As the world changes, people and organizations must change too. Recent surveys suggest there is growing confidence in the global economy among executives. A PwC pulse survey of over 5000 CEOs revealed that more than 60% are expecting innovation and M&A deals to fuel their organizational growth over the next 12 months. Growth is a critical driver of organizational performance. However, not all change is innovation and not all innovation flourishes. Successful innovation produces a significant positive change for customers. Like the atmospheric conditions required for the formation of a tornado do not always produce a tornado. The same can be said for organizational innovation. Innovation is unpredictable and often comes from a combination of hard work, curiosity, the pursuit of wealth, and necessity. There are countless prerequisites to any innovation, and analysis reveals both the astonishing and absurd. While this reality may leave you feeling a bit confused about what to do, here are some conditions that will increase your odds of successful innovation. "Successful entrepreneurs do not wait until the muse kisses them and gives them a bright idea: they go to work." Peter Drucker Conditions for Innovation As organizations gain competence and confidence, the likelihood of innovation decreases. Adopting the following approaches and mindsets can reduce organizational threats to innovation: Awareness: The decisions we make reflect who we are. The better organizations understand their culture and their employees; the better decisions can be made at each phase of innovation development. Reward failure: In the pursuit of innovation, failure happens. Organizations lacking positive reinforcement for innovation will not bring out the best in the people attempting to innovate. Too often, organizations are designed to keep people from taking risks. Work hard and reconsider assumptions: As organizations invest time pursuing innovation, it is easy to become increasingly less willing to question an idea. It is essential to step back every so often and challenge the innovation assumptions. Organizations that dare to question assumptions will keep the focus on the best ideas. Growth: Many innovations begin with a simple question. Can it be done better? Organizations that value the pursuit of incremental improvement will not miss the value of the mundane ideas that lead to the next significant invention. Luck and mistakes: It’s essential to recognize that organizations may do everything right and fail as well as do nothing right and succeed. Organizations that acknowledge that luck, chance, and the work of others play a role in their innovation process set themselves up for success. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein The Psychology and Sociology Behind Successful Innovation As stated earlier, not all innovations are successful. No one wants to spend a bunch of time working hard to produce an invention that is considered ahead of its time. An innovation ahead of its time is not a compliment. Adding to the complexity of successful innovation is the reality that the technical merits are essential but not sufficient. Beyond the technical merits are the influences of psychology and sociology. Both are vital determinants for an organization’s innovation success. The following are five factors that moderate organizational innovation success: Perceived value – How much better is the new from the old? Perceptions are realities for customers. Successful organizational innovation considers its perceived value based on cost, status, convenience, pleasure, and style. Effort – What is required to transition to the innovation? Is the cost of the innovation greater than its advantage? If it takes more effort to utilize the invention, most people won’t do it. Learning – How much learning is required to use the new? The smaller the perceived gap, the more likely people will try something new. Ease – How easy is it to try the innovation? If something is risk-free, it is more likely to be used. Likewise, as time, energy, and cost required increases, the likelihood of the innovation being used decreases. Visibility – How visible are the innovation’s results? Consider a fashion fad. It may have limited value, but the results are obvious. The more visible the results, the more likely the innovation will be used. Successful organizational innovation accounts for both the positive and negative psychological and sociological consequences associated with the utilization of the innovation. For each factor, you should evaluate if the consequence is: positive or negative from the users perspective experienced immediately or in the future certain or uncertain Not all consequences have the same degree of impact on innovation success. Consequences that are either positive immediate certain, or negative immediate certain will have the most significant impact on if the likelihood of the organizational innovation being successful. Key Points Successful organizational innovation produces a significant positive change for customers. Key conditions of innovation include: increasing awareness of organizational culture and people, rewarding interesting failures, working hard and reconsidering assumptions, valuing incremental improvements, and recognizing the role of luck and mistakes. The technical merits of innovation are essential but not sufficient for innovation to flourish. Successful innovation accounts for the psychological and sociological consequences associated with innovation. References: Bartlett, R. (2013). A practitioners guide to data analytics: Using data analysis to improve your organizations decision making and strategy. McGraw-Hill. New York. Berkun, S. (2010). The myths of innovation (1st ed.). O'Reilly Media, Inc. Drucker, P. (2006). Innovation and Entreprenuership. Harper Business. PwC 24th Annual Global CEO Survey

Successful leaders look for a competitive advantage. In today's turbulent and digital marketplace, personal and organizational development is not an option you want to ignore if you want to get ahead. Using a fresh food metaphor, you are either ripe and rotting or green and growing. Executive coaching is a relatively new approach for many leaders and is often not well understood. It comes out of the disciplines of consulting, management, organizational development, and psychology. Executive coaching is a highly individualized and impactful results-based development approach. Coaching is a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires clients to maximize their personal and professional potential. When done right, executive coaching is a confidential trust-based relationship between the qualified coach and client. Over the past twenty-five-plus years working in the field of leadership development with hundreds of high potential professionals to c-suite leaders, I have witnessed first-hand the significant benefits of coaching. Compared with other development approaches, executive coaching achieves lasting results in a relatively short period of time. Coaching is Not Mentoring or Counseling Coaching is often confused with mentoring and counseling but differs in many ways. Unlike counseling, coaching does not deal with overcoming past or current trauma, painful events, or relieving emotional pain but instead focuses on the future. Unlike a coach, a mentor typically sets the mentee's agenda, using their experiences to guide the relationship. In a mentoring relationship, the mentor typically does most of the directing by offering advice. A coach draws out the client's desire and collaborates with the client to cocreate options to achieve client-generated goals. Simply stated, coaching facilitates forward progress toward accomplishing the client’s desired future. Typical Executive Coaching Process There are many variations of the coaching processes and reasons why you might want to hire an executive coach. A typical coaching process starts with an inquiry and a welcome meeting to get acquainted, establish the coaching process, direction, relationship, and begin moving the client toward the coaching outcome. Based on the goal, the coach and client begin assessing and exploring the current reality, potential options, and obstacles. The learnings gained from these steps lead to co-creating specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound action plans. An executive coaching program typically lasts for 6 to 12 months, depending on the client’s goal(s). According to Sherman and Freas (2004), no one has yet demonstrated conclusively what makes an executive coach qualified or what makes one approach to executive coaching better than another. However, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the leading global organization dedicated to professional coaching standards and ethics. The ICF identifies the following eight core competencies updated as of 2019 based on empirical data collected over two years and from job analyses of 1,300 coaches globally: Demonstrates Ethical Practice Embodies a Coaching Mindset Establishes and Maintains Agreements Cultivates Trust and Safety Maintains Presence Listens Actively Evokes Awareness Facilitates Client Growth Benefits of Executive Coaching The benefits of engaging clients in customized ways through executive coaching creates both personal and organizational results. 80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence. Over 70% benefit from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. 