DISCOVERY
AN INTRODUCTION TO DISCOVERY
Excellent leaders are constantly challenging themselves to think of new ways to do things and are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible. They are curious about everything and enjoy exploration and discovery. They thrive on thinking things through in detail and do not jump to conclusions. They seek solid evidence to aide decision making but are able to change their mind in the light of new information. They enjoy learning new things and have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others. People frequently turn to them for advice.
A BETTER WAY
6. I am not content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible. Or put another way: avoid uttering ‘We have always done it this way.’
Constantly search for new and better ways to do things – to the point where you become an irritant to some. Yes, people around you would prefer you to stay on the safe ground and repeat last year’s approach to budgeting or organising a conference, but leaders of real character lie awake at night thinking that there must be a better way.
By all means review what happened last time around. What worked last time and how can you build on this? What could be done better and how? And recognise that last time around is relevant only to inform learning.
Leaders are pioneers: they are willing to step out into the unknown. They remain open to receiving ideas from anyone and anywhere. They spot good ideas and are willing to challenge the system to get new products, processes, services and systems adopted. They think about ‘what if’ and ‘what’s next’. They don’t get trapped into a set way of thinking. They remain in constant search of discovery in order to seek new and better opportunities.
This type of creative leader is an early supporter of innovation, knowing full well that innovation and challenge involve experimentation, risk and, even, failure. Experiments don’t always work out as planned. People often make mistakes when they try something new. Instead of trying to apportion blame for mistakes, they learn from them and encourage others to do the same. They understand that the key that unlocks the door to opportunity is learning, especially in the face of obstacles.
Exceptional leaders challenge everything – especially conventional thought, best practices and existing practices which drive businesses into a way of thinking that is no longer relevant. Anything in business can be improved and everything can be reimagined.
So how can you develop the mindset for continuous improvement? You can believe, think, say, do and ask yourself.
BELIEVE
Do not fall into the trap of believing, as the old saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Failing to continually challenge how things are done will mean that, at best, you will stagnate and, at worst, you will become unable to compete.
Do fix your mindset on these two central beliefs:
- Growth comes through innovation.
- Failure is not something to avoid but embrace.
THINK
If you set your mind to accommodate these beliefs, new thought patterns will emerge. You can encourage such thoughts by reflecting on the following questions whenever you consider a decision:
- Are we playing too safe here?
- Have we mitigated risk sufficiently?
- Have we explored with team members their view of the culture around innovation and especially around failure?
- Am I encouraging my team to come to me with (creative) solutions rather than problems?
Remember, too, to explore constantly how you and your team can refine ways of working to improve efficiency, speed and quality.
SAY
Adapting how you speak will encourage constant improvement. Using verbs (the doing words) adds energy and action-orientation to your communication. Check how you write and speak to see if you employ verbs regularly.
Consider how you respond to failures. Ranting and finger-pointing rarely helps. Acknowledging that such eventualities happen, whilst also looking to help people learn, always helps. Asking questions in a tone of genuine curiosity is the best way to encourage reflection, learning and to ensure the same mistakes aren’t made twice.
DO
Here are five time-proven steps to create a culture of continuous improvement for you and your team:
- Set up a time each week to review your performance as a leader of yourself and your team. Friday afternoon works well for this.
- Select a member of the team to act as ‘Quality Assurance’ on each project. This person gets to challenge if there are better ways of doing things.
- Set up a daily ‘Pulse’ meeting to see how people are performing and get helpful input from the wider team. Allow 15 minutes maximum per meeting.
- Break up silos and go with a matrix approach where you can. In other words, mix it up. Encourage working with new people and new areas of the business.
- Get one person per month to act as your team’s in-house researcher. Have five relevant themes they research that will help inform new ways of working.
ASK YOURSELF
- Does the business model afford me a competitive advantage moving forward or would it benefit from a fresh look?
- How relevant and timely is the management information produced for or by my team?
- Does our organisational structure support our business goals?
- Am I creating the right business culture to support the service strategy?
- To what extent is my approach to talent acquisition and development fit for purpose?
- Can I simplify systems and processes in order to make them more effective?
