A world of constant and rapid change, in which disruption is becoming the new normal, has become the reality we cannot escape from. Rather, what we can do is learn how to enter this new reality in the most effective way possible to ensure our businesses survive. To navigate this change, leaders will require a new set of skills and perspectives.
I had an opportunity to hold an event last week called "Entering a New Reality", highlighting the challenges we all face, and how to not only survive but thrive, and I would like to share some of the things we discussed.
It is clear that businesses need to change in line with the new reality. However, without proper guidance and tools, most businesses struggle to find answers to the big question of how to live, learn and lead in this new reality.
Let's face it: few people could ever have forecast Uber's disruption of the taxi industry or Apple's domination of the mobile devices market. Disruption can strike any business, anywhere, at any time, often leaving leaders who failed to rise above the disruption with a big question -- where did I go wrong?
The ability to adapt is crucial, not only for businesses to succeed, but also to survive. In your near future, you will either be the disruptor or the disrupted. This means that how businesses live, learn and lead must be rethought because "what got you here won't get you there," as the leadership coach and best-selling author Marshall Goldsmith aptly puts it.
New ways for businesses to live, learn and lead successfully have been developed by three leading international institutes -- Arbinger, Tirian and The Ken Blanchard Companies -- in partnership with SEAC, to provide tried-and-tested methods and programmes that ensure another level of excellence for organisations of all sizes.
Bob Morley, senior vice-president of global strategy at The Arbinger Institute, addressed the first theme of "Live". In order to change results, organisations should help their people change their mindset because mindset drives behaviour and behaviour drives results.
Great performance comes from really seeing people as people -- not as obstacles to what you want, "vehicles" to be used to get what you want, or irrelevancies to be ignored -- and being outwardly focused on their needs, not just on your own needs. This can be realised by adapting and "living" with an outward mindset.
Mr Morley shared a case study of a manager in Australia who used the outward mindset to address a conflict with a colleague. Seeking to understand the other person's needs and goals transformed the relationship and led to $42 million in new business for the company.
The outward mindset is an incredibly powerful tool and everyone has the ability to learn it. We can all transform ourselves, our personal lives and our businesses by choosing to live with an outward mindset. The outward mindset can help businesses grow in a disruptive world by improving their ability to transform themselves and innovate differently.
On the topic of "How to Learn in a New Reality", the importance of creativity was highlighted by Andrew Grant, the CEO of Tirian, a specialist in organisational innovation through strategic leadership and team development. He started by pointing out that people's creativity scores have dropped significantly despite the fact that we are all born creative.
He shared his diagnostic experiential learning tool to identify the key suspects responsible for killing creativity in adults, ranging from pessimism and control, to work pressure and anxiety -- and where they manifest themselves in your business. In an interactive exhibition he demonstrated how to get creativity back by identifying and removing these roadblocks, which is crucial to thriving amid disruption.
From The Ken Blanchard Companies, Joni Wickline, vice-president of international growth, and Paul Murphy, Hong Kong-based director of channel sales, addressed the final theme of "Lead". Effective leaders, Mr Murphy declared, hold the key to organisational success in our new reality.
Leaders influence success in three critical areas. The first is goal clarity and alignment. Many leaders still see communication of goals as an annual event rather than the fundamental framework for continuous dialogue. Goals should be clear, compelling and documented so that the leader understands how to help and support his or her people.
In order to have these effective discussions around goals, the leader must be effective in the second critical area which is being aware of his or her own leadership style and developing the flexibility to match the needs of subordinates and changing contexts. If done well, this helps to support the third critical area of facilitating trust-based and transparent conversations around goals.
Mr Murphy highlighted the impact of great operational leadership on organisational vitality and the "leadership profit chain". He captured this with the memorable quote: "Results are the applause you get by taking care of your people".
All in all, in order to stay on top of the game in the "new reality", organisations must be able to embrace change in order to grow. The question each organisation must ask in order to succeed is, "Are we ready to radically change the way we live, learn and lead?"
Are you ready to change?
Arinya Talerngsri is chief capability officer and managing director at SEAC (formerly APMGroup), Southeast Asia's leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or visit www.seasiacenter.com/ for more information.
