Your career can feel very personal at times. You chose your path. You pursed it via your studies and work experience. You have built and nurtured your network of connections, contacts, and colleagues through the years. You have experienced the highs of success and lows of setbacks, the pride of a promotion, the stress of a deadline, and the other range of emotions in between. Your career is a part of your legacy and the impact you make on this world. With all that in mind, it makes sense to want to be in full command of any career moves you might make. But sometimes, to keep moving forward, you may need to seek specialist external support to improve your career valuation and change trajectory.
Executive career coaching can help professionals gain a valuable new perspective on their goals and objectives, their position in the competitive marketplace, the skills needed for the future, and the steps to take in order to reach that next level. But, what benefits can a professional career coaching programme really provide?
Why Career Coaching & When to Seek It
Today’s marketplace is more competitive than ever, moving at a faster pace and with greater ambiguity. Desirable positions that are a step up are not as readily available, so when these opportunities do arise, there will be many of your peers, both internally and externally vying for the role. With the rise of remote work, qualified candidates can be sourced both nationally and globally, adding to this competition and making it more difficult to stand out.
Executive career coaching can help you as a candidate put your best foot forward whether you are looking to pursue an entirely new role, rise in the ranks of your own organisation, secure an outside opportunity such as an NED position, or take your career to the next level. Coaches are here to help you strategise your options and prioritise your next move, determine what it will take to get there, and execute the right approach.
Because our careers are so personal, it’s easy at times to get stuck in old habits or wear blinkers or put blinders on. An executive career coach is able to look at your skills, experience, values, and capabilities through an objective lens and help you to become clear on what you have to offer and how to optimally position yourself. This strong self-concept is incredibly important for executives to have as they navigate the shifting world of work and an increasingly competitive landscape.
The most common time to seek a coach is typically during a career transition, between roles, or while angling for a new opportunity or promotion. But you don’t have to be in the job market to benefit from the expertise of an executive coach. In fact, this third-party perspective can be invaluable when making any major career decisions, building and expanding your network, or establishing yourself as a thought leader.
The Role of a Career Coach
At Rialto, the executive coach can wear a lot of different hats depending on the needs of the client. The coach can take on an information-focused role if the executive needs insights, advice, ideas, expertise, inspiration, guidance, or consumer intelligence in order to achieve their goals. If the executive needs access to the right people or resources, the coach can help to unlock those doors, make those introductions, offer endorsement or credibility, or lend thought leadership or influence. Other times, the executive just needs support and encouragement. The coach then takes on the role of cheerleader, challenger, motivator, stabiliser, and sounding board.
An executive might choose to seek out a specific individual that has a special niche in one of these areas or seek out a programme or coach that fulfils all these roles. For example, in a Rialto executive coaching programme, clients work closely with our team of specialist accredited executive coaches and mentors, all of whom possess extensive business and leadership experience. These coaches help clients understand their capabilities and where they can deliver impact, where they stand amongst their competition, realise their goals and ambitions, and remain competitive in the future of work. These coaches can play whatever role the client needs them to fulfil, whether it be the role of an advisor, connector, or supporter.
Choosing an Executive Career Coach
You have worked hard to make it this far in your career and should not entrust the future of it to just anyone. If you are investing time and money into an executive coach or programme, it needs to be a worthwhile fit with clear targets.
As with any successful relationship, there needs to be a good rapport between you and the coach or coaching team. Trust is a crucial component for success. Career coaching is a vulnerable process. You need to feel comfortable enough sharing both your strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures with your coach or coaches. You also need to be open to accepting their insight, advice, and criticism. If you do not trust and respect the person you are working with, then all of this effort goes to waste and you will not get the results you desire from your programme.
Credibility is also essential in these relationships. As an executive, surely you would not want to accept career advice from just anyone. If you are looking to move up, you’ll want to work with someone who has been in the shoes you are looking to fill, or someone who can lend relevant insight and experience that is applicable to what you are trying to achieve.
You might often see loads of people on social media promoting themselves as career coaches with flashy advertising or attention-grabbing posts. But is it all smoke and mirrors? A read through their LinkedIn profile or even a quick Google search should be able to tell you if that person has the background and skills you need in your corner. A credible coach’s experience should speak for itself, and you should feel comfortable enough to enter that relationship without any doubts that he or she will be able to walk the talk.
A safe method is to go through an accredited provider such as Rialto, where the expertise of our team and their proven track records in industry have been vetted to back up their promises. At Rialto, we have worked with thousands of executives through the years to take their careers to the next level, with much success.
Entrusting your career to an initially unknown individual can be intimidating, but it can make all the difference when looking for a new role, building your network, securing a board position, earning a promotion, or preparing for the future of work. If you are interested in taking the first step to improve your career trajectory, earnings potential or work-life balance in the coaching process or would like to learn more about our executive career coaching programmes, get in touch with our team.
It has often felt as though we have been reminded at every turn that the world of work is changing more rapidly and more fundamentally than ever. It is a truth that we are well aware of because we are living through it and have heard it talked about regularly over the past 18 months. The pandemic gave us no choice but to adapt quickly to sudden changes, overcome aversions to technology, rethink more deeply what the working day looks like, and step out of our comfort zones.
Now that we have reached September 2021 and are approaching Q4, we have come too far to turn back now. Now that we know we can do our jobs from just about anywhere, many of us will never work a full week in the office again. Now that technology has become more integrated into our working lives, it is likely that we will only continue to add tools to our arsenals rather than retiring them post-pandemic. Therefore, you should not expect that the job that you were hired for will be the exact same job you will be doing two, five, or even 10 years from now.
What does this mean for you? It means that you will need to refocus, reprioritise, and reskill or upskill sooner rather than later and more often than before. As your industry, organisation, and job function change, you will likely be forced to change with them. With the final quarter of the fiscal year drawing near, the time has come to begin your preparation. Here is a summary of what you need to know about the state of skills in September 2021.
Where We Stand
In a PwC survey of 32,500 workers, more than one third of respondents (39%) think their job will be obsolete within 5 years. It makes sense then why only 50% of respondents reported feeling excited or confident about the future. These fears are not unfounded either. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Future of Jobs Report posits that by 2025, automation and technology will disrupt 85 million jobs globally. While these figures may be shocking, it is important to remember that 97 million new roles will be created. In both these disrupted and new roles, there will likely be partnership and collaboration between humans and technology with tech automating specialised tasks and humans having the advantage in activities involving management, decision-making, strategy, communication, and the like. As a result, the WEF report predicts that 50% of professionals set to stay in their current roles in the next five years will need reskilling.
BCG and Faethm recently released a report exploring the potential impact of various technologies on jobs in three countries over the next decade. Their findings revealed that the US, Germany, and Australia will all experience labour shortfalls in certain industries and sectors. The recommendations presented suggest that the solution to preventing widespread labour crises includes strategic workforce planning, the creation of cultures of lifelong learning, and investment into upskilling and reskilling by both organisations and individuals. But where should you focus your attention?
Skills to focus on
Based on our research and our day-to-day work with executives of all backgrounds, we recommend focusing your attention on developing or strengthening the following skills and capabilities in order to remain relevant and competitive in the future world of work.
