It’s Time for HR to Grow a Pair …
A pair of new leadership paradigms that is. I have seen two HR trends emerge in corporate talent management strategies on how future leaders are identified and groomed. One has been the growing importance given to “political savvy.” The other has been the emphasis on “P&L & budget size.” If these exists in your organization, and are at the top of your succession planning assessment criteria, then you are likely jeopardizing your innovation and intrapreneurial efforts and you may need to consider growing a new pair of leadership assessment paradigms.
In its 2013 report on corporate innovation (Corporate Innovation Within Reach: Nurturing and Enabling an Entrepreneurial Culture) Accenture Management Consulting stated, “Nearly nine in 10 respondents (89 percent of those surveyed) say an entrepreneurial attitude can lead to new ideas that promote growth in a tough economy, but most don’t believe the company means it. Nearly half believe management support for being entrepreneurial is critical, but only one in five believes their company delivers it.” In my experience, the only way for a company to demonstrate that it means what it says is to reward the people for what it says.
Ultimately, most people will be motivated to work on what they are being rewarded to do. If you speak innovation and intrapreneurship but value the management of large P&Ls or large operational budgets more then the risk-taking and gargantuan effort of launching new businesses (and their initially much smaller P&Ls and budgets), then you are contradicting yourself and sending the message that one is more important then the other. The resulting behavior might be that your intrapreneurs and new business leaders will choose the lest risky, higher profile, and more rewarded career path of the main business where their political savvy and large budgets will be better valued, and leave your corporate entrepreneurship dreams behind.
Consider these two new leadership assessment paradigms if you want to show your leaders that when you say innovation and intrapreneurship are crucial to your business, you mean it. These are applicable to leaders regardless of the part of the business they are in and level the leadership playing field.
Replace political savvy with managerial courage and dealing with paradox. By doing so you are making it very clear that the leaders of tomorrow will be those that demonstrate that they can face tough business challenges head-on, set clear direction but remain flexible to adapt to changes in their environment, and have the courage to act differently then the rest of the leadership herd when required. All this, while being respectful and without stepping on others. Equally applicable to any part of your business.
Replace manages large P&L or large budgets with drives for results and manages vision and purpose. By doing so you are sending the message that size is not the key criteria for leadership. You are shifting the emphasis to one of consistently delivering results and inspiring others with a clear vision and purpose. This will ensure that all leaders in your organization are able to demonstrate a clear alignment between what they do and the overarching corporate goals; regardless of whether they are in a core business, a corporate start-up, or a large centralized function. Again, equally applicable to any part of your business.
Financially rewarding and recognizing your intrapreneurial leaders based on these new paradigms will send the message that you value intrapreneurship and core business leadership equally.
