"I've got an opening on my team; do you know of anyone?" How often have you initiated this conversation or been a part of it recently? It's been months since you have done any workforce and succession planning, and unfortunately, it looks like it will be several more months before you get another chance. Work is just too busy. Most leaders struggle to find and develop the ready-now talent they need. But should leaders even bother spending time trying to develop employees and plan for the future, given the turbulence in the labor market and uncertainty in the world? Workforce challenges are nothing new. However, industry experts forecast that your talent challenges will become increasingly severe by 2030. Building a pool of qualified candidates ready to fill newly created or vacated positions can be challenging. But with a few steps, you can disrupt your processes to improve your talent pipeline position. Why Disrupting Your Talent Pipeline Matters You might be thinking to yourself, no one knows the future for sure, so why bother trying to build a pool of ready-now candidates? One of the most significant downfalls of strategic planning in today’s turbulent marketplace is that the process often fails to consider future changes in the environment. But, only relying on short-term planning is gambling with your company’s future. How many job titles exist in your company today that didn’t exist 5-10 years ago? I expect that you will be able to think of more than one. An estimate from the Institute for the Future suggests that up to 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 did not exist in 2019. While this estimate is likely high, given we are only seven years away from 2030, we know that recent changes are profoundly impacting the workforce. Data from LinkedIn reflects a 60% increase in new job titles related to the future of work. The pace of change is only getting faster and having broader impacts on your business. When facilitating workshops on the topic of change, I often ask leaders to think back and recount their company changes on a timeline. Each time I see an increase in the frequency of changes closer to the current date, some of this could be the tendency to weigh recent events more heavily than older events, but even excluding a reasonable error of attribution, leaders will agree there has been an increase. Today this stems from rapid advances in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced materials, and genomics. These changes are driving additional change. The following video from MIT Sloan provides some insight into an explanation for this increase in the pace of change. A standard tool most companies use to identify and develop their talent pipeline for the future is succession planning. The current state of most companies’ succession planning is not good. According to the Corporate Executive Board, organizations fail to identify 50% of their positions with pre-identified successors. Also, executives have the lowest succession plan success rate, filling only 28% of jobs with pre-identified successors. There are likely many contributing factors to these poor results. One core, common, and critical factor impacting most businesses is the variability in the effectiveness of developing employees. Development investments do not always deliver on promised results. A survey of leaders by McKinsey & Co. found that only 25% of thought that training actually improved employee performance. There is a fundamental shift underway within the employee population from traditional company-based employment to a gig economy. Mastercard reported that the size of the gig economy will reach $455 billion, and approximately 50% of the workforce will be freelancing in the US by 2027. Currently, estimates from the Pew Research Center are that 16% to 35% of the U.S. workforce has earned money on a gig platform There are lots of reasons, both internal and external to your business, that may make it seem like you should walk away from planning and managing your talent pipeline. But what you need now is a disruptive change to improve your talent pipeline processes. dis·rupt (verb) 1. drastically alter or destroy the structure of (something). Disruption Step 1: Strategic workforce planning It is time for strategic workforce planning (SWP) to become a formal part of your company’s strategic planning. It is a repeatable, measurable business process that helps execute strategic initiatives in a time-sensitive fashion. The focus of SWP is on roles that most significantly impact the company's strategies. Inputs are both quantitative and qualitative workforce measures from both current and future state perspectives. The outcomes are people strategies embedded into your strategic initiatives. Environmental scanning is a strategic workforce planning process to systematically survey and interpret relevant talent data to identify external opportunities and threats that could influence future decisions. It is similar to a S.W.O.T. analysis. As the world changes, companies must change. It is too easy for workforce plans to get behind and out of sync with the direction of the company without formally embedding strategic workforce planning into the company's strategic planning processes. Disruption Step 2: Strategic foresight and scenario planning Likely, the single most value-added strategic talent planning process in today's complex and ambiguous marketplace is the application of strategic foresight. Industries and the labor market are changing so fast that it is no longer an option for leaders not to be paying attention to the trends that will impact their business and the workforce. Scenario planning is a decision-making tool used in the application of strategic foresight to explore and understand a variety of issues impacting organizations. Since we cannot predict the future, both learning and preparation are essential. The goal is for leadership teams to become more informed by broadening ideas about what multiple futures might bring. Scenario planning involves identifying a specific set of uncertainties and different realities of what might happen in the future. This process helps you keep a pulse on the current state but also an eye on the future. Disruption Step 3: Critical role identification All of the jobs in your company are important. Right? If not, that is another disruption needed. But some jobs are more critical or add more value than others. It is time to take a very thoughtful and structured approach to identify your company’s critical 'few' roles, so you can forecast and focus your talent plans. Critical role identification must go beyond the top of the organizational chart. While executive roles are essential, they may not be critical. When identifying critical roles, it helps to consider each position’s skills value to the customer and company, and skills uniqueness both within the company (bench-strength) and outside the company. The use of a multivariate rating tool with a broad item scale, such as a one to seven-point scale, allows for greater differentiation across roles. Disruption Step 4: Succession planning Succession planning is intended to increase the availability of experienced, capable, and diverse talent, ensuring the right people in the right jobs now and in the future. Depending on how advanced your company's succession planning is, the following are a few potential changes that most companies could benefit from making: Talent management needs to be integrated. Talent acquisition, talent sourcing, and successor identification process activities should be aligned. Sourcing is aware of the external labor market potential, talent acquisition is aware of the current trends, and both can proactively stay connected with passive external candidates that may be able to step into a forecasted succession gap if aligned. Talent calibration and learning and development activities need to shift from competencies and skills to also include specific virtues and experiences necessary for the successor role. Virtues are better predictors of what someone will do, and experiences ensure a higher success rate of identified successors. Talent reviews need to be robust discussions, not confirmation of what is already known. They should take on the same level of rigor as company business plan reviews. When reviewing talent, it is crucial to discuss the buy, build, and bounce needs for talent. Too often, talent reviews are an afterthought or get minimal as compared to business planning discussions. Disruption Step 5: Data-driven decision-making There is a real opportunity for disruption of the talent processes by using data analytics and data-driven decision-making. Leading HR organizations are using descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive people analytics. Studies support that when HR applies people analytics to identify low and high performers' skills and attributes, leaders tend to make unbiased decisions in talent acquisition processes. What if you could mine external sources of data on competencies from benchmarking sites, skills from social networking sites, and talent availability from employment sites? You could match the external data with internal data on the value and internal bench strength from your HR information systems, informing strategic planning with a more accurate and real-time understanding to shape company strategies and tactics. If companies are going to successfully navigate and thrive in a time of continual innovation and change, ultimately, they will need to leverage technology to help us meet the business opportunities created by technology. What is your real talent pipeline challenge? Take up the mantle of change. For this is your time. Winston Churchill References: Al-Hashimi, A., Holding, T., Barcia, J., Benitez, S., Duong, J., Frauenfelder, M., Gorbis, M., Harrles, M., Harrington, P., Rawana, M., Rose, D., Tay, K., and Whitehouse, B. (2019). Future of work: Forecasting emerging technologies' impact on work in the next era of human-machine partnerships. Institute For The Future. Anderson, M., McClain, C., Faverio, M., and Gelles-Watnick, R. (2021). The state of gig work in 2021. Pew Research Center. Fahey, S. (2003). High-impact succession management: From succession planning to strategic executive talent management. Corporate Executive Board. De Smet, A., Mcgurk, M., and Schwartz, E. (2010). Getting more from your training programs. Mckenzie and Company. Krikorian, S. (2020). Fueling the global gig economy: How real-time, card-based disbursements can support a changing workforce. Mastercard. McGreggor, J. (2022). The next in-demand job title: Head of the Future of Work. Forbes Tsekov, P. (2023). How to properly navigate the gig economy and the large pool of IT experts. Forbes. Plamen Tsekov Zielinski, D. (2019). People analytics software is changing the HR game. SHRM HR Magazine.

