How Identity Play Can Transform Leadership in Changing Environments

At some point in your career, you may be in a rut, relying on outdated leadership approaches ill-suited to the emergent challenges and dynamics you encounter in your organizations and industries. In other cases, a job change may usher you into an unfamiliar organizational environment or industry, leaving you to rapidly develop the set of competencies you need for success in your new role.

These scenarios will require you to adjust to new cultural norms, decision-making processes and operational dynamics — often with little onboarding or developmental support. The failure rate for leaders attempting to rise to new challenges like these is surprisingly high — as much as 40-50% in certain industries.

If this sounds familiar to you, you are not alone. DDI’s Global Leadership forecast, based on surveys of 1,827 human resource professionals and 13,695 leaders from 1,556 organizations worldwide, reports that only 12% of leaders rate themselves as being effective in five critical leadership competencies surveyed. Only 29% of respondents reported that their companies train for these critical skills. Meanwhile, SHRM’s Workplace Learning and Development Trends report indicated that 55% of those surveyed believe they need additional training to perform effectively, and 75% of respondents felt that the type and amount of training they want is not what they receive.

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 immense. Fortunately, there may be a solution that does not require completely revamping your organization’s learning and development, investing in a formal degree program or even getting another certificate. That solution is: Play.

I am, of course, not referring to just any kind of play but “identity play,” 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 finetune those that suit your new environment and challenges.

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Embracing identity play for leadership development

The concept of identity play offers a dynamic and flexible solution for leaders looking to grow. Unlike identity work, which involves conforming to current expectations, identity play is about experimentation—trying on new identities and exploring potential 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 identity play comes from Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. In his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Horowitz explains how leaders must explore different aspects of their identity to adapt to challenges. Horowitz himself engaged in identity play by balancing two leadership identities: a strategic thinker and a process-oriented operator. This experimentation allowed him to navigate complex decisions while ensuring 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 adjusting accordingly.

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Five steps to incorporate identity play

1. Create safe spaces for experimentation: Set up a safe space for experimentation, such as a special project, team exercise or workshop. The focus should be on trying new approaches rather than achieving immediate success. As the leader, model this by taking on new challenges yourself in these zones.

2. Experiment with new leadership roles: Identify one leadership behavior you want to experiment with. This behavior should fall outside your default leadership approach. For example, if you’re typically a hands-on manager, try stepping back to allow your team more autonomy. If you usually take a reserved, analytical approach, try leading with more emotional engagement in certain scenarios. Reflect on what works and what doesn’t, but allow yourself the flexibility to try again in different settings.

3. Seek out diverse role models: Rather than sticking to one leadership archetype, explore different role models from various 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 organization.

4. Reframe failure as learning: Adopt the viewpoint that failure is an opportunity to learn rather than something to avoid. Ibarra observed that leaders who adopt this kind of “learning mode” rather than focusing solely on performance tend to be more successful in the long term.

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’ll craft a 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 but expanding your leadership toolkit. By experimenting with different aspects of your leadership identity, you’ll become more adaptable, authentic and capable of navigating the complex demands you encounter in the workplace.