CURIOSITY
7. I am curious about everything, always asking questions and keen to discover new information. Or put another way: ‘We don’t know what we don’t know.’
The curious leader has an insatiable interest in new people, new things and new experiences. They have constantly active minds as one fresh insight leads to another, which leads to the desire for yet further discovery. They pursue this interest for personal growth with a view to uncovering fresh insights and new ideas that can take their team and the business forward. Without an eagerness to discover, there can be no innovation, awareness, problem-solving, value creation or agility.
We were all great at discovering as young children when we saw the whole world as an adventure playground. Yet over time many of us lose this natural instinct – as if exploring and asking questions exposes us as ‘unknowing’ or inferior. Often it requires courage to ask the dumb question that everyone in the room wants to know the answer to. Get out of your own way and find the confidence to go where others are not prepared to go. Role-modelling such a naïve approach, where you park your ego at the door and seek to discover, has very positive effects on others too.
Todd Kashdan, researcher and author of the wonderful book Curious?, recommends always listening to really smart people. Even if they are wrong, we can learn something.
Todd suggests that in your network you have, at the very least:
- one person older than you, who is where you want to be in the future
- one peer who possesses strengths and accomplishments that you don’t
- one person younger than you, who is further along than you were at that age.
Noveltyseeking, searching for knowledge and an openness to new ideas and experiences characterise the curious mind. Liz Wiseman argues in her book Multipliers, that today’s most effective leaders amplify the capability and intelligence of their teams by accessing the collective wisdom of the group. She proposes that the principle role of leaders today is no longer knowing and directing, but rather asking and listening.
How can you cultivate curiosity? You can believe, think, say, do and ask yourself.
BELIEVE
It is possible to develop a discovery mindset, but it requires a willingness to disrupt yourself. So, the first principle to establish is a belief that discovering perspectives, information and approaches that are new to you is truly valuable. Couple valuing such newness with a willingness to acknowledge that formerly held beliefs might no longer be helpful is also key to discovery. You’re going to need to let go of the old to embrace the new.
THINK
Can you assimilate fresh thinking easily? Developing the ability to appreciate new ways of looking at the world, and dropping perspectives that are outdated or irrelevant, are signs of advanced thinking and a mature leader. Sometimes you will need to be able to hold seemingly opposing thoughts, such as, ‘I don’t agree with the new company change programme but, now it has been agreed, I will support it publicly.’ Effective leaders can balance such paradoxical thinking.
SAY
If you adopt an inquisitive style of speaking using questions, you are much more likely to find yourself exploring situations with your team members and uncovering their motivations and thinking.
Some really useful enquiry statements and questions include:
- Tell me a bit more about …
- Can you help me understand some more about …?
- What are the reasons for that?
- Can you describe that to me as if I’m a beginner?
- What does that mean for us?
DO
Here are five ways to develop a love of learning and exploring new approaches that will cultivate a discovery orientation:
- Select a magazine or blog in an area that you know nothing about and subscribe to it for six months. After six months, swap to a new source in a new area.
- Sign up to some podcasts in related and indirectly related areas to your work.
- Write a weekly newsletter or email to your team exploring what you have learned and asking for your team to offer you advice or to build on your learning with additional insights.
- Use a daily journal to explore your thinking, established patterns and ways of working with a view to critically reviewing where these have come from, if they are still effective and how you might adapt your thinking.
- Seek out a mentor who has succeeded as a leader and who would be willing to constructively challenge your current ways of leading.
ASK YOURSELF
Here are some ‘go-to’ questions to ask yourself that will help you stay curious:
- Why are we doing this in the first place?
- What is unknown here?
- How can I apply this knowledge to my work?
- What assumptions am I/are we making?
- What established patterns have I fallen into?
- If I could think about this situation or challenge in a way that my boss, mentor or leadership hero would, what would I be thinking right now?
- Am I truly open to the new ideas presented here?
OPTIONS AND EVIDENCE
8. I consider the available options and evidence before making decisions. Or put another way: how to make mind-blowing decisions.
