Recap: Emerging trends in management may sound
unnerving but remember only way to success is by embracing change. Best strategy
to succeed is not to wait for change but to anticipate and adapt change.
(What is this noise about holacracy....)Integrity and passion are foundation. Being able to
motivate and inspire coupled with problem solving complete the Top three. Predictability
is right there with humility sharing honours in our Top 5. (Succeeding
in New world of Management - I)
Businesses exist to meet customer needs. When I
joined GE Capital’s outsourcing business in India, on very first day I saw this
poster displaying GE Cap’s vision – “Satisfying customer needs, profitably.” It
remained with me. Articulation of last word “Profitably” is nothing
but “Business Acumen”. Many times
executives, engineers and management professionals get carried away with first
part Satisfying customer needs (or employee as managers and HRMs) that they
lose sight of “profitably”. Does this feel counter intuitive? In world full of
various scams and frauds filled with greedy corporate stopping at nothing to bolster
their bottomline and bonus payout. Problem is with perception that desire for
profitability is equal to greed. Business Acumen has two components –
understanding how business makes money and being a technologist. In Duncan’s words – “Innovation is the ability to convert ideas into invoices”. Today’s
businesses operate is environment of convergence, a term no longer restricted
to ICE (IT, Communication and electronics). Leaders need to know and understand
technologies and their impact on wider spectrum. Knowing about their own industry
and products are no longer enough. It’s not about being a nerd and knowing the
buzzwords, it’s about understanding how various parts move in sync
and what winds of change can cause turbulence.
You have to be nimble footed; you can’t succeed by
responding to situation but anticipate and be prepared to respond. See and
sense complete environment. What you don’t see, hear, feel and sense becomes
your weakness. God is in detail. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says that one of Steve
Jobs’s salient traits was his ability and desire to envision overarching
strategy while also focusing on the tiniest aspects of design.
Organizations with new structures are becoming
like Silicon Valley with scores of Dot Com start-ups. Each team/committee is
like a start-up. Only difference is that instead of diverse source of capital,
all start-ups are being backed by one organisation. Benjamin Franklin said, “Do
not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
While we talk about what it takes to succeed, let’s remember there will always
be few not crossing the finishing line, failure rate is going to be higher;
ability to survive and bounce back from failure is going to be key
differentiator. Resilience as part
of organisation culture will become more and more important.
“I am not concerned that you have fallen -- I am concerned that you arise.” -
Abraham Lincoln
You can’t, not communicate. However, importance of listening keeps growing. There is flood
of articles on net about how organisations are recognizing need for listening
more to their customers, introverts making better sales people in era of social
media etc. Lead link or team leads have their work cut out with cross
functional, cultural and generational teams minus advantages Managers have in
traditional organisations. Same people playing different roles at different
levels across various teams will put tremendous pressure on their communication
skills. Leaders will need far superior listening skills to meet this challenge.
It’s much more than sensitivity. It is about tolerance. It relates to pluralism,
where more than one idea is accepted. (Diversity: HR Focus and Trends 2014).
For past couple of decades in order to become more diverse and global, organisations
kept pushing sensitivity as remedy and skill. It’s important for us to be sensitive to others, different cultures,
styles etc and act accordingly. But importance doesn’t make it easy or feasible
to execute. However, it is much easier for us to be tolerant of other’s behaviour
at times not in line with our methods, beliefs, culture and styles.
Steve Job’s famous words – Stay hungry, stay foolish.
No matter what organisation structure, generation and technology era, world
will always belong to people who continue
to learn, unlearn and relearn. Path to success and excellence is iterative
and continuous. It’s important to ask yourself which competencies
are going to be most critical in the future for next job or assignment.
Demonstrating those skills in your current job and organisation provides
evidence that you will be successful in next assignment.
Signing off with - "I never
stopped trying to become qualified for the Job." --- Darwin E. Smith, ex
CEO of Kimberly-Clark
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With best regards,
Pankaj
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