Periods of excessive stress can have consequences as severe as heart disease. Not just individual well-being and happiness suffer when mental health suffers. The well-documented business impact of a stressed-out workforce is significant. In a recent global study of 14,800 knowledge workers, 49% of leaders and 42% of non-managers struggled with anxiety. Research by Gallup suggests that employees reporting poor mental health are less productive and five times more likely to miss work than those reporting good mental health. Being able to de-stress unlocks improved performance, joy, and health. So what are you to do? There is a lot of discussion and evidence on the broad benefits of exercise, mindfulness, and gratitude. These are key, but here are three surefire ways to de-stress your work (and life). De-Stressing #1: Identifying Your Stressors It's hard to address what is not understood. There is a long and rich history of research into factors with the potential to create stress for leaders. Here is a list of ten everyday workplace stressor s : Role Ambiguity Self-Doubt Organizational Culture Misalignment Expectations Conflict Role Overload Inadequate Resources Work-Life Boundary Mismanagement Stalled Career Isolation Underemployment We each experience the workplace from unique perspectives shaped by our past experiences, current reality, and personality. We also measure stress intensity differently. The common challenge is during periods of excessive stress. At these times, it can be difficult to identify the primary driver of your stress, and leadership assessment s can be a valuable tool for revealing your stressors. De-Stressing #2: Enhancing Self-Awareness Although counterintuitive, after identifying the source of the stress, the next best step you can take to de-stressing your work and life is enhancing self-awareness . When you focus on others and concerns outside your influence, it keeps you from gaining traction. You can make the most progress by working in areas where you already have influence. The last thing a leader needs in today's demanding workplace is someone or something telling them what they already know. The better the quality of the feedback you receive, the better the decisions you can make. Evidence suggests that executive coaching combined with assessments provides deep insights into areas that, with attention, lead to enhanced potential. Evidence also suggests that leaders lacking self-awareness are more likely not to be able to regulate their emotions and behaviors effectively. This contributes to poor physical health, work performance, and social interactions. The importance of self-awareness is not new. However, a recent study of 486 companies demonstrated that the most self-aware leaders populate the best organizations. Poor-performing businesses had 20 percent more leaders with blind spots than high-performing businesses. The medical model can be a helpful analogy for understanding why leaders benefit from assessments to enhance self-awareness. Consider your last visit to the doctor. You weren't going to the doctor to be told what you already knew, but you needed answers or help with something you couldn't answer alone. You were likely going to the doctor as a reaction to something not being right or proactively to uncover something before it became a problem (or possibly because someone you care about told you to go). At the doctor's visit, the assessments likely started with subjective questions, then progressed to more objective measures to pinpoint where additional review or attention might be helpful. Potentially, the doctor then ordered the use of advanced targeted assessments that required a specialist's technical interpretation. De-Stressing #3: Building New Habits In my new book, Life-Changing Leadership Habits , I provide ten proven principles to help leaders get more out of life and work. When making changes, it's critical to pick a replacement habit to start and not only focus on what you will stop doing. Even if you identify several practices you want to change, you will see the most growth by taking it one step at a time rather than attempting to change multiple habits simultaneously. A common myth is that it takes 21 days to build a habit. The number of times you have to perform a life-changing habit before it becomes a habit can vary substantially by the person and the situation. One study concluded that typically it ranges from 18-254 days. The key is repetition, and eventually, it will become a habit. Most of us have experienced trying to break a bad habit or create a good one before, only to keep doing what we don't want. Viewing the process of breaking habits with a pass-or-fail mental model sets you up for frustration. Building new habits is a learning process that needs to be considered, as the only failure is giving up. "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." African Proverb If you are struggling with making changes, it is helpful to answer why you are trying to change in the first place and find an accountability partner. The confidence and growth from a creative thought partnership can't be beaten. Now more than ever, executive coaches are a crucial relationship for busy leaders. What is the real de-stressing challenge you face? Discover Your AHA! Join leaders discovering their leadership AHA to achieve success and significance in life and work. Striving for better habits is a competitive advantage available to any leader looking for a powerful point of differentiation. Understanding your accidental leadership habits unlocks your potential to bring out your best and be the leader you want, and the world needs you to be. Take the Accidental Habit Assessment . Get your Personalized Results. Explore, Build, and Apply Life-Changing Leadership Habits Throughout Your Life. References: APA. (2012). APA survey finds feeling valued at work linked to well-being and performance. Goh, J., Pfeffer, J., & Zenios, S. (2016). The relationship between workplace stressors and mortality and health costs in the United States [PDF]. Management Science. Goh, J., Pfeffer, J., & Zenios, S. (2016). The relationship between workplace stressors and mortality and health costs in the United States [PDF]. Management Science. Hardesty, L. (2023). Tips to keep stress from hurting your heart. Mayo Clinic Health System. Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, Cornelia H., Potts, H., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998-1009. Wigert, B., & Pendell, R. (2023). 6 Trends Leaders Need to Navigate This Year. Gallup Workplace. Williams, N. (2016). Top ten types of workplace stress. Bartell and Bartell.

It’s that time when people start to talk about a new year. You might be entirely on board and curious about how work and leadership will be different in the future. But maybe you are feeling a bit resistant. Especially given the unpredictability of this past year, it is no surprise that you may feel skeptical about preparing for the future or even a bit exhausted by the idea. No matter if you find yourself resisting or embracing change in the workplace, more is coming. Disruptive innovation, increased global competition, and evolving market pressures are converging. Businesses are responding by speeding up transformation. No leader sets out to become obsolete, and developing leadership habits is a competitive advantage. Now is the time to 'bet the farm' on you. Here are two timeless leadership skills and four low-cost, high-impact leadership development ideas to keep you growing and bring out your best in the new year. Why develop future-proof leadership skills? Every business is vulnerable to threats. But too few businesses and leaders stop to consider the possibility of becoming irrelevant. Harnessing the potential of company growth takes well-equipped leaders. "If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs." Leboeuf Well-equipped leadership makes a difference. Here is how: Team Performance: Several research studies have investigated the connection between the leader and business performance. Studies have demonstrated that effective leadership improves follower performance and promotes higher business results, follower job satisfaction, and follower organizational commitment. Innovation and Creativity: Evidence suggests that leadership is essential for driving innovation in a company. A study involving over 400 executives from 48 companies connected strategy and innovation performance directly with good leadership habits. Trust and Change: Studies have demonstrated that the level of trust in leadership directly correlates to employee retention, organizational commitment, and support for organizational change. Furthermore, when executives build trust, evidence suggests that organizational change readiness increases. Internal Communication & Relationships: Words shape worlds. Studies have revealed that influential leaders enhance two-way communication, creativity, collaboration, job attitudes, and organizational commitment. Leadership Transitions: Leadership transitions, whether successful or not, are costly. Evidence suggests that, on average, 35% of internally promoted executives fail, and direct reports spend 10-20% of their time helping a new leader transition. Successful leadership transitions increase company revenue, have 13% lower attrition rates, and are 90% more likely to achieve long-term performance goals. Leadership development is a leadership transition acceleration tool. 2 Future-proof leadership skills Future-ready leaders need the right skills to be effective. In a complex and fast-paced digital workplace, leaders need to be able to quickly discern and apply the appropriate leadership skills to bring out the best in followers. Leaders need employees that go beyond what is expected in ways that contribute to the organization’s results and make the communities where they operate better. Leadership Behavior – is how a leader responds within the leadership system. A behavior is something that can be seen and described. Leadership Attribute – is an inherent quality of a leader as perceived by others. When you think about the future of work and consider the leadership behaviors and attributes needed, it is likely that technical and analytical skills will come to mind. According to a study by McKinsey & Company, it is projected that by 2030, the time spent during a workweek on information technology and programming tasks will increase the most. Leadership is a relationship, and technological innovations change the work, worker, and workplace. While some skills will likely be less in demand, it is important to consider the human leadership skills that remain in the technology-driven workplace. Evidence suggests that more dynamic leadership skills are the most effective. Idealized influence and inspirational motivation are two key leadership behaviors and attributes to help leaders meet today’s and tomorrow’s complex organizational challenges. Future-Proof Leadership Skill #1: Idealized Influence Leadership is achieved through others rather than by a leader alone. Establishing idealized (positive) leadership influence is vital. Idealized influence increases trust, enhances learning, increases emotional connection, and empowers followers to think independently and express their individuality. Leaders that can display idealized influence tend to possess a high degree of moral behavior, virtues, character, and work ethic. These leaders reflect the organizational culture, impart pride in followers, and reinforce the importance of teamwork and shared success. Idealized Influence Behaviors: Talk about their most important values and beliefs Communicate the importance of team trust Reinforce the importance of purpose Evaluate the ethical consequences of decisions Reinforce the need for teamwork and its possibilities Idealized Influence Attributes: Infuse pride in others Make personal sacrifices for others Create respect Demonstrate confidence Encourage others about the future A modern example of a leader that displays idealized influence was Jack Welch. He was the former GE CEO known for achieving tremendous organizational results by developing others. Future-Proof Leadership Skill #2: Inspirational Motivation Leaders in a volatile and uncertain marketplace need to adapt and motivate followers toward a challenging and aspirational vision. Human nature focuses on what is missing or needs to be fixed. However, inspirational motivation behaviors involve creating and effectively communicating a shared positive vision and purpose for followers. Inspirational Motivation Behaviors Optimistically communicating about the future. Enthusiastically communicating about what needs to be achieved Communicate a compelling vision of the future Provide an exciting image of what is essential to consider Express confidence that goals will be achieved Like idealized influence behaviors, inspirational motivation enhances the leader-follower relationship by increasing trust and emotional connection. Additionally, inspirational motivation behaviors heighten the willingness of followers to excel. Jack Ma is a modern example of inspirational motivation leadership behaviors and attributes. He is the former Alibaba CEO known for his ability to communicate a small business eCommerce vision, leading Alibaba to become the world's largest retailer and online marketing company. Are your leadership skills future-proof? Taking time to self-assess is a valuable means of deepening your awareness to ultimately enhance your leadership capability. Here are a few questions to consider that encompass the idealized influence and inspirational motivation leadership skills: How often do I build trust and act with integrity? When have I experienced positive or adverse trust outcomes? When have I experienced positive or adverse integrity outcomes? How often do I encourage others? When have I experienced positive or adverse motivation outcomes? 