Only a small number of organisations have been able to successfully scale their digital initiatives beyond the experimentation and piloting stages, a study finds, which identifies six barriers which must be navigated on when embarking on a digital transformation journey.
Business analyst Gartner contends that this is because digital transformation requires more than simply investing in the latest technology – it demands significant changes to culture and systems.
“To change an organisation designed for a structured, ordered, process-oriented world to one designed for ecosystems, adaptation, learning and experimentation is hard,” said Marcus Blosch, research vice president at Gartner.
“Some organisations will navigate that change, and others that can’t change will become outdated and be replaced.”
The six barriers and Gartner’s advice on overcoming them are outlined below:
1 A change-resisting culture
“Culture is organisational ‘dark matter’ – you can’t see it, but its effects are obvious,” said Blosch. “The challenge is that many organisations have developed a culture of hierarchy and clear boundaries between areas of responsibilities. Digital innovation requires the opposite: collaborative cross-functional and self-directed teams that are not afraid of uncertain outcomes.”
Those aiming to establish a digital culture should start small: define a digital mindset, assemble a digital innovation team, and shield it from the rest of the organisation to let the new culture develop. Connections between the digital innovation and core teams can then be used to scale new ideas and spread the culture.
2 Limited sharing and collaboration
Digital innovation with its collaborative cross-functional teams is often very different from what employees are used to with regards to functions and hierarchies and resistance is inevitable.
“It’s not necessary to have everyone on board in the early stages. Try to find areas where interests overlap, and create a starting point,” said Blosch. “Build a first version, test the idea and use the success story to gain the momentum needed for the next step.”
3 The business isn’t ready
Many business leaders are caught up in the hype around digital business. But when the CIO or CDO wants to start the transformation process, it turns out that the business doesn’t have the skills or resources needed.
Gartner recommends focusing on the early adopters with the willingness and openness to change and leverage digital. But keep in mind that digital may just not be relevant to certain parts of the organisation.
4 The talent gap
Employees need new skills focused on innovation, change and creativity along with the new technologies themselves, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT)
“In smaller or more innovative organisations, it is possible to redefine individuals’ roles to include more skills and competencies needed to support digital,” said Blosch. “In other organisations, using a bimodal approach makes sense by creating a separate group to handle innovation with the requisite skill set.”
5 Current practices don’t support the talent
“Some organisations may shift to a product management-based approach for digital innovations because it allows for multiple iterations,” said Blosch. “Operational innovations can follow the usual approaches until the digital team is skilled and experienced enough to extend its reach and share the learned practices with the organisation.”
6 Change isn’t easy
Developing platforms, changing the organisational structure, and creating an ecosystem of partners is challenging.
According to Gartner, enterprises should build the organisational capabilities that make change simpler and faster. To do that, it said, they should develop a platform-based strategy that supports continuous change and design principles and then innovate on top of that platform.
Let’s look at a common meeting issue that causes delay, swirl, frustration – and afterward, uncoordinated action. That classic phrase, “It depends.”
There has been good dialogue covering the topic at hand and the meeting facilitator is converging the group towards putting a stake in the ground. “So, we have discussed X, looked at Y, and understood more about Z. Is it fair to say that we should assume V will work?”
As people start to nod their heads, one of them submits, “Well, it depends.”
Pause. Halt. Drop Anchor.
You feel slightly irritated. It’s not that this person is a troublemaker, the devil’s advocator, the oxygen vacuum. It’s more likely they are a fair-minded, intelligent, and reasonable peer or team who collaborates well.
It’s just that you knew it might happen. The closer you get to requiring participants to commit verbally, the harder-to-discuss and tacit thoughts surface. The problem is that you only have this group for two, four, eight hours and you still have much ground to cover. You’ve just spent a lot of time on this one item, was bringing it to a close, already thinking about where you’ll go next.
But someone just put their foot on the brake and triggered an emergency stop.
You ask him, “OK, can you say more?”, doing your best to keep the tone neutral. And he responds, “Well, I understand why you are asking if we can go forward assuming V will work, but it depends. You see, if A acquires B, V’s success is far from certain. But if A doesn’t acquire B, I think V is more viable. That’s why I’m not comfortable agreeing to move forward assuming V is OK, because we don’t know yet what A’s going to do.”