86% of companies report that they recouped their investment in coaching and more (Source: ICF 2009). Personal Benefits: Establish and take action towards achieving both career and life goals Become more confident Gain more personal satisfaction Contribute more effectively to the team and the organization Take greater responsibility and accountability for actions and commitments Work more efficiently and productively with others (leader, followers, peers, customers) Communicate more effectively ​Organizational Benefits: Empowers employees Increases engagement Improves performance Improves employee retention Supports identification and development of high potential employees Supports identification of both organizational and individual strengths and development opportunities Shows organizational commitment to employee development When Executive Coaching Fails Why would executive coaching ever fail? The truth is that no development approach always works with all people in all situations. The following are some examples that might surprise you based on my experience of situations when executive coaching does not deliver the desired results: When the coach is asked to provide a message that the client's leader does not want to give. When coaching is either implied or stated as required. When the client has a goal better aligned with mentoring or counseling. When the coach and client fail to establish a trust-based relationship. When the client is not open to self-discovery or unable to experiment. Executive Coaching Online Coaching does not have to be face to face to be effective. Online coaching is a technology-facilitated coaching relationship. Research by Berry et al. (2011) demonstrated that virtual coaching and face-to-face coaching are equally effective when using a skilled coach. Virtual coaching offers added convenience, service, and support benefits over traditional face-to-face coaching: Accessibility is likely one of the most significant benefits of virtual coaching, especially during a pandemic. Technology enables the coach and client to connect, whether in different places within the same building or worldwide. Availability improves, enabling the coach to be brought into just-in-time and rapid response needs or unique situations like cross-cultural needs. Virtual coaching allows the coach to increase the number of clients they can support at one time. Also, both the coach and client benefit from the flexibility and administrative ease in scheduling. Affordability improves through reduced travel and associated time out of the office. Access to resources improves through digital access to tools supporting goal setting, coaching preparation, and progress tracking. The coaching relationship's evaluation improves through the ease of tracking commitments, satisfaction, strengths, opportunities, and trends both on an individual client level and at an aggregate organizational level. Getting started with executive coaching is as simple as clicking the following link to schedule your initial (no cost) inquiry consultation or learn more about our coaching solutions: Schedule a Conversation Executive Coaching Services References: Berry, R. M., Ashby, J. S., Gnilka, P. B., & Matheny, K. B. (2011). A comparison of face-to-face and distance coaching practices: Coaches’ perceptions of the role of working alliance in problem resolution. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 63, 243–253. Glaser, J. (2014). Conversational Intelligence: How great leaders build trust and get extraordinary results. Bibliomotion, Inc. New York Goldsmith, M., Lyons, L., & Freas, A. (2000). Coaching for leadership: How the world’s greatest coaches help leaders learn. Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. San Francisco. Kimsey-House, H., Kimsey-House, K., Sandahl, P., & Whitworth, L. (2018). Co-active coaching: The proven framework for transformative conversations at work and in life. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Boston. Sherman, S. & Freas, A. (2004). The wild west of executive coaching. Harvard Business Review Online. Upcoming Webinar Series We know you are going to love these complementary leadership and professional development events! Organizational Talent Consulting’s webinar content is developed to help leaders meet today's complex workforce and digital challenges. Our free live webinars deliver superior leadership development based on the latest research with no travel costs. Participants interact directly in question-and-answer discussions with subject matter experts and authors on crucial topics to enhance expertise. Webinars are recorded and shared with participants for convenient on-demand access after the live event. Topics include leadership, strategic planning, coaching, change management, and more (register and learn more).

The world and workplace are changing fast, and if you're not a little confused, you're not likely paying attention. Many factors are contributing to the confusion, such as globalization and rapid advancements in technology. As a result, investments in continuous employee development are needed to stay relevant and avoid becoming obsolete. Investing in high-performing employee development is a proven strategy to enhance organizational competitiveness. Employee development helps organizations remain competitive by preparing the workforce for continuously shifting demands. Today's leaders are often challenged by both cost and time constraints associated with implementing continuous development strategies. This article presents a few evidence-based, low-cost, high-impact employee development ideas to help leaders address these concerns. Senior Leader Engagement Handing off development to the human resources function without senior leadership involvement puts training at risk. A senior leader's perceived engagement in development impacts the emphasis placed on the participants' learning. Research confirms that when leaders provided dedicated support to training, employee motivation and retention of the learning content improved. Employee Development Methods While managers may want to continuously develop their employees, they often lack the time or budget to make it happen. The following are lower-cost high-impact methods leaders can utilize for continuous development: Coaching: Good leaders will use existing coaching relationships to provide development feedback for their employees. Coaching with a development focus leads to improved morale and overall productivity. Reflection after feedback: Pausing for thought after receiving feedback improves the development investment made. Instead of pausing for reflection after development, companies, and leaders feeling the pressure to move quickly often continue providing more feedback and miss opportunities for individuals to learn and grow. After providing feedback simply try asking a question to create the space for focussed reflection such as, "what are you taking away from....?" Social media and Employee Networks: Integration of social media and networking into ongoing development is an inexpensive means of supporting employee development. Leaders and trainers may choose to be actively involved as group facilitators or they may simply initiate peer-to-peer learning networks. These networks create an inclusive environment allowing people from diverse backgrounds to collaborate toward attaining mastery. Mentoring: Internal company mentoring programs provide low-cost development for both the mentor and the mentee. Mentoring creates a reciprocal and collaborative relationship demonstrated to improve employee performance, sense of value, retention, and internal career progression. A Myth Exposed Unfortunately, some leaders perceive that developed employees are more likely to leave when an opportunity arises. However, research has confirmed that formal job training and job transition training are not connected to increased employee turnover risks. Only when an employee receives development they do not use does it increase the employee turnover risk. Looking ahead, leaders will benefit by recognizing the importance of continuous development and senior leader engagement in employee development investments. Development does not have to be expensive to have a high impact. References: Aslam, M. (2017). Professional development and networking for academic librarians. International Research: Journal of Library and Information Science, 7(1) Dearstyne, B. W. (2010). Coaching for professional development: Managers should encourage, foster, and support employees' continual development as a way of helping them master changing work and keeping morale high. Especially in an economic environment where resources are limited, coaching and focusing on employees' professional development will help keep them motivated and productive. Information Management Journal, 44(4), 36. Johansen, B., & Euchner, J. (2013). Navigating the VUCA world. Research-Technology Management, 56(1), 10-15. doi:10.5437/08956308X5601003 Nelissen, J., Forrier, A., & Verbruggen, M. (2017). Employee development and voluntary turnover: Testing the employability paradox. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 152-168. doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12136 Oh, H., Choi, Y., & Choi, M. (2013). Comparative analysis of OECD member countries’ competitive advantage in national human resource development system. Asia Pacific Education Review, 14(2), 189-208. doi:10.1007/s12564-013-9255-z Towler, A., Watson, A., & Surface, E. (2014). Signaling the importance of training. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29(7), 829-849. doi:10.1108/JMP-03-2012-0092 Upcoming Webinar Series We know you are going to love these complementary leadership and professional development events! Organizational Talent Consulting’s webinar content is developed to help leaders meet today's complex workforce and digital challenges. Our free live webinars deliver superior leadership development based on the latest research with no travel costs. Participants interact directly in question-and-answer discussions with subject matter experts and authors on crucial topics to enhance expertise. Webinars are recorded and shared with participants for convenient on-demand access after the live event. Topics include leadership, strategic planning, coaching, change management, and more (register and learn more).