4 Low-Cost, High-Impact Leadership Development Ideas Many leaders recognize a need to develop their skills continuously; however, they often lack the resources to make it happen. Leaders wanting the best chance to thrive in the future need to be continuously developing. Here are four ideas to keep you growing: Development Idea #1: Reflection It is easy to move quickly from one task to the next and miss opportunities to learn and grow from experiences. Simply try asking a question to create the space for focused reflection. The following powerful questions come from an after-action review process used by the military to provide a structure for reflection: What was expected to happen? What occurred? What went well and why? What can be improved and how? Development Idea #2: Executive Coaching An executive coach is not a counselor or mentor. Counseling deals with past or current trauma, mental health, and symptoms, to restore emotional wellness. Executive coaching focuses on the future and not the client's history. A mentor, unlike a coach, sets the agenda for their client using their experiences to guide the relationship. While that approach can be helpful in reality, we are all created with different strengths and backgrounds. A coach draws out the executive's desire and works to co-create options to achieve the executive's goals with individual and organizational benefits. In a literature review of 81 executive coaching studies, researchers found that executive coaching positively impacts the leader and the organization. These benefits range from becoming more confident to contributing more effectively to empowering employees and improving employee retention. The confidence and growth from a creative thought partnership can't be beaten. Now more than ever, executives need coaches to support their continuous development due to the complexity placed on leadership roles. See how our goal-oriented executive coaching turns your aspirations into your future. Accelerate your career - Coaching keeps you challenged and increases your blind spot awareness. Live life to the fullest - Coaching facilitates experimentation and self-discovery. Shift your mindset - Coaching helps you challenge your assumptions and views. Development Idea #3: Networking Results-driven leaders have a bad habit of working harder and longer hours. Hard work isn't bad, but isolation is hazardous. If achievement-oriented leaders are not careful, their drive can limit career opportunities, professional success, and the joy of living. In an increasingly uncertain world, executives need high-quality relationships with followers, but also peers, and others outside the workplace. Relationships impact the leader's effectiveness and ability to get help and information necessary to innovate and solve complex issues. In one study, high-performing leaders were found to establish high-quality networks and use those connections to establish better priorities and obtain necessary resources, support, and approvals for their team. The study also revealed that leader networking effectiveness of low-performing leaders was attributed to a lack of awareness associated with a lack of relationships. Development Idea #4: Thought Leadership Books, articles, and assessments on leadership can enable leaders to examine a particular situation from different points of view. Thought leadership grounded in research provides leaders with proven solutions that can be applied and short-cycle the learning process. If you are not a skilled speed reader, you may be surprised that you can learn how to read a book in an hour. Like any skill, there are tips and tricks to increase your speed and retention. Here is a bonus link to an assembled collection of my top five favorite books from thought leaders on change management, coaching, culture, innovation and creativity, leadership style, servant leadership, and strategic planning. As a word of caution, while leadership skills are essential, they are insufficient. The effects of your character, the company culture, the quality of your leader-follower relationships, your traits, and the traits of your followers are all elements that directly impact leadership effectiveness. What do you do to keep growing personally or professionally? References Conger, J. & Fulmer, R. (2003) Developing your leadership pipeline Harvard Business Review. IBM (2014) The value of training IBM Corporation Sosik, J. & Jung, D. (2018). Full range leadership development: Pathways for people, profit, and planet. Routledge. Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2020). Robots and jobs: Evidence from US labor markets. Journal of Political Economy. McKinsey Global Institute. (2016). Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce. McKinsey & Company.

Have you ever found that it never seems possible, despite your best intentions, to be strategic? For most leaders, as pressure and stress increase from the urgent needs of the business, they put in more hours. The tyranny of the urgent comes at a high price for leaders and businesses. When businesses focus on winning the day, it is easy to fall behind, which can be disastrous in a highly competitive marketplace. Studies show that 85% of executive leadership teams spend less than one hour a month discussing strategy, and up to 95% of employees are unaware of or do not understand their organization's strategy. In reality, some leaders don't know how to lead strategically, and some company cultures reward leaders for saving the day. Being strategic is not easy for busy leaders. Market myopia is the lack of ability to see the bigger picture. It is very real and has come into focus because of the increasing volatility and complexity in the workplace. Here are three leadership practices to free yourself and your organization from market myopia. Why being strategic makes matters Leaders create influence through shared understanding and organizational alignment. Organizations create value by capitalizing on individual actions toward worthy goals. Nothing in the workplace is certain. No rational person would argue that the modern workplace is predictable. Leaders are forced to respond to disruptive change and ambiguity in the world. Being strategic is not to predict the future but enable better decision-making and preparedness. Strategic leadership reduces costs and increases revenue. A large global study of the empirical research on strategic leadership concluded that the positive impact on organizational performance is consistent regardless of the industry and whether the business is private or public. The complications associated with a lack of strategic leadership extend beyond the organization’s performance. When followers become confused about the company's direction, it leads to lower levels of engagement and creativity. Also, over time a lack of strategic leadership can contribute to a toxic culture with significant misalignment. Escaping market myopia involves the leadership practices of strategic thinking, acting, and influencing. Strategic Leadership Practice #1: Strategic Thinking Strategic thinking is about the present and future. It also includes logical and creative thinking aspects. It needs to be continuous, adapting to the shifting markets and organizational capability rather than a once of year activity. When rushing from one meeting to the next, it can be hard to find time to listen. Strategic thinking is not something best done alone or only with the board/executive leadership team. Leveraging multiple perspectives improves strategic thinking and organizational buy-in. "It is impossible to formulate a strategy, let alone a "best" or preferred strategy, without engaging in strategic thinking." Abraham Strategic thinking involves: Assessing Internal and External Environments Clarifying the business Mission, Vision, and Values Discovering and Prioritizing Key Strategic Drivers Strategic thinking is not strategic planning. The following video breaks down the difference between strategic planning and strategic thinking. Strategic Leadership Practice #2: Strategic Acting Gaps between the created strategy and the realized strategy put performance at risk. Strategic acting is both short, and long-term focused. You need to be able to set strategic priorities. Then manage the tension between daily issues and bigger-picture tasks. Strategic acting encompasses creating awareness and desire for change as well as finding ways to reward appropriate risk-taking to sustain the change. Strategic acting includes reflecting on decisions made and continuously learning from individual and company actions. “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Warren G. Bennis Strategic acting involves: Creating Business Strategies Developing Business Strategies Executing, Performing, and Learning Leading Change Strategic Leadership Practice #3 Strategic Influencing Strategic influence isn’t just about influencing others. It includes also being open to influence from others. Like all healthy relationships, strategic influence involves trust. How leaders approach strategic thinking and acting will moderate their strategic influence. In an increasingly uncertain workplace, executives need high-quality relationships with followers, peers, and others outside the workplace. Networking is not a distraction but an essential strategic influencing capability. Strategic leadership involves the willingness to be vulnerable to discussing difficult topics with conflicting points of view when you don’t have all of the information. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams Strategic influencing involves: Architecting Culture Decision Making Leveraging Priorities Direction, Alignment, and Commitment If these three strategic practices were made into a commercial for market myopia, it would go something like this: Is your business suffering from disengaged employees? Confusion? Loss of creativity? Does your team lack commitment? Do you ever wonder to yourself, what happened? Then you might be suffering from market myopia. Nearsightedness affects 10 out of 10 leaders and businesses worldwide that lose sight of the big picture and focus only on winning the day. It can lead to a toxic culture and cause slow growth. Being strategic helps your company gain a competitive advantage. The results of leading strategically may vary. Side effects include reduced stress, employee turnover, and burnout. Don’t attempt strategic planning if there is no desire to grow. Talk to your team before you start. You can escape market myopia and achieve strategic targets. It all begins with your strategic thinking, acting, and influencing. What's the real market myopia challenge for you? References Abraham, S. (2005). Stretching strategic thinking. Strategy & Leadership, 33(5), 5-12. Amrollahi, A., & Rowlands, B. (2017). Collaborative open strategic planning: A method and case study. Information Technology & People (West Linn, Or.), 30(4), 832-852. Folkman, Z. (2021). Strategic thinking: The pathway to the top. Forbes. George, B., Walker, M., & Monster, J. (2019). Does strategic planning improve organizational performance? A meta-analysis. Public Administration Review. Hughes, R., Beatty, K., & Dinwoodie, D. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organization's enduring success. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Kaplan, S., & Norton, D. (2005). The office of strategy management. Harvard Business Review. 83(10). 72-80. Nwachukwu, C. E., Chladkova, H., & Olatunji, F. (2018). The relationship between employee commitment to strategy implementation and employee satisfaction. Trends Economics and Management, 12(31), 46-56.

