The Exec-Ed Zone

Report from a Leadership Dinner of the European Leadership Platform held in Amsterdam in the first week of May 2008, and addressed by IMD Professor of Organisational Behaviour Robert Hooijberg, leader of the Orchestrating Winning Performance and Low Cost Competition executive education programs at IMD.

How does a CEO based at a company headquarters influence an organization in which its offices are spread across the world? A CEO can put in countless 120-hour weeks, but it is simply impossible that he/she will be able to have direct contact with thousands of employees located in numerous different time zones.

This question and dilemma was posed by Professor of Organizational Behavior Robert Hooijberg during a Leadership Dinner of the European Leadership Platform held last week in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and attended by some 20 business leaders from companies like Shell, Bain & Co and Unibail-Rodamco. Hooijberg emphasized the importance of structural procedures in creating this influence.

“In order to engage people to deliver results beyond expectations, leaders at the top of organizations need to seriously consider how they exercise both their leadership IN organizations as well as their leadership OF organizations,” said Hooijberg. “While most understand the importance of the interpersonal side of leadership, we encourage them to pay equal if not more attention to their leadership OF organizations. The focus on the leadership OF organizations forces executives to ask themselves how they can ensure that their leadership philosophy about engagement of employees, clients, suppliers, distributors and other stakeholders truly takes hold in all parts of their organization. This means that executives need to start asking themselves two basic questions: 1) What do our strategies, systems and structures motivate people to do? and 2) What should our strategies, systems and structures motivate people to do?”

Hooijberg talked about areas such as gender diversity in the company, a culturally diverse vs. a homogenous organization and promotion procedures as a way of impacting the organizational culture, among other topics. For example, Hooijberg described how when an organization includes significant female representation on the management team, it will influence the motivation and interest level of all females throughout the entire organization. Meanwhile, culturally diverse teams are more prone to conflict yet have the potential for greater opportunities than a homogenous organization which is more stable and comfortable. Communication patterns, such as a CEO’s weekly state of the organization e-mail to the entire company, also play a role in the mix.

Participant views varied, but it is safe to say that there is no clear recipe on how leading is accomplished when the leader can’t be physically present.

Herman H.J. Bol, Executive Board, University Medical Center Utrecht, probably best summarized the overall view by stating: “I don’t think there is a 100 percent answer to the question of how to lead when you are not there. If there was, there would be many more successful companies. I understand the importance and need for Professor Hooijberg’s book Being There Even When You Are Not.”