No board would want to admit that it isn’t effective. And even those which are often remain in denial and fail to confront the issues that are impeding them. The world of business is moving away from the era when boards can shy away and disguise or hide their shortcomings though.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced, earlier this year, that it is following up its commitment in 2017 to ensuring the UK upheld its reputation for high standards of corporate governance with a new Corporate Governance Code of Conduct that it describes as “fit for the future”.
This code places emphasis on businesses building trust by forging strong relationships with key stakeholders and calls for companies to establish a corporate culture that is aligned with the company purpose and business strategy and which also promotes integrity and values diversity. To ensure that the boards have the right mix of skills and experience, “constructive challenge” and to promote diversity, the new code emphasises the need to refresh boards and undertake succession planning. It states they should consider the length of term that chairs remain in post beyond nine years.
Of course, there will be those organisations which would point out that they are not governed by the code but the FRC’s intention is to set out best practice and it is the mark of an effective board to reflect this in its activity.
The code should also serve as a wake-up call for those boards which recognise they should be performing more effectively. There have been enough examples of what can happen when boards aren’t fit for purpose with one of the most spectacular being Lehman Brothers. After its collapse, it came to light that the board didn’t have expertise in the financial instruments that were at the root of its problems (credit default swaps). Indeed, only two members had experience in the financial services industry.
Meanwhile, Sir Tom McKillop, former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, admitted at a meeting of Treasury Select Committee in 2009 that he had no qualifications in banking and didn’t understand some of the financial products he needed to improve. It would be nice to think that such instances were consigned to noughties’ history but, more recently in 2014, Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, acknowledged that the failure of a £100m IT project was due to a lack of technical expertise on the board. Since then, boardroom members have been called into question in several high-profile cases including Carillion’s collapse, Tesco’s accounting scandal and Volkswagen’s global emissions deception.
Rialto is undertaking a great deal of work with clients in this arena on an ongoing basis and in our experience there can be various obstacles to boardroom effectiveness. There are boardrooms where the dominant position of individual members is left unchallenged by the others which can lead to group-think. It can also mean upcoming challenges or indeed opportunities are missed because of a lack of blue-sky thinking. Disorganisation and poor time-management can also play a big factor of poor performing boards: we’ve witnessed boards slavishly chain themselves to standing items on the agenda and squeeze really major decisions involving multi-million pound budgets into the last few minutes. Similarly, insufficient time is often left to long-term strategic decision-making.
Often, poor performing boards know that they need to improve their ways, they just don’t know how to do it and fail to put in place some fundamental structures that will help keep them on course. For instance, many boards under-use their terms of reference (ToR) as a tool to keep on track. This should clearly define their purpose and goals and how they will be achieved and should be agreed by everyone. They should use the ToR to help clearly define roles and responsibilities. A common problem, for instance, is a blurring of roles between the chairman and CEO. The ToR also helps assign responsibilities to the executive committee. In both cases, this leads to a far more efficient use of the board’s talents and resources.
It isn’t enough to simply put the ToR in place and verbally commit to it though. The board needs to appoint a third party who is both respected and trusted – such as the company secretary – to review and monitor board performance and behaviour in relation to the ToR. This reduces the risk of dominant board members, individual relationships, poor communication and general disorganisation impeding effectiveness. When implemented correctly and adhered to, the ToR should also ensure the board acts as a collegiate body.
Although it sounds like stating the obvious to say the choice of chairman is crucial, sadly, this role is sometimes assigned to the wrong individual. There is a fine line between a strong and decisive chairman and an overpowering one. They must also be realistic and in touch with the overarching company mission and what happens on a day-to-day basis.
As a consultancy brought in to help improve board effectiveness, one of the most useful exercises is to perform a gap analysis by exploring what “future perfect” looks like and what are the behaviours and changes required of the board to achieve this? It can be a difficult, if not, painful process but one that brings great clarity in terms of priorities and actions. It will also expose any skills gaps or missing knowledge and expertise in the make-up of the board, which is crucial to adhere to the FRC’s new code of conduct.
While a board can bring in an external consultancy, they must still own the processes that will lead to effectiveness. Similarly, they must become self-sufficient when it comes to monitoring and reviewing what they have done.