Leaders face an unprecedented talent challenge with no immediately obvious solution. Most companies have record-high voluntary employee turnover rates, and more than half of employees only do the minimum required at work. Recently economists have connected what is now labeled Quiet Quitting to a fall in US labor productivity output. Looking ahead to the new year, futurists point to an accelerated digital transformation trend that will force leaders to overcome increasing employee skill gaps. Without challenges, there aren't opportunities. And without opportunities, businesses cannot experience growth. It is easy to logically think of the talent challenge as attracting and retaining the right people. But inevitably, there is also a creative thinking aspect. Edward de Bono, an international authority on thinking, suggests the challenge is to avoid simply reacting to a problem. Let's take a closer look at what he calls lateral thinking and a German concept behind one of the world's most innovative supply chain. Creative thinking makes a big difference No organization is looking to stay the same. Driving creativity within an organization's culture is increasingly vital for leaders. A study by McKinsey revealed that companies with creative leaders outperformed peers by 67% in revenue growth, 70% in total returns to shareholders, and 74% in net enterprise value. Likewise, a lack of imagination constrains organizations. Kodak, Blockbuster, and Sears are well-known for the devastating consequences of innovation failure. "Creativity is decided by what you choose to do or refuse to do." Michalko Identifying worthwhile ideas requires the ability and will to see new patterns in the same data everyone else is seeing. As simple as this appears, the challenge is that individual expectations shape perceptions. To break these perceptions, leaders need a new way of thinking. When faced with a problem or obstacle, do not dig deeper. Dig elsewhere. Edward de Bono presented that vertical and lateral thinking are the two fundamental approaches to thinking. He described lateral thinking as the capability to solve problems by imagining solutions not possible with logic. Metaphorically, digging a hole somewhere else. Lateral thinking is dependent on rejecting assumptions by shifting perspectives and suspending judgment. It is helpful to test assumptions, adopt a different point of view, challenge habits, and search for ideas outside your industry or function. One of the world's most innovative supply chains BASF is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Like me, you may have first learned about this company from their marketing campaign: "We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better." Verbund (/fɐɐˈbʊnt/) – to combine or to cooperate. At BASF, chemical production sites are highly interlinked product flows resulting in efficient uses of resources. At these verbund sites, production, energy, logistics, and site infrastructure are integrated. BASF reports that the results are higher product yields and resource conservation. Beyond raw material, energy, and logistics savings and reduced emissions, this integrated concept generates a competitive advantage through enormous amounts of data. The BASF Global Know-How Verbund supports the interlinked product flows. It is an alliance of strategic process and systems research, universities, industry partners, innovative startups, and operating divisions. These closely bundled partnerships each have a specific focus and competency to support the supply chain. How is the talent challenge like a supply chain challenge? You get what you plan for when it comes to supply chain management. For too long, organizations have approached talent management with ad-hoc talent strategies. As companies struggle to answer questions like, how do you build talent pools for the future? How do we help employees learn quickly to close increasing skill gaps? How do we engage employees feeling burned out? It is increasingly evident that companies need to change how they plan regarding talent. What if you developed a verbund talent strategy? Creating highly interlinked talent flows and collecting enormous amounts of data to improve your talent management processes and systems. Your company could create mutually beneficial partnerships between universities and industry research associations to help: faculty develop programs for students with job-ready skills job-ready students to find careers in your company aligned with their passions industry associations discuss relevant issues and set standards for best practices Don't waste time trying to solve challenges with only vertical thinking. What is the real creative thinking challenge for you? Our creative thinking development solutions equip leaders — and, in turn, your organization as a whole — to become “creative thinkers.” We do this by helping leaders work collectively to develop the capacity, skills, and culture needed for innovation in service of organizational goals. Whether you’re looking for a facilitated brainstorming session, customized executive coaching, top-to-bottom solution tailored to uplift and transform your entire organization, or scalable programs designed to strengthen your individual leaders’ creative thinking effectiveness, we offer a variety of research-based leadership solutions both virtually and in-person. References Banker, S. (2018). One of the world's most innovative supply chains. Forbes. BASF. (2022). BASF at a glance. BLS. (2022). Productivity and costs: Third quarter 2022, revised. US Bureau of Labor Statistics Broderson, M., Heller, J., Perrey, J. & Remley, D. (2017). Creativity's bottom line: How winning companies turn creativity into business value and growth. McKinsey & Co. Michalko, M. (2006). Thinkertoys: A handbook of business creativity. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press. Runco, M. (2014). Enhancement and the fulfillment of potential. Creativity. Shavinina. (2003). The international handbook on innovation (1st ed.). Elsevier Science. Sloane. (2006). The leader's guide to lateral thinking skills unlocking the creativity and innovation in you and your team (2nd ed.). Kogan Page.