There are many reasons why small businesses need to keep current on future trends, and the following are just a few to consider: Turbulence and complexity Change is accelerating Technological revolution Stress, new requirements, and new relationships Avoid becoming obsolete Modern small businesses operate in a turbulent mix of societal, technological, and commercial issues. Changes in the world and the marketplace continue to accelerate. Technology is contributing to a significant transformation comparative to the prior agricultural and industrial revolutions. Chaos in the market brings stress and new requirements. Unfortunately, the reality of 2020 proved that many small businesses didn't have the capability to change fast enough to avoid becoming obsolete. No company sets out to become obsolete, and there are many benefits to becoming future smart beyond avoiding obsolescence. Small businesses benefit from being better prepared, having the right tools and resources at the right time, and improved decision-making. Being future smart leads to enhanced change management and positions companies to move from reacting to change to architecting trends. Being the first to market and leading new trends fuels revenue growth. Megatrends Impacting Business Beyond 2021 The future decades are anticipated to be very challenging for businesses, and the most impactful transformative global forces driving the future world are expected to be: Speed of Technological Advancement: the rapid progress of speed to market leads to better information and ideas, resulting in improved performance and efficiency. Flexible Employment: increasing variety in work and the workplace. Workforce Composition: an aging workforce that is also working longer. Sustainable Employment: work and a workplace that motivates employees. Environmental Issues: a changing world climate and its consequences. Globalization: businesses, people, processes, services, and products are operating on an international scale. Based on the impact of these megatrends facing every business, the following small business trends should be leveraged for future growth. Top 10 Small Business Trends Beyond 2021 Social Purpose. There is an increasing market for innovative, socially responsible, and affordable solutions. Customers are looking for businesses to address society's significant issues, such as social equity and climate change. It is not enough for your small business to be green or promote social justice internally. Companies need to be transparent with potential customers about their social purpose and how they run their business. According to Brand Watch, in March 2020, online posts about purchases made for ethical reasons increased 132%, and posts about purchases made locally increased by 440%. Virtual Services. Virtual services will grow in demand as an increasing number of tech-savvy consumers look for convenient experiences. According to a recent consumer trends survey, nearly half of consumers say they would be fine never shopping in a brick-and-mortar store again. Already, over half of the products sold on Amazon come from small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon is projected to continue being a revenue juggernaut for small businesses. Virtual Assistants. Small businesses are challenged by flexible staffing to respond to fluctuating customer demand. Being responsive to customer requests is essential. Virtual assistants help customers get an immediate response and free up small business owners from responding to repetitive inquiries. Trend research for virtual assistant usage projects an increase of 25% by 2023. User Reviews. 92% of consumers are less likely to purchase if no user review exists. User reviews and ratings are essential to buying decisions and will continue to grow in importance as digital commerce increases and millennials make more of the purchasing decisions. Non-Traditional Employee Benefits. Employees today are seeking an experience and not just a job. Traditional forms of benefits are not projected to be as compelling, which can be advantageous for small businesses. Employees want flexibility with work hours, job sharing, leave options, and more. Small businesses have more flexibility to be creative than larger, more regulated companies. Social Media Marketing. According to research, 8 out of 10 Americans are shopping for something at any given moment. Additionally, 32% of shoppers change purchasing decisions based on mobile product information within brick-and-mortar stores. It is important to deliver relevant marketing messages, but they need to be delivered through consumer touchpoints. Social media marketing will not stop changing and rapidly disrupting business, so small businesses need to keep learning to stay relevant. Gig Economy. The gig economy gives employees and small businesses flexibility. Flexibility is a significant competitive advantage in a complex market. According to a recent Gallup poll, many businesses and almost 40% of US employees embrace the gig economy. Small businesses typically are not able to afford to hire a permanent expert to address their technical issues. Using a temporary employee becomes a strategic advantage, especially for a small business. Remote Work. Work from home is likely not going away. 57% of small to medium-sized business owners recently indicated they would continue to offer flexible work options for the long-term. Real-estate is not cheap. Infrastructure and space can be a high cost for small businesses. Also, as work schedules move away from 9 to 5 and more workers participate in the gig economy, it doesn't make sense to bring all the positions within a physical office space. Alternative Payments. As brick-and-mortar storefronts move, online e-commerce is anticipated to grow to $5 trillion before 2025. Customers are looking for touchless and easy payment options that leverage mobile technology. Alternative options, such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, will continue to increase in popularity. Mobile First. Adopting a mobile-first mindset for customers and employees is increasingly important. According to Deloitte, 75% of the workforce is projected to be made up of millennials in 2025. Millennials are leaders in the technology business transformation and are mobile-driven. Additionally, advances in 5G networks create speeds as fast as WIFI creating internet availability in everyone's lives. Becoming Future Smart The goal is not to predict the future but enable better decision-making and preparedness. Becoming future smart can be assisted by leveraging practices and concepts from the field of strategic foresight. Strategic foresight is a way of thinking, engaging, discovering, and acting. Strategic foresight is intended to help let go of old beliefs. Traditional strategic planning is heavily focused on the internal organization, and strategic foresight links the organization to the external environment recognizing the business will operate within a larger world rather than be the only change in the world. Contact us if you are a small to medium-size business owner interested in arranging a complimentary interactive 90-minute webinar to learn about strategic foresight principles and how to apply a tool that will help you be future smart. References: Canton, J. (2016). Future smart: Managing the game-changing trends that will transform your world (First Da Capo Press Paperback ed.). Da Capo Press. Chermack, T. (2011). Scenario planning in organizations: How to create, use, and assess scenarios. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Cornish, E. (2005). Futuring: The exploration of the future (First Paperback ed.). World Future Society. Hines, A. (2006). Strategic foresight: The state of the art. The Futurist, 40(5), 18. Linthorst, J., and de Waal, A. (2020) Megatrends and disruptors and their postulated impact on organizations. Sustainability. 12, 20:8740. McGonigal, M. (2020). What’s a futures wheel [video]. Coursera. Ralston, B., and Wilson, I. (2006). Scan™: Radar for signals of change. In The scenario-planning handbook (pp. 245-257). South-Western. Van Duijne, F., and Bishop, P. (2018). Introduction to strategic foresight [PDF]. Future Motions. About the Author: Jeff's knowledge and expertise include executive coaching, strategy design, driving change, and workforce strategies to influence and grow organizations. Jeff Doolittle is the founder of Organizational Talent Consulting in Grand Rapids, MI. He can be reached at info@organizationaltalent.com or by calling (616) 803-9020. Visit https://www.organizationaltalent.com/strategic-planning-solutions to learn more about strategic planning services provided.

To be successful in a rapidly changing world, we need to invest in developing new leadership skills. According to TrainingIndustry.com, an estimated $166 billion was spent in 2019 on leadership development in the United States. The more a leader learns and effectively applies, the better they perform, and consequently, our organizations achieve better results. This statement is the tenet of leadership development training. While there is some logic in that statement, it overestimates the leader's impact on the company results. The statement also underestimates the effects of company culture, the leader-follower relationship, and leader and follower traits on organizational outcomes. This article provides evidence-based insights and four simple steps to unlocking organizational talent potential and boosting corporate results by moving beyond leadership development. "If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs." (Leboeuf). Leaders perform within the company’s culture and are a part of the culture. Also, by sheer numbers alone, the most substantial part of an organization are followers, not leaders. Too often, we look to a leader to achieve organizational results rather than focusing on the reality that most results come from followers. By definition, leaders need followers, or they are not leaders. Leadership is the service to others and followership is the service to the leader, both united in a common purpose and interdependent. Followership can account for up to 80% of organizational results (Carsten et al.). To maximize the leadership development investment organizations, need insight into understanding: (1) globalization's influence, (2) leader-follower relationship, (3) cultural context, and (4) desired follower and leader traits. Insight #1. Globalization The business world is shrinking as large multinational companies continue to expand into new markets. The makeup of our workforce in our companies is becoming more diverse. One of the critical issues facing most senior leaders is the lack of ready employees within their organization. For more than ten years, we have known that organizations would begin to struggle to find talent as the Baby Boomers start to retire. Generation X is not large enough to fill the gaps created by the Baby Boomers exit from the workforce. In turn, each of the past five years, the war for talent has intensified globally. In the past, it was a company-specific problem. Now globally, countries are recognizing the challenges and looking at their policies to expand their country's workforce. If you listen to the news, you know our world is full of complex problems like cybersecurity and global political uncertainty. Still, talent management is in discussions from the boardroom to the breakroom. Companies are turning to leadership development to help solve their complex challenges. The leadership development industry is booming. Likely your company is making new investments in leadership development or considering an investment. Insight #2. Understanding the Leader-Follower Relationship Followership is a relatively new term compared to leadership. Followership is often perceived as a passive activity; conversely, effective followership is active and courageous. We are not talking about effective followership being a "yes man" but speaking truth to leadership and daring to disagree. Leaders in organizations are also followers. The CEO of a publicly-traded company is a follower of the board of directors. It is common to think of the follower's value in the leader-follower relationship as being half of the total amount of the relationship. Still, it is likely more accurate to think of the value of working on the leader-follower relationship as a multiplier. The follower can improve the leader's results, and the leader can enhance the follower's outcomes—globally, organizations sub-optimize leadership development strategy when focusing only on the leader. Healthy leader-follower relationships require a supportive organizational culture, specific traits, and development to enhance corporate results from leadership development investments. Insight #3. Cultural Context for the Leader-Follower Relationship Culture is one of those words that you will get ten different responses if you ask ten employees to define it. Contemporary definitions recognize culture as far more than only what employees do at work, and culture impacts social relationships like the leader-follower relationship. The globalization of the workforce within companies creates an increasingly complex and diverse workplace with various beliefs, values, and behavioral norms represented. You may notice these cultural differences by hearing employees talking about how it feels different in this office instead of another office, observing leader performance shifts when they take on new but similar responsibility for leading other workgroups, or when there are diverse perspectives on an identified successor. To focus solely on leader development and exclude the culture in which the leader-follower relationship exists limits the effectiveness of the investment in the leader. Cultural beliefs, values, and norms also need to be understood and aligned to support the leader-follower relationship. Research exists for how cultural values support leadership such as, The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer. However, there is little work on understanding how cultural values support followership. Organizations must have a culture where the leader-follower relationship can thrive. Globalization and the increasing diversification of the workforce will continue to increase company culture's significance on leader-follower relationships and organizational results. Insight #4. Follower and Leader Traits The volume of research on followership lags leadership research. Google's search for the word "leadership" returns 2.0 billion hits, and the word "followership" returns 0.001 billion hits. The expanding use of technology enables independent decision-making by followers. This change makes one of the essential traits for a follower, the willingness to disagree, and let the leader know the truth even when challenging to deliver. Inversely a critical characteristic for a leader is active listening. Leaders need to be able to listen to what is said and the feelings shared. Recently, there has been an increase in focus from senior leaders on understanding leaders' success traits for use in selection, competency models for development, performance management, and succession planning. Once a company defines the attributes of effective leader-follower relationships, they can be used to create similar models for selection, development, and performance. Senior leaders can then use these talent management processes to measure performance and provide meaningful feedback and recognition to employees. 4 Steps for Boosting Organizational Results This article's intent is not to present that companies should focus on the leader-follower relationship instead of leadership development. Preferably by taking the following simple steps, you can boost organizational results by moving beyond leadership development topics alone. Step 1. Setting the Stage An excellent place to start introducing the concept and attributes of effective leader-follower relationships is with the organization's senior leadership team. Conduct a workshop with the company's senior leaders with the objective of defining the meaning of the word's followership and leadership in the organization's context. The purpose of this discussion is to reinforce the importance of the leader-follower relationship, identify cultural differences that likely exist in a diverse workforce, and create expectations. After discussing definitions, you can use the research on leadership and followership to define the traits identified for effective leader-follower relationships in company-specific language. An example would be to take the attributes of speaking truth to leadership and active listening and discuss behavioral examples of what each would look like put into action within the company. The senior leadership team's help in identifying and describing the attributes is to help ensure buy-in for company standards when incorporating these into the various talent management processes. Step 2. Creating a Movement Next, engage intact work teams in workshops set up similarly as in step one with the senior leadership team. It is essential to discover cultural differences across the organization and work toward alignment. Senior leaders choosing to engage the workforce in this discussion need to recognize the relationship between time, cost, and quality. Each of these variables impacts the next. Companies that only invest a minimal amount of time and funding toward creating the movement will achieve limited quality and vice-versa. Step 3. Building Reinforcement At this point, it is crucial for human resources to update the appropriate company competency development models, performance management processes, and job descriptions to include the ideal leader-follower relationship attributes. Updating these documents and processes provides clear and explicit expectations and feedback for leaders and followers. Step 4. Creating Sustainability It will also be essential to consider this work's long-term sustainability, so incorporating the leader-follower development into the orientation and onboarding will help assimilate new employees into the culture and company. Developing employees in the concept and attributes of the leader-follower relationship will maximize the value of leadership development investments. To learn more about how your organization can boost organizational results by moving beyond leadership development contact Organizational Talent Consulting. References Blair, B. A., & Bligh, M. C. (2018). Looking for leadership in all the wrong places: The impact of culture on proactive followership and follower dissent. Journal of Social Issues, 74(1), 129-143. Carsten, M.K., Koonce, R., Bligh, M.C., & Hurwitz, M. (2016). Followership in action. Cases and commentaries. Emerald Publishing Limited. Gobble, M. M. (2017). The value of followership. Research Technology Management, 60(4), 59-61. Kelley, R. E. (1988). In praise of followers. Harvard Business Review, 66, 142. Leboeuf, M. (1985). The greatest management principle in the world. Putnam Publishing Group.

