Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
1
On 10th July 2020, CRF and PARC members gathered for Thriving After a Crisis – Diverting Danger and Creating Future-Proof Organisations, a Zoom interactive event in partnership with IMD Business School. IMD Professors Howard Yu and Mark Greeven discussed how the most successful organisations are responding
to the crisis, and demonstrated that, across industry sectors, common behaviours, mindsets and organisation cultures distinguish those organisations that are faring best. We also explored the role of the HR community in enabling organisations to be light on their feet to thrive in any possible future.
Thriving after a crisisDiverting danger and creating future-proof organisations
Thriving after a crisisdiverting danger and creating future-proof oranisations
Watch a full recording of
the event here
Key takeaways
2
The Covid crisis is highlighting the strengths of the best performing
organisations and exposing the weaknesses of the worst performers.
As Warren Buffett famously said: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover
who has been swimming naked.”
Five leadership behaviours help organisations change before they have to. First, curiosity helps overcome the danger
of being trapped in obsolete routines. Second, leaders must be prepared to
engage in difficult conversations to reach a shared point of view. Sometimes it’s
necessary to call out unhelpful leadership behaviours when they are hampering
change. Third, learn by practising new routines. In one company, the executive
team sets aside time every weekend to get skilled in machine learning. Fourth,
negotiate from your point of weakness. For example, Disney’s CEO was only able to
persuade Steve Jobs to sell Pixar because he took time to get to know its co-founders
to work out how the business ticked. Finally, identify a small number of priorities
(no more than three), and declutter the rest.
ONE AREA WHERE HR HAS INFLUENCE IS ORGANISATION DESIGN: DESIGNING FOR SPEED. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CHINESE WHITE GOODS MANUFACTURER HAIER HAS AN ORGANISATION DESIGN THAT’S ALL ABOUT AUTONOMY AND REDUCING DISTANCE TO THE CUSTOMER. HAIER HAS SHIFTED AWAY FROM A TRADITIONAL PYRAMID TO A ‘SWARM’ OF MINI-ENTERPRISES, BUILDING RESILIENCE INTO ITS BUSINESS MODEL ALONG THE WAY. RESILIENCE IS DEVELOPED BY CREATING AUTONOMOUS TEAMS, EMPOWERED TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS ON THE GROUND IN RESPONSE TO CUSTOMER NEEDS.
Speed is critical: organisations that are too slow to transform are the
ones that are suffering. For example, Walmart was able to convert 2,000
of its stores into distribution centres within a matter of weeks at the start
of the Covid crisis.
Radical transparency relies on psychological safety. This is where HR has a critical role to play. Leaders need to model the right behaviours from the top down, but HR can support leaders in developing the right culture, mindsets and skills. HR also needs courage to speak up when leadership behaviours compromise psychological safety.
There’s a misconception that it’s only technology companies that are winning in the crisis. Across industries, including more traditional sectors such as retail, financial services and automotive, there are common hallmarks that set apart those incumbents that recover quicker. In short, companies that ‘leap’ by developing new core competencies ahead of time have a brighter future. For example, companies who invested early in digitisation of their business are now reaping the rewards.
Transparency of decision making is also critical. In an extreme example, Bridgewater Associates, the world’s
largest hedge fund, uses technology in every meeting for colleagues to rate each other’s contribution in real time. The evaluations are visible to all. Over
time, people build up track records based on data and evidence. The data identify the best decision makers and help avoid the trap of decisions being
taken on the opinions of the most important person in the room (HIPPOs).
Thriving after a crisisDiverting danger and creating future-proof organisation
3
Thriving after a crisisDiverting danger and creating Future-proof Organisations
Audience Q&ADoes the crisis spell the end for global supply chains, just-in-time and lean management practices? Will we see verticalisation and localisation of supply chains?
In a way, we went too deep into JIT and global supply chains and this has created vulnerabilities that have now been exposed. Haier has a less lean supply chain approach, with some redundancies built in. It may be less efficient but does create resilience.
Q
A
Can continuous listening replace annual performance appraisals?