Adapt to Overcome
In the most recent findings uncovered by Rialto Accelerated Leadership Index (RALI) released at the start of this year, we highlighted the need for agility in order to overcome many of the challenges presented by the pandemic. It is not just us who think this is an incredibly important capability for executives to have. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) conducted a global survey of learning and development professionals. Of the top ten skills these professionals cited as being the most important this year, ‘resilience and adaptability’ ranked first.
Even with the lockdowns (hopefully) behind us and though we have surpassed the height of the pandemic, we are not yet out of the woods. Leaders have spent the past several months planning their next moves and as the time comes to bring them into practice, they may find that the plans they came up with were not as effective as anticipated or were not the best move for the business. It is important to remain flexible and agile during this period of trial and error. Do not become discouraged when a plan does not pan out, and quickly change course instead. That way, you can continue to help drive the business forward via the best possible course. That might require changing working models, or adopting new tools.
Digital and Technological Capabilities
According to the previously cited PwC survey, 40% of workers successfully improved their digital skills during the pandemic while an amazing 80% report feeling confident that they can adapt to new technologies entering their workplace. Given the way that our relationship with technology changed this past year and the speed at which many organisations have accelerated their transformation plans, it is understandable why tech skills are some of the most important to have. New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), Internet of Things (IoT), and more are reshaping how we perform tasks and achieve our business objectives.
Not only is it crucial to develop the necessary skills to properly use these tools, but also to develop the right capabilities to work alongside them. Many of these technologies are specialist tools designed to perform specific tasks and will require human oversight and partnership to run effectively. But just as important is a change mindset. Having both the capability to use these tools and the open-mindedness to adopt them into your professional practice will be incredibly valuable in the future of work. Those who resist technological change stand to be the ones left behind by it. The best thing you can do now is embrace this change, work to understand what is to come, and fill any gaps in your own capabilities.
Embrace your own humanity
But as important as technological skills are, it is human capabilities that will be most valuable in the future. In a recent survey we conducted, ‘People Skills’ were ranked as the most in-demand skills in the future of work, earning 35% of the vote. In the WEF’s ranking, human skills such as emotional intelligence, communication, creativity, collaboration, and mindfulness made up the rest of the top 10. While these ‘soft skills’ might seem less important than some of harder more technical capabilities, these skills can make those tech capabilities more effective and valuable.
That is because in the tech-driven workplace, humans will need to fill the gaps that technology cannot satisfy. While technology may be really good at performing the tasks it is designed for, it has its limits. Machines currently cannot replicate skills such as empathy, strategic thinking, and creativity. These areas will be where human workers will be able to add the most value.
The Challenge for Leaders
For individuals, the task is to seek out learning opportunities and invest in their own skills. For leaders, the challenge is building diverse teams that offer capabilities spanning a diverse range of skillsets. You will always have your experts in specific areas, but those experts should also bring value in soft skills. Similarly, your excellent communicators or creative thinkers should also be able to operate and oversee the technological tools used for their job function. It’s all about creating a balance and ensuring strength in all areas throughout the organisation.
This can be done via the hiring process but can also be accomplished via your existing workforce. Consider investing in reskilling or upskilling initiatives to help your people develop the right capabilities and to ensure you have the necessary skills on your side. But at the same time, this investment should not just fall on your people. As a leader, it is essential that you continuously invest in your own skills as well. Lead by example and demonstrate the same skills and mindsets you would like to see reflected in your people. If you want your team to embrace new technology, then you need to champion it yourself. If you want to create a culture that values collaboration and communication, then you yourself need to work with other and communicate effectively.
As we move forward out of this challenging business period, the skills of the team will become one of the most valuable assets the organisation has available. If you are interested in developing your own skills or those of your team, get in touch with us about our leadership development and change, digital and business transformation programmes.
It’s hard to believe that we are fast approaching the final quarter of 2021. As the ‘Out of Office’ replies dissipate and the summer lull picks up pace, expect to see more than just a busier workload and fewer team members on annual leave as autumn beckons.
Many organisations have been discussing the introduction of plans for new, hybrid working models for months now, but many have not truly put them into practice yet. With the entire UK adult population on track to be offered both vaccinations by the end of September, it is likely that people will begin to feel more comfortable returning to the office.
The Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been gradually winding down for months now but is currently scheduled to finish on 30 September. The furlough scheme helped businesses keep their staff on payroll during the challenging 18 months of the pandemic, and provided a safety net for many staff. Official figures show that around 3.4 million people were on furlough in July 2021, and the scheme has supported around 11.5 million jobs throughout the whole pandemic.
The development of new business models has required leadership teams to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their organisations together with the imperative to implement further digital transformation. There will have been serious discussions about culture and staff, and an evaluation of the skills and capabilities that will be necessary to drive the business’s plans forward within an environment of new operating practices and greater use of technologies. Other organisations may still be struggling to sustain pre-pandemic levels and will be dealt a blow by the loss of furlough grants. Both cases will unfortunately lead to redundancies.
No business leader wants to have to make staffing cuts and in many cases, it presents both a tough personal and leadership challenge. Cutbacks cause tension, anxiety, and hurt feelings not just with those leaving, but also for those who remain. Executive outplacement services can help mitigate this and enable exiting staff to transition smoothly to a new role. But what exactly is ‘executive outplacement,’ and why might you need it?
What is ‘Executive Outplacement’?
‘Executive outplacement’ is an umbrella term for a suite of services related to helping executives find and secure their next role. You may have also heard it referred to as ‘executive transition services.’ Within an executive outplacement programme, such as those offered by Rialto, you work with an expert or a team of experts who are well-versed in the demands of the rapidly changing senior level job market. The expert(s) will assist with everything related to a job search, such as the development of a compelling value proposition, helping draft your CV and other written materials, assisting with your presentation, interview skills and elevator pitch, understanding the different approaches to managing different campaign strategies and providing advice throughout the process. These are the bare minimum services you should expect from your programme, but the mark of a good programme is its understanding of the demands of the current market and the need for candidates to differentiate by the most effective means possible. These programmes will include services related to market/industry research, skills and capabilities benchmarking, personal branding and reputation building, and digital and real-world networking and influencing.
For example, on a Rialto executive outplacement programme, the executive job candidate will partner with a team of experts that cover different specialties in the outplacement process. The team will start by helping the executive determine their specific goals and by conducting research into the skills needed, the industry trends and conditions, and the competitive landscape for available opportunities. The executive would receive assistance with drafting a strong digital profile and CV to showcase their skills, as well as a compelling value proposition and other targeted personal statements. They would also work with an expert on their personal brand, which will include coaching on strengthening their online presence and generating valuable thought leadership to help them differentiate and get noticed t attract opportunities. A good outplacement will also help with high-level face-to-face or virtual networking, connecting the executive to the right networks and provide advice on the type of people with whom they should be connecting. When discussions are secured, the executive will practice with their expert in a mock format.
While outplacement work is always conducted one-to-one, it is usually offered on a wider scale by corporates for their departing staff, usually via a partnership with a third-party provider such as Rialto. Organisations who provide services that help staff find their next role normally experience good ROI in terms of the company’s reputation and remaining staff morale.
Why Corporates Need Executive Outplacement
Whatever job cuts are being made now, you will need to hire staff in the future and continue to attract customers. If handled poorly, redundancy can leave employees with a poor perception of your brand. By contrast, executive outplacement enables them to leave on a better footing and builds your positive reputation as a supportive, caring employer, which is particularly important in today’s intensive social media spotlight. Employees who receive outplacement support are likely to feel more valued and appreciated by the organisation, and are therefore less inclined to share their negative thoughts on social media or on review aggregator sites like Glassdoor. Reviews like these don’t just look bad to your customers who may see them, they may also deter excellent candidates from applying for open positions in the future. The COVID-19 and corresponding social and economic issues have created a demand for more empathetic and compassionate leadership. Offering executive outplacement meets this demand.
