INSIGHTS CHRIS O'REILLY
Can Kiwi leaders learn from Brexit? CEO at Ask Your Team, Chris O’Reilly asks whether we are living with too much command and control in our lives and how we can get out of it.
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re you sick and tired of hearing about Brexit? I am, even though we live thousands of kilometres away and the impact on our lives here in New Zealand seems tangential at most. But it has me thinking. Not about Brexit, specifically, but about some of the forces that got Britain to this point. We’re living in an age where people everywhere, and in every part of their lives, want autonomy. That trend has manifested itself in many Brits wanting out of the European Union, and I’m convinced there are parallels for New Zealand leaders and workplaces. I think it’s time for Kiwi leaders to move on from leadership by command and control and embrace leadership by involvement. In other words, Kiwi leaders need to learn to give up control and let the people who work for them make more decisions.
It’s time for Kiwi leaders to move on from leadership by command and control and embrace leadership by involvement. 32
HUMAN RESOURCES
SUMMER 2019
This is in no way an endorsement of Brexit, so let me explain. Tens of thousands of Kiwis across hundreds of workplaces have now used AskYourTeam, giving us 6.5 million data points and providing remarkable insights into the minds of New Zealand workers, in particular, how they think their bosses are performing. On the whole, the report card for New Zealand leaders is positive, but there are several areas where they could do better. A look at what Kiwi employees say their leaders do well and where they fall short sends a simple but compelling message – our leadership culture is stuck in a 20th century command and control mindset. To get the best out of our 21st century workforce, it needs to catch up.
Positives: getting buy-in to the big picture Kiwi workers have confidence in their leaders’ strategic ability. On the whole, they’re confident their leaders are taking their organisations in the right direction. They’re also happy with the way bosses are articulating the big picture vision to them, and they understand how their work contributes to that big picture.
Could do better: employee involvement in running the business
On the flip side, the number one issue that Ask Your Team has found in the New Zealand data held is the
sense that workers lack sufficient autonomy to make a meaningful contribution to running the business. Our respondents said that they don’t feel their leaders consult them before making changes, and don’t seek input on how to improve the business.
Workers lack sufficient autonomy to make a meaningful contribution to running the business. At the risk of generalising, our typical workplace is still led by an inspirational individual (usually male), who sweeps into the workplace, explains the organisation’s strategy, and then outlines a detailed playbook of what each individual is going to do to make that vision a reality. For the past 100 years, that standard procedure was a sound way to operate. But not anymore.
The rise of autonomy
Just think about it. Many of the significant issues we’re currently grappling with in New Zealand, from the decriminalisation of recreational cannabis to the ‘right to die’, are fundamentally about individuals seeking greater autonomy over their lives. We see it when we switch on the news at night – a lot of the conflicts playing out globally, from Brexit to Catalonia and Hong Kong, fundamental calls for greater autonomy and a reaction against command and control leadership.
