Coaching World Issue 20: Industry Trends & Insights | Page 14

But that time never arrived, and it
likely never will. When IBM recently
interviewed 1,500 CEOs of global
organizations across industries, 79
percent forecasted complexity to
rise across the planet and more than
half doubted their ability to manage
it. Perhaps more disheartening
is Gallup’s 2015 poll of managers
across cultures: 65 percent report
being disengaged or actively
disengaged at work.
At its most fundamental, I view
organizational leadership as the
role of shaping the emotional and
physical environment in which people
can show up at their best, make wise
decisions, perform effectively toward
responsible goals and the inspired
mission of the organization, and
flourish by way of work. A leader who
is ill-equipped for complexity and
disengaged from work is more likely
to cultivate the same in people and
workplaces—definitely not a recipe
for thriving.

14

Coaching World

The Well-being
Revolution
The good news? Humankind is not
responding to our interdependent,
always-on world with reactiveness
alone; we’re also becoming more
conscious of our role in creating it.
This age of complexity is prompting
us to ask new questions about what
it means to be human. When we
open our hearts and minds to these
questions, we learn to be more
purposeful, empowered, connected
and whole. We are in the midst of a
revolution where these and other
well-being values are altering how we
live and work.
This well-being revolution is a gamechanger, and the ability to lead
well-being is an increasingly critical
competency for leaders. The real
question is, are leaders ready?

Ready to Lead?
In 2004 my team asked 50 forwardthinking executives and futurists
what qualities and behaviors are
required of leaders committed
to generating well-being, high
performance and sustainability. Our
study yielded a list of 550 leadership
behaviors, broadly categorized, that
are expected of good leaders. The
categories included:
• Taking a big-picture approach to
complex situations
• Demonstrating high integrity in
decisions and commitments
• Forging inclusive and
collaborative relationships with a
broad system of stakeholders
• Being vision-driven
• Producing socially
and environmentally
responsible innovations
• Promoting sustainable growth
• Continually building capabilities
and learning
One particular category stood
out: using well-being as a strategic
leadership resource.
This category called on leaders to
direct an organization’s vision and
values, strategy and brands, culture,
systems, and structures—essentially,
everything that constitutes the
organization—toward uplifting
and enhancing life rather than
unintentionally (or intentionally)
harming it. For most organizations,
that meant a total overhaul.
The executives and futurists
we spoke to made it clear that
organizational revamp could only
succeed if leaders learned how to
use well-being as a strategic resource
personally. Institutions, organizations
and communities are mirrors of
how we think and what we value, so
transforming them necessarily means
transformi