A board’s primary responsibility is to direct an organisation’s long-term strategy, hold the senior management team accountable and deliver shareholder value. Inherent in these duties is preventing anything that could harm the company. There is no doubt that, if left unaddressed, barriers to effectiveness can be one of the most corrosive forces to an organisation, and all the more difficult to detect as it they come from within.
Richard Chiumento and Jan Floyd-Douglass
It is a myth that career transition services are only required for those at a time of crises or difficulty such as redundancy. Many people still take a reactive approach rather than a proactive role when it comes to seeking career or professional development advice. There are several reasons why this mindset needs to change.
The big advantage of being ahead of the curve when it comes to your career is that you can avoid ever reaching a crisis point in the first place. Executive career transition services can help to ensure your skills remain relevant and aligned with what organisations are looking for, which in turn ensures your market value remains high. This increases the chances of both career-long security and satisfaction.
Careers paths are no longer linear, progressing from A to B in a straight line. Add to this the complexities of today’s business world means they are probably going to become even less direct. Many aspiring leaders, for instance, find that they have to acquire digital experience or skills if they are to progress into a senior position in the era of digital transformation and disruption. This can mean a lateral move or perhaps a secondment or project work.
Plotting a career journey on your own, therefore, can be difficult. Not only can a career transition expert look at your skillset objectively and assess your fit for future positions but they do so armed with market insight and intelligence. Data informs the vast majority of business decisions these days so why should career ones be any different?
Good careers transition experts have access to up-to-date data on skills, sectors and other requirements. At Rialto Consultancy, we can also offer the Rialto Accelerated Leadership Index (RALI) benchmarking tool. This uses real-time data to profile and assess the alignment of a leader’s current capability and experience to future market needs and to those of their competitors. We also look at the so-called ‘third horizon’ by scanning for the skills that might be required in three years’ time or longer.
It isn’t only about data though. Experts also have huge insight into what it takes to operate at CEO, board- and senior leader-levels across all sorts of sectors and precisely understand how the market for senior strategic opportunities works.
Another myth surrounding a career transition service is that it has to be a one-off exercise. There is a case for regularly checking in with career experts even if you aren’t ready for your next move. Rather like a mentor, they can be an extremely useful sounding board. And it doesn’t have to be about progressing in your career in the traditional sense. For instance, Rialto works with individuals who’d like to change direction, whether it be developing portfolio careers, securing non-executive director positions, starting up new business ventures or shaping investment portfolios.
Services are confidential and tapping in to their knowledge and expertise can help to identify the right time to take the next major step in your career as well as help you to prepare for it.
So in answer to the question: who needs a career transition service?, the answer is it can be anyone, and at any point in their careers.
Rialto Consultancy delivers a range of career transition, leadership development and coaching programmes for executives and senior leaders. For more information, please call 020 3043 8645 or go to Rialto Consultancy to fill out the contact form.
To benchmark your leadership profile for free, visit RALI.
To view Rialto Consultancy’s executive career transition statistics, visit Executive Transition Statistics.
Any leader that ignores or underestimates the reskilling challenge brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution does so at their peril. We have had enough warnings from the wave of surveys and studies published over the past year but perhaps none more emphatic than research released by the World Economic Forum that predicts by 2025, more than half of current work tasks will be performed by machines as opposed to 29 per cent today.
WEF reckons the world is going through a workplace revolution that will bring a “seismic shift” in the way humans work alongside machines and algorithms and predicts that 133 million new roles could be created in place of 75 million that will be displaced between now and 2022. It lists reskilling, enabling remote work and building safety nets to protect at-risk workers and communities as among the urgent challenges that need to be addressed.
The Future of Jobs 2018 report sets out to understand the potential of new technologies to disrupt and create jobs. It is also offers guidance on how to improve the quality and productivity of the work currently being performed by humans and how to prepare people for emerging roles.
The report is based on a survey of chief HR officers and top strategy executives from companies across 12 industries and 20 developed and emerging economies which collectively account for 70 per cent of global GDP. It finds that more than half of employees (54 per cent) of large companies would need significant re- and up-skilling in order to fully harness the growth opportunities offered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. At the same time, just over half of the companies surveyed said they planned to reskill only those employees that are in key roles while only one third planned to reskill at-risk workers.
