Skip to content

12 August, 2022

Subscribe Advertise About Us
  • My Account
  • Register
  • Log In
  • Log Out

Board Agenda

  • Governance
  • Strategy
  • Risk
  • Ethics
  • News
    • Categoriess

      • View All
      • Board Moves
    • News round-up: this week in governance

      PwC fined for BT audit; greenwashing sanctions; cost of living crisis; $300m pay deal; US...

    • Twitter Elon Musk Twitter drops due diligence bombshell

      The high-profile lawsuit brought by Twitter against Elon Musk raises an issue close to all...

    • short selling investors How to beat short selling activism

      What would you do if your company was targeted by short-selling activist investors? Communication is...

  • Insight
    • Categories

      • View all
      • Governance
      • Strategy
      • Risk
      • Ethics
      • Board Expertise
      • finance
      • Technology
    • short selling investors

      How to beat short selling activism

      What would you do if your company was targeted by short-selling activist investors? Communication is...

    • ESG debate

      The ESG debate needs to be more nuanced

      The issues boards face are rarely straightforward, and ESG is no exception. It is time...

    • AI

      How to ensure governance of artificial intelligence (AI)

      An ISO standard issued this year gives guidance to boards on the governance implications of...

  • Comment
      • View all
    • global warming

      ESG is not a ‘distraction’

      We must not let ESG become a scapegoat for the systemic failure of our society...

    • Man with magnifying glass The 30-year itch: time to ditch the UK Corporate Governance Code

      Now that governance has come of age, businesses should be able to innovate within the...

    • notebook on boardroom table The UK needs a code of conduct for company directors

      A formal code of conduct for company directors would signal their willingness to apply high...

  • Interviews
      • View All Interviews
      • Podcasts
      • Webinars
    • Board members discussing ESG Stakeholder pressure increases urgency on ESG

      Experts say pressure to act on ESG is coming from regulators, investors and a new...

    • Empty boardroom Many executives ‘fail to understand the role and value of boards’

      A recent webinar on board effectiveness discussed the mix of competence and courage required from...

    • Businessman looking at stormy sky Disaster or disruption? Crisis management requires clear definitions

      Identifying and categorising crises, and developing a methodology to deal with them, can help boards...

  • Careers
      • View all
      • Selection
      • Board Moves
    • News round-up: this week in governance

      PwC fined for BT audit; greenwashing sanctions; cost of living crisis; $300m pay deal; US...

    • US boards diversity US boards slow diversity with poor retirement policies

      Only 6% of organisations have term limits for directors, and there is reluctance around mandatory...

    • News round-up: this week in governance

      Tory leadership contest; Grant Thornton fined; Norwegian insider dealing; virtual AGMs; US environmental disclosures; diversity...

  • Resource Centre
      • White Paper Downloads
      • Book Reviews
      • Corporate & Advisory Services
    • Stakeholder Engagement: A Roadmap for UK Plc Boards

      This guide aims to provide directors and their colleagues with advice on how to ensure...

    • Board Duties in Ensuring Company Engagement with Affected Stakeholders

      This guidance note gives a brief overview of the role of corporate boards of directors...

    • C-Suite Barometer 2021

      At the end of 2021, Mazars surveyed over 1,000 executives around the world for its...

  • Events
  • Search by topic
    • Governance
    • Strategy
    • Risk
    • Ethics
    • Regulation
    • ESG
    • Investor Relations
    • Selection
    • Board Expertise
    • finance
    • Technology
  • Magazine
      • View All
      • Sustainability Works
      • Tomorrow's Leaders
      • Renumeration Tightrope
      • Governance Ascendance
      • Sense In Sustainability
      • Invisible Enemies

Leadership in wicked times

by Natalia Karelaia and Ludo Van der Heyden

Wicked problems involve complex dynamics and are seemingly impossible to solve effectively. They require new leadership approaches.

man with a torch in a dark forest

Image: Losonsky/Shutterstock

This extraordinary year has brought to the fore an unprecedented number of wicked problems—like Covid-19 or systemic racism. Global warming, developing over decades, arguably is the biggest one. Unlike tame problems which have known solutions, wicked problems generate a fountain of unknowns, involve complex social dynamics that are difficult to comprehend, and are seemingly impossible to solve effectively.

Wicked problems have a terrifying side: winners and losers are selected more by luck and wickedness. Like in the Covid pandemic, racism or poverty, outcomes depend on the hand you are dealt, not only by your own actions. Unfairness reigns supreme in the wicked world.

In our recent working paper, Leading in Wicked Times: A Radical Shift to Inquiry, Humility and Fairness, we examine how certain leaders have confronted the 2020 wickedness. We argue that wicked problems provide an ultimate test of true leadership, as distinct from management, and that the leadership required to meet these challenges is very different from the traditional view on leadership.

