Building an Ambidextrous Leader

Companies today must constantly look backward, attending to the products and processes of the past, while also gazing forward, preparing for the innovations that will define the future. Most leaders are better resourced to respond to paradoxes once the specific tensions have been identified and addressed, they are often ill-prepared for identifying and dealing with them. This mental balancing act is one of the toughest of all managerial challenges–it requires leaders to explore new opportunities even as they work diligently to exploit existing capabilities–and it’s no surprise that few companies do it well.

So, what’s the secret of those who do this well? The answer is: They develop ambidextrous responses to deal with complexity and rapid change at all levels. That is, they know how to recognize and effectively navigate competing demands to stay ahead. They are leaders of the future. These organizations separate their new, exploratory units from their traditional, exploitative ones, allowing them to have different processes, structures, and cultures; at the same time, they maintain tight links across units at the senior executive level. Such “ambidextrous organizations,” allow leaders to pioneer radical or disruptive innovations while also pursuing incremental gains. Of utmost importance to the ambidextrous organization are ambidextrous managers — executives who have the ability to understand and be sensitive to the needs of very different kinds of businesses. They possess the attributes of rigorous cost cutters and free-thinking entrepreneurs while also maintaining the objectivity required to make difficult trade-offs. Building an ambidextrous organization is by no means easy, but the structure itself, combining organizational separation with senior team integration, is not difficult to understand. Given the leadership will to make it happen, any company can become ambidextrous.

Against this back drop the Webinar will help leaders with the following