Offering these services can also have a positive impact on the staff you are retaining by helping to enhance the “psychological contract” between the organisation and its people. Even in situations when the economic case for making redundancies is clear, your people can still feel very let down and anxious during cutbacks, which will affect creativity, innovation, and productivity. This will be a time of heightened emotions which need to be carefully managed by leaders in order to maintain morale and mitigate panic. The peace of mind that offering such support can provide should not be underestimated. Knowing that there is a safety net in place to help leavers move forward helps reassure staff that they will not be left hanging should their role be made redundant. Morale and productivity are maintained, or at least not as severely impacted, as remaining staff can find comfort in the fact that their employer cares and is doing whatever they can to help. This will go a long way to assist with retention.
Why Individuals Need Executive Outplacement
If the executive’s current or former company does not offer these services, that does not mean the individual cannot seek them out themselves. An executive can always go direct to a reputable provider such as Rialto. They will receive the same scope of services and personalised attention as corporate clients. The benefits and value these services can provide the executive more than justify the cost of such an investment given the accelerated results of job search and better-quality outcomes.
The executive job market is highly competitive and is likely to become even more so following the end of the furlough scheme. Working with an experienced executive outplacement partner can help you to gain a deep understanding of what you are up against and help you to put your best foot forward in the market. In the case of Rialto, we have successfully assisted more than 5,500 leaders and executives with making successful moves over the last 10 years.
All in all, executive outplacement is a great way for employers to support their people during difficult periods. These services help leavers move forward and successfully navigate the market that they are having to enter. The benefits to the individual are both professional and psychological, offering long term value to one’s career and ensuring that they don’t feel left behind or less valuable because of their redundancy.
If you are interested in partnering with Rialto for your organisation’s executive outplacement services or are interested in seeking these services for yourself, get in touch with our team.
For those who have been following our personal brand series, you should have a firm grasp now on your personal digital brand identity and the value it can bring, developed a strategy for where and how you plan to build your brand online, and begun generating thought leadership content that helps to position you as an aligned and relevant leader in the future world of work, thus ensuring you are better known in your industry and sought after in target areas. It is likely that you’ve put in all this hard work in order to secure a new opportunity or promotion or to gain greater recognition with clients or potential business prospects. But what happens once you have succeeded, and it is time to take the next step in the process?
In this instalment of our Personal Brand series, we will explore the ways in which your brand and online presence can be leveraged to support first meetings.
Pre-meeting
In many cases, your brand may have helped you secure the meeting in the first place. Your content and online presence may have been what attracted the opportunity to you, but it is important not to lose this momentum once you have secured the interview or appointment. Continue sharing your regular content in the lead up to the discussions and remember the content you have shared. That way, you appear consistent and your brand seems more genuine, rather than a means to an end.
In today’s digitally-driven age, your online presence provides a ‘pre first impression’ before the first impression. Most individuals seeking new talent will confess to having Googled candidates or checking their social media before the interview. This also applies to prospect meetings and networking. With this being the case, you will want to review your profile and content to ensure both adequately reflect what you are looking to convey and make the impression you’re hoping to make, especially in comparison to potential peers.
But one of the biggest benefits your online presence can provide before a first meeting is contributing to your research and preparation. Find out who you will be meeting with and take the time to have a look at their profiles. In addition to learning what sorts of topics they discuss, what they’re passionate about or interested in, if you are in the same groups or share similar work experience, you may find they went to a school in the same area as you or are connected to some of the same people. This enables you to learn more about them in order to find potential common ground, which will help to ease some of your nerves and break the ice.
Also be sure to take a look at any relevant company pages. These are usually updated more frequently than the website and will likely paint a better picture of the most recent news, initiatives, and happenings at that organisation. There might be things you could ask about or mention as part of the discussion.
While doing your due diligence in these two areas can help you get the lay of the land before your meeting, you should also research who your likely competitors might be (organisations or peers) and where you potentially benchmark in the market. LinkedIn’s search feature is an excellent asset for this. The site allows you to search for certain job titles and explore the profiles of those who currently hold that role. Let’s say for example you are a Marketing expert. You can go into LinkedIn, type VP of Marketing into the search bar, and when the drop-down menu appears, select where it says “VP of Marketing in People” to see everyone whose profile mentions that title. You can filter your search even further to see results by geography, company, and connections. If you are comfortable with doing this, have a look at their profiles and experience to see how you measure up. What skills do you share? Which of your experiences are similar? How are they presenting themselves online, and how does it compare to the work that you have been doing both online and offline with your brand? You may find yourself at an advantage, which might help to boost your confidence or could potentially be leveraged in negotiations later on.
While to some this all may feel a bit like ‘cyberstalking,’ it is to your benefit to use the tools available in order to improve your visibility, relevance and impact.
During the meeting
One of the first actions we recommended doing in the early stages of developing your digital brand was developing your elevator pitch. If you have done this, then you will already have a crisp and succinct answer to the dreaded “tell us about yourself” or “how are things for you” questions. You should have a strong idea of your ‘why’, and what it is you have to offer. All the self-reflection work you have put in should also have provided you with some solid examples and stories you could share.
Remember how we said that your online presence is your first impression before the first impression? That can work to your benefit. If the person or people you are meeting have seen your content and are interested in it, they are likely to ask questions about it. This is an advantage for you, as it gives you an opportunity to discuss topics you are passionate about and knowledgeable in.
More than that, your brand can actually become a safety net for you. If you already have a brand that’s strong, even if you forget to cover areas of interest in your meeting you have that to fall back on as you will have already made a ‘pre first impression’ of being a knowledgeable and engaged thought leader in your industry or job function.
After the meeting
How does your personal digital brand support a lasting impression?
If you haven’t already, it may be worth connecting with the individuals you have met on social media, especially if you had a good rapport. Be sure to send a message thanking them for the meeting and where appropriate expressing that it would be positive to stay connected going forward. It is important to not lose momentum with your brand or thought leadership. This activity that helped to differentiate you from your competitors may have been a real selling point. It is essential to not become complacent and treat the development of your personal digital brand as a one-time tactic. There are always new doors that your brand can open, such as networking opportunities, speaking engagements, press interviews, podcast appearances, conference keynotes, and so on. Your personal digital brand should therefore be an integral part of your professional identity and should not be discarded once your goal has been achieved.
While building and maintaining your brand can seem like a lot of hard work, investing time that is consistent and authentic manner will provide some bigger picture benefits that will support you to progress through your career. If you would like individual help developing your personal brand to support with securing your next opportunity or developing new prospects, get in touch with our team.
We have seen a massive shift in what ‘work’ means since early 2020. Instead of being a place that we go to, it is now something that we do from wherever we can manage to do it. Working this way allowed businesses to stay functional and stay afloat when the lockdowns brought the world to a standstill. However, over the past several months, remote working models have transitioned from being a safety net to becoming a mainstay. In fact, the majority of both C-suite executives (85%) and employees (71%) in the UK believe hybrid working will make their organisation more resilient and better equipped to survive future economic cycles.