Both leadership and management are important. The latter typically requires dealing with known issues and aims to maintain a certain order if not status quo. In contrast, leadership involves taking the initiative in resolving novel problems, which will change the status quo. We suggest that effective leadership in wicked contexts calls for a different set of virtues and practices than those traditionally associated with leadership. These include a good balance of both confidence and humility, decisiveness and fairness, empathy and courage.

Effective leadership in wicked contexts calls for a different set of virtues and practices

We have remarkable examples of leaders dealing effectively with wicked problems: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. These inclusive leaders understand the importance of collective commitment in the face of coronavirus, including a national buy-in for lockdowns or other measures to save lives. Ardern called upon Kiwis to unite and work together as “our team of five million” under lockdown. Cuomo similarly called for individualistic New Yorkers to care for their fellow neighbours.

The media and also academia have noted that most of the exemplary leaders are women. The authors of Leading the Fight Against the Pandemic: Does Gender ‘Really’ Matter? found that outcomes of Covid-19 are systematically better in countries led by women, and suggest that more proactive and better coordinated policy responses are the reason. This begs the question as to whether or not all—men or women—can reproduce this more collaborative and proactive leadership?

We use fair process leadership, our guide for decision-making, to describe the specific leadership behaviours that leaders can enact to effectively deal with wicked problems. Importantly, we stress that this guide provides a leadership roadmap to address wicked problems, and that different behaviours are required at each of the five stages of the method, starting with framing the problem, exploring alternatives, then “taking” a decision, focusing on execution and, very importantly, evaluating progress and learning throughout the leadership journey.

The fair leadership process for taming wicked problems

Phase 1: Frame the problem

This phase is crucial for two obvious reasons: There is nothing worse than the excellent execution of the wrong answer or a great answer to the wrong problem. Such mistakes will only fuel wickedness. The first job is to identify the problem that needs to be fixed. No need to invent fake enemies to motivate the troops. Effective leaders confront the core of the wicked problem right from the beginning. This channels energies in the right direction.

In this phase, ask many questions, prioritise asking over telling and engage very broadly. By asking questions, the leader shares and exercises leadership at the same time, dealing with the true problem while creating collective commitment. Start with questions like:

  • What is the real nature of the problem we are facing?
  • Where are we headed, in the medium and long run, if we do not act now?
  • Who has faced this problem before and has answers?
  • Who will be affected or needed in the solution?

Through the asking of questions, you display both humility and leadership competence. Rather than having underlings blindly agree with everything you say (which spreads the wickedness), have the courage to admit you cannot know everything. Recognise the need for collaboration from many sides, from experts to front-line fighters, as well as those you are responsible for, whose voices all need to be heard by you and your staff.

Phase 2: Explore “better” options

Wicked problems come with tremendous uncertainty. Jumping at the first solution isn’t the best answer. Exploration and generation of several alternative options will lead to a deeper understanding of the problem and to more effective—and credible—solutions. Engage others in creatively searching for better options. It will also greatly increase the understanding of both the problem and its solution, which will be priceless in terms of execution.

Phase 3: Take a decision, explain it thoroughly and set the right expectations

Take a decision amongst the solutions generated by the working groups set in motion. This phrase connotes a stark contrast with the image of the hero leader who makes the decision all by himself (often dragging others down with him). Engage in debates with multiple voices, it will refine your narrative and sharpen your address. Recognise helpful suggestions and difficult critiques. It is the thoroughness of the two previous phases that will provide the confidence needed at this stage.  Temper your explanations with empathy and compassion, and the hard facts of rational analysis. Merkel’s calm and controlled communication lifted her nation and gave German citizens both confidence and hope.

Phase 4: Execute the plan with commitment

Be clear that in the face of considerable uncertainty, the chosen decision must be given the best chance to succeed. The time for debate has passed: Continue to communicate the rationale and the expectations of successful execution with missionary zeal. If this solution isn’t the right one, it won’t be for lack of commitment. And be ready to concede that and move to the next phase. Nothing is more wicked than to persevere in the face of failure.

The ability to hold oneself responsible in front of people, particularly in defeat, is the hallmark of great leaders

Consider masks, for example. Countries that used them early and correctly have generally fared well in the pandemic. Other countries that got it wrong in the spring and pivoted, fared better. Others are still debating, or executing chaotically, and doing poorly. The disciplined execution of a well-prepared decision is key to progress and ultimate victory, if it is indeed followed by a thorough examination of results.

Phase 5: Evaluate the outcomes for progress and learning, adapt and restart the cycle

Wicked problems allow for many mistakes along the road to a solution. Progress reviews compare actual performance with the expectations announced at the time of decision. People wish to hear from you what went well and what did not. And what you learned and are doing about it. Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, evaluates the Covid response every three weeks. The ability to hold oneself responsible in front of people, particularly in defeat, is the hallmark of great leaders. Wicked leaders share their own wickedness and blame others.

