Introducing the “Non Routine Leader™”

Leadership, as we know it, demands revision. For centuries, the role of leaders has been to guide and direct their teams with efficient routines and strategy through a mostly stable business landscape. But what happens when the landscape is no longer stable, and routine approaches have become a thing of the past?

The Historical context

The 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith predicted that division of labor would lead to the dynamic engine of progress; and that foresight was nothing short of prescient genius. A deep focus on skills, time discipline, and the resulting inventiveness advanced demonstrable growth in Victorian factories throughout the nineteenth century.

But it was the West’s trend toward relative stability during the twentieth century, especially after WWII, that provided the perfect conditions for the proliferation of a more systematic leadership style. From F.W. Taylor to Peter Drucker, legions of management academics and practitioners found ways to improve on management theory. This era of 20th century management would ultimately deliver more than a hundred years of unprecedented wealth and economic achievement for the United States and other economies around the globe, as world GDP per capita quintupled!

A new century

But what happens when the landscape is no longer stable and routine has become a thing of the past? What happens to the management style that was so dependent on consistent routines to deliver profits? According to research, that day has come. Not only is non-routine work surging, it’s rising at its fastest pace in history. In fact, Gartner Research predicts that, by 2022, as many as 1 in 5 people will be spending a majority of their day fulfilling non-routine tasks—unfamiliar and complex challenges for which the individual or team is fully responsible. The same research predicts that 2 out of 3 jobs will be defined as non-routine by 2027. This trajectory is palpable, and many workers are preparing for it, consciously or otherwise, by adopting a career fluid mindset, with expectations to re-skill, up-skill, and poly-skill at unprecedented rates. Some employers are also adapting, evidenced by Amazon’s recent announcement of their Upskilling 2025 initiative, in which it is investing $700M in retraining 110,000 employees. And Amazon is not alone in feeling the shift. Our interviews with Merck, Verizon, Google, and other Fortune 500 organizations have revealed new trends in hiring approaches that emphasize mental agility and the capacity for learning over previous skills and experience. And, while experience and expertise is still desired, it is the non-routine cognitive skills such as judgement, adaptiveness, creativity, communication, rapid learning, and strategic thinking that have begun to surge in demand. Yet, even as employers are adapting in their hiring and training practices for the workforce, a larger, more fundamental question goes unanswered: How does non routine work affect the future of leadership?

The call for a new leadership mindset

The new norm, disrupted by globalization, vertical disintegration, and rapidly changing technology calls into question assumptions about what it means to be an effective leader. The challenges have become more complex and much more rapid, and the evidence points to the fact that only a few leaders are achieving success in this current environment. For instance, although growth is the central mindset of many leaders, only 1 in 9 companies in the world achieves a modest level of sustained, profitable growth over 10 years (Founders Mentality, Zook, Allen, p.1). Further, only 44% of today’s industry leaders have held their position for at least five years, compared to 77% only a half-century ago (BCG, 2018).

The non-routine has created two fundamental pain points — speed and complexity. The dynamics of new technology and processes, as well as cross-discipline work create complexity, while the time to learn, adapt, and go to market has greatly decreased. For example, the half-life of skills has diminished to only 5 years! (John Seely Brown, 2011) The good news is that more than 85% of executives state that their main barriers to growth are not external, but internal. (Bain & Co., 2016) The bad news is that leaders have not determined how to grapple with the unprecedented speed and complexity, placing their organizations, their teams, and even their own individual leadership at risk. The inability to overcome the non routine will cause two out of three companies to stall, be acquired or disappear within the next 15 years. (Bain & Co., 2016)

Today’s business literature is replete with methods that aim to solve the issue of non routine work. But more often than not, they end up exchanging one pain point for another. Many leaders we observe seem to believe there are only two types of tools in their toolbox—Rigid Methods that are too slow and inflexible or Trial and Error that’s too risky. The rigid methods are generally based on a preference or style that does not transfer from one department or organization to another. Complex methods such as Systems Thinking and Business Dynamics only add to the complexity and are typically too slow to allow an organization to respond quickly to today’s fast moving context. Open ended methods, such as Design Thinking or Agile, are the most popular because they use an iterative approach that is adaptive. However, because these methods depend on trial and error, they can also be costly and time consuming for an organization. What we need is a new leadership mindset that offers leaders the means to overcome both speed and complexity to help organizations, teams, and individuals navigate the new non routine.

The rise of the non routine leader

Having recognized the challenge the non routine presents specifically to leaders, ALLOY launched a multi year, mixed method study to research its effects. After years of research and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data, we have observed that a new type of leader has emerged. We call these leaders Non Routine Leaders™, and they are impossible to miss. While others let bogged down by speed, complexity, and the non routine, they overcome it all. They see through complexity and think strategically in the midst of chaos. They think like experts, rapidly framing non routine situations and reframing complex problems. They are focused on future success, as they equip their teams to see through complexity and think like experts themselves. For these reasons, they are regularly recognized for growing their organizations, their teams, and themselves.

We have found that Non Routine Leaders™ are the most robust and adaptive thinkers in business today. For those on the outside looking in, it can appear as though these leaders have a super human intelligence or extraordinary luck. However, neither is the case. The good news is that this leadership approach is not magical. It doesn’t demand genius level intelligence, nor does it depend on fate or luck. In fact, it can be learned, practiced, and intentionally scaled across individuals, teams, and organizations. Our research indicates that three competencies separate Non Routine Leaders™ from the rest, and these competencies are counterintuitive to past approaches to leadership. Simply stated, Non Routine Leaders™ are more effective in non routine situations because they See The Clues, Think in Frames, and Equip their Future.

The 5 habits of the Non Routine Leader™ at a glance

1. Be the Sensemaker: Gain the #1 mindset for leadership effectiveness.

2. Pause for Wonder: TBD

3. See the Clues: Improve your recognition of complex cues and blind spots.

4. Think in FastFrames™: Improve your decision-making in non routine scenarios.

5. Equip their Future: Improve your recognition of complex cues and blind spots.

These habits can also be paradigm shifts for many leaders because they contradict decades of leadership and management training. However, this is precisely why Non Routine Leaders ™ are able to grow their organizations, their teams, and themselves, despite overwhelming speed and complexity.

(For a more thorough review of these habits and Non Routine Leadership™ click here.)