Survival of the Fittest? Will Your Leaders Survive?

By Steve Newhall

If you were stranded in the wilderness would you survive?  How do you think you would fare in a survival situation? Could you build a shelter from snow? Could you light a fire without matches? Could you forage for food and purify water? The reality is, without adequate survival training and techniques, humans are unlikely to survive more than three hours in extremely high or low temperatures; more than three days without water and more than three weeks without food.

There are well-publicised exceptions to these rules, yet it gets me thinking.  Could there be an analogy for those moving into more senior roles?  Far too often organisations take a ‘survival of the fittest’ approach to managing career transitions, providing little nourishment or skills for those that must adjust to radically different responsibilities and workload.  In real survival training, the best approach is not often to parachute a group of people into the jungle and see who survives. Rather they are taught how to operate in the environment in which they find themselves and what skills to use. So why then do we expect leaders to survive in a new role, with no training and with little support to equip them with the skills needed to make the transition?

We should also not underestimate the power of the mind in determining success or failure.  It has been proven that in a survival situation, those with the strongest will to live, are the most likely to pull through, despite the odds being stacked against them, but in tough terrain, even those with the strongest will power may succumb to the elements eventually.

Fortunately, in the workplace, it isn’t life or death, yet the stress of a new career transition should not be underestimated.  According to a DDI survey, managing a career transition can be more stressful than bereavement or moving home. Many new leaders just aren’t prepared for strain involved or with the need to think differently. However if they are well prepared they have a much greater chance of survival.

So what are the key ingredients for long-term corporate survival when thrown into a new role, with new situations and challenges to deal with? In fact it’s pretty similar to survival training. Leaders need to understand that they are now in unfamiliar territory and that they will need to think differently in order to survive. The skills that they have acquired need to be supplemented with new skills more appropriate to the new environment. And they will need to practice these skills in order to become proficient. They will need to stop doing some of the things they were doing that would now hinder their chances of survival or success.

None of these new ways of thinking and operating come naturally – but they can be taught. We wouldn’t expect to be able to “naturally” survive in the desert or jungle without help, so why do we expect that of our leaders?

Steve Newhall is the Managing Director of Development Dimensions International (DDI) UK.

Comments

[Dan McCarthy]

Steve –
Good post. Right, we need to equip managers with “survival skills” at every key transition point in their careers.
When it comes to “survival of the fittest”, one of the most adaptive creatures on earth is a cockroach. We can do better when it comes to our approach to leadership development.