Other headline findings include that while nearly half of all companies expect their full-time workforce to shrink by 2022 as a result of automation, two-fifths expect to extend their workforce generally and more than one quarter expect automation to create new roles in their enterprise. Interestingly, compared to a similar study carried out by WEF in 2016, the outlook for job creation today is far more positive because businesses have greater understanding of the opportunities made available by technology. But it notes at the same time, the “huge disruption” automation will bring to the global labour force is almost certain to result in significant shifts to the “quality, location, format and permanency of roles”, and this will require close attention from leaders both in the public and private sectors.
“It is critical that business take an active role in supporting their existing workforces through reskilling and upskilling, that individuals take a proactive approach to their own lifelong learning, and that governments create an enabling environment to facilitate this workforce transformation. This is the key challenge of our time,” says Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of WEF.
The future of jobs report echoes the view of Rialto when it suggests that as well as technical proficiency, human skills like creativity, critical thinking and persuasion are among the competences that will be “sharply increasing” in importance. Indeed, we firmly believe that it will be these that are the differentiators for many organisations when it comes to gaining competitive edge. The implementation of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine-learning and all forms of automation has to be extremely carefully thought through but, at the same time, leaders must ensure their workforce have the critical human skills that will make the difference.
Rialto consultants are already helping organisations to put in place the major transformation programmes that will be required. Make no mistake, Klaus Schwab isn’t overstating the mark when he talks about the shift taking place in the workforce being the “key challenge of our time”. And as leaders, we have an opportunity not just to shape our own organisations’ future but the future of work for years to come. While 2025 may seem a long way off at the moment, the WEF research also expects the “robot revolution” to create 58 million net new jobs in the next five years. There is no time to waste.
When answering the question: what do employees think will make a great future leader?, it is interesting to observe how different – or similar – the list of attributes is from leadership experts’ take on the subject. The latter’s core list would no doubt include vision, business acumen, confidence, strategic and critical thinking, agility and the ability to innovate. But softer skills and qualities like excellent communication skills, openness and honesty, authenticity, emotional intelligence, empathy, integrity and empowerment would also be cited as a key part of a successful leader’s make-up.
In the same way, while employees wish to see the more people-related attributes and behaviours that demonstrate a leader cares as much about his or her people as they do the organisations, they also want a leader who will possess the kind of traits that are going to make the business a success.
Yes, they want a charismatic leader who can communicate and tell compelling stories about the future of the company but they also want a strategically minded and highly focused individual who can devise and execute the vision. And while they desire a modern-thinking leader who believes in empowering employees to use their initiative and reach their potential, rather than one that micro-manages, they also want to be led by someone who is confident and can solve complex problems.
As a basic, employees want job and financial security and most would also prefer to work for an ambitious, aspiring dynamic organisation rather than a staid one. This isn’t just because everyone enjoys being part of a success story but because it increases their chances of enjoying a fulfilling and rewarding role and the tangible benefits that this brings outside of work.
Moreover, in the era of digital transformation and disruption, employees also want to feel assured that the senior team can react to developments and changing market conditions. If leaders aren’t sufficiently agile, flexible and fast-thinking, the company risks being left behind by rivals, which will put everyone’s career path and livelihood at risk.
So while the questions are often posed separately, in reality the leadership qualities desired by both sides is not dissimilar or at least there is significant overlap. Where differences are most likely to appear though are in the weighting of these traits and that is the crux of the situation.
A leader might know that they need to take time out to articulate the company vision and ensure employees understand the part they play in it but if they are being pulled in another direction by the board, they will likely choose to delegate it as a task. And conversely, even though an employee understands that a leader can’t be on the shopfloor all of the time, they will start to lose faith if they never appear to leave the boardroom.
A Rialto Consultancy blog posted earlier this year featured the results of Glassdoor’s CEO ranking. The Glassdoor Economic Research report revealed that highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. It highlighted that among the measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with their senior leadership. The study also identified a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance.
Clearly employees want their leaders to build great workplace and corporate cultures but also want them to be effective as business leaders and devise winning strategies that means the company maintains competitive edge. So the leadership wish-lists aren’t that different and, like everything in life, it is about achieving the right balance.
The short answer to this question is: vastly different to the one of 10- and even five years ago. While there will always be a set of core skills required by any leader, to be a successful leader in the digital age demands a new suite of capabilities.
