All of a sudden the world is a different place
Financial calamity, fiscal uncertainty and a new U.S. president elect all in the space of a couple of months. Oh and Canada re-elected a Conservative minority. Change is a constant. The future is filled with uncertainty and if there was ever a time for business to adapt, change and do things differently now would be the time.
The global financial system "needs a fundamental reboot". That was the
clearest conclusion from the 700 or so Davos delegates gathered in
Dubai recently to
discuss how to lead us out of the financial wilderness. Everyone agreed that the global crisis, of which the financial
system's meltdown is currently the public face.
"Could finance be a model for
other areas in the sense that no one saw the actual crisis coming?"
asked one speaker. "How long before the world is hit by a pandemic?"
asked another.
One of the most telling comments to come out of the Economist debriefing on the event was "This is the same elite that caused the problem, [and is] not the
group to find the solution."
Already, a new lexicon is emerging for the rebooting phase. This is
a "leadership moment". Global co-ordinated action is needed. The
unthinkable must be thought. Business as usual is no longer an option.
What is needed is "restorative innovation." Solutions
should be transformational, and sustainable. "Silos" are bad. Thinking
holistically, connectedly, outside of our silos, is essential.
A leadership moment is what propelled Barack Obama to his victory in the US Presidential contest. Always leaderful (sorry) he out-shone John McCain whenever they were together and when ever they were apart.
Companies and organizations of any size have the opportunity to step forward and have their own leadership moment.
If you are a leader, now is your time - let's keep the ball rolling.
The subject of leadership is appropriate as we are introducing some changes here ourselves. The first is the new corporate identity at the top of this newsletter. Communica has long been our legal identity and now will become a more prominent face for the work being done through The Best-Half, Strategic Choice International and Direct Outcomes. Thank you to Bob and Michelle Edmonds of Electra Communications for their design skills and advice.
Our focus is and has been for many years, authentic leadership development. We will be sharing more about authentic leadership through this newsletter in the coming months. We hope you will come with us on the adventure!
Warm regards
Marilyn, Gordon and Amanda
|
|
An altered state of readiness
|
|
It's said that men and women define the term "ready" in two
different ways. For men being ready is a finite. I will be ready at 6:00 PM. For women (huge disclaimer here in
order to avoid physical harm) ready is a process. I will be ready sometime that
approximates 6:00 PM.
For organizations readiness takes on a different
connotation. An organization successfully moves to a greater level when it is
ready to do so. This readiness quotient is a critical measurement that CEOs
need to have their finger on as they develop future strategy. For some
organizations readiness involves establishing criteria, measuring results and
confirming findings. For other organizations there needs to be a shift in
culture, a change initiative or a "burning platform" to push readiness to the
forefront (see above for examples!)
I remember going to a presentation with David Foot, author
of Boom Bust and Echo, over 12 years ago. David at that point had been working
on the demographics of the Canadian population for his whole career. He talked
then about the impending shift in Canada's
demographics. The writing was on the wall. But as individuals and organizations
we were just not ready to act. It wasn't keeping us up at night.
Starting the development of what would become the Best-Half
in 2001, I experienced a similar reaction when talking to people. Baby boomer
retirement was not on most people's radar.
A recent "Pulse on Leaders" study by Personnel Decisions
International (PDI) analyzed data on a group of CEOs to find out what keeps
them up at night. The survey asked what were their top three business
challenges. The top three responses were achieving top-line growth, talent
management and meeting financial objectives.
"It's a very telling indication of how crucial talent
management issues are to company success when CEOs mention talent management
challenges over the challenge of meeting financial objectives," said Brian
Davis, Ph.D., executive vice president at PDI. "Today talent is the most
important asset for organizations, and company leaders recognize how essential
addressing talent management issues are to the overall performance and success
of the business."
"The war for talent is over and the talent won," said Carl Camden, CEO of Kelly
Services. "We no longer have a bottomless pool of talent to do the work
that is needed. Even highly successful businesses are scrambling to tap this
limited pool and are adapting the business and workplace to address a new
normal."
So we are already seeing a rapid ramp-up of importance in
talent management that is going to totally redefine the nature of human
resources and the strategic HR function. This significant new role encompassing branding and marketing of a
company to compete in the global talent lottery, ensures for HR practitioners an
exciting future which readies them and the organization for the market trends ahead and beyond their former outdated roles.
|