"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run." The message in the lyrics popularized by Kenny Rogers is clear: There is a secret to knowing when enough is enough. This classic card game advice highlights the growing tension in the minds of employees fueling the great resignation. A recent Gallup survey revealed an alarming trend. More than 50% of US employees are quietly quitting, and 18% are actively disengaged. You hate the lack of clear expectations and feedback. You think finding a work-life balance is out of reach. You believe career growth opportunities are woefully inadequate. No leader or company culture is perfect, but when do you take action or walk away? Here are a few tips for wisely choosing when to take action, three battles worth having, and giving critical feedback you won't regret. How to wisely choose your workplace battles It's normal to experience difficult situations in life and at work. But you can't fight every battle. There is a fine line between being a problem solver and being the problem. Here are three points to discern the difference. Control vs. Concern: It helps to understand the difference between your circle of control and your circle of concern. The circle of control includes things you care about and can actually control, and your circle of concern contains stuff you care about but have very limited to no control over. If the challenge is with something outside your circle of control, the first step you take needs to build your influence over the situation. You will be more likely to be successful with battles in your circle of control. Solution vs. Problem: Next, you want to ensure a constructive solution. Awareness of the challenge is the beginning of taking action, but awareness alone isn't all that helpful. You can build political capital by being seen as someone with a solution vs. someone with a problem. Who wants to be around someone that always has a problem? Small Scale vs. Large Scale: Adopt a mindset of experimentation. Large-scale fixes are slow and more difficult. Identify experiments that can be tested and modified based on what you learn. Also, find early adopters. It is not essential to have everyone on board initially, so start small, where there is the least resistance to the change. 3 Workplace battles worth having Notice I am not implying three reasons you should quit. Let me be very clear; it is important in difficult situations to keep your focus on why. You want to look for reasons to do something difficult rather than look for reasons to avoid a challenge. Battle #1: Toxic Culture Company culture is the one thing that influences every aspect of a business. It directly impacts organizational success, employees, customers, and communities. An organization's underlying cultural values affect employees' behaviors and decisions. A recent study by MIT Sloan identified that a toxic organizational culture is more than ten times stronger of an influence on employee attrition than pay. Sadly, the effects of a toxic culture extend beyond the workplace. Employees working in a toxic workplace report experiencing decreased well-being and increased work-family conflict. Detoxing the company culture begins with being the change you want to see in the world. Often bad leadership habits trickle down and become acceptable ways of behaving. Model good behavior and ask for feedback from followers about what you do that bothers them. Second, actively architect and manage the workplace culture. Hire and fire employees to create and reinforce the desired company culture. Teach leaders and employees through stories about how they should respond in different situations and the costs of tolerating toxicity. Reinforce and communicate the importance of trust and teamwork. Reward employees that live the desired culture. Measure company results and the preferred company culture. Battle #2: Leadership & Organizational Entropy In our ever-changing world, there are many theories but few laws. Entropy is a fundamental concept governing life and work. Entropy is defined as disorder and randomness in a natural system - the second law in thermodynamics states that, left unchecked, entropy increases with time in closed systems. Leaders with closed minds and organizations closed to new ideas quickly fall behind and become obsolete. One proven way to battle against workplace entropy is for leaders and organizations to continually develop and evolve at a pace consistent with the change in our exacting world. The bad habits of leadership that we have all witnessed or engaged in are not destiny. One of the greatest myths I encounter in coaching leaders and business owners is that their current reality reflects a permanent reality. We don't stay the same. Even passions and proficiency can change. You can learn how to apply proven solutions to create life-changing leadership habits. Battle #3: Transactional Leadership Leadership is a relationship, and people are the most significant resources within an organization. Transactional leadership is centered around a paradigm in which leaders give employees something they want in exchange for getting something in return. Transactional leaders approach the workplace with the belief that most workers are not self-motivated and require structure, instruction, and monitoring to achieve organizational goals correctly and on time. Compelling evidence indicates that leadership moderates company performance and results. Controlled studies involving leaders across different markets have found a positive correlation between the leader's effectiveness and employee retention, sales, margin, labor costs, and net profit. Contemporary employees are looking for leaders that possess the following characteristics: listening to self and others empathy healing self and others awareness persuasion conceptual thinking foresight stewardship of other's needs commitment to development building community As the adage goes, what got us here will not get us there, and it is vital for today's leaders to learn more about new emerging leadership styles and theories. Servant leadership, transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and spiritual leadership are four new emerging leadership styles and theories gaining increased attention globally and stand in stark contrast to transactional leadership. Have you ever wondered if you are a servant leader? Maybe you already understand the basic concepts but are unclear on how servant leadership differs from other contemporary leadership styles. This Servant Leadership Style Checker answers these questions and provides your Servant Leadership Style Score. The benefits of a servant leadership style are evident to followers, teams, and organizations. Giving critical feedback, you won't regret Masters of critical feedback create a gap between action and response to choose what conversation matters most. Like a ship approaching an iceberg, what alerts a leader of a potential problem is often what is seen, but what lies below the surface presents the most incredible opportunity to be addressed. "Don't let the truth run faster than love." Erwin McManus Regardless of leadership level or amount of experience, all leaders struggle with the tension of being vulnerable or not. When receiving critical feedback, followers want to know their leader cares about them. But, concerns about managing perceptions can keep leaders from showing vulnerability. And when leaders are guarded, it promotes distrust. To identify your tendency—to be vulnerable in difficult conversations —take the following free five-question quiz and learn your vulnerability leadership score. Fail to plan and plan to fail. To avoid regret, your communication plan should include checking personal motivation, vision, and perspective (MVP) before giving critical feedback. Motivation. Is your motivation about caring for others first? Or is your motivation to be right? Reasons for a conversation matter. It is less likely that the conversation will lead to positive changes without a positive reason. Vision. How do you see the result of the conversation going? Is it the best of what might? Or is what you see a list of all the things that could go wrong? When you anticipate a positive step in the journey, it provides a sense of purpose and direction to inspire your best and achieve success. Perspective. When the lens through which you perceive the difficult conversation is off, your results will turn out poorly. Is your paradigm for the difficult conversation that real transparent conversation will provide the best foundation for a healthy culture and your relationship? Or is your perspective that it is best to avoid difficult conversations because you need to manage your image? The truth is there is a lot you can learn when you don't walk away. It is in these difficult conversations that you can grow, and good things can happen. Where are you tempted to walk away or run? Why are you going to take action? What is at stake if you do or don't? References Bartell, R. (2011). Before the call: The communication playbook. Hudson House. Brown, B. (2022). The power of vulnerability: Teachings of authenticity, connection, and courage. Grenny, J., Patterson, K., McMillan, R., Switzler, A., & Gregory, E. (2021). Crucial conversations. McGraw-Hill Education. Harter, J. (2022). Is quiet quitting real? Gallup. Hayes, J. (2008). Workplace conflict and how businesses can harness it to thrive. CPP Global Human Capital Report. Spears, L. C. (1998). Servant-leadership. Executive Excellence, 15(7), 11.

Organizations desire certainty, success, and efficiency, and it is uncertainty, failure, and inefficiency that are sources of innovation. Leaders fail as much as they succeed. However, the pervasive positive gaslighting that dominates social media feeds and company communications hides this reality. An inaccurate widely held assumption is that successful leaders succeed in spite of their failures. But failure, although uncomfortable, is not always bad, and an unhealthy fear of failure puts results at risk. Leaders and organizations that are not improving are falling behind. Many organizational cultures are designed to keep employees from taking risks. But it is embracing failure that creates space for innovation. Here are three practical ways leaders can support interesting failure and realize surprising success. Why would you want to do something that could lead to failure for you or your business? The word "failure" has different meanings to different people at different times. What constitutes a failure is not always clear and is usually personal. For example, walking across the finish line of a marathon can be viewed as success and failure, depending on your perspective. A leader's perception and response to failure determine and shape success for followers in any given situation. Typically, failure is considered a lack of success in some effort or a situation in which something does not work as expected. Using this definition, it is counterintuitive to think that a business leader should support failure. However, the inability to change leads to business failure, and an unhealthy fear of failure threatens success. According to the bureau of labor statistics, approximately 75% of all ventures fail in ten years. Avoiding failure in the workplace reinforces continuous improvements over innovation. While this approach results in high-quality and low-cost products and services, the hidden financial and non-financial costs of avoiding failure are severe. Beyond the obvious competitive threats from a lack of innovation, a failure to learn and grow leads to repeat errors and avoidable mistakes. Failure creates the space to reconsider the task and envision a more successful outcome. Healthy vs. unhealthy fear of failure Fear of failure is characterized by feelings of embarrassment, a perceived threat to a leader's value, future uncertainty, or others' perceptions of the leader. The fear of failure causes anxiety, avoidance, loss of control, helplessness, and powerlessness at a personal level. Leaders with a dominant fear of failure avoid opportunities to develop and grow. At an organizational level, the complications that arise from that culture are increased repeatable errors and a lack of necessary experimentation and risk-taking for innovation. Businesses that do not innovate and change fall behind and ultimately fail. Fear of failing can be a rational and irrational response to a real or perceived consequence of a leader's actions. Without a rational fear of failing, leaders lack the desire to evaluate the potential pros and cons associated with a new idea. A healthy fear of failure improves a leader's success. An irrational and persistent fear of failing is referred to as atychiphobia. It can range from mild to all-consuming daily life. Individuals that also struggle with perfectionism can struggle with this persistent fear of failure. Three practical ways leaders can support interesting failure Supporting failure does not imply that leaders ignore the fear of failure. Instead, leaders need to recognize the negative influence of fear and turn it into an advantage. Leadership Support 1: Clarify excusable vs. inexcusable failure It is relatively easy to differentiate between achieving or missing a goal. However, embracing failure requires keen awareness and the ability to distinguish between excusable mistakes and those resulting from carelessness. Reinforcing differentiation encourages risk-taking to achieve stretch goals. Leaders reward risk avoidance when well-thought-out and executed plans that fail are punished. Positive risk-taking behaviors need to be recognized and rewarded even when not directly resulting in achieving the desired goal. Training is an effective tool leaders can use to set expectations and reinforce desired behaviors by removing the negative consequences associated with taking risks. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. - Winston Churchill Leadership Support 2: Be vulnerable When leaders practice vulnerability, it creates safety where followers are more willing to be open to failures. Leaders that support failure are transparent about their failures and don't blame others when they occur. Although leaders are expected to convey an image of competence, confidence, and power, followers already know you are not perfect. In addition to being transparent, vulnerable leaders are good active listeners. Actively listening is your ability to hear and improve mutual understanding. Hearing is not a synonym for active listening. When you actively listen, you pay attention, show interest, suspend judgment, reflect, clarify, summarize, and share to gain clarity and understanding. When practicing active listening, you are available to the other person. “The great leaders are not the strongest, they are the ones who are honest about their weaknesses." - Simon Sinek Leadership Support 3: Create a culture of collaboration Leaders that are supportive of failure create a collaborative culture where risks can be analyzed, and good ideas utilized no matter where the idea originates. Collaboration builds confidence and courage to express thoughts and take risks. Leaders who embrace failure encourage a growth mindset and empower risk-taking behaviors to achieve personal and professional success and significance. Establish team operating agreements that encourage collaboration, such as: Commitment to putting the company first Value one another's contributions Practice patience Strive for consensus and a willingness to use disagreement as a tool for stronger decisions Seek first to understand Silence is not golden - everyone can speak up and constructively challenge one another and the status quo “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. African Proverb How Nelson Mandela responded to failure Most consider Nelson Mandela, a successful leader. He spent much of his life ending a system of legislation upholding segregationist policies against non-white citizens of South Africa, becoming the first democratically elected president of South Africa, and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and many more honors. Mandela is also known for being sentenced to life in jail for conspiring to overthrow the government. Amidst what most would consider a devastating defeat, he spent his time in prison focusing on things within his control. He studied and served as a leader for improving prison conditions. During this time, he also inspired others by reciting the following line from William Ernest Hensley's poem Invictus, "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." To find surprising success, like Mandela, leaders must overcome an unhealthy fear of failure and focus on what they control to support interesting failure. What is your real challenge in supporting failure? References: Berkun, S. (2010). The myths of innovation. O'Reilly Media, Inc. Farson, R., & Keyes, R. (2002). The failure-tolerant leader. Harvard Business Review, 80(8), 64-148. Kollmann, T., Stöckmann, C., & Kensbock, J. (2017). Fear of failure as a mediator of the relationship between obstacles and nascent entrepreneurial activity—An experimental approach. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(3), 280-301. Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Luhn, A. (2016). The learning organization. Creative and Knowledge Society, 6(1), 1-13.

