What is the biggest difference between Formula 1 drivers and business leaders?

Type the words “top leadership skills” into the search engine of your choice and you’ll get an endless list of lists. 

I was working with a senior leader who was promoted and suddenly found himself overseeing one of his companies’ largest strategic divisions. The role involved managing more than 3,000 people in multiple functions and taking full ownership of P&L. 

I recently read that amateur golfers like me should spend about three hours per week on the practice range trying to refine our games.

Video discussion with John Dale, Global Energy Practice Lead and Delores (Dee) Conway, Senior Principal

Video discussion with John Dale, Global Energy Practice Lead and Alycia Diggs-Chavis, Executive and Team Coach

Video discussion with John Dale, Global Energy Practice Lead and Brian Cole, Ph.D., Senior Principal

If you checked out the first two posts in our series on leading decarbonization/net-zero work, then you’ve been ramping up your own influence skills and verifying how to assess change in your organization. Still, you know it will take a constellation of effort across teams to make and keep progress steady.

To maximize the value of moments spent with other leaders and colleagues, dedicate some time to planning out how you’ll approach them as stakeholders and prepare them to talk about, implement, and support change consistently. When you put objectives and challenges in your own words, and help others to do so too, everyone stays on the same page – especially when it’s time to problem-solve quickly.

This is a Video discussion with John Dale, Global Energy Practice Lead and Krystyna Riley, Strategic Accounts Leader

If you’re leading a decarbonization/net-zero initiative, then you’re utilizing influence skills all the time. So, how can you confirm whether your efforts are paying off? When an overall transformation is both unprecedented and long-term, and the teams involved are variable, it’s hard to know where to look for a sign that everyone’s on board.

Video discussion with John Dale, Global Energy Practice Lead and Kacie Linegar, Business Transformation Expert

When leading an organization through the interconnected changes that are crucial to decarbonization/net-zero, it’s common to face resistance, confusion, or distraction from your workforce. Still, you need to sustain a sense of urgency and high performance. 

To keep your teams on track, here’s something you can do immediately and professionally: influence your key stakeholders. Moreover, make a habit of influencing them in subtle, convincing, and genuine ways – ones that are authentically yours.

Imagine this scene: Fade into a senior leadership team meeting, in progress:

"Wait, wait, wait! Didn't we already decide that we were moving forward with the design?" asked Heather.

Stefano jumped in, "I thought we agreed on what we were going to do, but we still need to talk through how we're going to do it."

"I remember having a conversation about it but not making a decision," replied Nanda.

"What are you talking about?" quipped Millie.

Sadly, this type of exchange happens too often within leadership teams*.