As European economies struggle to hold their heads above the water, political and business leaders struggle to find the Holy Grail that will give them the competitive advantage to see their economies grow. Lack of strong transformational leadership, confusing and contradictory prescriptions from the ECB and the IMF, as well as mindsets of both political and trade union leaders imbued with certain regressive elements of national and organisational culture are a few of the obstacles to healthy economic growth.

Competitiveness is affected by various elements that are often discussed in forums where political and business leaders try to chart the way ahead for the economy. Competitive advantage is ‘anything that a company or country has, or does better, that customers value but the competition cannot match’. In the past, and to a lesser extent today, we used low cost to differentiate our products and services. With our economy becoming more service oriented, our business leaders are realising that they need to change the formula and are concentrating on providing a high quality service through a workforce that is more skilled and has the right attitude to work.

This is where we need to understand how our national and organisational cultures are influencing our competitiveness. Unless we identify the negative cultural traits that are weakening our competitiveness we will struggle to achieve sustainable economic growth to bridge the prosperity gap that still exists with the more advanced EU countries.

This will demand strong transformational leadership at the political and business level to shake us out of the complacency that can only make us laggards in the competiveness race.

Put simply, culture refers to the prevailing norms and values which guide the way people behave in a society or in an organisation. The culture of an organisation is derived from its aims and purpose, its past, its present and its current ways of managing its people and resources. National culture is made up of the societal values and belief system of a country and is influenced by several factors including the way political leaders treat the people they represent.

Business and national values and beliefs are not explicit and yet people take them for granted and are upset when transformational leaders challenge them. It is this ‘taken-for-granted attitude’ that is a major risk to our improved competitiveness. With our economy being so open, we need to challenge this attitude if we are to beat our competitors, some of whom have already made great progress in challenging their own taken-for-granted attitudes.

I have often commented on the toxicity of the culture of dependence and entitlement that is so prevalent in certain sections of our society. I see evidence of these negative elements almost on a daily basis and struggle to convince others of how debilitating these elements are on our ability to stimulate our economy. Our political, trade union and business leaders need to make it their mission to transform the way that some workers perceive their rights and obligations in the workplace.

Creativity is a skill that our own business and political leaders need to master

We often consider creativity as one of the key success factors that can make us more competitive. Yet most do not understand how we can become more creative as the concept can be rather nebulous unless it is linked to particular skills and attitudes that enable people to be more productive.

Creativity is a skill that our own business and political leaders need to master. Creative leaders have “a higher level of trust and a lower level of fear, fostering risk taking and experimentation”. They take more personal responsibility to deliver cultural change in the country or the organisation that they lead and hold themselves accountable to the results they achieve. Yet many leaders argue, “well, we are not doing so badly when compared with some of our competitors so it is best not to upset people with too much change”.

This is a misconception often built on self-delusion and complacency. Transformational leaders do not wait for a crisis to happen to bring about the changes that are needed to achieve the competitive advantage that they need to make their country or business more successful. They challenge the status quo in those areas that may be hindering economic growth.

Malta needs a generation of transformational leaders that instil the values and norms that will help our economy prosper, our business organisation flourish, and make our workers more conscious of their responsibilities – rather than take their rights for granted.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com