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#Leadership : 4 Ways To Face The Challenge Of Disruptive #Change …It’s One of the Most Common Laments I Hear from #Executives . “No Sooner do I Stabilize One Part of my #Organization when some Unexpected Crisis or Challenge Upends Another.”

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It’s one of the most common laments I hear from executives.  “No sooner do I stabilize one part of my organization when some unexpected crisis or challenge upends another.” 

The reality of constant, disruptive change as a way of life has many executives wringing their hands for ways to more than just cope, but thrive.  Is there a way for leaders to capitalize on being established companies with the advantage of scale when smaller upstarts are perpetually nipping at their heels?  How does a leader change today’s business while preparing for tomorrow?

We spoke with Scott Anthony, Managing Partner of the acclaimed firm Innosight and co-author of Dual Transformation: How to Reposition Today’s Business While Creating the Future. His research confirms that indeed, for leaders to thrive in today’s constantly disruptive way of life, they must be transforming today’s and tomorrow’s businesses. (You can also see a comprehensive video interview with Scott at our upcoming virtual summit Leading Through Turbulence.)

“ Disruption opens up windows of opportunity to create massive new markets ,” Scott explains in his book. However, in order to capitalize upon these new markets, “Executives must simultaneously re position their traditional core organization while leading a separate and focused team on a separate and distinct march up a new hill.”  Scott calls this process a “dual transformation” — to thrive as an incumbent in a transforming landscape, you must lead existential change within your organization.

In our conversation with Scott, he proposed four interlocking strategies for successfully navigating dual transformation.

Spend more time at the periphery

The future is unkind to those who aren’t prepared for it. Fortunately, “you can experience tomorrow today if you look in the right places,” Scott says. Those places are at the edges of your industry — peripheral zones untouched by traditional business models.

To explore these zones, Scott suggests spending time with hackers, kids, and artists. These are people who engage your business in ways that may seem incomprehensible to you, which makes their insight invaluable.

Scott sits on the board of Mediacorp, the largest media conglomerate in Singapore. The company makes most of its money by producing television channels, which seems like a safe way to run a successful media company. Scott disagrees.

“I’ve got four young children and I know from watching the way they consume media that the core of Mediacorp’s model is dying,” says Scott. “My 10 year old daughter, Holly, never watches normal, linear television. Instead, you’re much more likely to see her watching YouTube videos from Dan TDM… Dan TDM narrates himself playing games of Minecraft. Now, I view this as borderline bizarre behavior…But Holly and her friends are transfixed. And Dan TDM has 20 million followers on YouTube and reasonably reliable research suggests he’s making a couple million British pounds a year.”

According to Scott, “this is what the future of media is. And the more you spend time with people like Holly or other people who are beginning to experiment with new behaviors, the more likely you are to see those early signals of change” in any competitive landscape.

 

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Change the way you approach problems

Conventional business wisdom believes problems can be solved through rigid protocol. First, gather data around the problem, then analyze it, then make a decision, then execute. If the results deviate from what you expected, “figure out why that deviation occurred and you stamp it out, because deviations are bad,” Scott says.

In an era in which change is the only constant, this approach no longer holds water. Contrary to conventional wisdom, deviations are actually windows into the truth. According to Scott, an unexpected outcome is a launch point for asking, “What can I learn from this? What can I do differently? ”

To make sense of such a complex and fluid universe of information, your thinking needs to remain flexible, curious, and critical.

A client I work with recently demonstrated this via a failed product launch.  A digital product, customers would pay a fee to download it, and in the process become a subscriber.  But as the opt-out’s rose, a closer look revealed people didn’t want the product at all, but wanted access to all of the other content and tools behind the pay wall that were free.  His motto was, “If you can’t fix it, feature it.”  Rather than offering steep discounts and promotions to push the product they thought customers wanted, they paid attention, and redefined the value proposition and pricing structure, capturing the value from what customers actually wanted.

Recognize the early warning signs of disruptive change

One of the challenges in preparing for disruptive change, Scott says, is that “the data only becomes conclusive [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][that disruption has actually occurred] when it’s too late to do anything about it.” Thankfully, when a fundamental shift is about to take place, there are usually a series of early warning signs. Scott highlighted the three he believes are most critical.

“Customer restlessness is often an early warning sign that change is about to come,” Scott says. Restless customers are “demonstrating that they’ve got different things that matter to them. There used to be things you’d give them about which they’d say, ‘this is awesome’; they [would] pay you big premiums for it. Now they’re starting to yawn.” Restlessness reveals a void demanding to be filled.