Future leadership will not just be about digital transformation, but many leaders must confront the challenges it throws up if they are to make their organisations fit for the 21st century. This means leaders must understand the deep impact digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics and automation will have on their businesses today, tomorrow and far into the future.
A digital mindset, therefore, is a vital part of a future leader’s make-up. This doesn’t mean becoming a techie but knowing how to apply digital technologies to optimise business performance, create new business models and opportunities as well as disrupt markets and competitors. Leaders must also understand the importance of data and data-driven decision-making if their organisations are to make the necessary shift to a modern-thinking one.
In addition, digital brings with it a raft of other demands in terms of capabilities: the speed at which it impacts means leaders have to be agile and adaptable; the scope it offers requires leaders to be innovation champions and at times risk-takers to permit experimentation; and the scale of transformation means they must be able to communicate and manage change effectively. Those at the head of organisations also need to be able to think and act strategically to ensure they maintain competitive edge. Leaders must also be much more attuned to their customers and familiar with the customer journey than ever before. If they fail to connect with the customer, they run the risk of missing business opportunities and losing out to competitors.
Another important difference is that they must do all of these things on an ongoing basis rather than as a one-off intervention, hence the importance of agility. We are only at the start of the Fourth Industrial Revolution so new technologies and business models are a long way from bedding in. Experimentation and change are part of daily life and leaders must ensure the culture of the organisation can support this.
Resilience is another key leadership attribute in order to handle the demands being made by others and remain unfazed. For instance, a study by KPMG found that the majority of CEOs in the UK are frustrated by short-termism and the pressure from their boards to deliver results on multi-year digital transformation projects. Three quarters (72 per cent) cite unreasonable expectations for return on investment related to digital transformation.
So how well equipped are those who will be filling senior leadership positions in the coming years? A study conducted by Rialto Consultancy revealed that many leaders lack the necessary skills and capabilities to move their organisations forward in an increasingly disruptive marketplace. The Supercharge your leadership skills for the future report found that one quarter of leaders don’t feel sufficiently confident in their skills as a future leader and, worryingly, only 16 per cent ranked a digital transformation mindset as one of the three most important skills required by future leaders.
The lack of focus on digital is highlighted in other surveys, too. The 2018 global CIO survey released by Deloitte found that 44 per cent of responding CIOs are neither actively involved in developing nor executing their organisation’s digital strategy, even though digital strategy is an increasingly critical part of business strategy as a whole. Two-thirds of CIOs surveyed indicated that they did not have leadership roles in developing enterprise digital strategy.
Indeed, many leaders are still making the mistake of mentally and physically outsourcing digital transformation by passing responsibility for it to a chief innovation or digital officer. Worse still, in some organisations it is being siloed with IT. Neither is acceptable because the process is as much, if not more, about business transformation than technology.
Whether you label it transformational leadership, digital leadership or modern leadership, those individuals moving into the most senior positions must go beyond the label and truly understand what it means to be a leader in the 21st century.
To benchmark your leadership profile for free, visit https://ralionline.com/
Rialto is frequently asked: “how can I become a leader?” There is, of course, no single – nor simple – answer to this question. The path to senior leadership has always depended on a range of factors and the complex backdrop against which business operates these days has further altered the ideal journey to the top.
It depends on sector, size of company, market demands as well as external factors impacting not only the respective industry but also trends in leadership and management. Rialto carried out a bank of research for its Supercharge your leadership skills for the future which found that three-quarters (74 per cent) of leaders are looking to move into a more senior leadership role within the next two years but less than one quarter (23 per cent) have taken steps to identify what action they need to take to develop the future skills required.
Moreover, a quarter of leaders in the Rialto survey admitted that they lack confidence in their skills as future leaders and this stems from a range of factors including insufficient support, lack of relevant experience and a lack of opportunity to develop capabilities.
There are some common goals and attributes and skills though for all potential leaders. First-off, it is vital to have a desire to learn and continually invest time in your own development. As well as formal leadership and management programmes, this could involve coaching, finding a mentor or undertaking an assignment or project work. The most effective leaders retain an appetite for learning and desire for new experiences throughout their careers and in the today’s fast-moving business climate it is vital to ensure skills remain relevant and up-to-date.
