Leaders need to acquire capabilities such as problem solving, transformative leadership, and future orientation to successfully navigate a polycrisis the ongoing, multiple, simultaneous crises increasingly faced by today’s organizations.
Researchers from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) argue that framing crises as individual events with and a start and end time fails to accurately convey the challenges that leaders face today. Instead, the current environment is characterized by what they and other scholars call a polycrisis, which can be conceptualized as a spectrum of interconnected crises that vary in intensity and complexity but never end for as one crisis wanes, another or several others inevitably emerge.
Exploring the question of how leaders respond to this new world of continuous, multiple crises, the CLC researchers analyzed 22 scientific journal articles and book chapters from 22 different, multidisciplinary sources on leadership as well as “grand challenges” and “wicked problems” areas related to polycrisis, a term for which no substantial body of research exists. Their analysis yielded a list of 36 leadership capabilities that, through further analysis, they then grouped into 6 leadership capability themes:
Complex problem solving. A polycrisis requires more sophisticated approaches to thinking through problems. Because leaders are required to effectively respond to competing and conflicting demands, ambidextrous thinking, which involves balancing different interests and elements in a situation without favouring any single element, is particular useful. Critical thinking, evaluating situations or issues without biases or judgement and being open to alternative perspectives, and the holistic, interconnectedness awareness of systems thinking also contribute to a leader’s complex problem-solving capability.
Collaboration and relationships. The scope of a polycrisis cannot be handled without extensive, open, and trusting collaboration. The foundations of such collaboration include communication, transparency, and trustworthiness and reliability. Collaboration is vital to acquire and to subsequently make sense of the diverse knowledge and information needed to respond to a polycrisis.
Transformative leadership. Maintenance leadership, focused on continuing the status quo, is not sufficiently ambitious and proactive to navigate a polycrisis. Successful polycrisis leaders are not only visionary, motivating people to achieve significant change, they are also not afraid to be disruptive. They boldly lead in new and potentially risky directions, using their vision to inspire people to follow them.
Inclusivity and ethics. An environment in which employees feel psychologically safe that is, they are not afraid to disagree, admit mistakes, and put forward unexpected ideas is more likely to elicit the type of innovative thinking and ideas that strengthen an organization’s ability to deal with a polycrisis. Leaders can enable psychological safety by demonstrating authentic appreciation and empathy and promoting equity and justice.
Inner Capabilities. Inner capabilities are the core capabilities of a leader that are most likely to prepare that leader for a polycrisis. The resilience to persevere and the adaptability to deal with an everchanging, unstable context, in addition to visionary thinking, are three vital inner capabilities on which leaders, and their organizations, must depend.
Future orientation. Future orientation is built on three critical capabilities: future thinking, collaborative community leadership, and sustainability. Instead of learning from the past or extending the present to the future thinking leaders envision the future and then focus on today’s choices that will lead to this future. Collaborative community leadership deemphasizes the heroic individual leader paradigm in favour of shared responsibility and decision-making from a diverse group of stakeholders. Finally, practices that promote sustainable growth, local partnerships, and creativity improve the organization’s chances of a sustainable future.
The need for new leadership capabilities leads to a reconsideration of traditional leadership development approaches. The CCL researchers identified four leadership development practices that prepare leaders to navigate the intricate and expansive complexity of a polycrisis.
Shift from episodic to continuous learning. Researchers should integrate leadership development into the flow of the daily work of everyone in the organization rather than constraining leadership development to specific events aimed at specific people. This approach replaces episodic learning with continuous learning. It also places the emphasis on real-time learning that occurs as leaders grapple with the challenges of a polycrisis.
Enable learning in action. Experiential learning, for example through simulations that allow developing leaders to experiment and make mistakes without real-world consequences, is an effective way to develop capabilities for the complex and connected challenges of a polycrisis. Real-world engagement in projects that stretch capabilities and implementing a learning network that facilitates and motivates learning further develop leaders for the challenges ahead.
Prioritize wellbeing and inclusivity to grow organizational resilience. Wellbeing not just in the sense of self-care or caring for one’s health but also in the sense of purpose and autonomy leads to creativity, innovation, and performance, all elements that strengthen organizational resilience. Prioritizing inclusivity, by exposing leaders to new, varied, and often unfamiliar perspectives and viewpoints, puts potential leaders in better position to lead diverse groups, manage diverse sets of stakeholders, and understand, interpret, and synthesize insights and contributions from diverse sources.
Integrate vertical development. Horizontal development involves acquiring new skills and knowledge. Vertical development involves developing leaders’ ability to respond to their environment at different stages. With each successive stage, leaders learn to handle challenges of increasing complexity, balance competing and/or conflicting issues, and make decisions in times of growing uncertainty.
Jean Brittain Leslie’s profile at Center for Creative Leadership
https://cclinnovation.org/team/jean-leslie/
Kelly Simmons’ profile at Center for Creative Leadership
https://www.ccl.org/leadership-experts/kelly-simmons/
Leadership Capabilities for Navigating a Polycrisis. Jean Brittain Leslie and Kelly Simmons. Center for Creative Leadership White Paper (2024).
https://cclinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/leadershipcapabilities.pdf
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