Getting physically fit in the new year isn’t just for individuals. Organizations also need to ensure that they’re fit for the future by reviewing their leadership practice, work environment, culture and structure, according to learning and organizational development specialist, Hemsley Fraser. 

“Today’s customers are more informed and more demanding than ever before, so if you don’t exceed their expectations or if you’re slow to respond, you’ll lose their business,” said Dr. Val Sedounik, director of business solutions at Hemsley Fraser. “Add often cumbersome business processes, excessive bureaucracy, outmoded leadership philosophies and a disempowered workforce into the mix and your business will struggle to survive. To succeed in the future, organizations will need to challenge their accepted way of working, unleash the capability of employees and enable people to collaborate and co-create solutions that will meet the needs of their current and future customers. Like personal fitness, organizational fitness should be a new year’s resolution.”

To effectively navigate organizations through complexity and adversity, Hemsley Fraser claims that leaders will need to shift their mental models from a heroic to a post-heroic leadership approach.    

“Leaders have to understand that their role isn’t to tell people what to do,” said Dr. Sedounik. “Instead of the heroic approach of leading from the front, they need a more collaborative approach that supports and encourages knowledge workers. 21st century leadership is about setting the context by helping employees make sense of a complex, fast-moving world and breaking down information and ambiguity so that people have clarity about their direction, roles and accountabilities. Managers still have an important, but very different role as coordinators and connectors of knowledge workers, allocating resources and shifting priorities as required.”

Fit for the future organizations have a customer-centric culture where communication in the workplace is open and transparent, the organization is mindful of its actions and social responsibilities and employees are passionate about their work.

The structure is likely to be decentralized and flexible in order to support agile and innovative practices and co-creation and collaborative work with interdisciplinary teams organized according to customer requirements.

Hemsley Fraser claims that taking incremental steps towards this aspirational ‘fit for the future’ state can lead to high performance, enhanced customer satisfaction and improved employee engagement. 

“Organizations have to recognize that continuous transformation is an important survival strategy,” said Dr. Sedounik. “The building blocks needed to support this are 21st Century leadership practice, a collaborative culture and a flexible and agile business structure. Ultimately, the biggest challenge in becoming ‘fit for the future’ will be persuading people at all levels to shift their own thinking, see the bigger picture and step outside of their comfort zone to act differently.”

For further information, please call Hemsley Fraser at 888-559-0074 or visit www.hemsleyfraser.com.