Widespread inequities exist in the United States based on race, sex, language, and other factors. Racism, classism, and sexism create environments where marginalized members of society are denied freedom from favoritism and bias. In-group favoritism and out-group bias lead to discrimination and a lack of diversity in organizations. This discrimination results from failure, one person at a time, one action at a time failure. Are the diversity and equity challenges in society a leadership responsibility? If so, how can leaders respond? Society's Diversity and Equity Challenge - Then and Now Fifty-two years ago, in 1968, civil unrest in the United States increased in what was labeled "Holy Week" due to Dr. Martin Luther King, JR's assassination. The Holy Week riots across 54 cities resulted in 43 men and women killed, approximately 3,500 people injured, and 27,000 arrests. At the time, it was the most significant wave of social unrest since the Civil War. Fast-forward to today. Between May and August 2020, there were 10,600 demonstration events and 570 riots or protests involving violence in the United States (see Figure 1). History has proven that riots are typically carried out by marginalized people to bring attention to societal problems. Note: Figure 1 adapted from Kishi, R. & Jones, S. (2020) Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). Riots produce damage and anguish in affected communities. In 2004 the National Bureau of Economic Research examined the effect of the Holy Week riots. The bureau concluded the riots created lasting economic harm such as increased insurance premiums, increased police and fire protection costs, reduced availability of municipal bonds, closed retail operations, and a reduced tax base due to the departure of middle to high-income families from areas hardest hit by the riots. Leadership Responsibility Where does a leader's responsibility start and stop? Boundaries and role clarity are essential for leaders. Responsibility is a belief that you are the person to make things happen either because of your job or a drive within that compels you. The diversity business case is clear, including increased innovation, better decision making, increased talent pools, and establishing a broader customer base. The CEOs of 200 leading US organizations are taking responsibility for equity and diversity and promise to drive change in six key areas - employment, finance, education, health, housing, and criminal justice. However, creating better social, political, education, and economic systems alone will not produce healthy and safe communities free of inequities without leadership. How leaders approach leading others and the priorities they set determines if equity and diversity investments are realized. Leadership Style Matters Leadership scholars agree that the world desperately needs a new approach to leadership. People desire leaders that listen, demonstrate empathy, healing, persuasion, foresight, develop others, and build communities. These characteristics align with the servant leadership style and this kind of leader is counter to historical views on leadership through power. A servant leadership style produces healthy communities by serving others' needs. In describing the best test of a servant leader, Greenleaf presents an approach to leadership that provides alignment with what people desire and society needs. According to Greenleaf and Spears, the best test to identify a servant leader is if "those served grow as persons; become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants," and if the least privileged in society benefit. Leadership Priorities Based on research, the moderating factor on realized diversity benefits is a shared organizational view of value-in-diversity. Boards and CEOs establish the corporate view of diversity and equity through their actions rather than their words. It's not the policies created or the talking point communications provided, but the talent pool diversity makeup and conversations with leaders that establish the organization’s view on diversity value. Unfortunately, too often, an organization's walk does not match its talk. When compensation scorecards are so complex that leaders concede in private that it is impossible to achieve every goal, then the priority of diversity and equity is not clearly communicated. Priorities matter. Adopting a servant leadership approach prioritizes others and creates healthy communities by serving others first and leading second. Society's diversity and equity challenges and needs will not be met by one leader or organization. However, leaders can make a difference by adopting a servant leadership style and establishing an organizational view of diversity value. To learn more about the servant leadership style check out this related article and for help with creating a culture of diversity and equity contact us. "Anyone can be great because anyone can be a servant." Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. References Blanchard, K., & Broadwell, R. (2018). Servant leadership in action (1st ed.) Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Cox, T. (1993). Cultural diversity in organizations: Theory, research & practice (1st ed.). San Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler. Greenleaf, R. (2008) The servant as leader. The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Greenleaf, R. K., & Spears, L. C. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th anniversary ed.). Paulist Press. Greenwald, A. G., & Pettigrew, T. F. (2014). With malice toward none and charity for some: Ingroup favoritism enables discrimination. The American Psychologist, 69(7), 669-684. doi:10.1037/a0036056 Guillaume, Y. R. F., Dawson, J. F., Otaye-Ebede, L., Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2017). Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of workplace diversity? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 276-303. doi:10.1002/job.2040 Holdo, M., & Bengtsson, B. (2019). Marginalization and riots: A rationalistic explanation of urban unrest. Housing, Theory, and Society, , 1-18. doi:10.1080/14036096.2019.1578996 Kishi, R. & Jones, S. (2020). Demonstrations and political violence in America: New data for summer 2020. Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). Marina, B. L. H., & Fonteneau, D. Y. (2012). Servant leaders who picked up the broken glass. The Journal of Pan African Studies, 5(2), 67-83. Sendjaya, S., & Pekerti, A. (2010). Servant leadership as antecedent of trust in organizations. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(7), 643-663. doi:10.1108/01437731011079673 Sivashanker, K., & Gandhi, T. K. (2020). Advancing safety and equity together. The New England Journal of Medicine, 382(4), 301-303. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1911700 Spears, L. C. (1998). Servant-leadership. Executive Excellence, 15(7), 11. Trompenaars, A., & Voerman, E. (2010). Servant-leadership across cultures: Harnessing the strength of the world's most powerful management philosophy. McGraw-Hill. Are you interested in better understanding your own leadership style? Contact Organizational Talent Consulting to learn more about a leadership style inventory assessment you can use to measure your preferred leadership style and receive individualized executive coaching.