We all know leaders whose thinking is constrained by their past experiences and existing belief systems. They open problem-solving or decision making dialogue around an issue and proceed to steer the solutions towards the one they have in mind. In their view, theirs is the only logical and sound conclusion.
Top-performing leaders take a different view:
- They believe that a preparedness to suspend their beliefs in order to take the appropriate account of fresh insights and ideas is critical to the success of the enterprise.
- They look at all the evidence before making a decision.
- They are prepared to revise their opinions as fresh evidence comes to light.
- They value their intuition, particularly where there is a sense of urgency, but recognise its limitations.
- They are able to make informed decisions very quickly.
Often, we encounter narrow thinking in new leaders. They frequently show an over-reliance on their own expertise to make judgements and fail to take account of the hard evidence or the opinions of others. Such leaders were previously valued as individual contributors for providing such expert opinions. Faced with a new team, they can fall back on their expertise in order to earn credibility and bolster self-confidence in their new role as leader. Team members simply may stop contributing ideas and views because they fall on ‘deaf ears’.
Sometimes, intuition or a gut feel is sensitive to the finer details of decisions and unearths key information that processes miss. As a result, advocates of intuitive decision making suggest that your intuition reveals elements of a situation that your ability to reason cannot. However, as the world becomes increasingly complex, decisions based on experience or hunch alone will be compromised. Many decisions that leaders face at work today have a greater novelty factor, meaning dependency on prior experience limits your ability to find the best way forward without thorough research.
Simple tactical decisions, where the cost of errors may be low, can still be made through gut feel. This can add speed and free up time and resources to focus on more strategic issues. Where the stakes are high, you will benefit from ‘taking time to make time’ or face the possible consequences. Research tells us that where decisions are made following rigorous procedures, achieving desired outcomes increases.
So, how can you develop your decision making abilities? You can believe, think, say, do and ask yourself.
BELIEVE
Limiting beliefs held by leaders in relation to decision making include:
- I have all the answers.
- I should have all the answers.
- My credibility relies on me knowing everything.
Top leaders have confidence in what they do know, coupled with a willingness to accept that they cannot (and should not) know everything. Establishing what decisions need to be made, and what information is needed in order to decide, enables processes to be followed, resulting in considered decisions and managed risk.
THINK
A willingness to explore what you don’t know when big decisions have to be made is a great starting point for leaders. Openness to new thinking develops flexibility in your learning as a leader, which is vital in the current environment. Without hampering speed, also seek to tap into the advice and thinking of others too. Ultimately, some decisions will have to be made by you. Take as much time as you can to consider your options from the available data and then decide.
SAY
Again, questions will be your ally in decision making. Asking questions at a deep level helps ensure you are aware of all available information. This means digging beyond the initial responses you receive so you can test the robustness of the data you are being given.
DO
The next time you face a critical leadership decision, try the following seven steps:
- Identify a wide range of possible courses of action.
- Fully research each possible approach.
- Identify the possible positive and negative consequences of each option.
- Search for any new missing information or expert opinion relative to each of the options.
- Assimilate new information accurately, even if it does not support your initial preference.
- Re-examine all possible future positive and negative consequences.
- Make detailed plans for implementing the preferred approach.
And here are four actions to avoid when faced with a critical leadership decision:
- Do not give excessive credence to the first option thought of in the interests of speed or looking smart.
- Do not favour approaches that support the status quo just to avoid further disruption or change.
- Do not back options that support earlier choices made, even though they have been shown to be flawed, in order to avoid embarrassment.
- Do not collect evidence that supports only YOUR preferred option above the ideas of others.
ASK YOURSELF
- How am I influencing the final option?
- What else can I do to ensure the decision is as robust as possible?
- How diligently have I ensured this process has been?
- What would my line manager say if they reviewed our decision making process at this point?
- What is stopping me deciding?
- How can we further manage the risks without hampering the time the decision will take to make?
- When will I know that we have enough data to decide?
Emotions and decision making
Approaching key decisions whilst experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety clouds judgement. Faced with the choice between conflicting courses of action, you may experience feelings of uncertainty, vacillation and hesitation. You may even sense a strong desire to escape from the dilemma by avoiding making the decision or rushing your decision just to make those feelings go away.