Some of the world’s biggest companies have taken notice. At IBM, the frequency in which an employee is required to go into the office will be determined by work deliverables or the need for team collaboration, while Ford’s office workers will need to be on site for certain meetings or projects. Other companies like Uber and Citigroup are requiring a specific number of days in the office, typically two to three per week, rather than a full return to work or totally remote model. A few employers such as Salesforce and TIAA will place workers into categories or tiers based on how they will work, ranging from fully remote to flex to fully in-office. Top tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Apple are embracing flex as their future and professional services firms such as Deloitte and PWC have empowered employees by providing them with a choice. Deloitte has given it’s 20,000 employees the choice of when and where they work and PwC has introduced what they call ‘the Deal,’ a flexible working solution that enables employees to set their own schedules provided that 40-60% of their time is spent alongside colleagues at its offices or at client sites.
This way of working recasts the corporate HQ as a destination (‘hub’) to which employees will travel for collaboration and creative meetings, rather than the base from which they should work every day. The shift to hybrid work is more than a logistical challenge, and there is no single blueprint for success in these models. Companies need to start thinking about hybrid work as an opportunity for transformation and reinvention and by doing so recognise that a fundamental change in leadership mindsets and skillsets will be required to continue to provide the best employee and customer experiences and to innovate to new required operating models.
Rialto are working with leaders and their teams to create, maintain and enhance high performance through combined best practices from pre-pandemic leadership and new remote working and hybrid leadership. Our work has identified five key mistakes leaders tend to make when adapting to these models, which ultimately lead to friction, lack of results and engagement and retention challenges. We have outlined these areas of concern below to help guide you through your own transition.
Mistake #1: You aren’t managing collaboration or workflows effectively
From the examples above, it seems as though teamwork and collaboration will be the primary function of the office for many organisations and their staff. This is a smart approach, as it gets everyone in a room together so nothing gets missed and no one feels left out. But not every business will adopt this approach, and teams will likely have to navigate working across locations.
This might mean that those who are not on site feel left out of discussions or miss information that their teammates in the office can easily and casually exchange. It may also mean that work is unevenly distributed with the bulk of the burden landing on either the in-office staff or remote team members.
At first, this may be easy to overlook so long as work is getting done. But over time, it can have negative effects on productivity, effectiveness, and team morale. It is likely to become grating if team members feel excluded or overworked. As a result, leaders should encourage their team to follow meeting etiquette where video calls are prioritised over phone calls and remote workers are given equal opportunity to contribute. Extra care and attention should be paid to making sure that remote staff are kept in the loop when it comes to the casual discussions that happen naturally in face-to-face settings. If something is decided during one of these talks, then a call or message should be sent right after informing the rest of the team of any changes or updates. It may seem tedious, but it ensures everyone has the right information at the right time, regardless of where they may be working from that day.
Another option is to keep the office as a hub for in-person collaboration and allow remote time to be spent on independent work. Save team meetings, strategy sessions, brainstorms, or collaborative activities for the days of the week where everyone will be together in the same place. Use that time as productively as possible to align the team and ensure everyone has clear marching orders to take away and work on while they are remote. Communication will still need to be a major focus here, but it is much easier to navigate this format than constantly trying to loop everyone in.
Leaders also need to take care to ensure that work is being evenly distributed. You should not assign work to people simply because they are in the office that day, or alternatively because they are working remote and you feel they need to be ‘kept busy.’ Hybrid model or not, a good leader should always prioritise the workload based on who has the right skills and capabilities first and foremost. You should not be enacting any sort of preferential treatment for those who came into the office, nor using that as a reason to overload them. As a Leader, you need to take care to ensure that the right work is making its way to the right people in order to ensure the right outcomes are achieved in a timely manner.
Leaders in particular need to be more visible than ever. The easiest way to ensure you remain accessible is to run regular check-ins. Frequent contact via video technology is an effective way to maintain your visibility, and provides your employees with the opportunity to ask questions and keep the lines of communication open and transparent. Communication will be crucial for the success of these models, and should be a top priority for all.
Teamwork supports connections between colleagues via the opportunity to discuss projects,
share ideas, network, mentor, and coach, for example. Two-thirds of leaders report that
these kinds of collaborations have enabled high performance. As leaders look to maintain high performance, they will need to design and develop the right spaces for these small interactions to take place, and adapt their culture to support it.
Mistake #2: You’re sacrificing culture
It is easier to create and foster team relationships and culture when your entire staff is in the same place as one another day in and day out. The pandemic will have diluted company culture, removing the chance for certain rituals, routines, jokes and valuable ‘water cooler moments.’ Moving to hybrid working is a challenge because it requires acceptance from leaders that the future will be culturally different to what it was. That said, it also creates an opportunity to review what aspects of a culture are important to keep and which no longer serve the organisation well.
To shift to a hybrid or even remote work model does not mean that culture has to die, and many make the mistake of either doing too much or too little to adapt to this change. On one end of the spectrum, we had those organisations who overloaded their staff with Zoom quizzes, virtual happy hours and online activities when the pandemic first broke out, which was nice at first but eventually became a bit annoying for staff. At the other end, there are organisations where staff’s only interaction with one another is for work-related purposes and there is no real sense of community.
Leaders now need to find a happy medium that fosters those bonds between colleagues but does so in a way that feels natural for this type of working model. It might be as small as starting all meetings with having everyone share an anecdote from their week just to get people talking or arranging in-person events periodically just to get everyone together and mingling. What works best will differ based on your organisation, but the important thing is to meet people where they are and do what feels natural. If you aren’t sure what that is for your organisation, then talk to your people. Make them active participants in determining what your new culture will look like. Not only does that help you to find what works, but it also fosters deeper investment into the organisation and a wider sense of community. The best organisations are those that empower their people to be part of the decision making by being truly inclusive to create a winning culture.
Mistake #3: You’re still in panic mode
There has been a lot of uncertainty in the current circumstances, and many leaders have had to scramble to adapt quickly to changing conditions. That has led to a lot of trial and error, which has proved successful in some cases. Experimentation is a good and necessary step to change, but if you are constantly trying something new without learning from it or acting in support of a solid strategy, you are doing it wrong.
Haphazard experimentation worked fine at the start of the pandemic when everyone was just trying to stay above water, but now is the time to be strategic and deliberate. We shared our advice for maximising the value of your people with strategic workforce planning in this blog, but leaders should be focused now on creating long term plans for the business now that the situation is more stable. Whereas remote working started as a means to an end to facilitate business continuing during the pandemic, leaders would be naïve to continue viewing it this way. It is time to see remote and hybrid work for the strategic and human-focused value they can provide to the business moving forward, rather than just serving as a life raft in tough times.
That’s not to say that experimentation should be scrapped; rather, it needs to be intentional. A failed experiment does not mean you need to immediately launch into another. Take the time to learn and assess. What went wrong? Why didn’t it work? What can be improved going forward? How do attitudes need to adjust? We are no longer operating in panic mode, and it is time for boards to continue making strategic decisions about the future of the organisation that go beyond the end of the pandemic period. Begin to lay solid foundations for your bigger picture objectives and future proof for technologies, changes in consumer behaviours, or shifts in the marketplace. That might mean beginning the process of upskilling your staff or deciding what your organisation’s permanent relationship with the office will be.