It is never too early to take ownership of your own career development. While employers might dictate what you do early in your career it is important to be proactive in identifying what skills and expertise are going to stand you in good stead. Rialto works with leaders to align development with an individual’s overall career aspirations as well as market requirements which have drastically changed in the digital era. We’ve often identified major perception gaps in terms of what people think modern leadership demands and what is required.
The leadership path is no longer linear and sometimes a lateral move can be the most effective way to gain skills in a new area. For instance, future senior leaders need to have a far deeper understanding of the customer than previously so non-customer-facing professionals might wish to consider a move or secondment to customer service. Indeed, any cross-functional experience that broadens the overall understanding of business is of value to anyone heading for the top tier.
Unless the decision is made for them, some individuals find it hard to identify when they are ready for their next leadership position. In our experience, one of the best indicators is as soon as you become too comfortable in a role and it no longer represents a challenge. This marks a good time to start exploring that next move although obviously personal and lifestyle factors should be taken into account.
Networking plays an important part in hearing about and appearing on the radar for leadership positions. For millennial leaders, online networking and relationship building via social media is second nature but there is far more to networking than merely reaching out to people on Linkedin, as valuable as this and other professional networks can be. This should be something you build to supplement face-to-face networking.
Aspiring leaders must make time for attending events such as conferences, seminars, briefings and workshops. Look out for targeted events such as the Rialto leadership lunch events, where you could meet like-minded people who turn into valuable future contacts for the business and your career. Networking, online or in person is far more meaningful if you have a powerful personal brand that helps to mark you out from the rest and makes people remember you.
Indeed, building a strong personal brand depends on far more than leaving a calling card and an invitation to get in touch. Google your name to find out what digital footprint people find if they have an interest in you and consider what this says about you. If it is little more than a biography on the company ‘about us’ page and a Linkedin profile, it indicates you need to step up your activity. Consider writing blogs or thought leadership pieces for the company, cultivate links with journalists and lead the discussion in online forums.
Finally, becoming a leader is also about being yourself. Much is written about authentic leadership and, while a cliché, employees want to follow people they trust and believe in as well as like and admire. Trying to be someone you are not will simply not cut it and leaders succeed and fail by the behaviours they exhibit every day.
Modern employers often talk about encouraging their people to bring “all of themselves” to work because they believe that ultimately this means they will also perform better and bring more to their role. And this is no different for leaders.
Executive outplacement and career transition services are effectively two sides of the same coin, closely linked but different. While one doesn’t cancel out the need for the other, it is important to understand the part they both play throughout a leader’s career.
Recent research carried out by Rialto found that three-quarters of leaders (74 per cent) are looking to move into a more senior leadership role within the next two years but less than a quarter (23 per cent) are aware what action they need to take to develop the skills they will require. Moreover, one quarter don’t feel sufficiently confident in their skills as future leaders. According to the research, this lack of self-confidence stems from a range of factors including insufficient support, lack of relevant experience, and lack of opportunity to develop capabilities.
Historically, it was often the case that individuals did not think about career direction and how relevant their skillsets were or what to do to broaden them until they were faced with the prospect of redundancy. In such circumstances, responsible employers would traditionally offer outplacement services to help support them through the transition or an individual may have decided themselves to enlist such expertise.
Career outplacement is largely seen as reactive but many of today’s leaders are taking advantage of a more proactive and strategic approach to their development through use of a career transition service to help them prepare for and navigate the workplace disruption that lies ahead. This can help protect individuals and ensure their skills remain relevant throughout their career.
The Rialto career transition methodology has been developed over 25 years and draws upon extensive research and high-potential client profiling. It includes providing insight into new markets opening up for leadership skills, strategic positioning of an individual’s personal brand and reputation, leadership profiling and benchmarking using tools such as RALI (the Rialto Accelerated Leadership Index), identifying the routes that might lead to a new position as well as support with networking and making valuable connections.
A good career transition service shouldn’t just conclude when the individual moves into their next role though. A partnership approach should continue with, for example, executive coaching at agreed points to ensure the individual is able to deliver on their goals which also mitigates personal and organisational risk.