Ray Dalio, CEO of Bridgewater Associates, thinks organisations fail to learn because they wait for months before reviewing the results of actions taken. Judging executive effectiveness purely on the final outcome is unfair: you have to capture both the result and the process for reaching the decision. Good outcomes can be a fortuitous outcome of a poor decision; good decision processes can still lead to bad outcomes. By keeping track of not only decisions made, but also how they were made and the trade-offs that had to be negotiated in reaching them, leads to richer data, enabling post-mortem capture of learnings.
Q
A
Some of the tools for radical transparency would be hard to adopt in more conservative corporate cultures. What could we do instead?
The adoption of these tools does depend on the absorptive capacity of the company culture. At the same time adopting technological tools that monitor and nudge behaviour can also shift culture in a positive way. HR can play a crucial role as “organisational glue” in adopting these practices.
Q
A
Are you optimistic that leaders will rise to the challenge?
While Covid has proved to be an accelerant of business trends already underway, the crisis has created a deeper sense of urgency that change is necessary. Most leaders understand this but need to be supported by a wider coalition in the organisation. It’s an opportunity for leaders to listen and challenge their own thinking.
Q
A
PROF. MARK GREEVEN is a Chinese-speaking Dutch Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD Business School in Switzerland and former faculty at Zhejiang University, China’s top academic institution. He is the author of Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Changemakers, and Underdogs and Business Ecosystems in China. Mark is on the “2017 Thinkers50 Radar list of 30 next generation business thinkers.”
PROF. HOWARD YU is the author of LEAP: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied, and LEGO Professor of Management and Innovation at the IMD Business School in Switzerland. In 2015, Howard was featured in Poets & Quants as one of the Best 40 Under 40 Professors. He was shortlisted for the 2017 Thinkers50 Innovation Award, and in 2018 appeared on the Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 management thinkers “most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led.” Howard received his doctoral degree in management from Harvard Business School.
SPEAKERS
8o%of respondents to our live poll are very or mostly confident in their organisation’s ability to thrive after the crisis.17% are very confident, 63% mostly confident, 17% slightly confident, 3% not really confident, 0% completely not confident.
PARTICIPANT POLL
WEBSITE
WEBSITE
FACULTY
FACULTY
4
Thriving after a crisisDiverting danger and creating Future-proof Organisations
Further readingProfessors Howard Yu and Mark Greevens slides can be found here.
CRF. 2020. Future Insight: Responding to Trends, Threats, and Opportunities. CRF Briefing Paper. https://www.crforum.co.uk/research-and-resources/future-insight-responding-to-trends-threats-and-opportunities
CRF. 2020. Future Insight: Responding to Trends, Threats, and Opportunities. Post Meeting Notes. https://www.crforum.co.uk/research-and-resources/future-insight-responding-to-trends-threats-and-opportunities-meeting-review
CRF. 2019. Digital Disruption: Exploring the Implications for Leaders and Leadership Development. Research Report. https://www.crforum.co.uk/research-and-resources/digital-disruption-exploring-the-implications-for-leaders-leadership-development
Yu, Howard and Greeven, Mark. 2020. How Autonomy Creates Resilience in the Face of a Crisis. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-autonomy-creates-resilience-in-the-face-of-crisis
Yu, Howard. Greeven, Mark and Shan, Jialu. 2020. Thriving After A Crisis: Ramp Up Strategic Strength During This Tough Time. CRF Briefing Paper. https://www.crforum.co.uk/research-and-resources/briefing-paper-thriving-after-a-crisis-ramp-up-strategic-strength-through-this-tough-time
Yu, Howard. Greeven, Mark and Shan, Jialu. 2020. Why Some Retailers Are Thriving Amid Disruption. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-some-retailers-are-thriving-amid-disruption
Yu, Howard. 2018. Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied. PublicAffairs. https://www.howardyu.org/leap
CRF’s partners are here to support your organisation during the crisis and beyond. Learn more here.
CRF PARTNERS
Follow this link to take part in a survey to gauge your (and your teams) leadership capabilities against the traits of leaders who are best placed to help their organisations change before they have to.
Mark and Howard made reference to this survey within their presentation.
Leadership capabilities survey