All you need to do is hustle harder and work longer hours. But the work harder and longer hours leadership style comes with a risk of burnout and severe consequences. According to a study by the Mayo Clinic, the personal and organizational side-effects of executive leadership burnout include: broken relationships, substance abuse, depression, decreased customer satisfaction, reduced productivity, and increased employee turnover. Leaders are always connected to their operations in a crisis-driven digital workplace, ready to fight the next fire. This reality amplifies the risk of sacrificing success and significance for less important tasks. CEOs, managers, and decision-makers need a creative productivity hack for improving decision-making and avoiding physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. Is your performance suffering from the Urgency Effect? Most leaders and entrepreneurs are metaphorically running on a treadmill at a speed that makes casual conversation difficult. They live in a world where it is impossible to respond to every email or accept every meeting invitation. Like corporate athletes, these executives have trained themselves to become highly efficient and effective to survive. “What is urgent is seldom important and what is important is seldom urgent.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower Author Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, popularized the time management matrix first described by President Eisenhower. This two-by-two grid helps leaders account that in life, we face decisions between what is urgent and important. The following video is a more humorous discussion if you are unfamiliar with this tool. Numerous studies have demonstrated that most of us prefer to work on urgent tasks that can be completed quickly. This likely does not come as a surprise. However, compelling recent cognitive psychology studies revealed that we are also more likely to perform unimportant tasks over important tasks when perceived to be more urgent. Psychologists have described this as the Mere Urgency Effect. If asked, what should you work on, more important or less important tasks? You likely would become annoyed with the obvious line of questioning. Studies on the Urgency Effect revealed that it is more pronounced among individuals who perceive themselves as busy. This is alarming for entrepreneurs and leaders, given the crisis-driven workplace. Leaders can anticipate that they are more likely to sacrifice personal and professional goals for less critical tasks when they are busy—for example, choosing to interrupt a conversation with your family to answer a routine email. Today's leaders need a creative productivity hack for performance improvement to moderate an amplified Urgency Effect. Creative productivity hack for performance improvement The following productivity hack is not new. It comes from the study of contingency management in the behavioral sciences in the 1980s. You have likely experienced the principle without knowing the scientific name. It is called the Premack Principle, also known as the differential probability hypothesis. The Premack Principle is a reinforcement view that the opportunity to engage in a relatively high probability behavior will reinforce the lower probability behavior. Aubrey Daniels This principle has been studied and used to motivate desired behaviors. Simply described, it is waiting to eat our dessert until after eating our vegetables or holding off on shopping for new clothes until we lose the extra weight. This short video provides more information on the Premack Principle. How to apply the Premack Principle productivity hack The following questions can help you apply the Premack Principle productivity hack in the context of the Urgency Effect. Do you know what tasks are more important than others? If you cannot identify what tasks are more important than others with absolute clarity, try using the time management matrix and clarifying your purpose. Are you busier than usual? If you perceive you are busy, you are at risk of working on less important tasks. Urgent and important tasks require immediate action. Ask yourself, is the task more important than the current task you are working on completing? If no, purposely delay working on it ahead of the more important task and identify a way to reward yourself if you follow through. Working on urgent and important tasks is stressful. If you find yourself constantly working on these types of jobs, you should consider trying one of these tips to break the cycle: Tip 1: Invest more time in thinking strategically to anticipate the future. Applying strategic foresight tools, such as scenario planning or the futures wheel, can help you see around corners and anticipate multiple potential future realities. Tip 2: Invest more time in planning: schedule weekly or monthly planning sessions on goals and deadlines with your team. Reflect on how well your new plans work and adjust as needed. Tip 3: Consider if you are delegating effectively. The following article breaks down how to improve your delegating skills. Key Summary Points: Choosing to hustle harder and work longer hours increases your risk of burnout and severe consequences. The contemporary workplace is crisis-driven, and in an always-on digital world, leaders live on the edge connected to the operations anticipating the next crisis. We are more likely to perform unimportant tasks over important tasks when perceived to be more urgent. Today's leaders need a creative productivity hack for performance improvement. You can apply the Premack Principle productivity hack to moderate the Urgency Effect. Visit our executive coaching page to learn more about how we help you achieve your personal or professional goals or partner with you to craft a solution specific to your organization's context and challenges. Getting started is as easy as visiting www.organizationaltalent.com or contacting us via email info@organizationaltalent.com. Organizational Talent Consulting utilizes proven, simple, and transformational personal and organizational development solutions to help our clients learn, change, and apply tools in ways that benefit their unique needs and corporate culture. References: Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic. Simon and Schuster. Daniels, A. C. (2016). Bringing out the best in people. McGraw-Hill Education. Shanafelt, T. D., & Noseworthy, J. H. (2017). Executive leadership and physician well-being: Nine organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 92(1), 129-146. Zhu, M., Yang, Y., & Hsee, C. K. (2018). The mere urgency effect. The Journal of Consumer Research, 45(3), 673.