The value of the fair process leadership map

Because wicked problems are essentially unfair and complex, effective solutions have to come through some kind of fair process leadership. This simple yet powerful process helps us understand wicked problems and increases our chances of solving them, while generating trust as well as individual and collective commitment. Abraham Lincoln faced the United States’ most wicked problem: slavery and a civil war. He is a remarkable example of continuously seeding trust in people, and learning from experts and one’s mistakes.

Today’s wicked problems require a non-traditional set of leadership virtues: confidence and humility, decisiveness and fairness, and empathy and courage. Politicians who exemplify these elusive virtues are, amongst others, Ardern, Merkel and Whitmer. Their examples show all of us how to find our way to better solutions in wicked times. Fair process leadership will reveal a useful map to guide you to better times.

Natalia Karelaia is an associate professor of decision sciences at INSEAD.

Ludo Van der Heyden is the INSEAD chaired professor of corporate governance and emeritus professor of technology and operations management at INSEAD.

This article first appeared on INSEAD Knowledge and is reproduced with permission. Read the original article.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

Related Posts

  • Crisis leadership and the role of the board
    June 18, 2020
    crisis management

    How boards deal with unexpected crises has been strongly tested in recent months. What does it take for leaders to be effective in the heat of a crisis?

  • The role of the board in times of distress
    April 17, 2020
    Team climbing a mountain using collaborative leadership

    If companies are to survive the coronavirus crisis, corporate boards need to exercise collaborative, proactive leadership.

  • Tech skills in the boardroom and the race for survival
    July 10, 2020
    board thinking creatively about strategy

    Executives and non-executives from a range of backgrounds met to gauge boardroom tech skills, board culture and adapting to the pandemic.

  • MPs to investigate Carillion auditors and board over 'disaster in the making'
    January 26, 2018
    Carillion

    MPs from two House of Commons select committees have launched an investigation into the Carillion collapse, which will also focus on auditors and the actions of the company's board.

For thoughtful journalism, expert insights on corporate governance and an extensive library of reports, guides and tools to help boards and directors navigate the complexities of their roles, subscribe to Board Agenda

communications, coronavirus, crisis management, INSEAD Knowledge, leadership, leadership skills, Ludo Van der Heyden, Natalia Karelaia, strategy

Search


Sign up to our Newsletter

Receive independent news, thoughtful journalism & expert insights about leadership, corporate governance & key boardroom issues straight to your inbox every week.

SIGN UP

Follow Us


 

 

 

 

 

Most Popular

  • Twitter drops due diligence bombshell
  • ESG is not a ‘distraction’
  • Ben & Jerry’s governance tested in court
  • Virtual AGMs fall out of favour
  • The ESG debate needs to be more nuanced

 


 

Featured Partner Profile

Diligent

Diligent

Diligent Corporation, which was founded in 2001, is headquartered in New York, NY with a European HQ in London. Diligent’s modern governance platform empowers leaders and teams at every level of the organisation to digitally transform and create ...

Featured Partner Resources

Board Transformation 2021: Leadership in Transition

There can be little doubt that the global Covid-19...

Digital Boards: How Technology Adoption is Driving Culture Change and Resiliency

Digital tools proved their worth to boards during ...
EQ 2021 AGM Season report

2021 AGM Season: Successful AGMs in the Pandemic and Beyond

With the impacts of Covid-19 hitting just as the s...
Leadership in AI report

Leadership in AI 2021

This report from Board Agenda and Mazars, in assoc...
Creativity in a Crisis: a Boardroom Map for Innovation

Creativity in a Crisis: a Boardroom Map for Innovation

In the uncertain times at the height of any crisis...
Board Directors Guide to D&O Liability Insurance - November 2020 - AIG & Board Agenda

Board Directors' Guide to D&O Liability Insurance

Directors face liability over a range of new threa...
Leadership-in-Risk-Management-Board-Report

Leadership in Risk Management: Board Report

Board Agenda, in association with Mazars and INSEA...
Director's Guide to Internal Investigations

A Director's Guide to Conducting Internal Investigations

An internal investigation must be handled meticulo...

Global Business Complexity Index 2021

The Global Business Complexity Index 2021 provides...

 


 

ADVERTISE – FREE CORPORATE LISTING

FREE - Add your company profile to our Corporate & Advisory Directory.
ADD

ADVERTISE – PROMOTE YOUR REPORTS & WHITEPAPERS

FREE - Add your company profile to our Corporate & Advisory Directory.
Add Resource

Register Free

Register to receive free article views, selected resource downloads, and all the latest news alerts straight to your inbox. Register


  • Editors & Contributors
  • Corporate & Advisory Services
  • Media Marketing Solutions
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Board Director Network
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Sitemap
|