Leadership for change in the new workplace
Change and success
Change Drivers
Change today is mostly driven by technology, information and people. The computer has metamorphosed from the gigantic ENIAC into a small but powerful tool. As Moore's law says, computing power contained in a single microchip doubles every two years. The corollary to the way is, "As computing power doubles, cost decreases to half as much."
Someone observed that there's more information produced in the last 30 years than in the past 5,000 years of mankind's existence. While technology and information truly drive change, the main driver of change is people. People create technology and information. Computers don't create better computers - at least not yet. People blog and push the number of web sites into the billions. People are the source of the need, desire and AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF ongoing and emerging changes in the business of doing business, it is truly insane to expect different results by doing the same things over and over. That's paraphrasing Albert Einstein who defined Insanity. Planned change, not just change, is imperative if one wishes to achieve and maintain lasting business leadership and career success.
Actually, almost everybody hates change. When you change how you do things, you take extra effort to be as productive as with your old ways. But if you stick with more of the same, your chances of career or business success are lesser. Your ability to succeed depends NOT on doing well what you've been doing in the past. Success in the future depends on CHANGING quickly so you can do what needs to be done in the future. The sad thing is that the future is here.
Why are changes happening? Simple. The entire world is changing and is forcing you to change. Due to greater interconnectivity, change in other parts of the world is causing change wherever you are. Yes, Virginia, there are so-called change drivers. market for change. Customers raise the bar as they demand for higher quality and faster service at lesser cost.
Like it or not, change is here to stay. The magnitude and rate of change will continue to increase over time. Whatever you do, wherever you are, change is your business. You simply have to deal with change, or change will deal you a losing hand in a game you can't win. If you believe the theme song of the comedy series M*A*S*H, "suicide is painless; it brings out many changes…" It never said that change is painless or trouble-free.
Greatest assets
I hear many managers and businessmen say this often, and I almost believed them, "People are our greatest assets." I don't think so - it is leadership!
Dr. Robert Barner wrote in Bench Strength,"… it's important to ensure that the leadership talent strategy that you design fully exploits the opportunities offered up by your organizational playing field…. It also requires that you know how to make an accurate assessment of your leadership talent capability - the extent to which you have in place the leadership talent needed to successfully execute against your organization's goals."
Many companies today are not prepared to capture and develop the leadership talent needed for business success. Internal sourcing, development and succession plans are not enough. In the next few years, leadership challenges will become greater. Despite their longer life spans, Baby Boomer retirements will reduce availability of trained and tested leaders in many organizations by at least 15%. Gen X'ers will need more development and exposure to global business before they can take over top positions, especially in Asia.
Critical issues
Today's leaders who are ambitious to succeed in the highly competitive world of business must begin to find conclusive answers to the following questions: How are new technologies creating opportunities that can let me build and grow my business? Where is new technology attacking my vulnerabilities that could obliterate my business? How does new technology impact my ability to manage the increasing complexity of making ambitious specialists from disparate disciplines work together for better synergy in creating customer value?
Market issues seek even deeper soul-searching for deliberate solutions. Take these questions: What new approaches must we develop so that our business development can boost our growth, market share and revenues? What new approaches are needed to implement our marketing strategies? What innovations in products, processes and people will leap frog our organization ahead of competition?
Corporate structure poses more challenging issues that need creative solutions. How should we restructure our organization to allow us to compete globally? How shall we enhance our networks to take advantage of opportunities without having to invest heavily in infrastructure and people? What new corporate culture can best allow our people to adopt a global mindset for success?
Beyond traditional
Dr. D. Quinn Mills, professor at Harvard Business School, doesn't believe that traditional approaches can address these critical issues. He observed rightly that the new economy is alive with opportunities that even the market leaders today have not fully exploited.
Exploiting the potential of organizations and people will require going beyond the traditional. Here's how.
Traditionally, leaders focus on developing a talent-laden organization, to the point of poaching great talents from competitors. Instead of increasing the depth and breadth of an organization, the more successful leaders will create networks of partners that can allow them to apply resources from a variety of companies that will create customer value in their behalf.
Instead of ensuring employee satisfaction, creative leaders will energize their companies, including their networks in the whole value chain, ensuring alignment so that the whole network runs like a well-oiled machine in delivering customer value.
Instead of expanding operations for global presence, successful leaders will focus on global value creation, ensuring viable brand equity and quality even as operations are done by trusted local business allies.
Instead of the conventional strategic planning that's driven from the top, visionary leaders bring more speed into their planning and allow decentralized planning at all levels of the organization.
New economy
In the new economy, there are new sources of wealth—ideas, information and relationships. Physical assets are not the only source of wealth. Speed matters, perhaps even more than size. In business and careers, you don't have the luxury of time or complete information before you must decide.
You also don't have to own or make everything to conduct your business. Your options are make, buy or borrow, not just material but also human resources. Analyze your value chain. Identify your niche, where you are the premier provider of a specific competence. Protect that niche with your life. Identify other organizations that have the distinct capability to become the premier provider of complementary competencies that you need to succeed in your business. Create strategic alliances with these other premier providers in your value chain. Work hard at sustaining relationships with your network of partners.
That's how the new economy works! It's irreverent to the good, old ways. Life now is defined by where we stand with respect to the Internet. People talk and chat online - even with the person sitting at the next cubicle. Offline means they stand up and speak face to face. Soon there'll be a new procedure in heaven. You can't enter the pearly gates without the right user name and password.
So, if you want to get something you haven't got, do what you haven't done.
(Ernie serves in various capacities at the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP)and the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) and other professional and non-governmental organizations (NGO's). In 2011, he was given recognition as Diplomate in People Management (DPM) and voted "Best Newspaper Columnist of the Year" (for his Sunday Inquirer column) by PMAP in 2011 and 2012. He was PMAP President in 1999 and is Executive Director of PMAP HRM Foundation, Inc. in 2012. He is the President and CEO of EC Business Solutions and Career Center, a human resource consulting firm. His new books, "Life's Big Lessons" and "Life's Big Lies" are now available at book stores. He can be reached at ernie_cecilia@yahoo.com)