How do you respond?
Do you break out of facilitating mode and become a domain expert, telling him that one of the two paths is most likely, “I don’t see A buying B in the next two years.” Nodding strongly as you say it so that he will nod back and accept that view.
Or does someone else resolve his dilemma, perhaps someone more senior; “John, it’s a good point. Yes, I see A buying B. Let’s assume that will be the case.” There is no dialogue. It’s a directive.
Either of these responses work in the moment to ‘shut him up’ and get onto the agreement about V.
But they don’t actually work because John just acquiesced to the group, thinking ‘There are bigger fish to fry.’ After the meeting, his actions, and inaction, are driven by the fact that he doesn’t agree with the assumption about V – because it still depends.
Or, he holds his ground and pushes the point. “No, I’m sorry, I’m not trying to slow us down but I think what A does will determine whether or not V is valid. And it’s just not certain yet what A will do.”
How do you get around this roadblock? How do you keep the meeting’s momentum and address his valid point with a valid response in as little time as possible?
Technologies like, Slack, Zoom and Trello etc. play a useful role in remote working, however, are limited in genuinely optimising alignment of teams.
To find out how Rialto are working with organisations to optimise alignment and collaboration to secure future business objectives, please click here to make an enquiry or contact Richard Chiumento on 07768 713 293 or rchiumento@rialtoconsultancy.com
Alternatively click here to book a 15 minute call directly with Richard Chiumento.
As we work together to navigate through these unprecedented times, Rialto are continuing to scan for the latest market trends impacting future leadership career planning.
If you or any member of your network would like to discuss how best to maintain and enhance your future career value in the COVID-19 market or create an optimum strategy to secure your next career move either internally or externally, please do contact us at Rialto.
Our team have worked effectively through two recessions, 9/11, the Sars epidemic and the 2008 financial crash. We have successfully assisted 5,000+ senior executives in the last 11 years to redefine career paths, stay relevant and increasingly indispensable to market trends.
Leaders that achieve the greatest success are those that recognise that executive career coaching is not only required when things aren’t going well, at a time of crises, or during difficulty such as redundancy. Yet, many executives still take a reactive approach rather than a proactive role when it comes to seeking career transition or professional development advice. Francesca Grogan
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 ensure your skills remain relevant and aligned with what organisations are looking for – making you increasingly indispensable – which in turn ensures your market value remains high. This increases the chances of both career-long agility, security, relevance 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 an executive 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 career transition experts have access to up-to-date data on skills, sectors and other requirements. At Rialto, 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 both in a downturn and an upturn.
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. Francesca Grogan
Services are confidential and tapping in to our teams 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: is now the time to consider an executive career transition?, the answer is you should always take time to plan your executive direction and having a plan at every milestone enables you to maintain control of your career.
Rialto Consultancy delivers a range of career transition, leadership development and coaching programmes for executives and senior leaders.
To benchmark your leadership profile for free, visit RALI.
To view The latest Rialto executive career transition resettlement statistics, visit Executive Transition Statistics.
One of the business world’s favourite cliches is that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. While recognition of the former’s importance has grown in recent years, no company can exist, much less compete, without a strategy.
Research clearly demonstrates though that many organisations struggle to successfully implement their strategy. A study carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) finds that only one in 10 organisations can deliver on all their strategic goals. Similarly, only eight per cent of business leaders quizzed by Rialto Consultancy agree that their previous collaborations achieved three key performance metrics: on-time, on-budget and on-benefit.
So what typically stands in the way of achieving them?
Reasons for failure
Rialto has unearthed several factors that lie at the root cause of failed business strategies. Our work has shown that when organisations develop strategies, they typically fail to gather the most exhaustive and complete intelligence to inform the strategy at the outset.
This means the process is flawed before it gets underway and mistakes and wrong assumptions inherent at the start are compounded the further the organisation progresses the strategy.
All too often businesses will focus on the outcome they want the strategy to achieve and work towards that. Discussion around this may have been confined to a small group of stakeholders who each have their own set opinions, objectives, motivations and even biases. As informed as these people may be in their respective areas, this approach is too limited to arrive at an appropriate strategy.
Our work has shown that when organisations develop strategies, they typically fail to gather the most exhaustive and complete intelligence to inform the strategy at the outset
Another mistake is to assume leaders and senior managers know what the customer wants. Our work and research found that there is often a disconnect between what senior leaders think and what end-users expect and want.