This is the time to determine and understand best practice in the new normal. Keep your focus on the future and on the steps you can take now in order to meet your objectives for long term success. Take risks, learn from your team, learn from outside your organisation, and formulate a strategy to achieve something that matters.
Mistake #4: You aren’t taking a people-centric approach
As we plan for the future, we have the many lessons of the pandemic to take along with us. One of the major takeaways of this past year is the importance of people-centric leadership. This past year was a challenging, humbling, and humanising experience for most of us. Not only did the pandemic bring widespread loss and hardship, we saw major social issues come firmly into focus and businesses take public stances.
For example, sustainability has been a hot button issue for many years but became even more prevalent after the pandemic revealed just how much our previous day-to-day activities impact the environment. A study by KPMG showed that 89% of CEOs want to lock in the sustainability and climate-change gains they’ve made during the pandemic. Hybrid working may be the answer to achieving environmental goals, as cutting commutes or switching business trips to online interactions can significantly reduce a company’s carbon footprint. However, organisations must also consider that many large office buildings are more energy efficient than residences, but for workers at organisations where climate change has been cited as a priority, it is going to be harder to justify the five-day-a-week office model as being aligned with carbon goals without a clearer accounting of exactly how that is being measured. It will be a fine balance for leaders to manage the expectations and priorities of their people while continuing to deliver value.
Beyond catering to what their people care about, businesses need to also begin catering to and caring for their people more. The employee wellbeing implications of COVID-19 will be with us for some time. This may require supporting employees experiencing poor mental health, addressing specific concerns and anxieties about the return to the workplace, supporting staff through personal loss, and mitigating the impacts of ‘Long COVID.’ In the longer term, hybrid working may support improved wellbeing through reducing commuting time, providing employees with more autonomy around their schedules, and allowing extra time for health and wellbeing activities. But every pro has its con, and there are also issues of work like balance involved with remote work.
Leaders will need information and guidance on ensuring inclusion and diversity, effective induction, and employee engagement with a distributed team. More importantly, there needs to be an empathetic understanding of the challenges staff face day-to-day. The way in which managers monitor performance, engage their team, and approach mental wellbeing are all areas which need to be developed for hybrid working. Understand that staff may be dealing with issues that go beyond their work responsibilities, and work to be empathetic and as accommodating as is appropriate. Your team are human beings with needs, emotions, values, fears, and concerns. While the nature of your relationship is to serve the business, that does not mean that you need to remain cold and detached. In fact, the most inspirational leaders are those who show compassion, respect, and vulnerability with their people. The human face of business will need to take shape over the next few years.
Mistake #5: You’re resting on your laurels
One of the worst things you could do as a leader in a time like this is to settle. Although leaders may have developed new skills for managing a remote workforce over the past, hybrid working brings unique challenges that are different from both fully remote and predominantly office-based models. The leadership styles that worked five years ago, a year and a half ago, or even six months ago might not carry over to hybrid work models.
Organisations will need to put enhanced learning and development in place to ensure effective people management. We already touched on the challenges of navigating dispersed teams and appropriately managing workloads. But another area that may require rethinking is assessment and expectations. High performing leaders need to invest time into themselves and their teams to shift behaviours. Some examples of this include honing and improving soft skills such as communication and mentorship. It also requires an honest and potentially harsh examination of both the positive and negative impact your behaviours can bring forth. Avoid micro-managing, set specific metrics for productivity, encourage open and empathetic communication, and provide actionable feedback. Understand that this is a transition for everyone involved, and seek out constrictive criticism so that you can grow and improve.
Performance management is an area worth reassessing for the hybrid environment. Instead of assessing employees based on time in the office or in virtual meetings, managers will need to adjust to assessing performance through outcomes, contribution, and value generation. Managers will not be able to monitor every aspect of an employee’s work when they are working remotely, nor should they try. Instead, create new systems for ensuring that objectives are met and impact is created without sacrificing the autonomy and flexibility of hybrid work models.
While we may no longer be in panic mode, the rise of hybrid is still a new chapter that will take some adjusting to. These mistakes are common, but very easy to correct once you are aware of them. The key is to listen, learn, and adapt. Remain strategic, yet people centric. Above all else, understand that this new phase will likely require you to personally reflect and make changes to your own style and approach.
If you would like additional support in strengthening your capabilities as a leader or aligning your team for the world of hybrid work, get in touch with our team regarding our range of Leadership Development or Culture, Digital and Business Transformation services.
In recent instalments of our Executive Outlook series, we examined what it takes to secure the seat at the top of the organisation and succeed as a CEO, and provided some insight on joining the board by becoming a Non-Executive Director (NED). While these positions are arguably two of the most desirable and highly sought-after leadership roles, there are several other seats at the table that hold significant voice.
Being appointed as a member of an organisation’s board is both a huge honour and a massive responsibility. As with any position of leadership, one should have a deep understanding of what is required of the role and what your value is. Every day at The Rialto Consultancy, we work with both executives who hold board positions and executives who aspire to them. This has given us strong insight into the process for securing and succeeding in these roles. Read on for our top tips for developing the right strategy to obtain a board position.
Role Overview
An organisation may have various Senior Vice Presidents, Directors, and other senior leaders spread out across its departments, offices, and geographies, but it only has one main board. There is no set number of board seats an organisation is required to have, but most range from three to 30. Some analysts suggest that seven is an ideal number, but the makeup of the main board will really depend on the needs of the organisation.
In addition to the main board, which serves as its primary governance and decision-making body, there are frequently opportunities internal to an organisation to join executive committees or operating boards as well as verticals for specific initiatives, projects, or functions, which can contribute to your career and personal development in a positive way. For example, many companies are putting together committees for COVID-focused health and safety initiatives in the post-pandemic return to work. There are sub committees or verticals tasked with embedding topics such as digital, D&I, and sustainability into day-to-day business operations. While positions on these committees may not always come with a title change or salary hike, they add value by showing initiative, involvement, and a deeper investment into the organisation that may result in a promotion or opportunity down the line.
Similarly, there are external board positions you could secure to help make you a more desirable candidate for an internal role you may be after, such as that of an NED. Some external board positions you could hold might include a role at your child’s school, on the board of a charity you are involved with, or a trusteeship. Holding these positions of leadership can help you develop the necessary skills and positions you well for future high level or high responsibility opportunities.
Regardless of whether it is an internal or external board you are serving on, your purpose remains the same: to lead, govern, and act in the best interest of that organisation and its shareholders/stakeholders. While some board members are brought in from outside of the organisation, many are promoted from within it. Aiming for a board position is like any other job search or attempt at a promotion: you’ll want to put your absolute best self forward. But due to the high demands of these roles, the responsibilities involved, and the limited availability of these positions, you will need to compete effectively. When developing your strategy for securing a board position, we recommend taking the following steps:
Know Your Value
To gain a seat at the table, you must first identify what you bring to it. If you have not yet developed your own personal digital brand, now is the time to do so. This blog can help you get started. Just as every successful business offers something valuable to the marketplace, to be successful as a board member you need to bring your own unique contribution. Take stock of the relevant skills, experience, and knowledge that you have to offer that might be worthwhile to the rest of the board. What perspectives can you provide? Perhaps you have a non-traditional background, a wealth of experience in your field, or strong connections in your industry. What gaps can you fill? Once you can answer these questions, you should have a solid idea of what attributes and skills to champion.