Successful leaders look for a competitive advantage. In today's turbulent and digital marketplace, personal and organizational development is not an option you want to ignore if you want to get ahead. Using a fresh food metaphor, you are either ripe and rotting or green and growing. Executive coaching is a relatively new approach for many leaders and is often not well understood. It comes out of the disciplines of consulting, management, organizational development, and psychology. Executive coaching is a highly individualized and impactful results-based development approach. Coaching is a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires clients to maximize their personal and professional potential. When done right, executive coaching is a confidential trust-based relationship between the qualified coach and client. Over the past twenty-five-plus years working in the field of leadership development with hundreds of high potential professionals to c-suite leaders, I have witnessed first-hand the significant benefits of coaching. Compared with other development approaches, executive coaching achieves lasting results in a relatively short period of time. Coaching is Not Mentoring or Counseling Coaching is often confused with mentoring and counseling but differs in many ways. Unlike counseling, coaching does not deal with overcoming past or current trauma, painful events, or relieving emotional pain but instead focuses on the future. Unlike a coach, a mentor typically sets the mentee's agenda, using their experiences to guide the relationship. In a mentoring relationship, the mentor typically does most of the directing by offering advice. A coach draws out the client's desire and collaborates with the client to cocreate options to achieve client-generated goals. Simply stated, coaching facilitates forward progress toward accomplishing the client’s desired future. Typical Executive Coaching Process There are many variations of the coaching processes and reasons why you might want to hire an executive coach. A typical coaching process starts with an inquiry and a welcome meeting to get acquainted, establish the coaching process, direction, relationship, and begin moving the client toward the coaching outcome. Based on the goal, the coach and client begin assessing and exploring the current reality, potential options, and obstacles. The learnings gained from these steps lead to co-creating specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound action plans. An executive coaching program typically lasts for 6 to 12 months, depending on the client’s goal(s). According to Sherman and Freas (2004), no one has yet demonstrated conclusively what makes an executive coach qualified or what makes one approach to executive coaching better than another. However, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the leading global organization dedicated to professional coaching standards and ethics. The ICF identifies the following eight core competencies updated as of 2019 based on empirical data collected over two years and from job analyses of 1,300 coaches globally: Demonstrates Ethical Practice Embodies a Coaching Mindset Establishes and Maintains Agreements Cultivates Trust and Safety Maintains Presence Listens Actively Evokes Awareness Facilitates Client Growth Benefits of Executive Coaching The benefits of engaging clients in customized ways through executive coaching creates both personal and organizational results. 80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence. Over 70% benefit from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. 86% of companies report that they recouped their investment in coaching and more (Source: ICF 2009). Personal Benefits: Establish and take action towards achieving both career and life goals Become more confident Gain more personal satisfaction Contribute more effectively to the team and the organization Take greater responsibility and accountability for actions and commitments Work more efficiently and productively with others (leader, followers, peers, customers) Communicate more effectively ​Organizational Benefits: Empowers employees Increases engagement Improves performance Improves employee retention Supports identification and development of high potential employees Supports identification of both organizational and individual strengths and development opportunities Shows organizational commitment to employee development When Executive Coaching Fails Why would executive coaching ever fail? The truth is that no development approach always works with all people in all situations. The following are some examples that might surprise you based on my experience of situations when executive coaching does not deliver the desired results: When the coach is asked to provide a message that the client's leader does not want to give. When coaching is either implied or stated as required. When the client has a goal better aligned with mentoring or counseling. When the coach and client fail to establish a trust-based relationship. When the client is not open to self-discovery or unable to experiment. Executive Coaching Online Coaching does not have to be face to face to be effective. Online coaching is a technology-facilitated coaching relationship. Research by Berry et al. (2011) demonstrated that virtual coaching and face-to-face coaching are equally effective when using a skilled coach. Virtual coaching offers added convenience, service, and support benefits over traditional face-to-face coaching: Accessibility is likely one of the most significant benefits of virtual coaching, especially during a pandemic. Technology enables the coach and client to connect, whether in different places within the same building or worldwide. Availability improves, enabling the coach to be brought into just-in-time and rapid response needs or unique situations like cross-cultural needs. Virtual coaching allows the coach to increase the number of clients they can support at one time. Also, both the coach and client benefit from the flexibility and administrative ease in scheduling. Affordability improves through reduced travel and associated time out of the office. Access to resources improves through digital access to tools supporting goal setting, coaching preparation, and progress tracking. The coaching relationship's evaluation improves through the ease of tracking commitments, satisfaction, strengths, opportunities, and trends both on an individual client level and at an aggregate organizational level. Getting started with executive coaching is as simple as clicking the following link to schedule your initial (no cost) inquiry consultation or learn more about our coaching solutions: Schedule a Conversation Executive Coaching Services References: Berry, R. M., Ashby, J. S., Gnilka, P. B., & Matheny, K. B. (2011). A comparison of face-to-face and distance coaching practices: Coaches’ perceptions of the role of working alliance in problem resolution. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 63, 243–253. Glaser, J. (2014). Conversational Intelligence: How great leaders build trust and get extraordinary results. Bibliomotion, Inc. New York Goldsmith, M., Lyons, L., & Freas, A. (2000). Coaching for leadership: How the world’s greatest coaches help leaders learn. Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. San Francisco. Kimsey-House, H., Kimsey-House, K., Sandahl, P., & Whitworth, L. (2018). Co-active coaching: The proven framework for transformative conversations at work and in life. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Boston. Sherman, S. & Freas, A. (2004). The wild west of executive coaching. Harvard Business Review Online. Upcoming Webinar Series We know you are going to love these complementary leadership and professional development events! Organizational Talent Consulting’s webinar content is developed to help leaders meet today's complex workforce and digital challenges. Our free live webinars deliver superior leadership development based on the latest research with no travel costs. Participants interact directly in question-and-answer discussions with subject matter experts and authors on crucial topics to enhance expertise. Webinars are recorded and shared with participants for convenient on-demand access after the live event. Topics include leadership, strategic planning, coaching, change management, and more (register and learn more).

There are many reasons why small businesses need to keep current on future trends, and the following are just a few to consider: Turbulence and complexity Change is accelerating Technological revolution Stress, new requirements, and new relationships Avoid becoming obsolete Modern small businesses operate in a turbulent mix of societal, technological, and commercial issues. Changes in the world and the marketplace continue to accelerate. Technology is contributing to a significant transformation comparative to the prior agricultural and industrial revolutions. Chaos in the market brings stress and new requirements. Unfortunately, the reality of 2020 proved that many small businesses didn't have the capability to change fast enough to avoid becoming obsolete. No company sets out to become obsolete, and there are many benefits to becoming future smart beyond avoiding obsolescence. Small businesses benefit from being better prepared, having the right tools and resources at the right time, and improved decision-making. Being future smart leads to enhanced change management and positions companies to move from reacting to change to architecting trends. Being the first to market and leading new trends fuels revenue growth. Megatrends Impacting Business Beyond 2021 The future decades are anticipated to be very challenging for businesses, and the most impactful transformative global forces driving the future world are expected to be: Speed of Technological Advancement: the rapid progress of speed to market leads to better information and ideas, resulting in improved performance and efficiency. Flexible Employment: increasing variety in work and the workplace. Workforce Composition: an aging workforce that is also working longer. Sustainable Employment: work and a workplace that motivates employees. Environmental Issues: a changing world climate and its consequences. Globalization: businesses, people, processes, services, and products are operating on an international scale. Based on the impact of these megatrends facing every business , the following small business trends should be leveraged for future growth. Top 10 Small Business Trends Beyond 2021 Social Purpose. There is an increasing market for innovative, socially responsible, and affordable solutions. Customers are looking for businesses to address society's significant issues, such as social equity and climate change. It is not enough for your small business to be green or promote social justice internally. Companies need to be transparent with potential customers about their social purpose and how they run their business. According to Brand Watch , in March 2020, online posts about purchases made for ethical reasons increased 132% , and posts about purchases made locally increased by 440%. Virtual Services. Virtual services will grow in demand as an increasing number of tech-savvy consumers look for convenient experiences. According to a recent consumer trends survey, nearly half of consumers say they would be fine never shopping in a brick-and-mortar store again. Already, over half of the products sold on Amazon come from small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon is projected to continue being a revenue juggernaut for small businesses. Virtual Assistants. Small businesses are challenged by flexible staffing to respond to fluctuating customer demand. Being responsive to customer requests is essential. Virtual assistants help customers get an immediate response and free up small business owners from responding to repetitive inquiries. Trend research for virtual assistant usage projects an increase of 25% by 2023. User Reviews. 