Learnings from IMD, Lausanne
As I landed in Geneva and took the cab to my hotel in Lausanne, I was reminded that I was in the one of the most expensive cities in the world. The taxi ride cost me twice what it would have in San Francisco. Geneva has been consistently featured in the top 10 most expensive places to live (in the Cost-of-Living Index). Lausanne (around 40 miles from Geneva) was set amongst a picture-perfect lake, mountains and hillside vineyards; no wonder some of the most famous people from Coco Chanel to David Bowie made it their home. It was a pleasant coincidence that we were in the Swiss city that runs the Olympics, while The Olympics was underway in Paris!
Located next to the gorgeous Lake Geneva, IMD Campus in Lausanne hosted 36 SAP executives for a four-day leadership program that had a mix of outdoor activities, classroom lectures, group coaching and practice sessions. Led by Prof Shlomo Ben-Hur, the program was one of the best leadership programs I have attended at SAP. The program focused on the Leadership Operating System (LOS); its three elements — Trust, Clarity, and Momentum — account for 75% of Organizational Performance. And how leaders behave is less important than the actual impact they have — in other words, that whether you are a motivational leader or caring as a leader is less important than whether your people feel motivated or cared for (Read: Re-Writing Your Leadership Code).
The two-part program gave ample time for leaders to move out of their everyday activities and spend time with a completely new set of colleagues, whom they would otherwise not get a chance to interact with. The gorgeous location, with bright sunshine interspersed with drizzles, made the long hours seem shorter. But it was the shared conversation in the group that provided the most meaningful insights and the best learnings. Here are my five biggest takeaways:
1. Peer learning is Powerful: We often see our peers as threats, vying for the same career progression/promotion. Instead, if we work in a psychologically safe environment, we will learn the most from them. I learnt the most from my coaching group (thanks to our personal coach Madelon Evers) — the brilliant Sanjeet, the analytical Marc, the measured Manos and the thoughtful Kerry. The biggest learning was that we were extremely task oriented on the first day (our introductions were about our jobs, and everyone was reserved). By the final dinner, we had gone through the four stages of team development — “Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing”. We had centered ourselves on relationships; we were speaking about our children and our interests beyond work. We had broken the shackles and started seeing each other beyond our titles and as fellow human beings. The greatest learning comes when we do not judge, do not assume, but when we are open, curious, vulnerable, and feel a little more.
2. Dehumanizing Organizations: German sociologist Mark Weber was the key figure behind the Bureaucratic Theory. But he also warned against its limitations: “It is not the inefficiency of the organization that I worry about but the efficiency, the dehumanization aspects of the bureaucracy.” In large organizations dealing with frequent reorganizations, we often forget the stress and the impact it has on people. We make quick decisions to ensure minimum disruption, but it often has the opposite effect!
3. Lack of clarity of goals is the origin of team conflict: This insight seemed counter intuitive. We often assume it is the interpersonal relationships that lead to team conflict. On the contrary, 80% of conflict within teams arises because of lack of clarity of goals, and only 1% because of interpersonal relationships. A leader’s job is to provide clarity to the team, so that everyone in the team is fully aware of the mission and goals of the organization.
4. Play to Thrive: Are you playing to win, or not lose? Survive or thrive? Given that we’re wired for security, it’s only natural that our initial response has been to focus on the threats and safeguard ourselves against them. This is instinct kicking in — driving us into defensive mode to protect what we have and mitigate loss. This is especially true in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (also called VUCA).
Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman observed in Thinking Fast and Slow that “potential losses loom larger than potential gains”. So, as we face a future mired with potential loss, our default mode is to operate from a backward leaning mindset of ‘playing not to lose’ rather than a forward leaning one of ‘playing to win’.
However, history has taught us that every crisis holds opportunities — usually invisible to the eye in the midst of the storm — for invention, innovation and forging new, and higher, ground. If we are looking for it. This is as true at the individual level as it is at the collective team level.
5. Polite teams produce polite results: Warren Buffet said it aptly, “Honesty is an expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.” We often forget that the higher we go, the more we are surrounded by liars — because our direct reports are dependent on us! Hence, getting authentic feedback becomes incredibly difficult. Our final exercise was to give direct feedback to our coaching group. It made us vulnerable and uncomfortable at the same time. But it was also the most powerful exercise we performed. In four days, we had become friends and giving honest feedback was the best gift we could offer to one another.
As I took some time to visit the Chaplin museum in Vevey (Charlie Chaplin spent the last 25 years of his life here after being driven out of the US), the greatest leadership lesson was in the Final speech of The Great Dictator (Chaplin and Hitler were born 4 days apart) — a reminder that “the kingdom of God is within man”, and all one has to be is a normal decent human being. To quote part of his speech: “Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent, and all will be lost…”. Chaplin spent many months drafting and rewriting the speech for the end of the film. Many people criticized the speech, and thought it was superfluous. Others found it uplifting. Regrettably Chaplin’s words are as relevant today as they were in 1940.
