Dispelling the perception that South African executives are a “happy-go-lucky bunch”, Grant Thornton’s latest report on business leadership trends reveals that humour and modesty are considered by senior management to be the least important for good leadership.
The business leadership results were drawn from the quarterly International Business Report (IBR) compiled by Grant Thornton that provides a yardstick of global perceptions, trends and attitudes. The Business Leadership IBR data was drawn from 3300 CEOs and other senior executives during September 2013.
“This data mirrors responses from the mining & quarrying and financial services sectors globally, which rate these attributes of humour and modesty equally low in respect of leadership qualities. The dominance of these two industry sectors locally and the weight of responsibility they carry may explain this response,” comments Andrew Hannington, CEO of Grant Thornton Johannesburg.
“The responses from South African executives are generally in line with the global averages, so we are not off the mark but marginally below our compatriots elsewhere.”
Globally, integrity, a positive attitude and communication came out on top as key attributes which sets business leaders apart. The South African executive mindset was best encapsulated in the results that showed 100% of respondents consider integrity as important in a leader, followed by communication (99%), a positive attitude (98%) and confidence (96%).
“This data corresponds to our research and experience in the local market with regard to executives’ attitudes,” says Hannington. “We have a generally high degree of compliance and integrity within our corporate ranks as a result of a more conservative rather than maverick mindset.”
In the global research results, an interesting split emerges in leadership traits such as creativity and intuition which have increased in significance relatively recently. Nine in 10 ASEAN (featuring 10 nations as part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) leaders and 83% of those in Latin America believe creativity is important, compared with just 57% in the EU; while 85% of ASEAN leaders think intuition is important, compared to only 54% in the EU.
South African business executives sit halfway between the ASEAN and EU results, with 66% favouring creativity in a leader, while 73% appreciate intuitive bosses.
Only 45% of South African business leaders rated humour as important (46% voted for modesty), compared to the global average of 49% and 55% respectively. Breaking long-held stereotypes, 59% of German executives rate humour important, which is some way off the log leader India (84%) but still within the top 15 on this measure.
Spanish executives, on the other hand, rated humour the lowest at a mere 26%, followed by Taiwan (30%) and The Netherlands (38%).
Responding to questions on factors that contribute to business executives’ ability to grow their leadership capabilities, local executives’ responses rank the country fourth out of the 44 economies surveyed for mentoring from experienced executives (85%) and fifth for business or personal coaching (70%).
These measures are led by Singapore (94%), Malaysia (92%), and Finland (86%) for mentoring, and Spain (90%), Malaysia (78%), Finland (76%), and Netherlands (72%) for coaching.
That said, only 38% of South African business leaders currently or previously used a coach, with 42% saying they do not consider this to be relevant to the business.
While the use of coaches locally is slightly higher than the global average of 35%, South African attitudes are significantly higher than global responses to the question relating to mentoring from experienced executives in order to grow one’s own leadership capabilities (Mentorship: South Africa 85% versus global at 55%).
Turning to succession plans, nearly half of South African respondents believe their successor will come from within the business (49%), while a quarter say they have not yet considered this. Fifteen percent say this future appointment may come from outside the business from a different sector, while 9% expect this may come from a competitor.
“While there is no hard data to support this, we would like to think that the fairly high expectancy of a promotion from within points to internal talent development programmes, particularly in line with the country’s empowerment objectives,” comments Hannington.
Again, the South African data is pretty much in line with global trends, with the report showing that 43% of executives globally expect internal placements and 28% have not yet considered this question.
“Businesses are often focused on the day-to-day operations of running a successful enterprise, and executives tend to neglect longer-term planning for business continuity,” says Hannington. “Whether you aim to pass the company to the next generation, sell, merge or pursue a public listing, it is vital to lay the foundation for long term growth by ensuring that succession plans are underway and have been well thought through.”
As a whole, the report shows that local executives are holding their own in terms of mindset and building their leadership capabilities.
“In a time of serious economic pressures and concerns, this bodes well for building the economy going forward that should translate into a market geared to competing internationally,” Hannington concludes.