Can a simple act of kindness from a leader transform workplace culture and drive exceptional performance? I had just started a new position in Nebraska. We left family back in Illinois, and a significant snowstorm was approaching. It dumped almost a foot of fresh snow on our house while I was out of town for work. My wife was stranded at home with a new baby, a three-year-old, and a dog. Without me knowing, my leader called my wife to offer to go to the store and pick up groceries in his truck. Although this took place over twenty years ago, I still get emotional thinking about this act of love by my leader. There is no serious debate that well-designed organizations with clear organizational strategies influence desired behaviors, culture, and performance. However, while organizational alignment is essential, it is not sufficient. Evidence suggests love brings out the best in how people think, act, and feel . Unfortunately, this four-letter word is rarely discussed in the workplace. But this is good news if you're a leader looking for a competitive advantage. Here are two practical ways leaders can bring love into the workplace culture and drive exceptional results. The benefits of love in the workplace The well-documented individual and organizational benefits of love include: Intrinsic motivation Increased creativity Discretionary effort Better workplace climate Enhanced employee capacity Enhanced leader-follower alignment Two complex challenges leaders face today are attracting and retaining top talent and creating inclusive workplaces that bring out the best in all employees. Diversity in the world and workplace is increasing. Globalization and technological advances are projected to continue to increase workgroup diversity. This increase in diversity can have many positive workplace effects, such as enhanced performance, creativity, innovation , and decision quality. However, workplace practices rooted in favoritism are costly, leading to increased relational conflict and a lack of team cohesion. In-group favoritism results in actions that favor one group. When leaders demonstrate love, they cultivate an organizational culture where healthy and caring leader-follower relationships break down the adverse effects of in-group and out-group differences. All you have to do is drive down any street or walk through your local retail district to see the signs for help wanted and understand the challenge of attracting and retaining the best and brightest employees. Organizational commitment is a term used to identify an individual with a particular company. Research has directly connected higher levels of organizational commitment with lower employee turnover rates. Studies have demonstrated that love enhances organizational commitment. The following short video from leadership guru Ken Blanchard provides some thoughts on the power of servant leadership in today's workplace. What is selfless love? Selflessness  is being more concerned with the needs and desires of others than with your needs. And one of the best definitions I have come across for love in the workplace comes from St. Thomas Aquinas. "To love is to will the good of the other." St. Thomas Aquinas Selfless love in the workplace is to desire and put into action the will for the good of another ahead of your interest . It is a radically different paradigm from a transactional worldview of the workplace. If you have nine minutes, the following video captures the essence of the meaning behind the definition used by St. Thomas Aquinas. Although the video does not use a workplace example, the intent of willing the good of the other is shown.   The following poem called "Outwitted" by Edwin Markham captures the belief that love creates a radical sense of belonging for everyone: He drew a circle that shut me out—Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in! Aren't empathy and compassion just different words for love? Empathy, compassion, and love are interrelated, but distinct differences exist. Empathy is the ability to be aware of, feel, and take on the emotions of what another person is experiencing. Empathy plays a vital role in moderating the effects of workplace conflict. Research has linked empathy with forgiveness and healing relationships. The following is a short video from Brene Brown that explains empathy and its value within the workplace. Compassion is an empathic understanding with a desire to help another person. Recent studies into the benefits of compassion at work link it to improved job performance, mental health, and leader-follower relationships. Although having awareness (empathy) and a desire to help (compassion) is essential, the world needs leaders who put the will for the good of others ahead of their interest. Leaders who emphasize love bring out the best in how people think, act, and feel in the workplace, leading to success and significance both personally and professionally. How you can love those you lead The answer for bringing love into the workplace is not hiding in metrics or data within the business- but in your routine practices, you perform automatically in your daily life. A traditional transactional leadership style adopts a top-down view of an organization with the leader on the top. Transactional leadership is based on the belief that employees perform best: within a well-formed chain of command rewards and punishments motivate and following the leader's directives is the employee's primary goal. Transactional leaders give employees something they want in exchange for getting something they want. This leadership style adopts a mental model that workers are not self-motivated and require structure, instruction, and monitoring to achieve organizational goals correctly and on time. In stark contrast, when adopting a selfless love worldview, the leader desires to bring out the best in their followers by giving them the best of themself. A servant leadership style aligns well with selfless love. These servant leadership characteristics are tangible ways for a leader to bring love into the workplace : Listening to self and others Showing empathy Healing self and others Being aware Persuasion and not coercion Conceptual thinking, not linear thinking Applying strategic foresight Stewardship of other's needs Commitment to the development of others Building community Are you a servant leader? Maybe you already understand the basic concepts but are unclear on how servant leadership differs from other contemporary leadership styles. The free Servant Leadership Style Checker answers these questions and provides your Servant Leadership Style Score. Take this free quiz to find out. How to cultivate love in the workplace Love may seem complex and challenging to articulate, much less measure ; however , validated measurement instruments exist. Like competencies and behaviors, love can be developed and embedded within organizational processes for talent management. Also, like competency development, developing love can have various positive consequences for businesses. Virtue and character development should include the following : knowledge transfer reasoning and practice. Selfless love is primarily developed through role modeling with intentional time for feedback and reflection. Feedback is a gift; most people want more feedback on their performance. However, feedback on character gaps is not commonly provided, given the complexity of these conversations. Additionally, most people spend little to no time reflecting on selfless love experiences because of blind spots. A dedicated and skillful executive coach can improve character feedback and purposeful character reflection. Numerous studies have found that dedicated mentors can also support character development by openly reflecting on insights gained from experience. Research supports that organizations can incorporate love development into existing competency development programs. It is not required for organizations to create separate programs focused only on character and virtue development. Great leaders love those they lead to gain a competitive advantage in an uncertain world. What is your real challenge to bringing love into the workplace? References Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-Changing Leadership Habits: 10 Proven Principles That Will Elevate People, Profit, and Purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting. Ferris, R. (1988). How organizational love can improve leadership. Organizational Dynamics, 16 (4), 41-51. Greenleaf, R. K., & Spears, L. C. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th-anniversary ed.). Lok, P., & Crawford, J. (2004). The effect of organizational culture and leadership style on job satisfaction and organizational commitment: A cross‐national comparison. The Journal of Management Development, 23 (4), 321-338. Mulinge, P. (2018). ALTRUISM AND ALTRUISTIC LOVE: Intrinsic motivation for servant-leadership. The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, 12 (1), 337-370. Patterson, K. (2003). Servant leadership: A theoretical model [PDF]. Seijts, G., Crossan, M., & Carleton, E. (2017). Embedding leader character into HR practices to achieve sustained excellence. Organizational Dynamics, 46 (1), 30-39. doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2017.02.001 Zachary, G. W. (2013). spiritual leadership: Investigating the effects of altruistic love on organizational commitment. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 6 (2), 767.

If I think of one word on the mind of leaders in all companies, and at all levels, it comes down to uncertainty. Whether it is trade or social conflict, new regulations, artificial intelligence, or the global pandemic leaders are uncertain about the future. So, what can leaders do to gain clarity and grow revenue in an uncertain global economy projected to have slow growth? Check out this short two-minute video on futures thinking and then keep reading. Understanding Strategic Foresight Many organizations do not possess the ability to implement change fast enough to avoid becoming obsolete. To survive organizations, and individuals need to become future smart. Future smart is identifying and understanding the drivers of changes as they are forming, so individuals and organizations can be architects of change. Becoming future smart can be assisted by leveraging practices and frameworks from the field of strategic foresight. Strategic foresight is an ongoing process involving framing, scanning, forecasting, visioning, planning, and resulting in actions an organization takes to prepare for the future. Strategic foresight is a way of thinking, engaging, discovering, and acting. The goal of strategic foresight is not to predict the future but enable better decision-making and preparedness. Strategic foresight is a systemic view of change, considering not just the likely changes but all the possible potential changes. When we think about change and its impact on organizations, Kodak is an example of a company that knew digital cameras were coming but refused to let go of the belief that film would always be a part of their strategy. 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 company will operate within a larger world rather than be only change in the world. Strategic Foresight Benefits No organization sets out to become obsolete, and there are many benefits to applying strategic foresight beyond avoiding obsolescence. Organizations benefit from being better prepared, having the right tools and resources at the right time, and improved decision-making . Strategic foresight leads to enhanced change management and positions organizations to move from responding and reacting to change to architecting trends. Being the first to market and leading new trends fuels revenue growth. About Strategic Foresight Tools Achieving the benefits of strategic foresight is accomplished by applying proven tools so that vital information does not get overlooked. These tools help organizations look beyond current experiences and areas of capability where individuals and organizations typically focus. Strategic foresight tools increase both the scope and the degree of specificity of foresight. Tools increase the number of points of view to be considered and build individuals and organizations that are future smart. Future Smart Workshop If you are interested in learning more about strategic foresight principles, engaging in a company-specific foresight activity, and learning how to use a strategic foresight tool that will help you understand the future better, then this workshop is right for you. The workshop will take 90 minutes and involve a minimum of 5 participants and 25 participants . Contact us to learn more about bringing this virtual or in-person workshop to your team. Free COVID Strategy Scenario Matrix Offer Does your company have the right strategy for a post-COVID-19 world? Become future-ready with our FREE COVID-19 Strategy Scenario Matrix analysis. We will pressure test your strategy against likely realities and give you specific recommendations as well as a strategy rating! It's simple, easy, and painless. Request your strategy analysis today . According to the Institute for Management Development, the interplay of three factors – viral longevity, global mindset, and digital adoption – can lead to remarkably different future worlds. These divergent views on how the post-COVID-19 world might look, applied within our Strategy Scenario Matrix Analysis, will provide a stress test of your strategy against highly important and likely realities so you can prepare and become future-ready. 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. 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. The Audiopedia. (2017, April 4). What is strategic foresight? What does strategic foresight mean? Strategic foresight meaning [Video]. YouTube. Van Duijne , F., and Bishop, P. (2018). Introduction to strategic foresight [PDF]. Future Motions .

Have you ever felt it wasn’t safe to speak up at work? This challenge is universal. According to a study involving over 195,000 US employees, only 30% strongly believe their opinion really matters. Contemporary workplace challenges are increasingly defined by incredible technological advances and workforce friction. Evidence suggests that psychological safety is at the core of highly competitive organizations. An absence of physical safety leads to serious accidents, but the absence of psychological safety leads to poor employee mental health and company performance below expectations. Growth in knowledge-intensive business requires the creativity and skills of many employees built on timely and candid collaboration. There is no perfect organizational culture, and there is no infallible leader. It is best to consider both continuous works in progress. Here are four keys to nurturing psychological safety for executives to keep in mind. What is psychological safety? We all share a need to belong. Psychological safety is a condition when you feel included, able to learn, contribute, and provide critical feedback without fear of being embarrassed, excluded, or penalized. The goal is to increase intellectual friction while decreasing social friction, and the four sequential stages of psychological safety are: Inclusion safety – We are constantly dividing the world between them and us. Inclusion safety is creating a shared identity, so others are viewed as being in the same group. Learner safety – This is feeling safe enough to experiment, ask questions, and fail as a part of the learning process. Contributor safety – Is participating as an active full-fledged member of the team supported by autonomy and encouragement. Challenger safety – This is the last stage when others are able to provide constructive criticism and engage in productive conflict without fear of exclusion or retaliation. This is the stage where individuals can innovate. Psychological safety is different than trust. Trust is if you will give others the benefit of doubt, and psychological safety is the environment influencing if others will give you the benefit of doubt. Psychological safety helps you and others work better together. Trust is a component of psychological safety. It is extremely dangerous in a competitive marketplace not to have a culture of psychological safety. When it is emotionally expensive in the workplace to share what you think and feel, it triggers a self-censoring instinct that shuts down and blocks collaboration and innovation. Psychological safety is a tool for leaders to help care for followers. Whispers become shouts as an executive leader. How you approach creating psychological safety as a peer is different than as a leader due to positional power in the relationship. “The presence of fear in an organization is the first sign of weak leadership.” Timothy Clark Key 1: Humility It is OK to be confident, however, when executives appear to be asking a leading question or know everything, few people will take the risk of upsetting the leader. Smart executives realize there is always more to learn , and humility is not the opposite of confidence. Being humble is recognizing that you may miss something without being inclusive of others' points of view. Key 2: Selfless love St. Thomas Aquinas stated that “to love is to will the good of the other.” As an executive, your whispers become shouts within the organization. Self-awareness, empathy, and compassion rather than the use of a position of power are needed to practice selfless love. Self-awareness improves verbal and non-verbal communication clarity and the ability to understand multiple perspectives. Empathy helps you understand how others are feeling, and compassion inspires actions that are helpful. Willing for the good of your followers is caring so much that you are willing to risk failing. Selfless love may seem complex and challenging to articulate, much less measure, however, validated measurement instruments exist. Like competencies and behaviors, selfless love can be developed. Virtue and character development involve learning, reasoning, and practice. Key 3: Performance-based accountability Psychological safety matters, but it is a means to an end, not the end. Providing clear expectations and giving feedback is essential for employees to achieve high-performance levels . When psychological safety is high, but performance accountability is low, results suffer. Without a focus on the organizational results, there is no incentive to be proactive. It is logical to think that creating comfort is a good place to be, but ideas can die, people coast, and problems not get resolved without performance-based accountability. The following TEDx presentation by Annie Edmondson provides some insight into the value of performance-based accountability in building a psychologically safe workplace. Key 4: Vulnerability Although leaders are expected to convey an image of competence, confidence, and power, followers already know you are not perfect. Being vulnerable as a leader requires courage . Leadership vulnerability involves the willingness to take risks that might end in failure or create the best of what might be in the organization. The following short video from Simon Sinek expands on the tension leaders face. Practicing vulnerability as a leader involves checking your motivation, vision, and paradigm (MVP) before having a difficult conversation. Motivation. Is your motivation about caring for others first? Or is your motivation to be right? Goals for a conversation matter. Vision. How do you see the result of the conversation going? When you see a conversation as a positive step in the journey, it provides a sense of purpose and direction. Paradigm. Is your paradigm for the difficult conversation that real transparent conversation will provide the best foundation for a healthy culture and your relationship? When the lens through which you perceive the difficult conversation is off, your results will turn out poorly. You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. Naguib Mahfouz Good leadership habits to build psychological safety Here are a few specific good leadership habits taken from research for setting the stage, inviting participation, and responding effectively to build psychological safety: Ask questions proactively. Address employees by name and ask questions that you don’t have an answer for, that don’t limit responses to a yes or no (or either or choice), and that helps others think about a topic in a new way. For example, you may have a goal to improve an absence of diversity in the organization. Instead of asking others how they can improve the situation, a better way would be to ask others how the organization can embrace diversity. Be transparent. Keep conversations genuine, especially when it involves your mistakes. Being transparent pertains to both the logical rationale aspects of the conversation as well as your feelings about the other person and the conversation. Be willing to learn. Vulnerability is about being weak to defend your point of view and desiring to listen and learn something new. When asking for feedback, it is essential to remember that it is a gift given. Silence is expensive. A good tactic is to ask others for what you need to hear but that they think you may not want to hear. Avoid blame. Use collaborative language. For example, how can we (instead of you) make this better? We statements turn the responsibility into a group effort, keeping the emphasis on the solution rather than an individual. Set expectations about failure. Innovation is increasingly important and dangerous for leaders. Organizations desire certainty, success, and efficiency, and it is uncertainty, failure, and inefficiency that are sources of innovation. Many organizations are designed to keep leaders from taking risks. It is important for leaders to differentiate between excusable and inexcusable failure. Express appreciation. Compensation for the work is not enough. The rewards and incentives you provide can be as simple as saying thank you. Effective reward and recognition systems target specific behaviors, are applied immediately, are tailored to what the individual values, are focused on what and how, and present everyone the same opportunity to achieve the reward or recognition. Use participatory decision-making styles. Although delegating and making command decisions have a place, they should not be the only or primary styles of leadership decision-making. Highly participatory styles such as consulting and facilitating not only improve feelings of belonging but they improve decision quality. So, what is the challenge for you to invite others to challenge the status quo? What steps can you take to create autonomy for followers to contribute in their own way to deliver results? References Clark. (2020). The 4 stages of psychological safety : defining the path to inclusion and innovation (First edition.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Incorporated. Daniels, A. (2016). Bringing out the best in people: How to apply the astonishing power of positive reinforcement (3rd edition). McGraw-Hill. Edmondson. (2019). The fearless organization : creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth (1st edition). Wiley. Edmondson, A. & Hugander, P. (2021). 4 Steps to boost psychological safety at your workplace. Harvard Business Review. Frazier, Fainshmidt, S., Klinger, R. L., Pezeshkan, A., & Vracheva, V. (2017). Psychological Safety: A Meta‐Analytic Review and Extension. Personnel Psychology , 70 (1), 113–165. Gallup. (2020). State of the American Workplace Report.

This just feels like the right thing to do. Studies have revealed that more than half of us routinely use our intuition to make significant personal and professional decisions. There are situations when there isn't the time or reliable data available. However, relying on only a feeling of right or wrong would be a big mistake in today's complex and chaotic marketplace. A recent 2021 Fortune 1000 executive leaders survey revealed that 99% are investing in data initiatives to transform their companies. These investments in technology are producing a deluge of available data within companies. But are these investments leading to better decisions? Leading companies are looking for data to transform their businesses, and 96% of executives report that they are achieving measurable business outcomes. However, these same leaders identify culture as the single most significant deterrent to becoming a data-driven organization. Only 30% of respondents indicated their organization had developed a well-articulated data-driven decision-making strategy and culture. What is Data-Driven Decision-Making? Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has become somewhat of a buzzword as many leaders and organizations aim to be data-driven. A good working definition for what it means to embrace data-driven decision-making is: Using facts extracted from data and metrics to guide business decisions that support business goals rather than relying on experience, intuition, and stories alone. The following video provides a real-world example from Google of how businesses can use people analytics to make better decisions. Why Competing with Data Analytics is Important? Making data-driven decisions is not the only way leaders can succeed. However, many examples prove the power of analytics. Providing direction during turbulent times. One thing that is for sure is that the world and marketplace are becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous . Data analytics can provide leaders with new insights and understanding on how to transform their business. Understanding what is not working. Testing and data collection enables leaders to fail fast and learn from making decisions. Leverage technology investments. Technology is influencing every aspect of life and creating new opportunities. Data-driven decisions move beyond insights to action. Reduce costs and increase revenue. Using data enables organizations to optimize operations leading to reduced costs and increased revenue. Predictive analytics goes one step further, allowing organizations to transform during market change quickly. Reduce risk. Data analytics enable leaders to reduce risk in decision-making by making data-driven decisions based on facts rather than feelings. Strategic foresight. Data analytics can help organizations see around corners and plan for mixed realities. It's not about predicting but anticipating potential futures. Continuous improvement. Data enables leaders to learn and improve decision-making continuously. Measures cut through the haze that comes from relying on intuition. The Importance of Data-Driven Organizational Culture "Culture is more powerful than anything else in the organization," and often why good management ideas fail. Upadhyay & Kumar (2020) Only focusing on building analytics capability is ineffective until an organizational culture supports data-driven decision-making. A firm's capacity and performance with data-driven decision-making are significantly moderated by culture. Organizational culture is the shared assumptions that influence employees' perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behavior within a business. A simplified definition of corporate culture is how things get done within the company when no one is watching. Getting Started by Assessing Your Organizational Culture Company culture must support business strategies for organizations to be successful. Leaders looking to architect a data-driven decision-making culture should start by clarifying their current business strategies and the characteristics of the existing culture. The Competing Values Framework identifies four fundamentally different cultures: Clan Culture creates a collaborative atmosphere similar to a family. The role of leadership is as a facilitator, mentor, and team builder. This culture emphasizes the value of teamwork, participation, and a consensus decision-making style, which may lead to more intuitive decisions. This culture creates value through individual commitment, communication effectiveness, and development. Adhocracy Culture creates an energetic and entrepreneurial atmosphere. The role of leadership is as an innovator, entrepreneur, and visionary. This culture stresses the importance of research and continuous improvement. This culture creates value through innovative ideas, transformation over transactional, and nimbleness. Market Culture creates a competitive, fast-paced, results-oriented environment. The role of leadership is challenger, competitor, and achiever. This culture highlights coming in first, which may lead to a more data-driven decision-making orientation as external data analysis can create a competitive advantage. This culture creates value through capturing market share, meeting or exceeding goals, and profitability. Hierarchy Culture is a top-down formal rule-based atmosphere. The role of leadership is management, supervision, and organization. This culture emphasizes efficient, reliable, and cost-effective performance, which could lead to a more data-driven decision-making orientation as internal data analysis can create improved efficiency and reliability. This culture creates value through promptness, consistency, control, and certainty. The Competing Values Framework⁠ and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) provide organizations with a simple validated method to describe a company's existing culture. For more information regarding the OCAI, please go to ww.ocai-online.com. Leadership creates difficult choices. If you want to build a data-driven decision-making culture or need an executive coach, we're ready to 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: Cameron, K. S. (2006). Competing values leadership: Creating value in organizations. E. Elgar Pub. Davenport, T. H., Harris, J. G., & Morison, R. (2010). Analytics at work: Smarter decisions, better results. Harvard Business Press. MA. NewVantage Partners, LLC. (2021). The journey to becoming data-driven: A progress report on the state of corporate data initiatives. Schein, E. H. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Stobierski, T. (2019). The advantages of data-driven decision-making. Harvard Business School. Schneider, W. E. (2000). Why good management ideas fail. Strategy & Leadership, 28(1), 24-29. doi:10.1108/10878570010336001 Upadhyay, P., & Kumar, A. (2020). The intermediating role of organizational culture and internal analytical knowledge between the capability of big data analytics and a firm's performance. International Journal of Information Management, 52, 102100

You have a vision for developing your team. But as a leader, the more coaching you provide, the more likely two-edge issues will happen. No matter how hard you try, true coaching complicates the leader-follower relationship. Unhealthy leader-follower relationships have devastating impacts on business performance and results. Many businesses are trying to build coaching skills, but leadership habits take time to change. Maybe leaders don’t make good coaches. Does being a leader and leadership coach have to be that hard? The truth is it doesn’t. You can coach your team and have fantastic leader-follower relationships. How? By anticipating and avoiding what’s causing issues in the first place. Evidence suggests that most problems can be traced back to these five things. Why Avoiding Leader as Coach Pitfalls Matter Leadership is a relationship. A theme in leadership research is that high-quality trust-based leader-follower relationships enhance positive results for leaders, teams, and organizations. The documented benefits include: Improved leader and follower performance Enhanced follower job satisfaction Increased leader and follower organizational commitment Decreased employee turnover Improved workplace climate Better two-way communication Improved creativity Value-added collaboration Decreased levels of workplace stress In an increasingly complex workplace having leaders that can cope with uncertainty and build trust within their leader-follower relationships is a competitive advantage. The benefits of investing in coaching are many; 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. 5 Common Pitfalls to Avoid Too often companies make narrow investments into leadership development with little to no results to show. Effective coaching relies on a partnership that goes beyond investing in leader as coach skill development. Coaching is a partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. International Coaching Federation Successful leaders anticipate and avoid the following five most common categories of leader as coach fails: 1. Expectations Ambiguity Unclear expectations are a common challenge. Often workplace ambiguity results from a misunderstanding about what is coaching versus what is leading. Leaders will need to provide direction, but a coach avoids giving advice. Tip : Establish a written definition that compares and contrasts leadership, coaching, and mentoring . When scheduling meetings for coaching make the purpose clear. If using another meeting time for coaching include a specific agenda item to draw a clear distinction between your coaching and leadership roles. If you are not using separate meetings for coaching (which is my preference) you might find the coaching conversation goes better when it is the first item on the agenda. 2. Conflicts of Interest Leaders that use coaching to drive a personal agenda and put their personal needs ahead of their team members create a conflict of interest. Leaders often run from meeting to meeting and it can become very tempting to hijack a coaching session to cover an action item. If you find yourself falling into this trap, you are limiting your coaching effectiveness. Tip : An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Set clear boundaries upfront and invite team members to provide feedback if you step out of the leader as coach lane. Establishing and sticking to a transparent agenda will help you avoid any potential conflicts of interest when you are under pressure. 3. Lack of Trust Trust is a fundamental aspect of high-quality relationships and an essential competency for a coach. Trust allows a coaching conversation to be open and without concern for being vulnerable. It is in this space that growth occurs best. A threat to trust is confidentiality within the leader-follower coaching relationship. Tip: Establish a coaching agreement with clear definitions of what about the coaching is confidential and what is not. Consider the needs of both you as the coach and your follower as the coachee. The agreement should include how concerns about trust are shared and resolved. 4. Leadership Power The role of the leader as a coach in hierarchical organizational culture is an especially challenging paradigm to establish. Coaching is most effective in collaborative relationships. The higher you go in an organization the more power you are given within the organization. When team members enter a meeting with expectations for the leader to be in charge and have all the answers it is difficult to adopt a mindset of collaboration. Tip: Set expectations upfront for the leader as coach relationship to be collaborative. Make it explicit as a part of the coaching agreement. Include examples of what is and is not a collaborative coaching relationship. Focus on your coaching presence, active listening, and use of powerful questions during coaching sessions. 5. Forced Participation Sometimes out of a desire for everyone to develop leaders and followers are forced to have coaching relationships. However, for coaching to be most effective participation needs to be desired. When a coach or coachee does not want to be coached the effectiveness of the investment is diminished. Tip: Make participation voluntary for the coach and coachee. Even though you want everyone to be developing, you cannot force someone to learn and grow in a coaching relationship What’s the biggest leader as coach challenge you face? Key Summary Points High-quality trust-based leader-follower relationships enhance positive results for leaders, teams, and organizations. In an increasingly complex workplace having leaders that can cope with uncertainty and build trust within their leader-follower relationship is a competitive advantage. The more leadership coaching you provide, the more likely two-edge issues will arise. A successful leader as a leadership coach anticipates and avoids expectations ambiguity, conflicts of interest, lack of trust, leadership power, and forced participation. References: Athanasopoulou, A., & Dopson, S. (2018). A systematic review of executive coaching outcomes: Is it the journey or the destination that matters most? The Leadership Quarterly. 29 (1), 70-88. Lai, Y., & Palmer, S. (2019). Psychology in executive coaching: An integrated literature review. Journal of Work Applied Management, 11 (2), 143-164. Milner, J., Milner, T., McCarthy, G., & da Motta Veiga, S. (2022). Leaders as Coaches: Towards a Code of Ethics. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science: A Publication of the NTL Institute, OnlineFirst, 1. Trompenaars, A., & Voerman, E. (2010). Servant-leadership across cultures: Harnessing the strength of the world's most powerful management philosophy. McGraw-Hill.

As the world changes, people and organizations must change too. Recent surveys suggest there is growing confidence in the global economy among executives. A PwC pulse survey of over 5000 CEOs revealed that more than 60% are expecting innovation and M&A deals to fuel their organizational growth over the next 12 months. Growth is a critical driver of organizational performance. However, not all change is innovation and not all innovation flourishes. Successful innovation produces a significant positive change for customers. Like the atmospheric conditions required for the formation of a tornado do not always produce a tornado. The same can be said for organizational innovation. Innovation is unpredictable and often comes from a combination of hard work, curiosity, the pursuit of wealth, and necessity. There are countless prerequisites to any innovation, and analysis reveals both the astonishing and absurd. While this reality may leave you feeling a bit confused about what to do, here are some conditions that will increase your odds of successful innovation. "Successful entrepreneurs do not wait until the muse kisses them and gives them a bright idea: they go to work." Peter Drucker Conditions for Innovation As organizations gain competence and confidence, the likelihood of innovation decreases. Adopting the following approaches and mindsets can reduce organizational threats to innovation: Awareness: The decisions we make reflect who we are. The better organizations understand their culture and their employees; the better decisions can be made at each phase of innovation development. Reward failure: In the pursuit of innovation, failure happens. Organizations lacking positive reinforcement for innovation will not bring out the best in the people attempting to innovate. Too often, organizations are designed to keep people from taking risks. Work hard and reconsider assumptions: As organizations invest time pursuing innovation, it is easy to become increasingly less willing to question an idea. It is essential to step back every so often and challenge the innovation assumptions. Organizations that dare to question assumptions will keep the focus on the best ideas. Growth: Many innovations begin with a simple question. Can it be done better? Organizations that value the pursuit of incremental improvement will not miss the value of the mundane ideas that lead to the next significant invention. Luck and mistakes: It’s essential to recognize that organizations may do everything right and fail as well as do nothing right and succeed. Organizations that acknowledge that luck, chance, and the work of others play a role in their innovation process set themselves up for success. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein The Psychology and Sociology Behind Successful Innovation As stated earlier, not all innovations are successful . No one wants to spend a bunch of time working hard to produce an invention that is considered ahead of its time. An innovation ahead of its time is not a compliment. Adding to the complexity of successful innovation is the reality that the technical merits are essential but not sufficient. Beyond the technical merits are the influences of psychology and sociology. Both are vital determinants for an organization’s innovation success. The following are five factors that moderate organizational innovation success: Perceived value – How much better is the new from the old? Perceptions are realities for customers. Successful organizational innovation considers its perceived value based on cost, status, convenience, pleasure, and style. Effort – What is required to transition to the innovation? Is the cost of the innovation greater than its advantage? If it takes more effort to utilize the invention, most people won’t do it. Learning – How much learning is required to use the new? The smaller the perceived gap, the more likely people will try something new. Ease – How easy is it to try the innovation? If something is risk-free, it is more likely to be used. Likewise, as time, energy, and cost required increases, the likelihood of the innovation being used decreases. Visibility – How visible are the innovation’s results? Consider a fashion fad. It may have limited value, but the results are obvious. The more visible the results, the more likely the innovation will be used. Successful organizational innovation accounts for both the positive and negative psychological and sociological consequences associated with the utilization of the innovation. For each factor, you should evaluate if the consequence is: positive or negative from the users perspective experienced immediately or in the future certain or uncertain Not all consequences have the same degree of impact on innovation success. Consequences that are either positive immediate certain, or negative immediate certain will have the most significant impact on if the likelihood of the organizational innovation being successful. Key Points Successful organizational innovation produces a significant positive change for customers. Key conditions of innovation include: increasing awareness of organizational culture and people, rewarding interesting failures, working hard and reconsidering assumptions, valuing incremental improvements, and recognizing the role of luck and mistakes. The technical merits of innovation are essential but not sufficient for innovation to flourish. Successful innovation accounts for the psychological and sociological consequences associated with innovation. References: Bartlett, R. (2013). A practitioners guide to data analytics: Using data analysis to improve your organizations decision making and strategy . McGraw-Hill. New York. Berkun, S. (2010). The myths of innovation (1st ed.). O'Reilly Media, Inc. Drucker, P. (2006). Innovation and Entreprenuership. Harper Business. PwC 24th Annual Global CEO Survey

Working from home can make reading the room during a team meeting more difficult. And have you really had a meeting if no one said 'you're on mute?' Leadership is a relationship. Without human connection, leaders rely on positional power to influence others. Using power can appear to work, but it comes with harmful personal and business side effects. Genuine relationships are not easy to achieve online. Studies reveal that contextual clues and emotions are more difficult to discern online. Mastering the intangible art of building virtual connections is an essential skill for leading a hybrid workforce. One of the five global leadership megatrends identified in the 2021 Global Leadership Forecast by DDI is that leaders crave more time to spend building connections with their teams each day. The hybrid workplace has increased feelings of isolation in the workplace. Leaders need real connections to influence and engage their teams. Also, they need real connections because limited in-person interaction negatively impacts mental health . What is the meaning of building connections in a hybrid workplace? Building connections is establishing meaningful, committed relationships between two or more people. A hybrid workplace is a flexible workplace model that supports distributed employees that work remotely and those that work in a shared office. A synonym for connection is relationship. Virtual workforce challenges Psychological distance and the use of technology present hidden threats for anyone trying to establish real virtual connections in the workplace. Increased psychological distance decreases feelings of belonging that are fundamental to trust and communication. Being virtual increases the degree to which people feel removed from each other. Additionally, increased distance limits the ability to read the room and get a feeling for the atmosphere when building a connection. When employees and leaders are virtual, spontaneous encounters are typically limited compared to being in the same physical workplace. Informal, spontaneous interactions increase communication frequency and opportunities to share personal information that enhance relationships and trust. The less employees see each other, the more anonymous they become to each other. Technology creates the potential for increased anonymity due to the limited visibility of each other. Anonymity raises the potential for misunderstandings, especially during challenging conversations where visual cues convey emotions. The following video presents a humorous and accurate depiction of some of the many challenges leaders face on conference calls. Building virtual communities in the workplace A community is a group defined by a shared social identification among the members. It can be a vital source of support during times of crisis. Social identity theory suggests that we share identity with individuals with whom we associate. And as a result, we are more likely to trust and influence those individuals than individuals and groups with whom we do not associate. In conversations, we tend to find communication more comfortable and more productive with those we consider "us" versus "them." According to social identity theory, we are more motivated to be receptive and mentally able to fully process communications with those we identify. Shared social identity increases both help-giving and social bonding and increases feelings of belonging among community members. These communities produce solidarity and support for community members. Communities generate a wide range of health benefits, including a sense of belonging, reduced depression and anxiety, trust, and increased self-esteem. Types of virtual communities Peer advisory groups, communities of practice, and affinity groups are increasingly popular forms of virtual communities. Peer advisory groups typically serve as an informal board of directors for the leaders. They listen, advise, and debate through shared experiences. They are acting as a personal advisor. Requesting member commitment, confidentiality, and collaboration to get involved will help these groups succeed. These groups also benefit from engaging an experienced moderator to help maximize the value of the meetings. Similar to peer advisory groups are virtual communities of practice (vCoP). A virtual community of practice is a group with common concerns, knowledge, and experiences on a given topic. As the name implies, these online communities are centered around practice, where online peer advisory groups are focused on the role of the leader. A community of practice focuses on creating best practices for niche domains where the members possess specific expertise. Online affinity groups are inclusive to individuals from diverse backgrounds but interested in a shared goal. While they share a common goal, many may not have the expertise to achieve the goal itself or be aware of best practices. Strategies that work for building virtual connections Like there are numerous challenges to establishing virtual connections, there are many potential strategies for how to build virtual connections. The key is to overcome the virtual workplace challenges of identity construction, social facilitation, and building trust. The following are research-proven strategies that work for building real virtual connections. How to create a shared social identity online: Sharing Visual Clues: When using video calls, have each person turn on their camera as a sign of respect. This will also increase the opportunity to observe each-others facial expressions. Fostering Informal Communication: Schedule time for virtual coffee breaks for checking in with others. Informal communication builds relationships and creates shared experiences. These types of opportunities are less likely to occur, so it is important to schedule them. Social Recognition : Look for opportunities to say thank you. Use a reinforcement survey to find out what motivates each other and put them on a shared drive. Then use those learnings to recognize each other. Don't wait until the end of the year. How to leverage the positive influences of social facilitation while working from home: Presence Matters : Although technology has limitations compared to physical proximity, research supports that a digital presence decreases the adverse effects of anonymity. Establish strategies to be present with each other, such as turning on your cameras during a video call and working as if you were sitting across from each other. How to build trust in the virtual workplace: Create Psychological Safety: Being open and candid demonstrates caring and respect. The best way to create safety is to model vulnerability. You have to be willing to have a courageous conversation. Practice Humility: Humble leadership does not need to be an oxymoron. A high degree of self-orientation creates significant distrust from others. Spend time listening to others. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Ask for feedback and help when needed. Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less. Ken Blanchard Adopt a Coaching Mindset : Use the following five questions model by Michael Bungay Stainer to listen. The goal of the conversation is to get curious, listen, and be helpful. What is on your mind? What is the real challenge? And what else? What do you want? What was most helpful? Key Summary Points: Genuine relationships are not easy to achieve online. The hybrid workplace has increased feelings of isolation in the workplace. Building connections is establishing meaningful, committed relationships between two or more people. Psychological distance and the use of technology present hidden threats for anyone trying to establish real virtual connections in the workplace. Communities generate a wide range of health benefits, including a sense of belonging, reduced depression and anxiety, trust, and increased self-esteem. The key is to overcome the virtual workplace challenges of identity construction, social facilitation, and building trust. 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 Afflerbach, T. (2019). Hybrid virtual teams in shared services organizations: Practices to overcome the cooperation problem . Springer International Publishing AG. Blackford, M. (2021). How real connection in a virtual workplace boosts mental health. FHE Health. Bungay Stanier, M. (2016). The coaching habit: Say less, ask more & change the way you lead forever. Box of Crayons Press. Center for Workplace Health. (2021). Your mental health and well-being. America Psychological Association. Greenaway, K. H., Wright, R. G., Willingham, J., Reynolds, K. J., & Haslam, S. A. (2015). Shared Identity Is Key to Effective Communication. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 41 (2), 171–182. Murphy, S. M. (2020). How the University of Chicago medicine designed virtual rounding to maintain human connections during COVID-19. Patient Experience Journal, 7 (2), 80-82. Neal, S. (2021). 5 Global leadership megatrends for 2021. DDI. The mental health benefits of community helping during crisis: Coordinated helping, community identification, and sense of unity during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2021). Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2520 van Dick, R., Ciampa, V., & Liang, S. (2018). Shared identity in organizational stress and change. Current Opinion in Psychology, 23 , 20-25. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.11.005 Waranyuwat, A. (2020). Seeking human connections when all we've got are virtual ones: Strategies for advising students during disruptive times. Harvard Business Publishing.

I wish I had more balance in my life. Sound familiar? Many leaders I speak with have tossed in the towel on managing work-life boundaries. However, the evidence is clear that poorly managed boundary expectations contribute to increased stress, an absence of joy, and broken relationships. Finding focus in today's distraction economy isn't just about where or when you work best but understanding how. Successful leaders know how they work best and consider the different needs of their team. This is not one time to follow the golden rule and treat your team as you would want to be treated. Managing work-life boundaries helps you and your team perform better and reduces feelings of busyness. Here are the four fundamental work-life boundary styles, a quiz to help you find your preferred style, and eight tips toward instantly improving your boundary management. Discover your preferred work-life boundary management style The following short survey can help you become more aware of your boundary management style. The survey measures how you perceive boundary control, manage interruptions, balance personal and professional, technology dependence, and time for yourself. Why it's time to establish better work-life boundary habits Healthy leader-follower relationships are based on trust and respect. Don't assume you know your team's boundary management styles. It is best to apply the platinum rule regarding work-life boundary management. Do unto others as they would want to be done. The following are some tips you can use with your team: Demonstrate respect by getting to know your team's boundary management styles. You may want your team to read this blog and use it as a topic for discussion in your next team meeting or one-to-one. Engage your team in a conversation about the organizational culture and their work-life boundary management style. Where is there alignment, and where are there opportunities to be better? Evidence from multiple studies reveals that blurred boundaries negatively impact the well-being of leaders and employees. When leaders fail to schedule priorities and expectations successfully, it often results in feelings of regret or distress. How leaders and employees manage boundaries has consequences on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and business results. Leaders, followers, organizations, and communities benefit from healthy work-life boundary management habits. Personal Example: Early in my career, I had an opportunity to include my family in a Leadership 360 survey as part of a leadership development program I was taking through my work. My first reaction was to question the value I could get from an online survey about my work performance that involved my family. I knew my family loved me and felt we had open communication. I also debated sending it to my son, given his young age. However, wanting more feedback , I decided to go ahead and send my family the survey. Surprisingly, I learned about hidden strengths and blind spots important to my family . One survey comment I remember from my son was that his dad was always on his mobile device. Yes, it hurt to read that I had a blind spot about dropping the ball on a critical relationship. My first private response as I read the comment was defensive and to challenge the comment. The reality at the time was that my work responsibilities had expanded significantly. I went from site leadership responsibilities to having a team across multiple regions. Also, my young family was growing older and wanted more time from their dad. I failed to consider the impact of growing needs at home and the growing needs at work. Thankfully, my lack of boundary management awareness didn't cost me a relationship, and I could course-correct. I learned an important lesson. Just because you are not hearing concerns or seeing the negative impacts of mismanaging work-life boundaries doesn't mean everything is OK. 4 Boundary management styles Does work-life separation or integration lead to achieving balance? The answer is that it varies by individual. The better you understand your preferred boundary management style and the style of others, the better you can manage personal work-life boundaries and adapt your leadership to the needs of your team. There are four main work-life boundary styles: Integrators make themselves constantly available to work and life needs. Integrators enjoy the freedom of blending their work life and non-work life. They move back and forth between the two as needed. Taking a work call after dinner is OK for an integrator if they can also run an errand during work hours. Cyclers bounce back and forth between periods of solid separation and times of full integration. Separators divide their time and attention between either work or life needs. They set a hard line between personal and professional roles. When they are off the clock, they are done with work. They don't do well with after-work hours work and emails or calls. Hybrid role-first styles have a defined work- or life-first identity, allowing one identity to trump the other. This style can be integrators, cyclers, or separators with a specific hybrid. If you are a work-first hybrid, you will shift work hours or move family events to accommodate work. 8 Tips to better work-life boundary management Generally, individuals with low scores for boundary control are focused on life or work priorities rather than life and work priorities, and either success or significance is sacrificed. If you received a low score on the Work-Life Boundary Management Checker, taking the following suggestions could improve your low boundary control scores: Use separate devices for work and non-work activities. Turn off alerts from devices during periods. Use the Do Not Disturb option on your IOS device to silence notifications. Restrict access to work and non-work social media access at different times. Use physical space to create separation between activities. Many of us work from home, at least part of the time. To help keep work at work, use a separate location for work to the greatest extent possible. Block time in your calendar for work and non-work priorities Add time buffers to your calendar to create a transition between work and non-work activities. A commute builds a natural buffer. Create a regular check-in with an accountability partner for support, feedback, and encouragement. Hire an executive coach . Given that the ultimate goal of coaching is personal change, the process uses essential questions and client-centered critical thinking to invoke self-awareness and individual responsibility with work-life boundaries. Conclusion: Managing Work-Life Boundaries Taking a work-life separation or integration approach is not always the answer. However, not committing to managing personal and professional expectations leads to increased stress, feelings of busyness, a lack of joy, and broken relationships. Effective leaders manage personal work-life boundaries and lead in alignment with their team's needs. Let's discuss how our transformational executive coaching and organizational consulting solutions can help you achieve your goals. References: Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-Changing Leadership Habits: 10 Proven Principles That Will Elevate People, Profit, and Purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting. Foucreault, A., Ollier-Malaterre, A., & Ménard, J. (2018). Organizational culture and work-life integration: A barrier to employees' respite? International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(16), 2378-2398. Kossek, E. E. (2016). Managing work-life boundaries in the digital age. Organizational Dynamics, 45(3), 258-270.

Economic downturns are inevitable. They make companies more competitive and create sustainable business growth. But only if leaders proactively take steps to prepare. Bain & Company found that 47% more S&P 500 businesses moved from the bottom quartile to the top half, and 89% more dropped from the top quartile to the bottom half during economic downturns compared to periods of strong economic growth. It is easy to find out what doesn't work. Reactive workforce reductions, burn-the-furniture cost-cutting, and spray-and-pray strategies out of desperation have historically led to considerable losses. If you immerse yourself in the daily news, the future appears dire – supply chain constraints, geopolitical conflict, inflation, and historic labor shortages are projected to persist. Even the World Bank is suggesting that stagflation is a real possibility. So, what can leaders and companies do now to emerge stronger? Here are three proven tactics to accelerate company performance despite an economic downturn. Performance Accelerator 1: Scenario Planning Only operating in the short term or taking too much risk and gambling on one specific future are frequent traps leaders fall into when facing economic uncertainty. Scenario planning enhances the focus on likely and critical external factors. The benefits of scenario planning include: Creative thinking Informed narratives or stories about possible or plausible futures Improved decision-making about the future Enhanced human and organizational learning and imagination Rather than predicting the future, scenarios help organizations plan for various likely futures, such as economic predictions of stagflation and persistent labor shortages. Wind tunnel testing is the term for the basic concept embedded with scenario planning that allows an organization to be tested in a variety of different turbulent times. There are five fundamental phases of a scenario planning project: Identification of a focal question Scenario exploration of external perspectives and forces with the potential to dramatically change your business Scenario development of multiple potential stories about what the future might look like Scenario implementation of options and priorities. Implementation typically involves experimentation, analyzing the existing strategies, and creative experiential learning exercises. Ongoing project assessment of changes taken with defined early indicators "The most threatening competitor leadership teams face is themself." Tibbs Without a good implementation strategy and effective implementation, scenario planning is nothing more than an intellectual exercise. Change management should be presented in a way that leads to different ways of thinking and acting. Organizational Development can support the implementation workshops with change models and activities for the workshops. In the following video, Dr. Chermack provides an overview of the process using a small business case study. This video provides some practical insights into scenario planning. Performance Accelerator 2: Organizational Change Resiliency Organizational change resilience is responding productively to significant disruptive change and transforming challenges into opportunities. One theme with organizations that are resilient amid change is sharing data with decision-makers openly. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) suggests that organizational resilience (ISO 22316:2017) is dependent on knowledge and information that is: accessible, understandable, and adequate to support the organization's objectives effectively shared to enable decision-making recognized as a critical resource for the organization created, retained, and applied through established systems and processes shared promptly with all relevant interested parties applied in organizational learning “In God we trust, others must have data.” — Ronald D. Snee Evidence suggests that big data holds a key for helping organizations detect and respond to disruption. Descriptive data analytics improve sensing, and predictive data analytics enhance a company's ability to change and seize new opportunities. Descriptive Data Analytics: The interpretation of historical data to better understand business changes. Examples include social media usage and engagement, organizing survey results, and operational efficiency data trends. Predictive Data Analytics: uses historical data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning to identify the likelihood of future outcomes. Examples include predicting customer preferences based on past purchasing behaviors, predicting employee retention risk based on assessment data, and predicting workforce staffing levels based on seasonal trends. Improving your company's organizational change resilience is also connected to company culture. Culture mediates the knowledge and information-sharing capability. When building organizational change resilience, investing in culture change makes a difference in adoption and utilization. Performance Accelerator 3: Strategic Leadership Ambiguity creates confusion and limits a leader's influence. Businesses are collections of individuals, and an organization's competitive advantage comes from capitalizing on a collective benefit from individual behaviors. Strategy can unify people within an organization toward an organization's purpose. Effective leaders win the hearts and minds of employees, and an organization's survival is tied to optimizing the head-heart balance. Strategies must instill confidence within people during times of turmoil in organizations, creating a sense of ownership. A shared vision that creates benefits for the group is essential to guiding an organization during value conflicts created by organizational changes. A practical approach to strategy leads to employee engagement through participation , communication, and leadership behaviors. “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality” — William Bennis There are five competencies often underdeveloped in leaders and connected to the challenges of strategic leadership : Scanning. Looking for weak signals that may not immediately affect the business. Visioning. Clarifying the organization's shared purpose and dreams with group benefit. Reframing. Challenging current assumptions and fresh thinking about future possibilities. Making sense. An intellectual process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating data. Systems thinking. A holistic way to investigate how different parts interrelate and contribute to specific potential outcomes. Interestingly, in addition to competence in these areas, strategic leaders need a conscience focused on helping others for the greater good. The character of the leader plays a vital role in unifying a team. During times of complexity and uncertainty like today, when leaders create a vision focused on group benefit, it allows employees to navigate conflicts created by change. Developing strategic leadership requires a leader's motivation and deliberate practice to shape habits, experience-rich learning opportunities to provide challenges, time for self-reflection, and coaching. Self-assessments and 360-degree surveys can help leaders and leadership teams observe their strategic leadership capabilities and better focus development investments. Combined with leadership development, assessments can create a sense of urgency and motivation for change. So what is your real challenge in preparing now for an economic downturn? References: Ackermann, F., & Eden, C. (2011). Making strategy: Mapping out strategic success (2nd. ed.). SAGE. Beerel, A. (1997). The strategic planner as prophet and leader: a case study concerning a leading seminary illustrates the new planning skills required. Leadership & Organization Development Journal . 18 (3) pp. 136 -144. Bennis, W. (2008). Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Journal of Property Management, 73(5), 13. Chermack, T. (2011). Scenario planning in organizations: How to create, use, and assess scenarios. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Douglas, R. (2019, September 12) How AI and machine learning are transforming business planning. Adaptive InsightsBlog. Gallup. (2022). State of the global workplace 2022 report. Gallup. Hughes, R. L., Beatty, K. M., & Dinwoodie, D. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organization's enduring success . John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Knowledge@Wharton. (2009, July 22). Eyes Wide Open: Embracing Uncertainty through Scenario Planning . Tibbs, H. (2000). Making the future visible: Psychology, scenarios, and strategy. Global Business Network . Witmer, H., Mellinger, M. S., Faculty of Culture and Society, Urban Studies (US), Malmö University, & Centre for Work-Life and Evaluation Studies (CTA). (2016).

It's that time of year where everyone starts talking about future trends and how the business will be different next year. But maybe you are an outlier. Maybe you feel resistant toward these conversations about the future and are only somewhat intrigued by what is being discussed. Given the crisis-driven workplace realities, it is no surprise that you may feel skeptical, especially if you are exhausted from the past year. Or if past attempts to become future-ready have not yielded much success. It could be that you are entirely on board with getting future smart. You want to change and create trends rather than catch up to the competition. Whatever situation you find yourself in, no business sets out to become obsolete, and there are many proven benefits to futures thinking. "The future depends on what you do today." Mohandas Gandhi Benefits of Being Future Smart Contemporary business leaders operate in a fast-paced mix of societal, technological, and commercial crises. Leaders are forced to respond and navigate their businesses from one crisis to another. Advances in technology continue to be a significant transformational force like what past companies faced with the prior agricultural and industrial revolutions. Marketplace chaos brings increased stress, new demands and creates new opportunities. Business leaders benefit from being better prepared, having the right tools and resources at the right time, and improved decision-making. Having strategic foresight leads to enhanced change management and positions a business to move from responding and reacting to change to architecting trends. When companies lead new trends, it fuels revenue growth. Top Ten Business Trends Beyond 2022 Leaders can't be ready for what they don't understand. Here is a list and description of the top ten trends beyond 2022 that you need to understand to get ahead of the competition. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advances in technology will make Artificial Intelligence mobile and a part of every business sector. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are already investing in the scalability of AI and advances in technology such as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) that enable better AI performance. Leaders and businesses that understand the value of data will transform their processes, products, and services with a competitive advantage. AI is projected to account for $15.7 trillion in the economy and boost GDP by 26% by 2030. Bricks-and-Clicks This trend is about using technology to transform internal business processes and customer experiences that are entirely self-service-based, always accessible, and without friction. The bricks-and-clicks business model incorporates pop-up stores, virtual stores, interactive kiosks, and online hypermarkets like Amazon. Technology will seamlessly help customers: make better decisions provide always-available access to services and products experience products and services virtually enable customers to pay for products and services electronically, such as Google Wallet, Apple Pay, or near field communication (NFC). Cybersecurity Increased utilization of technology and the complexity of consumer and corporate security threats will drive businesses and customers' increased cybersecurity investments. The trends in cybersecurity threats include increased counterfeits, increased network malware attacks, and geopolitical interference. Cybersecurity will become a competitive differentiator. It is projected that the cybersecurity market will grow to $433.6 billion by 2030, at a 12.6% CAGR. Gig Economy The gig economy gives employees and businesses flexibility. Flexibility is a significant competitive advantage in a crisis-driven marketplace. According to some estimates, as much as 50% of the workforce will be made up of freelancers by 2030. Advances in technology and increased hiring challenges will push businesses to outsource functions to address their needs. Using a temporary employee becomes a strategic advantage, especially for small businesses. It is projected the size of the Gig Economy will grow to $455 billion in 2023, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17.4%. Talent Shortage Globally growing economies lack the available skilled employees to meet growing job opportunities. Korn Ferry predicts that by 2030 there will be a global human talent shortage of more than 85 million people. Also, there is a growing trend in the US that people are unable or unwilling to work. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, the labor participation rate will decline to 60.4% for people 16 and older in 2030. Baby Boomer retirements will drive lower participation of those over 55. Additionally, people ages 16-24 in the active workforce are projected to continue to decline by more than 4%. The reduced size of the US labor force will push businesses to turn to technology, freelance employees, a global workforce, and talent management strategies to address employee retention and recruitment to meet growing workforce needs. Remote Work Work from home is likely not going away. According to McKinsey, communities and businesses will work and learn remotely. Advances in technology such as virtual and augmented reality will make working remotely easier. Real estate is not cheap and physical space for employees can be a high cost for businesses. Also, as work schedules move away from 9 to 5 to support omnipresent products and services, it doesn't make sense for all positions within a physical office space. However, leaders need to be smart about establishing a structure for decision-making and effective communication to reduce confusion and lack of clarity that can occur with remote work. Robotics The utilization of robotics in the engineering and technology sector will grow by 175% by 2030. It is projected that the global service robotics market size will increase to $46 billion by 2026, with Europe and Asia-Pacific leading the way in world investments. Robotics will revolutionize manufacturing and production through reduced costs and improved human and equipment productivity. 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 must be delivered through consumer touchpoints. Social media marketing will not stop changing and rapidly disrupting business, so businesses must keep learning to stay relevant. Early adopters already provide spaces for customers to make user reviews, social media posts, and stream while engaging with products and services. Social Purpose There is an increasing market for innovative, socially responsible, and affordable solutions. Customers are looking for organizations to address society's significant issues, such as social equity and climate change. It is not enough for your business to be green or promote social justice internally. Companies need to be transparent with potential customers about their social purpose and running their business. According to BrandWatch, Gen Z and millennials are deeply concerned about the environment, and almost two in five are purchasing pre-owned products. VR & AR The prediction of a world that blurred the lines between digital and physical was first discussed in 1992 as the metaverse. Businesses already have improved processes using smart glass displays for technicians. It is projected that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) markets will continue to expand in the US to $1.5 trillion by 2030. The future will include simulated reality making new business opportunities possible. Every business will need a real-time live 3D presence to tap this growing market. How to Make Your Business Future Smart Becoming future smart can be assisted by leveraging practices and frameworks from strategic foresight . Strategic foresight is a way of thinking, engaging, discovering, and acting. The goal of futures thinking is not to predict the future but enable better decision-making and strategic planning . Strategic foresight is a systemic view of change, considering not just the likely changes but all the possible potential changes. Here is a short video to learn more about doing business in 2030 and the concept of futures thinking. Strategic foresight is not traditional strategic planning . Strategic foresight links the organization to the external environment recognizing the company will operate within a larger world rather than be only change in the world. We want to partner with you to bring futures thinking principles and tools to your organization. We offer interactive strategic foresight webinars that last 90 minutes and involve a maximum of 25 participants. These webinars are ideal for teams looking to become future smart. Participants will learn: the purpose and benefits of strategic foresight how to apply the Futures Wheel strategic foresight tool and the STEEPLE scanning framework. Let's talk today about how we can help you achieve your goals with transformational executive coaching and organizational consulting solutions that work. References: Agrawal, M. (2021). The possibilities of AI in 2030: Transformation across dimensions. Forbes. Alt, W., and Markose, A. (2019). 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Most leaders want to become better leaders. But it’s normal to have objections and doubts about investing in developing better leadership habits. When I talk with executives, I hear about how they are grappling with new workforce challenges, strategic concerns, and increasing demands for innovation. Observing these leaders in action, they often rush from meeting to meeting, fight one fire after another and respond to endless emails. The speed of the typical workday is a blur of activity. It's easy to get stuck in a pattern of doing the same things and hoping for better results. When you feel captive to a habit, it’s time to reevaluate. Here are five common objections to developing better habits and what leaders should keep in mind. Why striving for better habits matters Leaders must continually transform, adapt, and innovate or fall behind. Research constantly reminds us that the best and most creative leaders populate the most successful organizations. Leaders with closed minds and organizations slow to adapt to new ideas quickly fall behind and become obsolete in a fast-paced digital workplace. All leaders need to continually develop and evolve at a pace consistent with the change in our exacting world. Business leaders naturally desire to achieve both success and significance in life and at work. However, privately, they question if it is possible given the expectations from their board members, shareholders, and key stakeholders. In today's business environment, success and significance appear to be competing priorities and opposite ends on a continuum. Striving for better habits is a competitive advantage available to any manager or executive looking for a powerful point of differentiation. In the review and analysis of four separate studies in different industries, it was discovered that leadership effectiveness could account for up to as much as 45% of an organization's performance. According to Jim Collins in the book Good to Great, a review of 1,435 companies studied over more than forty years revealed that leadership effectiveness accounted for up to 6.9 times greater stock returns than market averages. Effective leadership makes a crucial difference in the personal and professional results you achieve and the life you live. Objection 1: I do not have the time to change my habits. One of the most common legitimate objections I hear is that “I don’t have time for this.” It takes time, practice, and consistency to create good habits and break bad habits. A common myth is that it takes 21 days to break a habit. The number of times you have to perform a healthy habit before it becomes a habit can vary substantially by the person and the situation. One study concluded it typically ranges from 18-254 days of consistency. The key is repetition, and eventually, it will become a habit. We all get the same amount of time in a day. As leaders, finding time to invest in personal development is challenging and often comes with feelings of guilt from the tradeoffs you have to make. However, how you choose to spend your time is visible to others and sends a message to the rest of your company. When you invest time developing yourself, you are reinforcing a learning culture where individual development is valued. Also, it is important to remember that your bad habits are costing you in ways that impact your success and significance. “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” – Samuel Johnson Objection 2: I have real work to get done. Similar to the objection of not having enough time but with the twist that an either-or decision must be made. For example, “I only have so many hours in the day, and I can either get the work done that our customers need or spend time developing myself.” This argument takes a nearsighted view of value. It minimizes the costs of bad habits on the leader, team, and business. It is similar to the belief that taking the time to sharpen a saw is too costly when compared to the value of continuing to cut wood with a dull saw. Creating new healthy habits increases your capacity and effectiveness with long-term returns on the initial investment of time. "If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs." Leboeuf Objection 3: These so-called bad habits were good habits in the past. These good habits will soon become bad habits as well. A topic like leadership means different things to different people. There are competing points of view on what makes for good leadership that creates confusion. Also, there are more than a few ideas in leadership books based on smoke and mirrors to sell ideas rather than research. The same leadership approach can have different results in different situations and with other people. For example, suppose I am about to make a life-threatening mistake. In that case, I appreciate direct and forceful communication to help me stop. However, when the stakes are not that high, I interpret that same behavior as obnoxious. Confusion typically comes before clarity. Rarely in business and in life do you have all the information you need before making a decision. If you are feeling confused, turn to peer-reviewed journal articles, and talk to others to gain a deeper understanding of effective leadership based on proven practices. Objection 4: I have tried to break habits in the past and failed. Most of us have experienced trying to break a bad habit before, only to keep doing what we don’t want to do. Although not the most common objection I hear, this is a common experience. When you view the process of breaking habits with a pass or fail mental model, it sets you up for frustration. Breaking strong bad habits is a learning process that needs to be viewed as the only failure is giving up. If you are struggling with this objection, spend some time clarifying why you are trying to break this habit in the first place. Ask yourself the following two powerful questions : What do I want to be remembered for in life and at work? This question requires considering why and what outcome you want from your personal and professional investment of time and energy. To answer this question, you have to factor in the impact you will have on others, what you stand for, and how you want to show up daily. What does personal and professional success look like this year and over the next five years? When thinking about the answer to this question, consider the following: material, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, commercial, organizational, environmental, time, and team. "Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be" - John Wooden Objection 5: My situation is different, and this leadership practice won't work in my situation. It is essential to know your habits and routines. However, leadership is not something that you are born with, and we are much more alike than at first we may appear. I say that because, in my experience, I find leaders from all walks of life, in all sizes of companies, across diverse industries, that believe they are the only ones struggling with a bad habit. Negative self-talk about a good leadership practice failing before you even give it a try can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you find yourself a skeptic and unwilling to get started, consider expanding your network and talking with others that share your situation. Find someone that has successfully tried or is using this practice. Also, spend time visioning what implementing a good leadership habit would look like . See this practice as a positive step in your leadership journey. What is the real objection for you to start creating good leadership habits? References: Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap--and others don't. HarperBusiness. 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.