A disconnect or gap can also exist between the strategy itself and implementation. The reality is that organisations can have what sounds like a great strategy but there are a variety of obstacles that stand in the way of putting it in place such as a lack of alignment or agreement on the detail.
In other cases, strategies fail because they are not actually a strategy in the first place. Leaders may have taken decisions and arrived at a set of actions they believe is required to bring about an outcome. Closer inspection, however, reveals it is, indeed, just a set of choices, organisational priorities or goals rather than a well thought through strategy.
A process in itself
Precisely how a strategy is created is crucial to its subsequent implementation and success and devising it is a process in itself. And remember that success must also be defined at the start. For instance, if the strategy aims to deliver cost, productivity and customer benefits, it can only be judged successful if it does all three on-time and on-budget.
It is vital to gather all relevant information required to inform the strategy, such as anonymised customer data, market information, competitor intelligence and more. The information must be accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive and this will reduce the risk of errors, misconceptions, wrong assumptions creeping in and later being compounded.
Overall, organisations need to take a far more collaborative and outward-looking approach to strategy
As well as intelligence, it is also important to garner a broad set of opinions and views from both internal and external stakeholders. Overall, organisations need to take a far more collaborative and outward-looking approach to strategy. As well as fostering a spirit of collaboration they must also ensure diversity of thought. All opinions and views must be heard and taken into account – even the controversial ones that may initially delay decision-making and progress. But ultimately, if these are not dealt with early on, they may be a factor in derailing the strategy further down the line.
Having done everything possible to accurately inform the strategy and collaborate with all relevant parties, it is then time to move into what Rialto calls the “alignment cycle”. This is where the group of individuals charged with developing the strategy ensure they are aligned with it. It can be a challenging stage. Our work with clients has demonstrated that one individual will typically share 20 opinions on just one topic and reconciling a broad set of views can be difficult.
Work carried out with leadership teams by Rialto Consultancy has focused on surfacing non-alignment within the group so it can be reconciled. Much of this is done using our Augmented Intelligence Consulting (AI-C) methodology, which helps teams solve business issues and agree a course of action using decision-making models developed from Harvard academics Professor Thomas Schelling (Game Theory) and Professor Chris Argyris (Action Science) and SchellingPoint’s applied research into collaboration dynamics. It can be an invaluable tool to help the team progress through the alignment cycle.
As stated, a successful strategy depends on a wide range of factors and there is no doubt that investing time and effort at the development stage reduces the risk of failure.
Investing in yourself and developing a career strategy might not be top of everyone’s agenda at the moment but, nevertheless, is an extremely valuable way for senior executives to spend any downtime during the unprecedented events we face because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Day-to-day operations often leave little time to take a step back and consider where you are in your career, where you want to be and the impact of rapid change on industries and skillset requirements. But now is the time to consider these issues or risk being left behind.
Even if you feel secure and fulfilled in your current role and organisation, it is still a worthwhile exercise to evaluate current skillsets and assess how up-to-date and relevant they are. This is especially true for today’s fast-moving and ever-changing market requirements, which will undoubtedly see even more rapid change as we come through the aftermath of COVID-19. It will also help to ensure you are equipped with the essential skills to progress to your next role, whether it is moving up internally or to another organisation.
Some of the areas to focus on include:
Build your personal digital brand: whether we are aware of it or not, we all have a personal brand. Use the online environment to raise your profile and bolster your reputation in your sector or industry. Move towards becoming a thought leader or expert by writing relevant blogs for your Linkedin account and relevant business publication websites. Share expertise, knowledge and creative thinking and ideas with others. Also find out whether there is scope to post bylined articles on your organisation’s site?
Networking: it is a good time to connect with people to see how they are faring including useful contacts that you might not have had time to hook up with. Also, work out your target ecosystems and key individuals with whom you can share valuable insights. Be mindful that networking is a two-way street and the benefits need to be reciprocal: remember to give first before you expect to receive.
Skills development: identify any skills gaps you have as a leader and put a development plan in place to address these to stay relevant. Tools such as the Rialto Accelerated Leadership Index (RALI) can help you benchmark your leadership capabilities against your peers across a range of sectors. This is an ideal time to invest in your knowledge of technology and digital initiatives that might impact your industry/function. Learn about and brainstorm what your industry/function will look like post COVID-19. Where can you and will you be expected to provide value?