92% of consumers are less likely to purchase if no user review exists. User reviews and ratings are essential to buying decisions and will continue to grow in importance as digital commerce increases and millennials make more of the purchasing decisions. Non-Traditional Employee Benefits. Employees today are seeking an experience and not just a job. Traditional forms of benefits are not projected to be as compelling, which can be advantageous for small businesses. Employees want flexibility with work hours, job sharing, leave options, and more. Small businesses have more flexibility to be creative than larger, more regulated companies. Social Media Marketing. According to research, 8 out of 10 Americans are shopping for something at any given moment. Additionally, 32% of shoppers change purchasing decisions based on mobile product information within brick-and-mortar stores. It is important to deliver relevant marketing messages, but they need to be delivered through consumer touchpoints. Social media marketing will not stop changing and rapidly disrupting business, so small businesses need to keep learning to stay relevant. Gig Economy. The gig economy gives employees and small businesses flexibility. Flexibility is a significant competitive advantage in a complex market. According to a recent Gallup poll , many businesses and almost 40% of US employees embrace the gig economy. Small businesses typically are not able to afford to hire a permanent expert to address their technical issues. Using a temporary employee becomes a strategic advantage, especially for a small business. Remote Work. Work from home is likely not going away. 57% of small to medium-sized business owners recently indicated they would continue to offer flexible work options for the long-term. Real-estate is not cheap. Infrastructure and space can be a high cost for small businesses. Also, as work schedules move away from 9 to 5 and more workers participate in the gig economy, it doesn't make sense to bring all the positions within a physical office space. Alternative Payments. As brick-and-mortar storefronts move, online e-commerce is anticipated to grow to $5 trillion before 2025. Customers are looking for touchless and easy payment options that leverage mobile technology. Alternative options, such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, will continue to increase in popularity. Mobile First. Adopting a mobile-first mindset for customers and employees is increasingly important. According to Deloitte , 75% of the workforce is projected to be made up of millennials in 2025. Millennials are leaders in the technology business transformation and are mobile-driven. Additionally, advances in 5G networks create speeds as fast as WIFI creating internet availability in everyone's lives. Becoming Future Smart The goal is not to predict the future but enable better decision-making and preparedness. Becoming future smart can be assisted by leveraging practices and concepts from the field of strategic foresight . Strategic foresight is a way of thinking, engaging, discovering, and acting. Strategic foresight is intended to help let go of old beliefs. Traditional strategic planning is heavily focused on the internal organization, and strategic foresight links the organization to the external environment recognizing the business will operate within a larger world rather than be the only change in the world. Contact us if you are a small to medium-size business owner interested in arranging a complimentary interactive 90-minute webinar to learn about strategic foresight principles and how to apply a tool that will help you be future smart. References: Canton, J. (2016). Future smart: Managing the game-changing trends that will transform your world (First Da Capo Press Paperback ed.). Da Capo Press. Chermack, T. (2011). Scenario planning in organizations: How to create, use, and assess scenarios. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Cornish, E. (2005). Futuring: The exploration of the future (First Paperback ed.). World Future Society. Hines, A. (2006). Strategic foresight: The state of the art. The Futurist, 40 (5), 18. Linthorst, J., and de Waal, A. (2020) Megatrends and disruptors and their postulated impact on organizations. Sustainability. 12, 20: 8740. McGonigal, M. (2020). What’s a futures wheel [video] . Coursera. Ralston, B., and Wilson, I. (2006). Scan™: Radar for signals of change. In The scenario-planning handbook (pp. 245-257). South-Western. Van Duijne, F., and Bishop, P. (2018). Introduction to strategic foresight [PDF]. Future Motions . About the Author: Jeff's knowledge and expertise include executive coaching, strategy design, driving change, and workforce strategies to influence and grow organizations. Jeff Doolittle is the founder of Organizational Talent Consulting in Grand Rapids, MI. He can be reached at info@organizationaltalent.com or by calling (616) 803-9020. Visit https://www.organizationaltalent.com/strategic-planning-solutions to learn more about strategic planning services provided.

Leaders can be both agents of good and bad within companies. Too often, we see news reports of leadership failures, and those involved are not only those impacted by those failures. Consider the VW decision to hide problems with emissions that resulted in a 2015 recall of 8.5 million cars in Europe, including 2.4 million in Germany and 1.2 million in the UK, and 500,000 in the US. Leadership failures are leadership failure. According to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, most people no longer trust leaders, and a growing sense of inequity is undermining trust. Justice and Fairness in the Workplace In ancient discussions of how humans should live, Aristotle, Plato, and Aquinas first identified four cardinal virtues: justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. The virtue of justice includes many different concepts, including truthfulness, honesty, and fairness. Aristotle defined virtue as a habit for behaving in the right manner, neither in excess nor deficiency. According to Northouse (2018), “ethical leaders are concerned about issues of fairness and justice” (p.344). Leaders can demonstrate fairness through adhering to policies; however, how they relate with followers is essential in influencing moral opinions in the work context. Ethical leadership (doing the right thing, at the right time, and for the right reason) has a positive correlation with increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Bias in the Workplace Leadership ethics transcends any specific leadership theory. The topic of justice spurs many heated discussions in society. An associated current topic of discussion in many company boardrooms is the concept of bias in the hiring process. Bias and the resulting cognitive errors in talent selection is the failure of justice. Bias in the hiring process is the absence of virtue and a moral shortcoming or corruption. According to Bendick and Nunes (2012), “discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, disability, gender orientation, and other characteristics” continues to negatively impact employment opportunities for traditionally omitted groups (p.238). In American federal and state laws, highly structured interview processes, and training are used to control the negative impacts of biases. However, serious issues still exist in hiring, including pay inequity, and other acts of discrimination. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received claims that totaled over 72,000 in 2019. Figure 1: Number of charges per 10,000 population by State for FY2019. Source: eeoc.gov Mitigating Leadership Bias Increasing leadership awareness on cognitive errors associated with bias is proven to be a useful tool to help selection teams avoid making errors in selection. Provide the hiring team with just-in-time training on bias and cognitive errors in decision making before interviews begin. Also, technology can potentially support leaders in their application of fairness and justice in hiring decisions. Utilize predictive analytics and big data to help identify where bias exists within the organization as well as to identify ideal candidate attributes. I would enjoy hearing from you. Where and how have you observed or experienced fairness and justice success stories or failures? References Bendick, M., & Nunes, A. P. (2012). Developing the Research Basis for Controlling Bias in Hiring. Journal of Social Issues, 68(2), 238–262. Hipps, C. (2017). The secrets to tapping into data to automate and streamline hiring of future leaders. Strategic HR Review, 16(2), 93-95. Lewis, C.S. (2001). Mere Christianity. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Vice. 2019. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved January 30, 2019

The COVID-19 global pandemic prompted many organizations to respond quickly with furloughs and layoffs to reduce labor costs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020), in April 2020, unemployment rates in 43 states reached their highest levels since unemployment data began being collected in 1976. However, organizations may have been better off to consider other options than layoffs and furloughs of large numbers of employees because of the hidden impact these changes can have on organizational performance and effectiveness. This is especially true for organizations with large percentages of knowledge workers. Figure 1. State Unemployment rates, April 2020 seasonally adjusted. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hidden Drivers The congruent and sequential alignment of strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and people drives organizational performance and effectiveness. Typically, organizational misalignment occurs due to “three sources: external to the organization, internal from managerial actions, or jointly – from a combination of external and internal sources” (Burton et al.) An internal leadership decision to layoff or furlough employees can create organizational misalignment. The question that leadership needs to be asked is if the short-term cost-benefit associated with labor savings is higher than the organizational misalignment performance cost. Failing to consider this question can result in significant marketplace losses. Options and Building Resiliency Leaders have many different drivers to create or fix organizational misalignments such as creating new strategies, new product lines, different approaches to incentives, new ways of designing work tasks, mergers, strategic alliances, and new technology solutions. While no one approach works well in every possible situation, it is worth considering if the organization's design itself contributes to being unprepared for an uncertain future. Utilizing a regular time-based schedule for optimizing the organizational design is one way to creatively build agility toward ideal organizational performance and resiliency for an uncertain future. References: Alberts, D. S. (2012). Rethinking organizational design for complex endeavors. Journal of Organization Design (Aarhus), 1(1), 14-17. doi:10.7146/jod.6338 Burton, R. M., Obel, B., & Håkonsson, D. D. (2015). Organizational design: A step-by-step approach (Third ed.). Cambridge University Press. Galbraith, J. R. (2011). Designing the customer-centric organization: A guide to strategy, structure, and process (1st; ed.). Jossey-Bass. Guthrie, J. P., & Datta, D. K. (2008). Dumb and dumber: The impact of downsizing on firm performance as moderated by industry conditions. Organization Science (Providence, R.I.), 19(1), 108-123. doi:10.1287/orsc.1070.0298 Hardcopf, R., Gonçalves, P., Linderman, K., & Bendoly, E. (2017). Short-term bias and strategic misalignment in operational solutions: Perceptions, tendencies, and traps. European Journal of Operational Research, 258(3), 1004-1021. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2016.09.036 Heracleous, L., & Werres, K. (2015). On the Road to Disaster: Strategic Misalignments and Corporate Failure, Long Range Planning, doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2015.08.006 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020). Home. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020). TED. The economics daily.