High speeds create blurred perspectives. Likewise, today's leaders work in fast-paced and complex environments that create a blurred perception of reality. Too often, what appears to be task-oriented problems, in fact, are process-related problems. When leaders focus on individual or department performance instead of organizational performance, it can lead to individual and department success without achieving organizational success. For example, working as an internal talent consultant, I have observed a common phenomenon across many different industries and organizations. Performance systems often focus too heavily on the individual performer rather than the organization's performance. This focus can lead to individuals performing above average and the organization below average. Individual performance is necessary, but not entirely. This is important because recent research supports that the organization is four times more impactful on business results than individual talent. "Talent matters; organization matters even more" (Ulrich, 2020). Leading at full speed requires skill. A servant leadership style creates increased intrinsic motivation toward shared goals by building healthy relationships and a shared vision. More simply stated, servant leadership "leads to teamwork" and can be the difference between created and realized strategies. Additionally, servant leadership increases organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) or discretionary effort, the "holy grail" for organizational talent. OCB is a worthy contribution made by employees beyond their job requirements. As organizations strive to increase revenue, OCB reduces opportunity costs and increases productivity and efficiency by bringing out the best in employees. Sodexo When most people think of organizations that embrace and apply servant leadership, Starbucks, Marriot, and Chic-fil-A come to mind. However, another one of those companies that sit behind the scenes to most consumers is Sodexo. Sodexo is the global leader in the business services and supplies industry with its headquarters in France. As of 2019, this international organization employed over 470,000 people in 67 countries. Unlike some of the more commonly considered companies, Sodexo does not have an overt statement on servant-leadership. However, its mission and leaders’ actions align with the Greenleaf and Spears (2002) servant-leadership characteristics (See Table 1). Leadership Skills at Full Speed The pandemic has increased the speed and volume of work for leaders. Sarosh Mistry, Region Chair for North America and Chief Executive Officer Homecare Worldwide, recently described a couple of organizational pandemic responses demonstrating servant leadership skills at full speed. Showing genuine care for communities beyond the company Sodexo provided comprehensive food services for children no longer receiving free lunches due to school closings. Additionally, Sodexo demonstrated altruism for employees' welfare, creating a $30 million relief fund for COVID impacted employees. When asked what he would do differently in response to the pandemic, Sarosh indicated that he wishes he would have done even more for Sodexo employees. If you are interested in learning more about servant-leadership and other emerging leadership styles you will want to read the article 4 Emerging Leadership Styles and Why You Should Care. Also, are you interested in better understanding your own leadership style? Contact Organizational Talent Consulting to learn more about a leadership style inventory assessment you can use to measure your preferred leadership style and receive individualized executive coaching. References Adjibolosoo, S. (2000). The human factor in shaping the course of history and development. University Press of America, Inc. Ehrhart. M. G. (2004). Leadership and procedural justice climate as antecedents of unit-level organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology. 57 (1). Hassell, B. (2017). What do today's workforce trends mean for business, leadership? Chief Learning Officer. Kwittken, A. (2020, May 4). Moving from service leadership to servant-leadership during a pandemic: A conversation with Sodexo North America chair Sarosh Mistry [Audio podcast]. Brand on Purpose. Patterson, K. (2003, October 16). Servant leadership: A theoretical model [PDF]. Regent University School of Leadership Studies Servant Leadership Research Roundtable. http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2003/patterson_servant_leadership.pdf Sodexo. (2019). Fiscal 2019 universal registration document [PDF]. LABRADOR. Sodexo. (2020). About Us. https://us.sodexo.com/about-us.html Ulrich, D. (2020). Knowing which organization capabilities make a difference. Winston, B., & Fields, D. (2015). Seeking and measuring the essential behaviors of servant leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(4), 413-434. Register for an upcoming FREE webinar on servant leadership. Here is what you can expect: • What is servant leadership? • Contemporary Leadership Theory Comparisons • Servant Leadership Value • The 5 Best Resources on Servant Leadership Use this site to find registration links for upcoming leadership development webinars

While there is no single definition of leadership, every organization, and senior leader is looking for ways to increase revenue and avoid costly mistakes to stay competitive. There are two very costly mistakes that leaders frequently commit. Unfortunately, it is the unintended consequences of these mistakes that are so costly. What makes these mistakes so challenging is that they are rooted in the leader's culture. These cultural "blind-spots" influence leaders to feel that they are forced to make unavoidable choices between opposite ends on a continuum. One mistake is the view of having to choose between leading and serving, and the other is the view of having to choose between rules and exceptions. When leaders decide between leading and serving, it is a failure to recognize that the leader becomes stronger when empowering and providing space for others to grow. The mistake of choosing between rules and exceptions is a failure to realize that good rules allow for exceptions, and both work together toward the organization's continuous improvement. Solving for these dilemmas requires the leader to make a fundamental shift in thinking. What is at risk? One-dimensional and linear thinking within organizations increases costs. Most leaders recognize and will openly espouse that employees are the organization's greatest assets. However, these same leaders also know that employees are a significant hard cost to the business. Labor accounts for up to 50% of budgets within some retail organizations. Failing to empower and grow employees and failing to improve an organization continuously is proven to result in the lack of employee loyalty, increased turnover, increased absenteeism, and ultimately an organization becoming obsolete. One IBM study found that employees were 12 times more likely to leave a company when they feel they cannot grow their careers. "If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs." (Leboeuf, 1985) Turnover costs for hourly employees are, on average, $1500 and up to two times of annual salary for senior-level employees. Absenteeism-related direct costs, such as paid days off, accounted for 8.1% of payroll costs in 2013 (SHRM), not including indirect costs associated with unpaid days off, such as the Family Medical Leave Act. Then there are the unintended opportunity costs when leaders inappropriately choose to use power in relationships to solve for these perceived opposing points of view. Inappropriately using power in the leader-follower relationship decreases intrinsic motivation and discretionary effort. Discretionary effort is the level of performance employees could give if they wanted to above and beyond the formal job requirements. Consider two employees are walking down a hall, both seeing a piece of paper on the floor. Only one employee stops to pick it up even though it is neither employees' job responsibility. Intrinsic motivation and discretionary effort involve unlocking