Improving mental toughness and resilience: the COVID-19 operating environment is going to require us to work in different ways with our peers and teams and deal with further unpredictability and volatility. Leaders will find themselves under pressure on both a business and personal level and will need to able to deal with individual, team, family and market stresses. It is crucial to understand your own trigger points when dealing with these multiple areas. Put in place the right sounding boards such as trusted individuals with whom you can share views and responsibilities on all fronts.
Practice positive thinking: consider how you deal with negative situations and failure and how your reactions could be reframed and learn to keep things in perspective. While much of a leader’s work will be about acting in the moment, it is important to project forward to when the crisis is over and what yet another new normal might look like and what part you and other teams members may wish to play. It will get tougher before it gets better so strong, authentic leadership is required as employees will be feeling vulnerable on a number of levels. It is also important for leaders to show they are part of the team as this really is a case where everyone is in it together.
If you need help creating a strategic plan to implement any of the above or feel you might benefit from having a neutral sounding board to discuss your career strategy during the challenges arising from COVID 19, call to speak to a member of the executive career strategy team.
The disruption that the coronavirus is bringing to the business world and global economy is only just beginning. Emergency lockdowns, travel bans, squeezed supply chains as well as falling markets are already starting to hamper operations.
This week, Laura Ashley went into administration after talks with lenders over a possible rescue were reportedly derailed because of the virus. A statement from the retailer in the press said the coronavirus had “an immediate and significant impact on trading, and ongoing developments indicate that this will be a sustained national situation”.
Many UK organisations can, as yet, only estimate the impact it might have on their workforces. Government and industry bodies are pledging support but leaders themselves must act immediately to protect their organisations.
While virtual working is not a panacea, there is no doubt that it is a powerful weapon in a company’s armoury to help minimise the effects of the virus on daily operations. As a result, remote working has leapt to the top of the corporate agenda and major organisations are working hard to put their strategies in place.
One of the popular models emerging is a form of rotation working where teams are split and take it in turns to come into the office. A report in the Telegraph explained how Goldman Sachs is making such an approach work. It has banned gatherings of more than 20 people and its 38,000-strong workforce worldwide will be split into ‘blue’ and ‘white’ teams.
The report outlines that in a memo seen by the newspaper, the bank will “operate across separate teams and locations, with the goal of reducing the density of people in our offices at any one time”. Staff will work as an assigned member of a blue or white team, alternating weekly between working from a main office or from home.
The virus will test the resilience and robustness of every organisation’s virtual working strategy and how effectively it will enable them to continue with their daily operations and practices. But the switch to virtual working will mean that many meetings, workshops and other face-to-face programmes will simply not be possible and leaders must also be mindful what the impact of this will be.
The biggest challenge will be ensuring that teams are able to collaborate to the same level as they would if they were working face-to-face and that they workforces remain engaged and aligned with the company’s goals and mission.
Our best chance is to use the tools and technologies at our disposal to try to work as close to “business as usual” as possible
Against this backdrop, clients are utilising Rialto Consultancy’s AI-C methodologies, which have been researched with Harvard Business School, to create viable and endorsed strategies and plans virtually, without the need for in person workshops or meetings.
More than 500 projects have been delivered successfully globally using the methodology and we believe it could become an invaluable resource to facilitate collaboration during the difficult period UK organisations are now entering.
Click here for key case studies
AI-C gives stakeholders a voice and optimises alignment to secure coordinated actions to deliver critical business outcomes, including, for example, short-term plans, corporate strategies, transformations, growth goals and more.
Among the benefits clients are finding is that AI-C delivers clear stakeholder endorsed priorities, action plans, rich score card with KPIs and a roadmap which to collaborate on from virtual locations.
Recent projects have included:
- A US company, 51 people across the US and Canada, assembled a technology R&D alliance
- 156 staff in seven countries, redesigned how major projects are conducted
- 172 staff across 19 countries, assembling a three-year departmental strategy
None of us know how long we will find ourselves in this difficult period nor what ‘normal’ will look like when we come out the other side. In the meantime, our best chance is to use the tools and technologies at our disposal to try to work as close to “business as usual” as possible.