Second, “any time you see a competitor doing something different, you want to pay careful attention.” Scott says that, “When you first see a disruptive attacker, it’s very easy if you’re the market leader to look down your nose at it and say, ‘it’s inferior… it’s not doing all the great things we do.” While that may be true right now, you also may be witnessing the birth of a new approach that will change everything. Don’t sit back.

Finally, watch your financial statements. If “your revenue growth starts to slow and your profits start to increase,” the plates may be shifting underneath your feet. “When your top line slows and you fight back against it by cost cutting, getting out of low value segments, and so on, it is often a sign that the disease of disruption has taken root.”

Stay grounded while avoiding stagnation

You can only successfully navigate multiple existential changes if you are yourself a grounded person.  Of course, being grounded will mean different things to different people. For Scott, it means maintaining intentional connections between his family and his work, while also allocating time to seek out new stimuli and immerse himself in new experiences.

Feedback is a powerful way to stay grounded.  You should regularly solicit feedback from those you lead, customers, and friends willing to be honest with you. Too often, failure to spot disruption can be rooted in failures of self-awareness too.  Staying ground in who you really are, and who you’re not, helps keep your eyes trained to notice realities you might otherwise prefer to ignore.

Disruption can be a gift. Pay attention to opportunities emerging around you, and capitalize on, rather than fall victim to it.

Ron Carucci is Managing Partner at Navalent and the author of eight books, including Rising to Power.@RonCarucci Download free ebook Leading Transformation in Organizations

Forbes.com | February 12, 2018 | Ron Carucci , CONTRIBUTOR

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#Leadership : Great Leaders Replace Rules With Accountability…Is it Possible to Replace 90% of All Company Rules? So, What’s your Answer?

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Recently we explored “Why Good Companies Have So Many Bad Rules” and “Why Almost All Rules And Policies Have Bad Outcomes.”  So what is better than rules? How can we replace rules with something that still encourages the best behaviors? In a word: Accountability.

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Yves Morieux, a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, urges companies to manage growing complexity not by dictating behaviors and over-specifying processes, but rather by creating a culture and context where the ideal behaviors organically occur.

In his TED talk, As Work Gets More Complex, 6 Rules to Simplify, he shares the story of an automotive company that was suddenly forced to deal with the new financial realities that accompany longer warranties. What happens, for example, when an owner brings his car to the dealer to fix a light, and the mechanic must remove the engine to remove the light? If the car has to stay a week in the garage instead of a couple of hours, it causes the warranty budget to skyrocket. In essence, how could the company make cars as easy to repair as possible?

Initially, the automaker responded with a complicated new process, new job titles, new KPIs, and it all had zero impact on the problem. Then the company changed course. This time, they decided to allow their people to use their own judgment and decision-making but to hold their people accountable for those decisions. Specifically, they made their employees feel what game theorists call the “shadow of the future.” According to Morieux:

“They said to the design engineers: Now, in three years, when the new car is launched on the market, you will move to the after sales network, and become in charge of the warranty budget. And if the warranty budget explodes, it will explode in your face.”

With the decision to make the designers responsible for the warranty budget, the designers’ accountability increased. In effect, company leaders inspired what author Justin Bariso calls “self-empathy” or empathy for your future self. The designers were moved to invest extra effort now to promote easy repairability later, since they were the ones who would have to deal with negative consequences.

 

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I can remember my former partners and I trying very hard to increase “cross-selling” among our different divisions. Cross-selling is a common problem in large organizations and notoriously hard to accomplish. At first, we did all the usual stuff: held a “summit” to rally around it, trained each other on all of our solutions, mandated that every sales call include a secondary pitch of a cross-sell solution.

Of course, nothing changed. Then our CEO decided to make us truly accountable for cross-selling: 100% of our annual bonus was going to be tied to the amount of what we sold of other team’s solutions. One hundred percent! Literally I could have doubled the sales of my business unit, but if I didn’t sell anybody else’s solutions I would have gotten no bonus for that year. Suddenly, everyone was cross-selling everything. Problem solved!

Instead of using rules, look for opportunities to build accountability by assigning ownership and consequences to their decision-making.

I described previously how my old CFO and partner tried to control expenses mandating that nobody could buy sticky notes. And no alcohol could be ordered when having a company meal while traveling. It left everyone feeling micro-managed and bitter.

Wouldn’t it have been better to just set a quarterly office supply budget per person (by role), and trust people to buy whatever they needed? Or even better, set a per role budget and create some kind of contest or reward system for those who came in under budget?

