.

Story

It happened this week. Sharing a venue with the President of Indonesia and Elon Musk was a first for me. Also new was to hear the need for leaders and leadership mentioned so frequently by speakers throughout the week. It came up in many sessions, and it was heartening to hear the speakers’ visions for global and local changes to be driven by country leaders, corporate leaders, leaders at all levels of organizations, women leaders, youth leaders, and more.

All the more surprising, then, to discover that building human capital received little attention in the event. Less than 1% of the more than 200 events at the World Water Forum were deliberately focused on developing human capacity. And of those few sessions, it seemed that only two specifically featured leadership development. Forgetting to develop human capital beyond regular technical training reminded me of Einstein’s quote about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results—in this case, transformative changes in water management.

Just saying that we need more leaders and leadership will do little to nothing until organizations decide to actually invest in developing more leaders and leadership. In my experience, that will always start with making this a personal decision, and then exploring how to develop leadership together with others in teams and across the organization. A commitment by the top executives will certainly help to get the process of leadership development going. Alas, in most organizations—in water and other sectors—we see many experts and managers, and few leaders. We have work to do to change that.

Challenge

Among the many leadership challenges that came up in my discussions with forum participants this week, two were mentioned repeatedly. Both had to do with learning to lead across boundaries. The first was about building trust to engage in collaboration between organizations and with project stakeholders. The second was about effectively bringing together different generations in the workplace for crossgen collaboration. 

Leading across boundaries requires a skill set that includes surfacing and overcoming bias and engaging deliberately in trust building. A willingness to learn and unlearn is essential. Often, the unlearning is a major challenge for senior professionals and executives with a longer track record. Unbeknownst to themselves, they frequently become obstacles to healthy and effective crossgen collaboration in the workplace—a source of serious frustration for many Gen Zs and Gen Ys.

As always, we also come across good examples of boundary-spanning leadership. I felt inspired when I met a Gen X CEO who had asked a Gen Z talent to shadow him on the job and during travel, thereby creating opportunities for valuable crossgen learning and collaboration that proved even more effective than the practice of reverse mentoring. Unsurprisingly, the CEO had graduated from a leadership development program and was actively practicing effective leadership skills. 

Question

Whether you are an executive, a senior professional, or an emerging leader, you can be sure that your decision to invest in leadership development will bring immediate and significant dividends in the delivery of better and faster results. Why not make a start right away? There is no better time than now.

When you are ready to make leadership development personal and start right away, you can choose The Workplace Challenge to drive a positive change in your workplace in just six weeks together with three colleagues you invite to join you. We highly recommend that you choose colleagues from different (at least two) generations. Apply now to join The Workplace Challenge and get ready to introduce your Collab in the Grow3Leaders community on June 3rd.

For the water professionals among you, you have an additional opportunity to take a longer 10-week dive into leadership learning by applying for Level 1 of the Pathway Program that was launched at the World Water Forum. This is the “New globally focused water leadership development program for (teams of) water practitioners who want to drive positive outcomes from their projects more rapidly and effectively than before.” The program is offered by the International Water Centre at Griffith University in Brisbane. Find out how you can join here. Highly recommended. It starts in September.

P.S. If you want to build a team of leaders or navigate a leadership transition, set up a free strategy call to explore leadership training and executive or team coaching to support your specific needs.