Please contact Rialto on 020 3043 8640 or rchiumento@rialtoconsultancy.com for more details.
Alternatively click here to make an enquiry.
In a recent study, it was found that only one in 20 companies have been doing everything necessary to get payback from the breakneck pace of digital. With Covid-19 pandemic bringing the biggest changes to business and working routines, organisation are realising that this area can no longer take a back or even side seat when when creating and delivering their strategies and operations.
Through its annual Digital IQ research, PwC identified a group of companies that consistently generate payback and obtain significant value on their digital investments.
This value is demonstrated across every area assessed – from growth and profits to innovation, customer experience, people and more.
This is consistent with the approach Rialto has long advocated with its clients to impress upon them the importance of ensuring digital transformation strategies touch every part of an organisation.
These high-performing companies, called ‘transcenders’, spend more on their staff and employee experience whether that is recruiting the best talent or keeping their people skilled-up to weather change.
The report points out that this means not just throwing money at endless training for these top 5 per cent of companies, but they ‘obsess’ about ensuring that training sticks, drives business and motivates employees.
Nearly two-thirds of transcenders (63 per cent) report they have upended their training processes and seen the results of getting it right.
Notably, the report finds transcenders leaders don’t just talk big, they act: 84 per cent mandate, rather than just encourage collaboration and cross-functional work; and digital is their corporate strategy, not a line item or “special effort”.
“Significantly, these companies are putting people, training and reskilling high on their agenda and other companies, large and small, must similarly invest in areas such as employee development and employee experience”
While others are ruminating on ideas, transcender leaders are capturing and acting on them, drawing from all levels to drive their business.
Transcenders also invest one third more than other companies in the so-called plumbing – the technology, processes, operating models, and the ways of working – that will drive their digital supremacy.
Importantly, the digital investments that they make are to help them grow, not just to cut costs by excising expensive legacy setups. This focus on digital ability allows employees at 84 per cent of these companies to spend more time innovating, the report notes.
Nine in 10 transcender leaders say they don’t face pushback when it comes to digital efforts, while a similar amount (91 per cent) say their workers are aware of company transformation efforts (compared to just 69 per cent of others).
Employees are digitally savvy (89 per cent compared to just 63 per cent of non-transcender companies).
Commenting on the findings, Rialto Consultancy director, Richard Chiumento, said: “These companies are leading by example in the digital economy and others must follow.
“Significantly, they are putting people, training and reskilling high on their agenda and other companies, large and small, must similarly invest in areas such as employee development and employee experience.”
Some 2,380 senior executives from across 76 territories were surveyed for PwC’s Global Digital IQ Survey 2020.
Having the right culture in place is key to creating a well-aligned organisation able to execute its strategy and deliver on goals. Business leaders attending Rialto leadership event series have also revealed how important they believe culture is to ensure they can continue to meet customer requirements in what are complex and changing market conditions for many firms.
Today’s organisations are better equipped than ever to find out what customers want. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and the plethora of social media and other channels take them far closer to their customers, enabling them to better understand their likes, preferences and requirements.
Using such insight and data analytics to inform strategies has become the norm in recent years. But it’s one thing devising customer strategies and quite another delivering them successfully. All the data in the world won’t help satisfy the customer’s expectations and demands if frontline or back office staff aren’t aligned with the strategy.
People have always been the differentiator when it comes to delivering customer strategies and in the era of automation, they are even more important. Much of the same technology may be used in modern call centres but the company running them will still be judged on the individual at the end of the phone. If they don’t exhibit the right behaviours, a company’s reputation could be at risk and customers lost.
Leaders need to take a hard look at what is happening inside their organisations and assess whether the culture is conducive to achieving corporate aims, and, if it isn’t, commit to changing it
When delivering a great customer experience, seen as the new battleground for retaining and winning new customers, the right culture can ensure employees demonstrate the appropriate behaviours and reflect the values and beliefs of the organisation in their daily actions.
A healthy corporate culture rather than a toxic one, also means employees will take pride in their performance and go the extra mile for customers.
While CX (referred to as the new brand by Forbes magazine) is important, organisations must also ensure they are still innovating so that they can deliver the future products and services that customers will demand. Culture is once again instrumental in helping to achieve this.
