Would You Rehire Your Current Team of People?
I first asked this question to an audience when speaking at a conference of HR professionals. I was more surprised than expected by the very noisy response from the audience. It was as if that question was the ‘elephant in the room’! A show of hands suggested that over 60% of the audience indicated that it was questionable if their current team of senior managers would be hired again.
That is a very ‘big’ response to a very simple, and what should be an obvious, question. Not expecting the high degree of verbal honesty, I asked the same question of VP’s when speaking at an IT Conference, and the response was in the same range. This reaction led to a deeper dig on the topic. I continued to ask that question of every leader and manager I met and the reaction was the same. These responses suggest simultaneously-occurring trends that I have not experienced, to such a high degree, in my 30+ years of leadership and organization development experience.
So What Should Account for the Consistent Feedback?
Organizations today are at a crossroad, moving from the past into the unknown future state. Senior leadership is broadly aware of the multiple stressors organizations are experiencing from outside sources. Everyone is talking about it. While they acknowledge these stressors, they also acknowledge that their current leaders and managers are not equipped to lead and manage through these stressors. We must now go from talking to action, and the actions are not simple. Getting it wrong can have serious business consequences. Here are universal stressors all organizations in all industries are experiencing:
- The Future: It’s coming at organizations faster than ever before making transformative change a ‘business as usual’ state. In the past, organizations have evolved slowly, adapting in steps, to anticipated change. Dealing with the future and change was an occasional event managed from the top level. Now, transformative change must be anticipated and managed as an everyday event. This new state requires new skill sets that are required to go much deeper in the organization.
- New Change Roles – ‘Upskilling’ Leadership and Management: The ‘business as usual’ (BAU) skill sets of most leaders and managers were sufficient in the past when leading and managing were meant to ensure maintenance of the routine. However, current times render those skills obsolete. Change and the future demands recognition that new change roles are evolving and here to stay. These roles require new and more sophisticated skills. These roles are different from BAU leadership and management. Very few people in today’s organizations have these new skills. That’s why the question arises in response to today’s organizational pressures, would you rehire your current team of leaders and managers?
- Disruptors: Disruption is now the new normal. According to global research, all organizations will experience disruption. Most likely, that disruption will come from unexpected places. So, if change is difficult, how much more difficult is anticipating and leading through continual disruption, especially with obsolete skills?
It's Evaluation Time
As we think about working in today’s world, evaluate your organization against the new paradigms we are experiencing. How ready are your leaders and managers to meet completely new challenges? How many can change the tires of the car, while driving 60 miles per hour, with no roadmap or tools? Does your response to the question "would you rehire your current team of people?" fall into the 60% ‘NO’ category?
We invite you to learn more about how people, potential and performance all translate into profits for your company. In addition to profits for your company, see how you can engage your employees and ultimately have more satisfied clients. Schedule a complimentary organizational benchmark assessment with our team to learn how you can further motivate your people to their full potential to drive enhanced performance results that will bring your company to the next level.
