A good deal is being written describing the "new normal". There is no need to speculate. We are already living the new normal:
Ongoing disruption
A need for a different kind of leader
The challenge of implementing emerging technology
Recalibrating the organisation's clock speed to a marketplace ever-demanding of shorter lead times
Add:
Complexity
Uncertainty
The challenge of a millennium workforce
Gig employment
Fractures in international relations
The existential threat we, in passing, refer to as "the environment"
A severe shortage of top talent
You are starting to describe the world not as it will be, but where we are NOW!
The challenge we face isn't simply about skills and capability. The disruptive, tech-driven, speed-oriented world we have created demands a very different way to think about what it means to be an organisation:
Ideas-driven
Agile, and
Built to learn faster than future competition.
"Today is the fastest things have ever been and the slowest they will ever be." - John Burdett, Leadership Advisor to TRANSEARCH International
Coming Down the Mountain: Coming Out Of This Crisis Stronger
Posted
Breakthrough technology, uncertainty and the unprecedented and ever-increasing speed of change demand an organisation that is a fit for the challenges of the 21st century. We are describing not just a better, but a very different kind of way to operate. An organisation built to change; one where disruption, agility and speed of learning dominate the leadership conversation.
Which brings us to the COVID-19 crisis. A crisis has three stages. Stage one: acceptance. Stage two: survival. Stage three: growth. And the winners will be? Those who come out of this crisis stronger.
Amid the veritable avalanche of "me too" advice on how to get through this crisis it is easy to overlook two central questions:
"How will your business come out of this stronger?"
"As a leader, how will you personally come out of this stronger?"
"Part One: Coming Down the Mountain" looks at how to come out of this crisis stronger:
The Three Stages of Crisis
Letting Go of Our Past
Following a Script From a Different Century
The New Normal
Coming Down the Mountain
Why Culture Matters
Next Steps
Appendix one: 3 X 3: Crisis, Culture and Change
Mindset Assessment: Will You come Out of This Crisis Stronger?
"Leadership: Moving Beyond The Crisis" is a complementary book series, specifically aimed at enhancing how leaders respond to times of crisis.
The books cover concepts such as how to come out of this crisis stronger, culture, leadership agility and learning, what makes great teams. Also included are essential skills to enable us to start having conversations about moving forward while taking appropriate actions.
Part One, Coming Down the Mountain, looks at how to come out of this crisis stronger:
The Three Stages of Crisis
Letting Go of Our Past
Following a Script From a Different Century
The New Normal
Coming Down the Mountain
Why Culture Matters
Next Steps
Appendix one: 3 X 3: Crisis, Culture and Change
Mindset Assessment: Will You come Out of This Crisis Stronger?
The Culture Conversation
Recognising, as we move forward, how important organisation culture is, Part Two outlines the Culture Conversation:
The Culture Carriers
Look, Listen, Learn
The Building Blocks
Culture Is A System
Is the Organisation Managing Its Culture?
What Makes the Business Special?
One Culture or Many?
Measurement
Strategy Versus Culture
A Team of Teams
Without Leadership You Ain't Got Much
The Orxestra Change Model
Culture Assessment
Leadership, Learning and Agility: The Way Of The Dolphin
Part Three explores the need for leadership agility and what that implies: Leadership Agility and Learning - The Way of the Dolphin:
Agility is a Way to Think
Bass and the Shark
Agility and Speed of Learning
The Way of the Dolphin
Conclusion
Assessment: How Good a Coach Are You?
Great Organisations Are Built Around Great Teams
Drawing on the reality that tomorrow's organisation will be a team of teams, Part Four examines what it means to be an outstanding team - Great Organisations Are Built Around Great Teams:
Who We Were is Who We Are
It's All About Culture
Organisational Lessons from Nature
The Organisation of Tomorrow
Building a Great Team
Team Assessment
When the Trees Get Bigger and the Forest Gets Deeper - It's Time To Sharpen Your Saw
Part Five moves beyond leadership as a philosophy and drills down into essential skills - When the Trees Get Bigger and the Forest Gets Deeper, It's Time to Sharpen Your Saw:
Are You The Leader They Need?
Assessing Your Organisation's Leadership Balance
If Ever There Was a Time to Listen - It’s Now
The Listening Tree
To Lead Is To Care
50 Ways To Say You Care - In a Covid World
If You Are Not Living Your Own Story, You Are Living Someone Else's
Resilience Assessment
Download your complementary copy of "Leadership: Moving Beyond The Crisis" from TRANSEARCH Downloads.
Companies that are winning the war for talent are providing meaning, value and purpose to their teams and their stakeholders. John Ryan, US Regional Vice President for TRANSEARCH International, contributes his valuable expertise to this insightful article by AESC.
"Talent will make choices that reflect their values."
"In some regional markets and in some industries, unemployment isn't 3%. It's 2%. It's that tight. So there is a war for talent, and talent cares where it works and it cares about how it's treated."
"Individuals who make a career transition care quite a bit about an employer's brand. Some of the things that people look for include paternity leave, work hour flexibility, the ability to work remotely or work around children's sporting and school events. People will ask us whether the company promotes all individuals, regardless of gender, ethnicity and so forth."
"I do a lot of recruiting in renewable energy. There are a lot of companies, for example, Google, that are really driving a clean energy, carbon neutral energy strategy, and it comes from the top. The people who run Google actually care about sustainability. It's not an economic decision, but an ethical and authentic decision to try to be carbon neutral. It's Google, and who doesn't want to work at Google? But that's the kind of thing that makes a company like Google an employer of choice, if somebody has options. And top talent always has options."
"Executives look very carefully and very intently at the employer brand of the company. If the company has a brand for treating its employees well, adding in special amenities like onsite daycare, flex hours, working from home, paternity leave, and some other things that are family friendly, these things really do become part of the brand of the company. And that might separate a company like Patagonia or Nike from a Merrill Lynch or GE. With successively younger generations, there is also a rising demand with respect to social responsibility."
"It's also easier now to leave a toxic culture or a brand people don't believe in. It's harder to hold onto really talented people. If you're not treating them well, and if there are hypocritical elements in your culture that they can't stomach, people will just leave."
Karen Greenbaum, CEO of the AESC, identifies 4 key ingredients for an organisational culture that will thrive in a world different to what we have been accustomed to.
What does 'trusted advisor' mean and why does receiving the services of a trusted adviser matter? Ulrich F. Ackermann contributes his insights and experiences to Executive Talent magazine by the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants.
The Bedford Consulting Group explores the leadership styles of six CEOs with 99% approval ratings to uncover what they're doing right and how to implement these strategies in your own organisation to drive culture change and to attract and retain top talent