Champion Your Personal Brand
Identifying your personal brand and USP is only part of the battle. You must also communicate it clearly and effectively in both online and offline networks so that you become known for the skills, capabilities, experience, and messaging that you want to champion. There are various ways to do this, including thought leadership on social media. This blog will help you to develop your online presence and drill into the ‘digital’ element of your personal digital brand. The goal of this activity is to be seen by the right people for the right reasons. If your USP is your decades of experience in your industry, share some of that wisdom in your content. Comment on the issues facing your sector and share relevant examples of how you tackled similar challenges in the past. Organisations want executives who are at the top of their field sitting on their boards, and you can build that perception about yourself with strategic thought leadership and personal digital branding activity. It takes time and patience, but will definitely be worth it.
Master the Art of Influence
In order to get in front of the right people, you have to know who you are attempting to influence. Typically, new board members are appointed by the existing board. What do they read and listen to? What social media are they using? What topics are they interested in or engaging with? Meeting your audience where they already are and providing thoughtful insight into topics they are interested in can go a long way for building your name recognition among the right people. If you are aiming for an internal board position and already hold a leadership position in the organisation, you are likely already acquainted or working with at least one member of the board. Even if you have close relationships with several sitting board members, strategic thought leadership and personal branding activity can help to paint you in a new light and position you as the person who immediately springs to mind when a new board member is to be appointed.
While being your own biggest fan is essential to your cause, it helps to have others who can vouch for you. Your influencers can be very valuable for helping build your credibility with the audience you want to influence. Mentors, colleagues, and even past clients can be some of your most valuable assets.
Tap Into Your Networks
Business is built on networks, and you never know who your connections might be connected to. So many aspects of business life revolve around who you know, and having the right relationships can lead you to the role you are looking for. But your network can provide so much more than a word-of-mouth referral. Lean into your network for advice, guidance, support, introductions, feedback, and insight. If you have executives in your network who already hold board positions, reach out to them to ask questions, find out more about their experiences, and get their advice for succeeding in the role. Turn to those who know you well and have worked with you closely to glean what you do well and what you can improve on.
A board position is a leadership role, and so many of the core skills required can be gleaned and strengthened from networking. You need to be good with people and work well with others. You need to be the type of person who takes initiative and proactively seeks out opportunity to learn, improve, and grow. Communication skills are key, as is the ability to listen and take feedback on board. All of these are valuable capabilities that nurturing your network can provide.
Carry out Strategic Research
You have decided to pursue a board position, but are you fully aware of what that will entail? Are you up to speed on board competencies and the mindset required for success? Are you clear on the expectations of the role, as well as any potential liabilities? If an external position, executive committee role, or NED position is what you are after, are you clear on what the time commitment will be and able to give that?
Talking to others about their experiences is one of the best ways to answer these questions, but there are some passive methods to explore as well. Read articles from trusted resources or thought leadership pieces from respected executives. If there are bylaws or handbooks available within the organisation, familiarise yourself with them. Another great tactic is to work one-on-one with a knowledgeable and credible executive coach who knows this space and can provide individualised guidance.
Craft a Board Bio
By now, you will have identified what you have to offer and who you are as a professional, and will have found a way to express that. You know who you need to influence, and maybe have some others on hand who are willing to vouch for you. You have tapped into your network and received valuable insight, advice, and feedback. And above all, you are clear on the role you are pursuing, the skills and mindset needed, the expectations involved, and the responsibilities. The time has now come to put the pieces all together into a well-crafted bio.
This bio should be informed by all of the research you have conducted and insight you have gained in early stages of the strategy, and tie your own skills and experiences to the requirements of the role. The bio should clearly and succinctly articulate what you have to offer and why you are the perfect person for the role. It may seem intimidating now, but these are the same messages you have been trying to portray in all of your activity thus far. It’s just a matter of piecing together all of the hard work you have already done. Be patient, be persistent, and be confident in what you bring to the table.
There are many elements to consider when planning to make this significant a career move as you will need to weigh up both the positives and associated risks, but with the right strategy you will be well on your way. Due to the scarcity of these positions, the requirements they entail, and the work required to build your personal brand, we recommend planning your move two to three years in advance of when you would ideally like to secure your role. This will allow you adequate time to make the best impression possible. Be consistent and persistent, and one day you should find the hard work pays off and you gain what may have seemed to be a far off aspirational role.
Every organisation needs third-party oversight to keep it accountable, and for listed companies this is even a listing requirement. This is enacted by government, trade and regulatory bodies, the organisation’s customers, and the court of public opinion. Just as important, the organisation’s own leadership and executive board need oversight as well. While the influences that impact the organisation as a whole will steer the board, many companies choose to bring in a Non-Executive Director (NED) to keep their decision makers accountable and ensure that leadership is running the business properly.
These executives are independent, objective, and typically have subject matter expertise, commercial knowledge, experience, or excellent reputations within the industry. They are brought in to provide key insights and fresh perspectives. NEDs have a seat in the boardroom, but unlike the rest of the C-suite, they are not involved in the day-to-day running of the business. Rather, they are there to guide and advise on policies, plans, and other major decisions.
There are more than 6,000 NED’s serving on the boards of the UK’s top 1,000 firms, and numerous others within the public sector, SMEs, NGOs, and non-for-profit organisations. But what does it take to secure one of these coveted roles, and how do you succeed once you get there?
Role Overview
The main purpose of an NED is to hold the board to account, represent the interests of the organisation’s various stakeholders, and provide outside perspectives to various organisational challenges. NED’s are not involved in the day-to-day running of the business, and therefore can usually provide a different perspective on issues such as policy, compliance, risk management, corporate governance, succession planning, and so on.
Four key areas where an NED might advise include:
- Strategy: NEDs should constructively challenge existing and proposed practices, and assist with the development of strategy.
- Performance: NEDs need to keep an eye on performance throughout the organisation to ensure goals are being met effectively, on time, and on budget.
- Risk: NEDs should ensure that all reported financial information is accurate, and that systems of risk management are compliant, thorough, and defensible.
- People: NEDs play a key role in determining succession plans as well as the appropriate remuneration of executive directors. They are also responsible for taking part in the process of appointing and removing senior management, when needed.
Remuneration for the NED role will vary based on a number of factors such as the organisation’s size and type, the industry, the experience of the individual, and the time commitment required. According to Glassdoor, the national average salary for an NED is around £71,000 per year, however this tends to be based on FTSE data. In contrast, those within charitable organisations, may be held on a voluntary basis without pay. Typically, for commercial organisations, remuneration varies widely, between £12,000 to £20,000 per annum in private SME’s, moving between £30,000 to £45,000 per annum at larger private companies. In the FTSE250, the average base salary for an NED is £53,000, while in the FTSE100 it can be anything from £100,000 – £300,000.
A more competitive and challenging business environment has also altered the mix of experience, expertise and skills which organisations are looking to add to their boards, including AI and digital knowledge and skills. Therefore, the criteria for choosing an NED may vary, and businesses may seek to increase the diversity of their board by onboarding NEDs of varying genders, ethnicities, backgrounds, and even ages.
Top Attributes of Successful NEDs
NED roles are highly sought after in almost every industry, so when these opportunities arise, they attract a large number of qualified applicants. To be successful in securing a role you must be clear on what you have to offer and what value you can add to an organisation and its board. You must align your objectives with your experiences and aim to match your skills and characteristics with an organisation that shares your values and can benefit from your input.