A culture in which employees feel free to experiment – and even fail – and one in which they know their ideas and voices will be listening will help innovation to flourish. And an inclusive culture will help to ensure that ideas and creativity come from all areas of the organisation.
Culture and values also feed into the external brand, which is extremely important to customers who generally have far less loyalty than previously. Customers expect companies to be interested in far more than shareholder value and they want to see them look after their people, suppliers and the environment. An ethical, altruistic corporate culture rather than an inward looking, profits-driven one will dictate the behaviours of leaders at all levels and, in turn, help to build an extremely positive external brand.
Going forward, the importance of the right corporate culture is only going to intensify. It has shifted from something viewed as rather nebulous to a tangible metric that has the power to positively impact the bottom line. If the right culture is embedded in an organisation’s DNA, it will be far easier to execute future strategies and achieve organisational objectives.
Leaders need to take a hard look at what is happening inside their organisations and assess whether the culture is conducive to achieving corporate aims, and, if it isn’t, commit to changing it.
The shift towards a more collaborative style of organisational leadership continues. The complexity that exists in the world of business today, alongside the sheer pace of change and technological advancement means that leaders know they can no longer go it alone. No single person has all the answers to progress their strategies and deliver growth. The best leaders recognise the need to consult and work with others at all levels, listening and facilitating discussions to create a roadmap of action to deliver results.
Developing a collaborative style of leadership has been a key strand of leadership development programmes delivered by Rialto Consultancy in recent years and it will continue to be a priority. And we are always keen to point out that the collaboration must work at all levels with those above, below and sideways as well as cross-functionally through a whole systems approach. Future collaborative leaders see their role as catalysing, enabling and supporting widespread action – rather than being in the spotlight themselves.
Our approach aligns with thinking and research in the wider world of business, which highlights how hierarchies are being displaced by collaborative, team-centric approaches, which pays off in terms of performance and growth.
According to a study carried out by Deloitte, more than half of organisations (53 per cent) see a significant improvement in performance after the transition to a team/network-based organisation. In our experience, the team and collaborative mindset still needs to permeate to the C-suite and senior leadership teams though and this represents a major challenge going forward for many leaders.
First off, developing a collaborative mindset will be expected by the Millennial generation many of whom are already in leadership positions. Research published by American Express found that a focus on teamwork and democratic leadership styles by Millennials suggests the C-suite of the future will promote a flatter structure in the organisations they lead.
Moreover, the report, Redefining the C-Suite: Business the Millennial Way, goes as far as saying that in less than 10 years the CEO role will no longer be relevant in its current format. Unsurprisingly, it quickly dismisses the 20th century command-and-control leaders/hero-CEO as likely to be counter-productive or unsuitable in the current business climate.
Rialto research has found that where leaders do collaborate, more than three-quarters of them only seek consensus with peers or senior stakeholders rather than collaborating more widely
It isn’t only about collaboration internally but collaborative styles and systems leadership thinking that are also required to interact with and manage external stakeholders and companies. The digital age has seen the emergence of the ecosystem, where organisations work with partners and sometimes competitors to achieve an objective. For example, complex technologies such as artificial intelligence require considerable discussion in terms of how they will be implemented, and this relies on industry- and sector-wide collaboration.
Many leaders have grown up with a silo-based mindset when it comes to dealing with challenges that can be hard to break free from. Rialto has found that functional boundaries often get in the way of building more collaborative organisations. This is backed by 2019 research from Deloitte that revealed only 17 per cent of C-suite executives “regularly collaborate on long-term interdependent work”, down from 34 per cent in 2018 while 44 per cent of respondents reported their C-suite executives either operate totally independently or only occasionally partner on ad hoc initiatives. Rialto research has found that where leaders do collaborate, more than three-quarters of them only seek consensus with peers or senior stakeholders rather than collaborating more widely.
No leader or organisation can afford to be an island in the current business climate, and it is presumed that Millennial leaders of the future will have to turn to all levels of their organisation for ideas and support. Rialto is already working with companies and individual leaders to help them develop the skills, capabilities and thinking to work and lead more democratically and collaboratively and, in our view, it is becoming a business imperative.
To learn more about how these collaborative and experiential learning experiences can support you to be a better leader for the coming industry 4.0 era, contact a member of our team.
