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At some point in your career, you may be in a mess, leaning on it outdated leadership inappropriate approaches to the emerging challenges and dynamics you encounter in your organizations and industries. In other cases, a job change can take you into the unknown the organizational environment or industry, letting you quickly develop the skill set you need to succeed in your new role.
These scenarios will require you to adapt to new cultural norms, decision-making processes and operational dynamics – often with little support or development support. The failure rate for leaders who try to take on new challenges like these is surprisingly high – as high as 40-50% in certain industries.
If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. DDI Global Leadership Forecastbased on surveys of 1,827 HR professionals and 13,695 executives from 1,556 organizations worldwide, reports that only 12% of executives rate themselves as effective in the five critical leadership competencies surveyed. Only 29% of respondents reported that their companies provide training for these critical skills. Meanwhile, SHRM's Workplace Learning and Development Trends Report showed that 55% of respondents believe they need additional training to perform effectively, and 75% of respondents feel that the type and amount of training they want is not what they are getting.
These statistics reveal a significant gap when it comes to leaders getting the support they need to perform effectively. When these gaps persist, the impacts on their careers, staff and organizations can be huge. Fortunately, there may be a solution that doesn't require completely revamping your organization's learning and development, investing in a formal degree program, or even getting another certification. That solution is: Play.
Of course I'm not referring to every kind of game, but “identity game“, a topic explored extensively by renowned leadership expert Herminia Ibarra, who has served on the faculties of London Business School, INSEAD and Harvard Business School. She describes identity play as experimenting with new behaviors and approaches in an effort to discover and adjust them to suit your new environment and challenges.
Related: 22 qualities that make a great leader
Embracing the identity game for leadership development
The identity game concept offers a dynamic and flexible solution for leaders looking to grow. Unlike identity work, which involves conforming to current expectations, identity play is about experimenting—trying on new identities and exploring possible future selves without immediate commitment. By engaging in identity play, leaders can stretch their boundaries and discover innovative ways of leading.
A real-world example of a leader engaging in the identity game comes from Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. In his book The hard thing about the hard thingsHorowitz explains how leaders must explore different aspects of their identity to adapt to challenges. Horowitz himself engaged in the identity game by balancing two leadership identities: a strategic thinker and a process-oriented operator. This experiment allowed him to navigate complex decisions while providing operational clarity by delegating tasks to a COO with complementary strengths. His ability to experiment with these identities helped him lead more effectively by understanding his limitations and adapting accordingly.
Five steps to incorporate identity play
1. Create safe spaces for experimentation: Create a safe space for experimentation, such as a special project, team exercise or workshop. The focus should be on trying new approaches instead of achieving instant success. As a leader, model this by taking on new challenges in these areas.
2. Experiment with new leadership roles: Identify a leadership behavior you want to experiment with. This behavior should be outside of your default leadership approach. For example, if you're usually a hands-on manager, try to step back to give your team more autonomy. If you usually take a reserved, analytical approach, try leading with more emotional commitment in certain scenarios. Reflect on what works and what doesn't, but allow yourself the flexibility to try again in different environments.
3. Look for different role models: Instead of sticking to one leadership archetype, explore different role models from different industries and leadership styles. Borrow elements from each that resonate with you and create your own leadership style through selective emulation. For example, study how different leaders handle crises and experiment with those approaches in your own organization.
4. Reframe failure as a lesson: Take the view that failure is an opportunity to learn and not something to avoid. Ibarra observed that leaders who adopt this type of “learning style” rather than focusing solely on performance tend to be more successful in the long run.
5. Reflect and adapt: Reflect on what you have learned and continue the process of identity play to unlock your leadership potential. After each identity play experiment, reflect using questions such as: What felt authentic? What felt uncomfortable and why? Over time, you will create one leadership style that not only feels true to who you are, but also evolves to meet the needs of your organization and team.
Incorporating identity play into your leadership development can be a game changer. It's not about discarding what works, it's about expanding your leadership toolkit. By experimenting with different aspects of your leadership identity, you will become more adaptable, authentic, and better able to navigate the complex demands you encounter in the workplace.