Arguably, in the current business climate of uncertainty and unpredictability created by Industry 4.0, career transition retains the edge over executive outplacement as it is a more ground-up approach to preparing for the next leadership position. Individuals can identify and acquire relevant capabilities before they need them. It also enables them to be more in control of their destiny and allows them to change direction or make a lifestyle decision against a less pressurised backdrop of, say, redundancy.
It is a sobering aspect of working life that there is far less job security than previously and very few of us can claim to be truly indispensable, particularly at senior level. According to PwC, the median tenure for CEOs in the UK has dropped for five of the last six years and at 4.8 years stands at its lowest level since 2009. At a time when markets are being constantly disrupted and technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation are changing how everyone works, no-one can be totally in control of what happens to them in the world of work. But the right career transition advice can bring a layer of in-built protection that ensures leaders today – and of the future – continue to experience a steep career trajectory.
For practical advice on getting the most out of an executive career transition service, visit: Using an executive career transition service – Rialto
Blockchain has rapidly shifted from a technology used by the finance industry to many more sectors including energy, property, healthcare and manufacturing. The online distributed ledger technology has even been described as the “new internet” in some quarters. Some leaders have so far managed to largely ignore it but fear of being left behind is now setting in. According to research carried out by professional services firm, PwC, four fifths of executives surveyed report that they have blockchain initiatives underway.
Blockchain is here. What’s your next move? surveyed 600 executives in 15 countries and territories, on their development of blockchain and views on its potential. PwC describes blockchain as “rewiring” business and commerce and reckons the research provides one of the clearest signals yet of organisations’ fear of being left behind. The study highlights how blockchain developments are accelerating globally and opening up opportunities including reduced costs, greater speed and more transparency and traceability.
One quarter of executives report a blockchain implementation pilot in progress (10 per cent) or fully live (15 per cent) and a third (32 per cent) have projects in development while a fifth are in research mode.
The US is the clear leader at the moment (29 per cent), but within three- to five years, respondents believe China (currently 18 per cent) will have overtaken the US. In terms of sectors, financial services is dominant but others identified with emerging potential include energy and utilities, healthcare and industrial manufacturing.
“What business executives tell us is that no-one wants to be left behind by blockchain, even if at this early stage of its development, concerns on trust and regulation remain,” says Steve Davies, blockchain leader, PwC. “A well-designed blockchain doesn’t just cut out intermediaries, it reduces costs, increases speed, reach, transparency and traceability for many business processes. The business case can be compelling, if organisations understand what their end game is in using the technology, and match that to their design.”
While Davies is correct that the business benefits of blockchain are compelling, it doesn’t necessarily spell good news for everyone. Cost-savings and increased speed come at the expense of the middle man as blockchain can eliminate intermediaries and this represents a significant amount of businesses in some sectors. For example, with blockchain-based recruitment solutions now appearing, the recruitment agency sector is one of those that is having to sit up and take notice of the technology and assess how it might affect their business models. Other sectors could be similarly hit.
Nonetheless, the benefits and scale of change that blockchain brings are enormous and cannot be ignored by business leaders in any sector. Even if your company is not directly impacted yet, chances are those in your supply chain are or your business partners could be. Like many of the complex technologies that are emerging, organisations must avoid taking a silo approach to its implementation.
PwC rightly points out that blockchain’s biggest benefits will be developed and delivered through “shared industry wide platforms” and the study notes that this won’t happen without industry specific companies – including competitors – agreeing “common standards and operating together”.
Rialto is a strong believer in the power of the ecosystem and partnership working. And there is no doubt that collaborative working and leadership is required to extract maximum benefit from not just blockchain but many of the technologies that are central to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
No single company can yet have all the answers when it comes to blockchain. But with vast new processes, business models and services out there waiting to be invented using these technologies, leaders must make certain they have the right knowledge, expertise and intelligence in place to maximise the benefits when they are implemented.
News that Marks & Spencer is launching the first Data Academy for retail and is upskilling 1,000 M&S colleagues as part of its data skills initiative, has to be lauded as one of the best examples of leadership to date when it comes to digital transformation.
Partnering with learning organisation, Decoded, which seeks to help companies put data at the heart of their businesses, the academy will bolster M&S’ ongoing transformation and help it fulfil its ambition of becoming a ‘digital first’ retailer.