You will have your own unique set of personal and professional experiences that will shape what you have to offer, but several universal skills and attributes will set you up for success and allow you to be most effective in the role.
Though not an official executive of the company, NEDs are members of the board and part of the organisation’s decision-making process. Therefore, strong leadership and management skills are essential. As many of those decisions will impact people outside the boardroom, an NED should be people-focused, have high EQ, and be able to make judgements and decisions with empathy. It is crucial to be analytical and think about the big picture as well as all of its smaller moving parts. Successful NEDs stay up to date with the latest industry trends, keep up with technology, have strong knowledge of governance requirements, and always keep one foot planted firmly in realistic territory when drawing up future plans. Strong problem-solving skills are a must have, as that is a central tenet of the job. And while they may technically be an outsider, an NED still represents the organisation and should conduct themselves accordingly.
The responsibilities of an NED require skilful challenge, therefore one of the most critical keys to success in these positions is communication skills. Boards look for candidates that they can confidently rely on to deliver expert advice, and expect honest opinions. However, while an NED is there to hold power to account, most of the time the role is spent working alongside the company’s executives to solve problems and make plans. At the end of the day, the C-suite and the NED share the same goal: to ensure the future sustainability of the business. There needs to be clear communication, open-mindedness, collaboration, and constructive discussion in order to reach these objectives.
A Worthwhile Position?
If you’re considering pursuing the role of an NED, you should first consider the following:
- Time commitment: The average NED role will require a commitment of at least 10 days per year, with some requiring much more than that. Some organisations may ask for a commitment of up to three days per week, likening the position to a part-time job. Should a crisis arise, an NED may be asked to put in more time than usual, and often this does not come with additional compensation. It’s worth weighing up whether or not you have the time to commit fully to the role in addition to your other professional or personal obligations.
- Legal liability: NEDs are still considered to be directors of their organisation and therefore may be liable in various legal scenarios. An NED can be tied up in civil action for negligence, breach of duty, or criminal action for breach of statutory duty, wrongful trading, and director disqualification. Before accepting a role, decide whether or not you are comfortable accepting this level of responsibility should things go wrong.
- Personal Brand: Just as you are a reflection of the organisation, your association with that organisation becomes part of your personal brand as an NED. Choose a role with a company whose vision you believe in, whose values you share, and who you feel comfortable going to bat for publicly.
Practical Steps for Securing an NED Role
If, after weighing the pros and cons, you decide that an NED role is worth pursuing, you should take a proactive approach to planning and preferably start 12 to 18 months prior to when you would like your appointment to commence. This may seem far in advance, but it helps you to nail down what it is you’re looking for and what you can offer. Think critically about where you would like to be in three to five years’ time and chart a path for how you intend to get there and why it is compelling. Determine the types of organisation you could see yourself fitting into and adding value to, taking into account factors such as scale, ownership, skills and challenge. That way, you can better define your USP and hone the way in which you present yourself.
Experience is crucial, and the more you have of it, the more attractive a candidate you will be for the highly competitive roles. Consider applying for a voluntary NED position with a charity to gain a foundational understanding of the role.
If you already hold an executive position, connect with and talk to some of the NEDs on your own board to learn about their journey and experiences. If not, ask your current network if they can put you in contact with anyone for a chat, or reach out on social media. You will likely find that the vast majority of existing directors and NEDs are happy to speak about their experiences. This outreach may actually lead you to the role itself. Although a number of NED roles are advertised, many are still found through networking and it is therefore important to invest time and resources in building a network of professionals who operate at board level. Identify and meet with board members that have succession planning and decision-making responsibilities for the appointment of new directors. Training, individualised coaching and support, strategically shaping an NED CV and personal digital brand can also pay dividends.
Additionally, we regularly run virtual events focused on specific topics relating to NEDs. Visit our Events page for our upcoming dates and sessions.
For most, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about significant and unexpected changes to our lives, businesses and careers. Our daily routines, our children’s lives, our jobs and our relationships have been flipped upside down. Have we ever looked at so many graphs, charts, models and metrics unrelated to our business lives?
Workplaces and entire industries are changing. Employees have been furloughed and a number are now being made redundant or having to rethink how their roles and careers will evolve in the emerging new world normality.
There is no doubt that this is a major re-set, and that many are faced with a significant challenge of working out how to live, work and survive this ‘new normal.’ For some, it has led to an enforced opportunity to reflect on what might have been. But be aware of backward thinking; in times of crisis, it is very easy to slip into a mindset of blame, regret or denial.
Making a career change in the midst of a global pandemic might therefore seem wild at first. Even in happier times, career change is never a perfectly linear process or without risk and challenge. It’s a necessary journey of exploration — and to do it right, you have to experiment, test and learn about a range of possibilities and options that could become a future reality.
The reasons for wishing to career pivot
When you don’t know what the future will bring, or when the path you thought you were on takes an unexpected turn, Rialto believes it makes sense to consider and explore a diverse portfolio of options rather than just sticking single-mindedly to the known.
Our discussions indicate that many people right now are considering taking a job in a different area, whether it’s because they are working in a declining industry; loss of personal drive or reaching a performance plateau; a role no longer makes them feel fulfilled; or a struggle with work-life balance is dictating that change is necessary.
The current reality, in fact, may make it easier on some levels to make a much needed pivot as the environment we find ourselves in means there is a need to change.
Whatever the motivation, individuals need to prepare to pivot and assess what actions are needed to successfully make the move. For some people, this next move is clear, for others less so which is why for some it is a good idea to seek the advice of an experienced career transition or outplacement specialist who has assisted others with similar moves.
Effective preparation needs to involve an assessment to identify any skills or experience gaps that will impede pivoting and deciding on the best intervention to address them. Whatever the move, there must be clear purpose and intent behind it.
Working out how to pivot will involve thinking laterally and with some creativity. For instance, making a sideways move or looking for a secondment may be more beneficial and productive than more formal development. In some cases, the springboard for the pivot could be something outside of work like a hobby or voluntary work, which could be transformed into a new career or business opportunity.
Careers could span 70 years in the future so there is even greater scope for individuals to pivot multiple times during their career lifecycle
Working with clients over 28+ years, we have found that clients always benefit and gain more clarity when plotting a roadmap of where they are now, where they would like to be and what needs to happen to reach their goals. Think about your personal risk appetite as a gauge to whether a career pivot makes sense right now for you or not. Often mapping out the best case and worse case scenarios of a given path successfully is a way to prioritise action you choose to take. Using tools such as LinkedIn or the Rialto Accelerated Leadership Index (RALI) also allows individuals to benchmark themselves against others who have followed a similar journey or are in desired careers.
It is essential to go into pivot mode with eyes wide open and to research the role, company, sector or industry to which you aspire. A pivot in which the role or individual falls short of expectation will feel like a major career setback and a severe blow to anyone’s confidence.
But the positive effect of a career pivot can be immeasurable: it can re-invigorate; build new skills and capabilities; and provide exposure to entirely new experiences. It can also mean that you enjoy going to work and feel more rewarded for what you do.
Why pivoting is likely to increase
With the end of a job for life, work tenures becoming shorter and the shift towards a more portfolio style of working, career pivots are likely to become an even more regular aspect of the business landscape.
