Last week, I presented this slide at the World Class Business Leaders conference. What most participants did not realise: It took me 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 5 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 to understand what I needed to show.
For most of my career, I worked in large organisations and tried to be 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.
In the early years, this worked well. An analytical mind, hard work, and expertise in formal 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦-𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 frameworks helped me make decisions that worked in that context.
🦸 Business was 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 — and I felt 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍. ✔️
With promotions came more responsibility, larger teams, more stakeholder groups, and increasingly 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔: perfect service, quarter-end targets, ambitious timelines, cost pressure, while keeping teams engaged.
🤷♂️ Business became 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐗 — there was no 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 decision anymore. ❌ Only necessary trade-offs, persistent dilemmas, and a progressive energy drain across teams and leaders.
After years of training, reflection, dialogue with inspiring people — and hands-on experimentation with customers — the 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 started to take form.
1st insight:
𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭.
🛝 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 → common sense and informal networks
🔬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 → expertise, rules, standard work
🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 → cross-functional sense-making forums
🧑🚒 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 → clear direction and command & control
🚩 Yet organisations apply 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 systems:
simple topics escalated through functional hierarchy, and complex issues reduced to simplistic, silo-protecting answers.
2nd insight:
𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 — 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬.
🟢 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 – understanding personal needs and behaviours
🟢 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 – seeing interdependencies and impact
🟠 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 – reliably delivering on agreements and standard work
🟠 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 – acting in the spirit of the role in uncertainty
🔵 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 – aligning autonomy around the shared purpose
🔵 𝐂𝐨-𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – resolving tension across critical stakeholder needs.
🔴 𝐄𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 – focusing energy on what matters now
🔴 𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – continuously improving decision-making quality
The HELIBLICK framework reflects what I had to learn the hard way. Not my decision-making changed — but my belief that control was the goal in the first place.
I am grateful to the many people who shaped this journey, especially Danielle IJkema, with whom I co-created the latest version of this 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞.
Together, we have developed a 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 to help leaders navigate uncertainty by making better decisions within it.
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