How to become an ambidextrous leader

Achieving the dual goals of making your current business more effective and efficient while developing new revenue streams for the future is a challenge for leaders across all organizations. In part one, we talked about the five dimensions of ambidextrous leadership. Most leaders display ambidexterity in some dimensions, but only 10% manage it in all five. You can develop ambidexterity – it starts with self-awareness about your cognitive and behavioral style.

Where to start

We suggest you obtain 360-degree behavioral feedback for each of the five dimensions, and the behaviors associated with each, to provide a list of opportunities for you to become more ambidextrous.

Next, you need to reflect on the feedback and your behavior patterns.

Are you perceived as not being ambidextrous simply because you have operated in an environment where there was no opportunity to highlight such behaviors? Or is it linked to your personal style? Do you not enjoy the uncertainty associated with big transformations or experimentation? Or do you lack the underlying abilities to engage in the opposing behaviors listed above? 

Once you have completed this analysis, take action. You may need to change your behavior, or it may simply be a factor of your environment. A shift from a deep operational role to one squarely focused on transformation will allow others to see your true skills and allow you to exercise your “transformational muscle”.