How Leaders Can Future-Proof By Creating Adaptive Organizations Now

In recent years, I have watched many organizations announce their agile transformations only to be followed by confusion. Is that agile with a big “A” or a little “a”? Are we talking about a new software development process in IT or do we need to be more nimble across the entire organization? While the answer often lands somewhere in the middle, one thing is very clear: while agility is important, organizations that want to position themselves for the future, must be adaptive. 

a-dapt-ive 

characterized by or given to making something suitable for a new use or purpose 

Leaders need to take the following actions now to create adaptive organizations for the future:  

1. Create Psychological Safety 

Leaders need to create a workplace that is a safe place for their employees to learn, contribute, and to challenge the status quo, where there is no fear of being marginalized, judged, punished nor embarrassed. Rather than command and control behaviors, leaders of adaptive organizations are characterized by empowering their teams and encouraging problem solving, so that employees are able to co-author organizational solutions. Leaders must lead by example by creating supporting spaces and places for teams and individuals; they should encourage employees to share, raise questions, and challenge, and they should listen. By establishing these open spaces and places, leaders begin to build a mindset that supports an adaptive strategy and culture based upon phycological safety.  

2. Reconstruct Business Processes 

Leaders of adaptive organizations must create room for new ways of working. They must create opportunity to recognize that some processes may not serve the organization’s future, that it is OK to challenge existing processes that have served well in the past, and openness to the possibility that some legacy processes may go away completely. In concert with this, leaders need to be willing to invest in their people so that employees can upskill to meet the demands of new processes. Organizations need to be at-the-ready for disruption and prepared to explore how they make change, how they talk about change, and what change may mean to their legacy processes and systems. Organizations need to be brave enough to work together to figure out what the change means, even if that means being scared and vulnerable, perhaps fearful of job loss, required to do something new. 

3. Align Workplace

Leaders need to align the workplace of the future with organizational priorities. First, where will work be done? Will the people go to the work, will the work go to the people, or will there be a hybrid of the two? How will the reality of an increasingly remote workplace factor in? Then, think about the office buildings, cafeterias, conference rooms, lobbies, and furniture – many of which are sitting empty right now. These now need to be reimagined. In a hybrid environment, where part of the workforce is in the office while the other is at home, switching back and forth, there may be an increased need for shared office space versus dedicated office space. In a highly remote environment, there may be a need for rented on-demand collaboration space versus idle conference rooms. Leaders need to determine their strategic priorities and align their office space to support those priorities to drive results in a new and different workplace.   

4. Engage and Equip Employees 

Whether operating in a face-to-face, remote, or hybrid work environment, leaders must create a work experience that supports effective collaboration and a culture where employees can be effective and productive. Leaders must engage employees so that rather than feeling alone or isolated, they feel valued, that they are contributing and appreciated, and they are satisfied with their work and want to grow with the organization. In a remote organization where talent can be sourced from anywhere, leaders may need to rethink their sourcing and recruiting strategies and update job descriptions and performance expectations. Finally, leaders may need to help employees reskill or upskill. A remote workforce needs to be able to engage, network, and influence in an entirely virtual environment, while a workforce that is mostly in the office or remote by exception-only requires a different set of skills. What additional skills and competences are needed to effectively navigate a virtual environment and how will the organization equip a remote workforce to be successful?  

Leaders, it’s OK if you do not have all the answers, but now is the time to be thinking deeply about your culture, how and where work will be done, and how you will engage and equip employees to be satisfied and successful. Organizations that are not working towards becoming adaptive now may find that they struggle in the future. 

Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how our organizational change management consultants can help your organization future-proof now.     

A special thanks to Kelly Kluge, Talent Strategy, Cultural Health, and Organizational Effectiveness consultant, for her thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog.