The most constant thing in today’s world is change. There is increasing uncertainty in the world — in society, in technology, in the geopolitical landscape, and in all parts of our day-to-day lives from a professional and personal perspective.
According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Uncertainty Index, uncertainty has risen 200% since the 1990s. This is particularly true in the workplace, where long-lasting changes brought on by artificial intelligence (AI), supply chain issues, the coronavirus pandemic, and labor shortages have created a fast-paced and volatile environment.
It has never been more important for organizations and their leaders to be nimble and effective in adapting to change. This all starts with better understanding the limitations of traditional organizational structures, including how leaders can identify and remove the barriers to action across systems and processes.
Removing Barriers to Unlock Leadership at All Levels
In traditional hierarchies, information and action flow from the top down. While this worked in systems well enough historically, when the pace of change was slower, this structure now hinders medium and longer-term success.
Today’s rate of change is rapidly exposing the hierarchical system’s weaknesses, which include very siloed operations among departments and individuals, rather than the bridge-building and cross-collaboration that the current pace of change requires. How can leaders gradually make this shift from top-down to multi-directional initiatives? By unlocking leadership at all levels
Each member of a team and organization plays a valuable role in achieving a certain goal or outcome. What if they are regularly able to collaborate, partner and test-and-learn beyond their direct superior? What if they could test new strategic initiatives and analyze activity across the organization in a way that increases awareness and creativity? Building connections across an organization is the best way to embrace its transformative potential.
When every team member is empowered to look up, down and around them to ask questions, think about synergies and help facilitate innovation, leaders will be better able to create the adaptability needed to embrace change and build forward momentum — even during uncertain times.
Equipping Your Organization to Shift From “Survive” to “Thrive” Mode
During periods of rapid change and stress, our brains flip into “survive” mode, which hyper-focuses us on achieving the task at hand so a problem can be solved and we can return to a normal state. While some of this anxiety is good — as the recent Disney movie “Inside Out 2” alludes to when Riley learns that anxiety can be a valuable and protective emotion that anticipates threats to allow us to respond to the environment around us — it’s intended to be a temporary mode until the threat diminishes.
If employees feel like they are caught in a relentless cycle of crisis aversion and urgent problem solving for an extended period of time, collaborative innovation is limited and burnout (often called “change fatigue”) exhausts them. Leaders can prevent this from happening by clearly communicating the end goal during moments of intense change, every team’s role in achieving that goal and each individual’s contribution to the team. Doing so helps build up an agility muscle while reducing the time spent in “survive” mode so employees can return to “thrive” mode faster. Thrive mode is opportunity seeking, energizing and sustaining.
Facilitating Intentional Leadership Training for Greater Change Efficacy
While the shift from surviving to thriving isn’t instant, bolstering leadership at every level with intentional learning and development (L&D) can accelerate the rate of change and adoption during transition periods.
Strict hierarchies need to evolve while introducing new ways for employees to contribute, share ideas and create value. Providing engaging training programs and hands-on learning for both tactical and soft skills can equip employees for a future with even more uncertainty — and arm them with the confidence to effectively navigate such change.
When considering an effective training program, leaders must establish clear objectives for each training session and outline appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs). Traditional measures such as return on investment (ROI) can impact budget setting, but proficiency and effectiveness measures like time saved on a given task can encourage employees to participate in the various training modules by showing “what is in it for them”. The more engaged, confident and tactically equipped teams are, the more adaptable and willing to learn they will be.
While organizations can’t shift their culture and structures overnight, identifying where silos exist and where added bureaucracy could be scaled back is the first step to empowering employees to lead at every level.
By evaluating and removing barriers, employees can begin to shift from survive to thrive mode. Investing time, energy, and resources into intentional training tailored to teams and organizational needs will further engage and unlock potential opportunities for better navigating continued uncertainty.
