Unleashing the Inner Potential

Leadership Quantum, a UK- based learning and development organisation focussed on leadership development and out-of-the-box thinking and problem solving have partnered with Architects Hub Qatar to offer a leadership innovation programme to the architectural professionals in Qatar. This highly regarded workshop is committed to achieving shared sustainable transformation.

SCALE talks to Richard Kemp, the CEO of Leadership Quantum who has 35 years of international experience in organisational transformation. He tells us how architects can benefit by taking on leadership roles and use it to unleash their inherent potential. The key takeaway that Kemp passes on to us is simple yet resoundingly true, “The more we as architects and leaders listen to each other, the more value we reflect back into the world.”

Tell us about the intent behind this inspirational talk?

The workshop focuses on helping individuals identify different aspects of their own authentic leadership style. This catalyses realisation about inherent strengths and weaknesses and how to best utilise these in a team or organisational context. In an hour most participants say they come to realise more about themselves and their colleagues than they perhaps normally do in a year or so. The aim is to uncover as much inherent leadership potential as possible for the benefit of all – and to grow the business as fast and as profitably as possible.

How will it help architects to do their jobs well in this world of narcissism? How can leadership help foster creativity in your firm?

Creativity is an aspect of leadership as are innovation and entrepreneurship. The key here is to understand that none of these leadership traits are a solo, ego-driven affair but rather a collaborative, team-driven capability that shares thinking, inspiration and capability. In the world of architecture, the trick is to put the client at the centre of all this so that everything reflects back to the client, the values and needs driving their sense of vision and value. Indeed, the very best outcome is to have the client step into the team dynamic so that he or she feels part of the collaborative, co-creative capability such that no one else can come between you and the client, no matter what else may be going on in the market around you.  Again, the idea here is to lock in sustainable competitive advantage for the business through effective leadership. This is the secret to truly great, cutting-edge, profitable and scalable business leadership.

Tell us through examples of architects who according to you have been great leaders too as well as inspirational architects.

I think perhaps the truly great architects have been those who help new communities and new designs for living arise out of calamity. Sir Christopher Wren’s rebuilding of London after the Great Fire is an example of this. There is something in the architect as civic re-builder that resonates across the centuries because the new that comes out of the ashes is somehow grounded in a deeper reality, a shared memory of what worked and what did not in what went before. There is something in the process of reconstruction after destruction that creates a profoundly rooted community experience that leads to civic pride and communal expression in a way that is absent in cities that are planned to express national ambition or some concept of ideal living. It will be interesting to see how the reconstruction of Notre Dame in Paris influences or leads ideas about how the new can juxtapose with the old in ways that deliver hope and aspiration appropriate to our own times of ever accelerating volatility and debate about cultural identity, personal expression and the iconic landmarks that somehow help lead us through all this complexity.

What according to you is the one skill that an architect or any leader should have in abundance to make his organisation go beyond its capability.

The more an architect listens to those around him or herself, the more aware they become of other’s needs and responses to the spaces they inhabit, use and share. Understanding of others is the absolute key to effective leadership. The more we as architects and leaders listen to each other, the more value we reflect back into the world. We need to lead ourselves before we can lead others.

The Leadership Innovation Workshop will be conducted by Richard Kemp in Doha on April 27, 2019 at the French Olive, Al Sadd.

For registration enquires, please contact Architects Hub @+97466727524, or email admin@architectshub.com.

Cultural Pass members get a 50% off for the full day workshop.