The Scavenger Mindset: Rethinking Leadership to unlock the untapped talent within, A new book by Clare Richmond, calls for leaders to shake off outdated leadership styles and seek instead a more inclusive, resilient and grass-roots methodology to find success for themselves and their teams. Clare explains further below:
Why we need a leadership revolution if we are to reach our collective potential and address our complex challenges.
Everything we experience about leadership throughout our lives suggest that there are people ‘at the top’ who hold the keys to making the best decisions. That there are such things as right and wrong answers, and they are endowed with an ability to control and plan.
However, comforting that dynamic maybe, it doesn’t survive contact with the reality of life and the increasing complexity we are experiencing.
The big challenge is that we are simply not equipped to deal with complexity. We have been brought up not to expect the unexpected, but to measure success by the achievement of the plans we have made.
The overriding leadership narrative is peppered with promises and targets that often bear little relation to the ability to execute and fulfil them. The result is increasing dysfunction, disconnect and cynicism, simmering frustration and anger.
Here’s the issue. We are facing challenges and opportunities that we have never faced before. What we have done in the past is not relevant to what we need to do now, and some types of expertise can be a hindrance.
In my experience the problem is not uncertainty, but the way we deal with it. Our inability to face uncertainty is the cause our high levels of stress and overwhelm. It is the reason we are making ever increasingly dangerous mistakes. We need to rethink leadership to galvanize our considerable collective talent and make sure we can be as effective, sustainable, and innovative as possible.
The challenge is to help leaders change their perspective. We need to have a healthier mindset to navigate these complex times. One where we are all able to contribute at a higher more meaningful level and with far better outcomes.
Everything I have learnt about leadership, particularly since setting up a grassroots initiative, is that people are capable of far more when the right conditions are created. Achieving this now needs to be the focus of any leader. I have seen that when leaders change their narrative, broaden their perspective, and adapt their role to become more facilitative, the outcomes are dramatic and long lasting.
A scavenger mindset sets out to show leaders that they already have what they need if they can change their perspective and look again, and deeper at what already exists. Scavenger leaders are world class navigators of uncertainty, resourceful, pragmatic, determined and innovative.
It is a mindset that helps ambitious leaders work better with what they already have, be sustainable in their approach and create conditions for real innovation and progress to be achieved. Scavenger focuses on what matters most. Where influence truly lies and on developing a narrative to master uncertainty by building community around our complex challenges. In this way less is wasted, and more is achieved without the stress, anxiety and overwhelm.
In my book The Scavenger Mindset I introduce Scavenger pioneers who, often unexpected people, have become incredible leaders. Beginning, like me, with nothing, they have turned random groups of people into highly effective teams and achieved national, even global impact in a matter of years. They demonstrate that what matters most is not about money and being right, but valuing people, making strong connections, and creating wider ownership.
Scavenger sets out how any leader can replicate these conditions, without the need for big budgets or glossy promises, motivating any group of people to achieve far more with much less. It challenges our assumptions, brings fresh eyes to stubborn problems, and shows how leadership can become more productive, sustainable, and collaborative
Scavenger is a hopeful and ambitious blueprint for leadership in these complex times.
Clare Richmond is the writer of The Scavenger Mindset: Rethinking Leadership to unlock the untapped talent within, you can buy it here.
To find out more about Claire, check out the website www.speakto.co.uk