The data academy will take colleagues from every function of the chain, from store managers and visual merchandisers to finance and buying, with the aim of creating a new raft of data-skilled leaders to lead digital transformation across the organisation. A data leadership programme will enable them to get hands-on with technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning which M&S reckons will help them to become “the most data-literate leadership team in retail”.
M&S colleagues have an opportunity to enrol on the Data Fellowship programme, an 18-month in-work data science skills programme which is funded by the Government’s Apprenticeship Levy. Learners will come away from the programme with a data analytics qualification accredited by the British Computing Society and be equipped to harness the power of cutting-edge tools such as ‘R’ and ‘Python’.
Steve Rowe, chief executive of M&S, points to the move as the retailer’s biggest digital investment in its people to date, and he echoes the themes Rialto regularly refers to when it comes to digital transformation, especially regarding culture change. “Transformation of our business is key to survival and a huge part of this lies with our colleagues,” he explains. “We need to change their digital behaviours, mindsets and our culture to make the business fit for the digital age and our partnership with Decoded will enable us to do this.”
M&S is leading the way and it will be interesting to see how quickly other major retailers follow. Research released this week by consulting and technology firm, Infosys, reveals that less than a quarter of organisations surveyed understand that the commitment to digital is at the heart of true transformation and it is the organisations that do which are reaping the rewards of digital disruption. The New Champions of Digital Disruption: Incumbent Organisations report also found that lack of digital skills is currently the greatest barrier to digital transformation.
Infosys’ research identifies three clusters of respondents based on the business objectives behind their digital transformation initiatives: ‘visionaries’ (22 per cent) which understand the potential of the digital revolution to completely transform their business; ‘explorers’ (50 per cent) which commit to digital programmes driven by the need to enhance customer experience; and ‘watchers’ (28 per cent) which see digital transformation through the “prism of efficiency”.
While watchers and explorers are primarily focusing on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and 3D printing for digital transformation initiatives, visionaries are not only looking at emerging technologies, but are also focusing strongly on core areas such as mainframe and enterprise resource planning (ERP) modernisation, the champions report states.
“Visionaries believe that true transformation comes from the core and without this in the background, digital technologies will not perform to their potential. The study reflects that their commitment to modernising from the core will yield benefits, such as improved productivity and efficiencies,” said Infosys.
Based on this, one would have to place the retailer firmly in the visionary cluster since it is going straight to the core with its digital skills initiative. For some time now, the UK has needed a non-technology company to champion digital and point the way for others and in M&S it finally has one.
It has been repeatedly said that former Conservative prime minister, Mrs Thatcher, only needed two words on her CV and they were simply, Margaret Thatcher. Even five years after her passing in 2013, she still has one of the strongest personal brands that has ever existed.
Whatever one might have thought of her politics or leadership style, it was unequivocal what she stood for and everyone knew the unwavering set of values by which the “grocer’s daughter” lived her life.
Recently, three individuals in the world of sport have similarly given us great examples of demonstrating a personal brand through living it. England football manager, Gareth Southgate, his team captain, Harry Kane and Tour de France winner, Geraint Thomas, have all become positive role models because of the way they have conducted themselves in the public eye. Hard work, commitment and consideration for the team are all qualities now closely associated with the trio and which have undoubtedly increased their market value.
Even if we don’t live our lives in the public glare, we all have a personal brand. Personal branding is an immensely powerful tool when it comes to career progression as a good one can undertake a great deal of the hard work for individuals. While the concept is far from new, social media and the always-on, 24-7 world has meant that our brands are there for everyone and anyone to see, warts and all.
Those looking for their next career move should never under-estimate the importance of a personal brand. Bear in mind if no-one has ever heard of you in your sector or industry, that is your personal brand and it certainly isn’t going to help catch the eye of headhunters and prospective employers.
While a brand can be cultivated and polished no-one is entirely in control of how they are perceived as everything we do can be open to misinterpretation. But the more authentic the brand – and the more aligned your actions and behaviours are with what you claim to stand for – the more difficult it will be for anyone to get the wrong idea.
Hence, being true to yourself at all times is one of the most powerful ways to build your brand. And which is why Messrs Southgate, Kane and Thomas simply have to continue doing what they are doing if their brands are to prove as enduring as the Iron Lady’s.
For practical advice on elevating your personal brand, visit:https://tinyurl.com/y8qxtckk
