Page 14 - Dainfern Precinct_Issue2_2022

BUSINESS

THE FIVE SHIFTS LEADERS

NEED TO MAKE NOW

BY JEN FRAHM Photographer: Mohamed Nohassi, Unsplash

The pandemic – a disruptor and accelerator

f we think about the pandemic, if we think about our WE DELIVER CHANGE DIFFERENTLY, WE LEAD
current context, we need to acknowledge that it is DIFFERENTLY
Iboth a disruptor and an accelerant. We need to deliver change differently. We need to
test and learn, use human-centred design, roll out
In the past, we used to talk with leaders in organisations small increments of change and scale them up. This
about the concept of a VUCA environment - volatile, ultimately means that we have a very different way of
uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. And we used to leading in the organisation of today. It means that our
think that our world was volatile, uncertain, complex, and superpowers as organisational leaders have the ability
ambiguous. Well, my wordy, haven’t we changed our view to embrace ambiguity. This is part of keeping calm.
on that?
There’s a beautiful quote in Nance Guilmartin’s The
In the last two years, we’ve certainly had a masterclass Power of Pause: “I’m not here to make you comfortable
in what volatile really is. If change was relentless in with change, I’m here to help you be comfortable with
the ‘before’ times, it became brutally imposed on us in discomfort.”
the ‘during’ times and it’s not stopping - it is continuing
with greater and more extreme uncertainty in the ‘after’ That ability to calm ourselves and calm our workforce
times, as we emerge from the crisis. will enable us to sit with the discomfort of change
that’s coming through. It will really create a strategic
A McKinsey study told us that adoption of working advantage for us when it comes to agility.
from home and remote working flexibility occurred
40 times faster than the time it had taken to adopt THE AGILE MINDSET
remote working prior to COVID. In the space of nine At the Agile Change Leadership Institute, we like to
days, the world adopted working from home under look at an agile mindset. We think that it is important
lockdown conditions. Compare that with the 11 months that these shifts, these five shifts that leaders need
it was taking most companies before COVID. We really to make really start with how we think and what’s
need to be mindful that there is the potential for this to going on in our heads. The agile mindset can be
be an incredible accelerant if we have the right mindset. defined as a capability, and I tend to see it as a
strategic capability.
WE NEED TO THINK DIFFERENTLY, WORK DIFFERENTLY,
LEARN DIFFERENTLY “It demonstrates the ability to recognise failures
The intense dynamic of today’s disruptive world means and challenges as opportunities for learning and
that we need to think differently. We need to adopt improvement, along with resilience to evolve and adapt.”
new ways of working, be more collaborative, increase
diversity in our organisations’ more empowered and What are these five mindset shifts?
autonomous workforces. We have to learn differently I would like you to do an exercise – you’ll need a piece of
so learning agility becomes incredibly important. We’re paper and a pen for this. It’s a test to see where you think
talking about micro learning, and just-in-time learning. your mindset is. Start by drawing five horizontal lines on
How do we provide bite-sized pieces that people can the page. And write the numbers one to five. On the left,
self-learn and self-teach? above the lines, put 'Weak' and on the right, put 'Strong'.

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