When I talk to senior executives behind closed doors, I often hear the same story. Life is fine for now, but the rate of change in technology and society is going so fast that it’s getting impossible to keep up. By the time one transformation programme is halfway into implementation, you need to start on the next one. It’s wearing out the people, and doesn’t get the business result. And frankly, only a few people really seem to know where they are going. Or as a leader from a company you know said it: "Today we’re partying on the bus, because we have never made more money. But in our hearts we know that unless we change our ways, the bus will go off the cliff in a few years. Yet no one has a clue where to steer and how to go there." In the book I’m drafting, The Transformation Code, these thoughts feed into my growing conviction that as we experience a second Renaissance, we need to rethink our approach to leadership and corporate transformation. By doing more of what we did yesterday, we won’t get a different result. So far, I’ve identified three major mindset shifts to consider. We need to shift our focus from mere adaptation and compliance to creating the future, inspiring transformation, and fostering a culture of flow. I explore them below. It's work in progress, so let me know what you think! Mindset shift #1: From adapting to creating the future. We've all been fed the management wisdom that “it's not the strongest or the most intelligent of species that survive, but the most adaptable to change”. This is wrong for two reasons. First, because Darwin never actually said this (a common hallucination among management experts). But more importantly, even if he had, he would tell you that adaptability in nature isn’t a conscious choice. It's not like the bees held a management conference to change the shape of their wings. They developed because of accidental mutations, in which some DNA strands survived, and others perished. There was no deliberate strategy. Which is why this misquoted Darwinian principle has become counter-productive in a business context. By adopting a reactive/adaptive stance, as leaders, we put the locus of control outside of your organisation. We let the gods of Silicon Valley set the agenda and speed of change by putting us on a hamster wheel to keep up with new technologies and narratives. Encouraged by experts who make their money by keeping us focused on the ‘next threat’ and promoting the adrenaline infused narrative that we need to “change or die” Yet in contrast to bees, hedgehogs or dodo’s, we’re humans. We’ve got the power of imagination and agency. Da Vinci, The Wright Brothers or Steve Jobs didn’t ‘adapt’ to the future. They imagined the world as they wanted it to be and worked towards it. Humans didn’t start flying because of a mutation. We created the airplane. The paperclip. Penicillin. We used vision to shape, instead of merely adapt. So rather than playing a continuous game of chasing the puck by catching up to the latest trend or technology, we must think about skating to where the puck will be. And taking our time to get ready. 👉 Ask yourself: What should my business look like by 2030, and how can I strategically work backwards from that vision? How can we set our own future than keep running on the hamster wheel of technology? Channel Da Vinci, instead of Darwin? Mindset shift #2: from compliance to transformation If we’re brutally honest, we must admit that yesterday’s management wisdom was all about getting people to do as they are told. In a world of mass production, efficiency relied on having a large group of workers executing the same task in the exact same way, hundreds if not thousands of times a day. No freewheeling. But today, in our digital and knowledge-driven economy, this model is quickly becoming obsolete. Change is simply happening too fast. Where yesterday’s mass production relied on standardisation, today’s ultra-personalised approach requires workers to be creative and take initiative. Also, even if we could impose our will as a ‘leaders’, today’s workers don’t respond well to old-school command and control thinking. So instead of relying on compliance, we need to inspire people to make change happen. Understand their personal values, and storytell a vision (see 1) that is so compelling they want to turn it into reality. Not just because they are told to, but because they think it is time well spent. Because it connects to their beliefs and personal goals. It’s like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." 👉 Ask yourself: How can I turn my vision into a story that resonates so deeply with the team, it makes them yearn for a common future? Inspire them so they want to change our reality. To transform our business, and themselves? Mindset shift #3: from formalism to flow Our processes, measurements and models used to make us masters of the predictable world. Lately we’ve been trying to stay in control of an ever less controllable world by adding more complexity to our organisations. To where the average corporate dashboard looks like NASA mission control.
But in a world where adaptability is key, this formalism can often be more of a hindrance than a help. It gives us the illusion of control, yet limits our ability to do what is right. We use innovation methodologies, yet fail to come up with great ideas. We chase Net Promoter Scores, yet forget to create customer smiles. We create purpose programmes, yet employees are less engaged than ever. Today’s market requires us to manage with the ability of a speedboat, yet we use the controls of an ocean liner. While I’m not advocating to get rid of all the corporate machinery, we need a leadership mindset that shifts from this formalism to creating flow. Simplify processes, remove hurdles, allow for experimentation and mistakes, nurture organic cooperation. Rather than trying to control our environment and people, we must make it easy and empowering for them to achieve the common vision for the business. It’s like the Tao of leadership: Instead of forcing and dictating, we should allow things to happen naturally and effortlessly. Think pull, instead of push. Light the fire and get out of the way. So our teams can make stuff happen. 👉 Ask yourself: how to I make it easy and empowering for my people to work towards our common vision? How do I encourage them to take initiative, experiment and learn in a bold, yet responsible manner? I won’t sugarcoat it—none of this is easy. Adopting a new leadership mindset is hard. Acting on it is even harder. Especially in large organizations with legacy systems, cultures, and habits. But at the risk of sounding like a mindfulness guru, it IS about the journey. Every step is a learning. For yourself, and for your business. So it’s worth taking. Think about it. 💭 Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAlain Thys helps leaders in large organisations drive profit and growth through customer transformation. Archives
March 2024
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2/21/2024
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