Over the past decade or so I’ve seen a dramatic change in the employment landscape we all have. The transformation of many industries and organisations has left it’s mark. Redundancies and restructures have become so normal that people are now finding ways to position themselves for this eventuality and to prosper from the short term windfall. It wasn’t that long ago, I was taking phone calls during the financial crisis from executives crying in despair about their future job prospects, it was heavy stuff.
But we are humans after all and we have a innate way of adapting to our surroundings when we are faced with little choice. The macro trend behind the mass on-slaught of organisational development (OD), has been derived largely from the emerging trend of transformation. For those who aren’t sure; ‘transformation’ is wholesale change. It’s taking a business model and literally flipping it into a new paradigm due to on coming disruption. We all know the most famous stories by now; Blockbuster to Netflix, CDs to the iPod, Kodak to Instagram so on and so forth.
Transformation has taken over from ‘change’. Change is too slow, it doesn’t come close to transformation, the world is moving too fast. Change is adding an extra cylinder to a Mercedes making it just that little bit faster…transformation is not needing a driver!
So if organisations need to transform, surely they need
people to transform too?
Sure do. So where does that leave us? If I’m an internal leader in an organisation or I’m currently looking for employment how do I ensure I’m an asset and part of the new, not left with past and out in the cold? Ok so this is the interesting part. If CEO’s were under pressure to ensure comp growth before, they will be feeling the blow torch more than ever now. That means they need a team of winners. In order to achieve this they need to hire people who are instigating, initiating, experimenting, the ones who are collaborating, seeking new partnerships, listening, embracing then actioning. Quite different to how we’ve been taught all those years in school right…I thought you just did as you were told, put your hand up before speaking and handed in your homework on time?!
Not anymore. That’s what everyone does and that doesn’t cut it. You need to put in some seriously hard yards. But here’s the contradiction, I’m saying my observation is that you need to put in the ‘time and effort’ to stand out but it’s now easier than ever to obtain the information you need. Just because its now easier than ever doesn’t mean that everyone does it nor does it mean searching on google is enough. Take our business for example Amadeus, we are a Talent Consultancy and we work with organisations looking to find another gear through high impact talent. To exist we have to ensure we deliver talent that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible in a time frame of…well yesterday.
I spend the majority of my day finding people that will
transform organisations…Less than 5 years ago I spent my day looking
for people to fill gaps – that’s a quantum leap.
To summarise, transformation is the new normal. To stay ahead of that curve and be relevant you have to transform yourself. If this sounds overwhelming, confusing or vague…perhaps start by reading more, attending the events you normally say no to. Accepting the invite for a coffee from the start-up that keeps calling your office instead of ignoring their call. Listen and observe your children when they keep pressing a yellow button with a ghost symbol on their screen. Join the Facebook group of the company you work for or the company you want to join and contribute to a discussion. Go on holiday to China or India and see an emerging world. Try something with your team you’ve never attempted before…surprise and delight a customer with a gift you made rather than bought. Try meditating, yoga, pilates or going without food for two days. Buy a second hand car not a new one, ride a bike, walk to work…but what ever you do…keep evolving.
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change ~ Charles Darwin.