Surveys point to average tenure in a role as four- to five years and this figure can approximately halve for millennials. And, indeed, it has been suggested that careers could span 70 years in the future so there is even greater scope for individuals to pivot multiple times during their career lifecycle.
It is important to remember though that while some will fall into a new position in a non-linear way which then provides the opportunity to pivot into a new role, in general, such a move needs to be extremely well thought through and executed effectively.
So, for those who find themselves thinking about a career change, the pandemic may provide the opportunity to make the career pivot that has always been in the back of your mind but you’ve never managed to explore.
Reflecting on the events of 2020 feels more like gazing back at a decade rather than a single year. At the start of the year, our biggest concerns surrounded Brexit. But then COVID-19 happened, and completely disrupted all areas of our day-to-day life. The pandemic we originally hoped would be a distant memory by now continues to be the top issue affecting our personal, professional, social, mental, and physical circumstances. Furthermore, Brexit implications are back on the table as we face the ‘moment of truth’ on trade talks, which could make or break a deal being finally agreed.
Unfortunately, these challenges will not suddenly evaporate once the clock strikes midnight and we enter 2021. It is therefore important that we reflect back critically on the events of this past year to identify what worked and what did not in order to better prepare for what comes next.
Where We Started
At the start of this year, we published a blog outlining some of our predictions for what CEOs may need to prioritise in 2020. COVID then happened, and suddenly those priorities shifted. Consequently, some of what we predicted was put on the back burner. For example, we predicted that organisations would focus on seeking out the right talent, but instead the focus was on supporting existing staff and helping them adapt to changing working conditions.
Digital transformation was on the list of priorities for many organisations at the start of 2020 but may not have been a top item. Many businesses were still in the exploratory phases, while a few were still completely resistant to change. The pandemic left these businesses with no choice but accelerate and adopt new technology. We witnessed a steep rise in remote work models, which required a heavier reliance on Cloud technology and software such as Zoom, Teams, and Slack, to name just a few. Many organisations were not ready to make this jump at the start of the year and had to quickly undergo the transformation process with little lead time for strategic planning.
Where We Stand
But not every trend or prediction was put aside. Some simply took a different shape than anticipated. In our 2020 predictions, we discussed the importance of an organisation’s “innovation effectiveness,” or its ability to identify new opportunities, determine which of these to pursue, and adjust business processes to act on them. This was a key element for success this year, as some businesses needed to get creative in order to stay afloat during lockdown restrictions. For example, some pubs and restaurants pivoted to meal kits and takeaway pints to prevent inventory waste and generate revenue under lockdown restrictions.
As predicted, there was a focus on businesses being ‘a force for good’ this year, but not in the way we expected. Millennials and Generation Z are some of the most socially conscious consumers and employees we have seen in decades, and these young people want to work for and support organisations that champion social causes and possess strong values. 2020 was a pivotal moment for many organisations in this respect. Some came under fire for their lack of compassion and poor treatment of staff amid the emotional and financial hardships of the pandemic. Global social unrest required many businesses to take a public stance on issues such as inequality and race relations. Some organisations faced backlash and were called out for hypocrisy if their actions did not match up with their words. 2020 was a true test of how authentically leaders and businesses live out their CSR and proved how essential it is for organisations to be honest, transparent, and consistent when striving to truly be a force for good.
The applies also to trust, which proved more important this year than initially predicted. We identified building trust as one of the biggest challenges many CEOs would face in 2020, and stated that they must work hard to achieve trustworthiness with honest and transparent behaviours and actions that make people want to follow them. This prediction was correct, as leaders had to guide their organisations through uncertainty and disruption as well as new working conditions. Managers and C-suite executives were looked to as a stabilising force, and how they handled this duty had major impacts on their staff loyalty and confidence levels regarding both the organisation and its leadership.
What Lies Ahead
As stated, the 2020 challenges will not magically disappear when the new year begins. It is likely that we are going to feel the impacts of 2020 well into 2021. But hopefully, leaders will accelerate learning in order to move forward stronger and smarter. So, looking ahead, here are our predictions for five key trends we might see in 2021:
- Tech to thrive rather than survive: This year, digital transformation was primarily driven by a need to keep business afloat amid lockdown restrictions. As a result, tech has become so integral to our day-to-day operations that it is unfathomable we will revert once things return to normal. Expect to see many businesses taking the next step in their transformation journey to adopt more tools aimed at creating efficiency, better experiences, and competitive advantage.
- Welcome to the experience age: This next phase of digital transformation will be driven by the changes in customer behaviour that arose from the pandemic. Just as businesses became more reliant on technology, so did consumers. Customers have come to expect high-quality virtual experiences throughout the customer journey. This will require a higher focus on convenience, speed, and customer service. Expect to see businesses invest in their CX in 2021. It is likely that we will see investments in automation and AI to help boost efficiency and personalisation in the sales pipeline.
- Upskilling for competitive advantage: Those businesses that want to stay ahead have realised that they will need to continue to accelerate the adoption of AI and automation, whilst also investing in the upskilling of their talent. There is a slight risk that some organisations may become over eager when it comes to new technology, and either over automate or over digitise too quickly. By that we mean adoption without involving or communicating to all relevant stakeholders. This struggle may also largely be due to a lack of deep understanding of new tools and their functions or benefits. It will be essential for business leaders and the workforce to further develop their digital skills in order to better understand the available converging technologies so that they can make more informed decisions about which vendors, tools, or strategies will work best for their specific challenges.
- Remote work is here to stay: Even with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, it is unclear when UK businesses will receive the all-clear to return to the office. However, recent data suggests that remote work will continue in some form even after the pandemic ends. Employees like the flexibility of remote work models, and business leaders are enticed by the reduced overhead costs. Expect fully remote and hybrid working models to become common practice for many organisations moving forward, which requires new models and communication styles to maintain engagement and innovation from all levels.
- Emphasis on empathy: 2020 has left leaders, staff, and customers mentally and emotionally exhausted. There was widespread stress, anxiety about the future, and hardship. Some became ill or lost loved ones. Remote work was efficient but required adjustment, and lockdown restrictions felt very isolating at times. Managers and C-suite execs had to lead with compassion while also navigating these issues themselves and having to take responsibility for difficult business decisions. However, the hardships of this year brought out the human side of business and emphasised the importance of strong human connection, shared experience, and empathy. This cannot and should not be left behind in the new year. The leaders and organisations who take a people-first approach will benefit from increased customer loyalty and stronger staff morale, making these organisations more resilient when faced with further obstacles.
Though 2020 was difficult, it provided many valuable lessons for leaders looking to come back stronger in 2021. It is important not to dwell on the difficulties of the past 12 months, but to instead derive an understanding of what worked and did not. That way, we can drive business forward instead of remaining stuck in the past.
We at Rialto wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year break and look forward to sharing more of our insights with you in 2021.
Despite optimism that a vaccine for Covid-19 is likely start to roll out in early 2021, if not sooner, remote working remains as the standard for business in 2020 and looks increasingly likely to be widespread in early 2021.
In countries like Australia Covid-19 cases recorded are close to zero and hybrid working is part of the new Covid-19 business norm across many organisations. Leaders have no choice but to learn how to overcome the challenges of operating and succeeding in this new way, in order to get the most from themselves and their teams to generate maximum impact.
Given these circumstances, how are individuals and teams continuing to make an impact, what does high performance look like? And how can organisations ensure they continue to grow and transform in an increasingly disruptive world?