On the other hand, if the feelings you are experiencing around a possible choice are those of ambivalence, you may be less than motivated to give the decision adequate thought. Both mental states call for you to be honest with yourself and recognise those unhelpful feelings, back away, gather new information, involve others, re-evaluate the pros and cons, sleep and eat well, then return with fresh eyes.
LEARNING
9. I encourage others to love learning as much as they do. Or put another way: stay relevant by committing to mastery.
When David started working with a former boss, he was surprised by the boss’s tendency to share little insights he had found on the web and handing over copies of interesting books that he had recently read. Intrigued by his insatiable appetite for new information and fresh insight, David lapped up every gem and nugget of information.
Initially, he was overwhelmed by his boss’s generosity and desire to share. His boss’s view, though, was that it gave him pleasure to pass on something that he had found useful to someone whom he sensed might find it useful too. Underneath this transaction existed a love of learning that David’s boss wanted to encourage in David and intuitively knew he would value.
In fact, it became a habit that David adopted with people who later looked to him for leadership. No one has ever responded negatively to this approach, whether sharing a book, an article, a ticket to a seminar or an introduction to a new person who may have insight on an issue. The fact is, most people find learning and getting better at what they do motivating.
The feelings associated with increased levels of competence and knowledge fuel growth and confidence in work performance. Similarly, new challenges offer the opportunity to learn and grow, and effective leaders are always on the lookout for opportunities to stretch their people and encourage the pursuit of those small changes that make a difference to their performance. This two-way relationship between challenge and learning is something great leaders understand and it creates opportunities to exploit. It is a classic case of success breeding success.
For us, systems scientist Peter Senge hits the spot with this thought on personal mastery:
People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode. They never ‘arrive’.
Sometimes, language such as the term ‘personal mastery’ creates a misleading sense of ownership. But personal mastery is not something you possess. It is a process, a lifelong discipline.
How can you develop personal mastery? You can believe, think, say, do and ask yourself.
BELIEVE
Whilst many leaders tell us that they have always loved learning, some only catch the bug later in life. We work with many leaders who, following less than stellar times at school, college or university, matured later in life to the positive belief that learning is valuable, fulfilling and is life-affirming. They recognise too that learning is a proven way to ensure they remain relevant to their organisation and can continue to add value. No matter what your experience is of learning, believe that learning is worth it, knowing it is never too late to begin or restart your learning journey.
THINK
Inform your approach to lifelong learning by acknowledging its importance for you and your career. Here are some things to reflect on in relation to your thinking about learning:
- Review what informs your current thinking about learning.
- Consider how you role-model learning to your team and peers.
- Reflect on what mindset changes you could make to be a more fully engaged learner.
SAY
Talking about your own learning experiences – past and present – can help your team and peers be more open about some of their experiences too. Such openness establishes the space and trust needed to discuss how to broaden the learning that happens in your organisation. Ask your team how they learn best and explore ways to enable learning in your organisation, including less formal methods, such as learning on the job or from action-learning groups.
DO
Here are five easy ways to develop a culture of learning and mastery:
- Develop your skills as a coach: a core leadership skill in helping adults learn. See insight 43 about coaching in Chapter 11 for more details.
- Encourage members of your team to give each other regular feedback around what they do well, how they can build on this, what they could do better and how.
- Set up reverse mentoring where someone junior on the team, with relevant and useful insights, mentors a more senior person who is keen to learn – a junior female mentoring a senior male leader, focusing on gender.
- Seek opportunities for you and your team to take in-house secondments or join project teams. Ensure knowledge gained is shared with the team on return.
- Set up a learning log – have a WhatsApp or Slack (app) group that captures what you have learned each week. This quickly becomes very motivating and has an intrinsic value.
ASK YOURSELF
- What learning can I take from this experience?
- When do I create specific time in my week to learn?
- Which members of my team would benefit most from this information?
- Who could be my leadership mentor?
- On what topics could I effectively mentor members of my team?
- What topics am I closed to learning about? What are the reasons for being so closed? What am I willing to do about it?