Exceptionally talented leaders are life-long learners. The most creative leaders are at the helm of the most successful organizations, constantly driving innovation and growth. Approximately 50% of annual US GDP growth is attributed to innovation by economists. Yet several studies suggest that disruptive innovation has declined since 1970. The wave of change driven by artificial intelligence and the evolving dynamics between employers and employees is reshaping the competitive landscape. Medal of Freedom recipient Eric Hoffer wisely noted, "In times of change, learners inherit the earth." Have you considered the skills you need to develop to stay ahead? Does your business strategy encompass the factors likely to shape the future? Here are three future-ready leadership traits, two ways to extend your strategic foresight, and one leadership habit to spark a brighter future for you and those you lead. Why being a life-long learner matters during times of change Most economists believe that a more efficient workforce leads to competitive advantage and lowers the costs of goods and services. As the world changes, people and businesses must change too. Advances in technology always attract attention because of their potential effect on employment. The scale and speed of advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have raised fears about the possibility of widespread job displacement in the near future because these advances are fundamentally different from previous technological advances. Employees with less education who handle routine tasks, such as cashiers or file clerks, are at the highest risk of job automation. Nevertheless, automation is expected to have broad impacts. Experts predict that between 9% and 47% of jobs might be automated in the future. You likely know someone who has personally experienced the impact of technology-assisted work or had their work replaced by innovation. Automation is everywhere and is a controversial employment topic. This video and news clip of an automated McDonald's went viral with people on both sides of the debate. Evidence suggests that more than 40% of the required skills in three-quarters of jobs have changed over the past three years, indicating that the future of the workplace involves change. Economists are mixed on the employment impact of automation. A recent MIT study revealed that wages in the U.S. have declined by 0.42%, and the employment-to-population ratio has declined by 0.2 percentage points for each robot added per 1,000 workers. None of this is to minimize the hardships experienced by displaced workers. However, robotics and AI may be simply another in a long A.I.ne of waves of innovation whose effects on employment will unfold at rates comparable to those in the past. Leadership and organizational development are essential investments in realizing your organization's potential and preparing the next generation. Becoming future-ready is a clear benefit for today's leaders. Falling behind in a fast-changing workplace is career-limiting and a competitive threat to your business. Although the amount of change today may feel overwhelming, it is essential to never give up on the person you can become. Check out this motivational video for some encouragement. 3 Future-ready leadership characteristics Leadership qualities are not something you are either born with or not. The following future characteristics may seem complex and challenging to articulate, much less measure. However, executive coaching and assessments offer deep insights into areas that, with attention, can lead to enhanced potential. When you think about the future of work and consider the leadership skills and qualities you will need technical and analytical skills will likely come to mind. According to a study by McKinsey & Company, you are justified in thinking this way . It is projected that by 2030, in the US and Europe, the time spent during a workweek on information technology and programming tasks will increase the most. While some skills will be less in demand, it is essential to consider the human leadership skills that remain in the technology-driven workplace. Leadership is a relationship, and technology is changing the relationship. Selfless love, humility, and data-driven decision-making are a few timeless leadership skills and qualities to enhance your leadership effectiveness: Leadership Characteristic #1: Selfless Love Without selfless love, the best of what might be is impossible for you and others. When leaders adopt a selfless love worldview, they desire to bring out the best in their followers by giving them the best of themselves . A couple of the most significant challenges leaders will continue to face in the future are retaining top talent and creating inclusive workplaces that bring out the best in all employees. Selfless love cultivates an organizational culture where healthy and caring leader-follower relationships break down the adverse effects of our differences. Selfless love enhances organizational commitment, productivity, job performance, and emotional well-being. Leaders who emphasize selfless love bring out the best in how people think, act, and feel in the workplace, leading to success and significance both personally and professionally. Leadership Characteristic #2: Humility Humble leadership behaviors reduce costs and increase revenue. Humility is a demonstrated lever for sustainable company development, enhancing employee innovation, team empowerment, company performance, and self-improvement. After analyzing 1435 companies over forty years, leadership guru Jim Collins concluded that humility and professionalism are the most transformative executive leadership characteristics. Humble leaders recognize and are self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They appreciate others and believe that life is less about themselves and more about the greater good. Humble leaders walk the line between self-confidence and over-confidence. They can be both competitive and ambitious. Humble leaders are not weak and indecisive. Leadership Characteristic #3: Data-Driven Decision-Making Innovations enable businesses to make sense of the chaos and complexity in the world. Technology is creating massive amounts of data with the potential to create a competitive advantage or overwhelm and paralyze leaders. Data-driven decision-making has become somewhat of a buzzword as many leaders and organizations aim to be data-driven. It is when leaders use facts extracted from data and metrics to guide business decisions that support business goals rather than relying on experience, intuition, and stories alone. Data analytics provide leaders with new insights and understanding of how to transform their business. Using data enables organizations to optimize operations, reducing costs and increasing revenue. Cognitive and predictive analytics go one step further, allowing organizations to transform quickly during market changes. Embracing data-driven decision-making cuts through the haze that comes from relying on intuition. 2 Ways to Ignite Strategic Foresight The past few years have made it abundantly clear that no one can completely predict the future. Strategic foresight can offer some valuable insights when rethinking the future of leadership. “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Wayne Gretzky Strategic foresight is a systemic view of change, considering all possible changes. It aims not to predict the future but to enable better decision-making and preparedness. Here are two practical steps to extend strategic foresight about what you will need to be able to do that you can’t yet do: Step 1: Get curious about potential challenges and opportunities facing your business over the next few years. Network with peers and colleagues. Do some of your investigating of business trends. It is easy to focus narrowly on the work and lose sight of where it is going. It is essential in this first step to avoid narrowing in on any potential trend too soon. You may find it helpful to use the strength , weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis to categorize the trends you identify. When doing this assessment, don’t be overly optimistic or pessimistic, but focus on what is likely: Consider what poses the greatest opportunity and risk for the business? Ask yourself, what strengths do I have that could be leveraged? Where do I need to improve to meet the challenges and opportunities identified? Step 2: Now, you are ready to focus and explore your shortlist of trends. Consider the impact and likelihood as you consider each point. Zero in on the more likely and critical challenges and opportunities. Ask yourself: What skills and qualities are needed by leaders to be ready for the potential challenges? What are the strengths I can leverage? Where is my real challenge? What trends and learning opportunities do I want to focus on? 1 Future-ready leadership habit Reflection is critical to build a brighter and better future for yourself and those you lead. Adequate reflection involves doubting, pausing, and being curious about the ordinary. Reflection improves critical thinking capacity . Critical thinking helps leaders navigate daily volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous situations in every business. It is the ability to use cognitive skills and strategies to increase the probability of the desired outcome when problem-solving. Critical thinking for executive leadership is required for businesses to grow, increase speed, and achieve sustainability. There is a saying in the military that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. The following are some tips to embed reflection into your leadership habits. Journaling has been demonstrated to be incredibly impactful on leader-follower relationships, clarity of purpose, and improving new skills. Like building any habit, start small and tie it to an existing habit, like a routine, before you leave the office for the day. Critical reflection should be a social process and is most successful when collaborative. Leaders need to understand how followers perceive their actions. Leadership books, articles, and assessments can enable you to examine a particular situation from different points of view, supporting critical reflection. Here is a bonus link to " The Five Best Resources ," 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. Conclusion: Are you a future-ready leader? In today’s fast-changing workplace, failing to consider what you need to be able to do that you can’t yet do puts you and your team at risk of being left behind. A good place to start is by getting curious about the challenges and opportunities you will face in the future and taking an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. While technology and innovations are making some skills less in demand, human leadership skills will remain in the technology-driven workplace. Selfless love, humility, and data-driven decision-making are timeless leadership skills that enhance effectiveness. A habit of critical reflection unlocks a massive opportunity for you and your organization. It is achieved by developing the ability to doubt, pause, and be curious about the ordinary. So, as you think about the future, what do you need to commit to learning that you can’t yet do? References Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2020). Robots and jobs: EvidenceU.S.rom US labor markets. Journal of Political Economy. BLS. (2022). Growth trends for selected occupations considered at risk from automation. Monthly Labor Review. Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap--and others don't. HarperBusiness. Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-changing leadership habits: 10 proven principles that will elevate people, profit, and purpose . Organizational Talent Consulting. Ferris, R. (1988). How organizational love can improve leadership. Organizational Dynamics, 16 (4), 41-51. McKinsey Global Institute. (2016). Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce. McKinsey & Company. Mulinge, P. (2018). Altruism and altruistic love: Intrinsic motivation for servant-leadership. The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, 12 (1), 337-370.