What about travel expenses? What if there were no per meal or per day reimbursement rules for the sales team, but instead everyone’s per day meal expenses were posted on a public rack-and-stack board? Imagine the power of peer pressure when you see most people are spending $25 per day on travel meals and you’ve been averaging $50 per day. What if the top 25% lowest spenders were celebrated or given gift cards as thank you? Wouldn’t expenses organically drop while engagement went up?

How can you pair accountability with coaching? Instead of a hard and fast no-beer rule, what if the CFO just flagged someone’s manager when a meal reimbursement seemed out of line? Then a coaching conversation could take place. Maybe the high expense could be justified (e.g., “It was in Manhattan, I had worked all day and into the night skipping lunch and room service was the only option.”) Or maybe not (e.g., “What, four beers at dinner is too many?”), but it would become a conversation that reinforces the expectations around professional behavior and expenses.

 –

Kevin Kruse is the author of Employee Engagement 2.0 and a top leadership speaker. Join his newsletter at kevinkruse.com.

 

Forbes.com | August 22, 2016 | Kevin Kruse

#Leadership : 12 Steps to Achieving a Meaningful Change in Your Life…The Secret to Meaningful Change is to Focus All your Energy Not on Recreating the Old, But on Building Something New.

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No matter what you do or what industry you’re in, chances are that your business  is facing some form of change. It may be due to growth, poor performance, a new CEO, an acquisition, or the need to respond to changing market forces. It may take different forms. But sooner or later, change will happen.

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When it does, it falls to you as a leader to make it happen successfully.

This 12-step checklist can help you manage change ensure a smooth transition and good outcomes:

1.    Paint the picture. Identify change clearly by painting a vibrant and clear specific picture. People have a much easier time dealing with change when they know what is changing, what is staying the same, what they can expect during the process, and what things will look like afterward. Communicate a clear and consistent message from all members of your team so people know what to expect.

2.    Know not just what but why and how. Build a business case to explain the need for the change. Describe the purpose of the change as well as the likely consequences, stating both will help with the change initiative.

3.    Keep people in mind. Without your people, change will not happen–or, at least, it won’t happen well. Use your business case to make sure everyone on your team understands the need for change. Seek buy-in from everyone involved in, or affected by, the change.

 

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4.    Communicate with transparency. It’s important to keep people in the loop throughout the change process, not just at the beginning. Help them understand events and issues at every step. Change is never easy, but if you communicate with candor and transparency you can minimize any disruption.

5.     Emphasize the benefits. Don’t be dishonest or one-sided in your communication, but make sure that any benefits of the change are front and center to keep the context positive for any later information.

6.     Set outcomes and goals. A set of common outcomes and clear goals sets the sometimes-chaotic process of change within a coherent strategy. Even if people disagree on the priority of the forces driving change, establishing outcomes and goals sets out a coherent strategy where each person is aligned on where they need to be and what they need to be doing.

7.    Groom change agents. You can lead people into change more effectively if you don’t try to do it all yourself. Identify and work with a group of change agents to help develop the change program and ensure its success. This team should include a mix of people from across the business and does not need to be run by anyone in management. Change implemented from the top down is less successful than that developed from within a company.

8.     Use training wheels. Provide additional personal and professional development opportunities for the people who are going through the process of change. Offer training to those who are being moved or assigned new responsibilities. Make sure the members of your team feel equipped to implement the change, either with in-house training or a trusted consultant.

9.     Check in regularly. Especially when change is imminent, it is important to always know the pulse of what is happening throughout your team. It’s also important to demonstrate you care and you are listening, especially when you are asking people to perform outside their comfort zones. Checking in accomplishes both.

10. Make it happen. Make sure the change is implemented effectively and on schedule. Don’t drop the ball. Many organizations spend a lot of time and energy planning change, then get distracted by other priorities and let it run off the rails. If this happens too often, people stop getting behind change because they think they will be wasting their effort.

11. Keep up the momentum. Remind people of how far you all have come and what has been accomplished. Keep the momentum going by celebrating wins and recognizing effort and milestones.

12. Lead by example. Be ready to take the lead–to act as an example, to stand beside your people and help them along the way.

The bottom line is that we can not expect quick hits or 100 percent buy-in, especially at the beginning of the process. To get people to embrace change, you need to be serious about how you make it happen. Let the things that come easily be the impetus for real change. Otherwise, it may be just as easy to revert to same old ways–and that is the last thing you want to happen.

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The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

Editor’s note: “The First 90 Days” is a series about how to make 2016 a year of breakout growth for your business. Let us know how you’re making the first 90 days count by joining the conversation on social media with the hashtag #Inc90Days.​

PUBLISHED ON: MAR 22, 2016

BY LOLLY DASKAL

President and CEO, Lead From Within