INSIGHT
10. I provide valuable insight on matters and have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others. Or put another way: it’s all a matter of perspective.
Understanding how you see the world is vital to great leadership. In fact, we think that understanding your own perspectives in some fundamental areas is critical to developing yourself as a human being, let alone as a leader.
YOUR WORLD VIEW
How you look at some key areas of life has an impact on your approach to change, other people and your own development. Your perspectives even affect how you view fundamental things such as knowledge, truth and human nature.
Just a few of the areas that affect the shape of your own world view, and that are highly relevant for leaders to consider, are set out in the table below as opposing pairs. It is adapted from work by Freud and Jung on what they termed Weltanschaaung (world view).
| Free will | vs | Determinism |
| You are in charge of your own destiny | There is a ‘grand plan’ that determines your future | |
| Nature | vs | Nurture |
| Talents are born, not developed | Talents are made, not born | |
| Uniqueness | vs | Universality |
| All humans are unique | Humans have traits that can be recognised or labelled | |
| Equilibrium | vs | Growth |
| Humans resist change | Humans embrace change | |
| Optimism | vs | Pessimism |
| Humans are positive | Humans are negative | |
| Interdependence | vs | Intradependence |
| Humans rely on others | Humans are self-reliant |
If you imagine each term in the table represents the end of a sliding scale, you can begin to get a sense of how you developed your own world view.
If you feel human beings have full control over our futures and the directions we can take, then your world view is informed by a sense of free will. If, on the other hand, you feel that there is some grand plan and you have a pre-determined destiny, then your world view is informed by a sense of determinism.
You can understand why taking different standpoints shapes your thinking about key areas such as planning, goal-setting, long-term thinking and forecasting.
Knowing how you view the world provides some self-awareness and allows you to seek new perspectives. Perhaps, more importantly, it enables you to know the ‘perspective’ traps you may fall into because you have certain blind-spots. Once you know this, you can seek complementary and opposing perspectives in order to balance your own thinking.
How can you ensure your way of looking at the world is balanced and makes sense to others? You can believe, think, say, do and ask yourself.
BELIEVE
Believe that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ world view. Such a belief is what allows people to be tolerant of others, embrace difference and avoid bigotry. Brilliant leaders can hold their own world view whilst being deeply appreciative of the world view of others. Believing that they can adapt allows leaders to develop an identity that balances integrity with openness to new and sometimes challenging perspectives.
THINK
Your world view has been formed from a range of significant people in your life and the experiences you have had so far. It is also the product of your willingness to reflect and think about why you view the world as you do. Consider who has influenced your world view and whose world views you would like to be influenced by.
SAY
Being willing to genuinely explore different perspectives is a trait of effective leaders. The leaders who make the most impact who we have worked with excel at wanting to understand and encourage others to share and challenge. They use phrases such as:
- That’s interesting – what makes you say that?
- Here’s my perspective but I would love to hear others.
- How else could we look at this?
- What are we not considering?
- Have we considered all possible angles on this?
DO
Here are eight ways to develop a balanced perspective:
- Take into account everybody’s perspective more regularly when considering decisions or plans. Be sure to ask ‘Have we considered alternatives, the views of customers, employees, managers and all other stakeholders?’
- Review your own world view, with reference to the table above.
- Analyse which of your views work well for you.
- Analyse what views might be holding you or others back.
- Identify what you can do to adapt.
- Ask a peer for some feedback about where your perspectives are adding value as a leader and where they might be holding you or the wider team back. Plan how to develop.
- Find someone who holds very different views from your own – you’ll know who they are and you probably don’t see eye to eye very often. Ask if you can buy them a coffee occasionally. Chat, be open and learn.
- Immediately start to encourage a wide range of your team and peers to be involved in key decisions and discussions.
ASK YOURSELF
- What myths from my past am I holding on to that are no longer true to the way I see the world now?
- Who are my closest friends? What do I notice?
- If I could change one view I hold about other people, what would that be?
- What people do I find it more difficult to relate to or build rapport with? What are the reasons for that?
- To what extent do I think that I am capable of changing some fundamental beliefs I currently hold as true?