the full human potential of an organization's employees. Cyclical and holistic thinking increases intrinsic motivation and discretionary effort. Case Study: A leader in an international company responsible for a corporate and companywide functional department faced a decision involving selecting a new information management system that would require organization-wide alignment of process. The influences of the different cultures, historical company decisions, regulations, and the use of a standard system amplified the rules versus exceptions dilemma. Unfortunately, the lack of alignment created a conflict that was eventually resolved by a costly mistake of using power (linear and one-dimensional thinking rather than cyclical and holistic thinking). The decision, while resolving the system issue, furthered the competition between parts of the same organization. Also, it contributed to feelings of unfairness and inequality and not being valued because it was turned into a win or lose situation. What can leaders do? Adopting and applying a servant leadership approach facilitates the necessary shift in thinking to solve common organizational dilemmas. Research has identified seven everyday leadership dilemmas that are amplified in a culturally diverse workforce: (1) leading-serving, (2) rules-expectations, (3) parts-the whole, (4) control-passion, (5) specific-diffuse, (6) short term-long term, and (7) push-pull. Table 1 reflects the foundational thinking shifts leaders make when adopting a servant leadership approach. Servant leadership involves: (1) listening to self and others, (2) empathy, (3) healing self and others, (4) awareness, (5) persuasion, (6) conceptual thinking, (7) foresight, (8) stewardship of other’s needs, (9) commitment to people development, and (10) building community. Servant leadership is proven to minimize the leader’s "cultural blind-spots" by shifting the thinking and focus on serving others, listening to employee’s needs, and developing strategies that consider cultural differences. It is through serving, the servant leader obtains a greater authority with followers. To learn more about servant leadership and three other emerging 21st-century leadership styles check out 4 Emerging Leadership Styles and Why You Should Care. References: Greenleaf, R. K., & Spears, L. C. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th-anniversary ed.). Paulist Press. Leboeuf, M. (1985). The greatest management principle in the world. Putnam Pub Group. Spears, L. C. (1998). Servant-leadership. Executive Excellence, 15(7), 11. Trompenaars, A., & Voerman, E. (2010). Servant-leadership across cultures: Harnessing the strength of the world's most powerful management philosophy. McGraw-Hill. Are you interested in better understanding your own leadership style? Contact Organizational Talent Consulting to learn more about a leadership style inventory assessment you can use to measure your preferred leadership style and receive individualized executive coaching. Register for an upcoming FREE webinar on servant leadership. Here is what you can expect: • What is servant leadership? • Contemporary Leadership Theory Comparisons • Servant Leadership Value • The 5 Best Resources on Servant Leadership Use this site to find registration links for upcoming leadership development webinars

According to a 2020 MIT Sloan Management Review survey, modern leaders are struggling with leading a complex workforce in today’s digital marketplace. Over 4,000 leaders from more than 120 countries were recently surveyed, interviewed, and engaged in focus groups. Only 12% of executive leaders indicated that their leaders have the right mindset to move them forward. Modern leaders are running fast from meeting to meeting every day with many different stakeholder groups compete for their time. While success with all stakeholders is essential, if all stakeholders are the focus of a leader, then in reality none are essential. Leadership creates decisions between right and right and a leader's focus holds the key to a complex workforce in a digital marketplace. Leaders would benefit from reflecting on the question, who do you serve? The Needs of Today's Complex Workforce Followers are looking for contemporary leaders that possess these ten characteristics: (1) listening to self and others, (2) empathy, (3) healing self and others, (4) awareness, (5) persuasion, (6) conceptual thinking, (7) foresight, (8) stewardship of other’s needs, (9) commitment to people development, and (10) building community. Foundational to these leading with these characteristics are the virtues of: “love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empowerment, and service” (Patterson, 2003). Contemporary Servant Leader – Liz Theophille, Chief Technology & Digital Officer at Novartis AG speaks in this TEDx Talk about leading with the heart. Liz reveals examples from her personal life and that speaks to the challenge of leading a complex workforce in a digital marketplace. Are Leaders Born or Developed? Contemplating the characteristics and attributes of great leadership brings to into question, can leaders be developed, or are they are born? While research experts frequently debate the answer to this question, it is likely a combination of innate characteristics and experiences that make a great leader. Both the characteristics and associated virtues can be developed. Does Servant Leadership Belong in a Multicultural Workplace? The Cultural-Endorsed Implicit Leadership Theory infers that followers are more motivated to establish a relationship with a leader if they behave consistently with the follower’s expected mental model. Servant leadership characteristics and virtues are not a western civilization concept. The characteristics and virtues of servant leadership are a global model aligned with other cross-cultural concepts (see Infographic). What are the benefits of Servant Leadership? One of the most sought-after performance benefits in organizations is discretionary effort also known as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Discretionary effort is when employees take actions outside of the expected roles for the benefit of an organization. Consider two employees walking down a hall, both seeing a piece of paper on the floor and only one employee stopping to pick it up even though it is neither employees' job responsibility. Servant leadership improves the workplace climate and increases discretionary effort that benefits the organization. Servant leadership creates an increase in the leader and follower commitment yielding increased intrinsic motivation. Increased leader-follower commitment amplifies the benefits of workforce alignment. Workforce alignment is the difference between created strategies and realized strategies. High levels of intrinsic motivation cause people to do more and results in higher performance. Scholarly evidence supports a positive link between higher levels of employee intrinsic motivation and work productivity. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation is a moderating factor in employee engagement, independent of a leader's style. Organizations should place an emphasis on creating intrinsic motivation. Contemporary Servant Leader – Cheryl Bachelder, Former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen increased market share by eight points, increased margin by 400 basis points, and improved her leadership training by 22% in just seven years. In this TEDx Talk video, Cheryl speaks on the topic of daring to serve. It all comes back to the question, whom do you serve? The Servant Leader focuses on the follower. Maybe now more than ever in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, followers and organizations are looking for the virtues, behaviors, and outcomes achieved by servant leaders. Leaders with a focus on service to their followers first and leading second. You may also enjoy reading about how leadership can respond to racism and poverty. Servant Leadership Webinar and Workshop Register for an upcoming FREE webinar on servant leadership. Here is what you can expect: • What is servant leadership? • Contemporary Leadership Theory Comparisons • Servant Leadership Value • The 5 Best Resources on Servant Leadership If you register today, we’ll send the recording as an added bonus at no charge. Upcoming leadership development webinars. Contact us to earn how you can bring a virtual or in-person Servant Leadership Program to your organization: Based on the best ideas from the leadership gurus of today, leaders learn how to apply a head, heart, and hands approach to ancient principles that reinforce selfless service. This one-year program for leadership teams includes a pre/post servant leadership 360, pre/post leadership style inventory, quarterly development workshops, and much more. "The signature of the greatest executives we studied is their humility" Jim Collins. References: Becchetti, L., Castriota, S., & Tortia, E. C. (2013). Productivity, wages and intrinsic motivations. Small Business Economics, 41(2), 379-399. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.regent.edu/10.1007/s11187-012-9431-2 Boerma, M. Coyle, E., Dietrich, M. Dintzner, M., Drayton, S., Early II, J., Edginton, A., Horlen, C. Kirkwood, C., Lin, A., Rager, M., Shah-Manek, B., Welch, A., & Williams, N. (2017). Point/Counterpoint: Are outstanding leaders born or made? American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 81(3), 58. doi:10.5688/ajpe81358 Kopaneva, I., & Sias, P. M. (2015). Lost in translation: Employee and organizational constructions of mission and vision. Management Communication Quarterly, 29(3), 358-384. Patterson, K. (2003, October 16). Servant leadership: A theoretical model [PDF]. Regent University School of Leadership Studies Servant Leadership Research Roundtable. Ready, D., Cohen, C., Kiron, D., & Pring, B. (2020). The new leadership playbook for the digital age. MIT Sloan Management Review. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. (2014, April 2). Dirk van Dierendonck - Servant leadership [Video]. YouTube. Shu, C. (2015). The impact of intrinsic motivation on the effectiveness of leadership style towards on work engagement. Contemporary Management Research, 11(4), 327-349. Spears, L. C. (1998). Servant-leadership. Executive Excellence, 15(7), 11. TEDx Talks. (2015, July 4). Dare to serve: Cheryl Bachelder -TEDxCentennialParkWomen [Video]. YouTube. Walumbwa, F., Hartnell, C., & Oke, A. (2010). Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior: A cross-level investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 517-529. Winston, B. (2003, October 16). Extending Patterson’s servant leadership model: Coming full circle [PDF]. Regent University School of Leadership Studies Servant Leadership Research Roundtable. Winston, B. & Ryan, B. (2008). Servant Leadership as a Humane Orientation: Using the GLOBE Study Construct of Humane Orientation to Show that Servant Leadership is More Global than Western. International Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol. 3 Iss. 2, pp. 212-222.

Leaders can be both agents of good and bad within companies. Too often, we see news reports of leadership failures, and those involved are not only those impacted by those failures. Consider the VW decision to hide problems with emissions that resulted in a 2015 recall of 8.5 million cars in Europe, including 2.4 million in Germany and 1.2 million in the UK, and 500,000 in the US. Leadership failures are leadership failure. According to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, most people no longer trust leaders, and a growing sense of inequity is undermining trust. Justice and Fairness in the Workplace In ancient discussions of how humans should live, Aristotle, Plato, and Aquinas first identified four cardinal virtues: justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. The virtue of justice includes many different concepts, including truthfulness, honesty, and fairness. Aristotle defined virtue as a habit for behaving in the right manner, neither in excess nor deficiency. According to Northouse (2018), “ethical leaders are concerned about issues of fairness and justice” (p.344). Leaders can demonstrate fairness through adhering to policies; however, how they relate with followers is essential in influencing moral opinions in the work context. Ethical leadership (doing the right thing, at the right time, and for the right reason) has a positive correlation with increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Bias in the Workplace Leadership ethics transcends any specific leadership theory. The topic of justice spurs many heated discussions in society. An associated current topic of discussion in many company boardrooms is the concept of bias in the hiring process. Bias and the resulting cognitive errors in talent selection is the failure of justice. Bias in the hiring process is the absence of virtue and a moral shortcoming or corruption. According to Bendick and Nunes (2012), “discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, disability, gender orientation, and other characteristics” continues to negatively impact employment opportunities for traditionally omitted groups (p.238). In American federal and state laws, highly structured interview processes, and training are used to control the negative impacts of biases. However, serious issues still exist in hiring, including pay inequity, and other acts of discrimination. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received claims that totaled over 72,000 in 2019. Figure 1: Number of charges per 10,000 population by State for FY2019. Source: eeoc.gov Mitigating Leadership Bias Increasing leadership awareness on cognitive errors associated with bias is proven to be a useful tool to help selection teams avoid making errors in selection. Provide the hiring team with just-in-time training on bias and cognitive errors in decision making before interviews begin. Also, technology can potentially support leaders in their application of fairness and justice in hiring decisions. Utilize predictive analytics and big data to help identify where bias exists within the organization as well as to identify ideal candidate attributes. I would enjoy hearing from you. Where and how have you observed or experienced fairness and justice success stories or failures? References Bendick, M., & Nunes, A. P. (2012). Developing the Research Basis for Controlling Bias in Hiring. Journal of Social Issues, 68(2), 238–262. Hipps, C. (2017). The secrets to tapping into data to automate and streamline hiring of future leaders. Strategic HR Review, 16(2), 93-95. Lewis, C.S. (2001). Mere Christianity. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Vice. 2019. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved January 30, 2019

Identifying and anticipating the unknown creates a competitive advantage when aligned with organizational change capability. Growing revenue amid uncertainty amplifies the need for organizations to make data-driven decisions. This past year every organization's ability to respond to significant disruption was tested. A recent study on the economic impacts of COVID-19 found that small businesses were among the hardest hit. Over a third of the small businesses in the United States in the leisure and hospitality sector reported no financial transaction data between January to September 2020. Organizational Change Resilience is "the ability to respond productively to significant disruptive change and transform challenges into opportunities" (Witmer et al., 2016). A scientific study of 101 companies revealed that big data holds a key for helping organizations detect and respond to disruption. Descriptive data analytics improve sensing, and predictive data analytics enhance a company's ability to change and seize new opportunities. Descriptive Data Analytics: The interpretation of historical data to understand better changes in a business. Examples include social media usage and engagement, organizing survey results, and operational efficiency data trends. Predictive Data Analytics: uses historical data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning to identify the likelihood of future outcomes. Examples include predicting customer preferences based on past purchasing behaviors, predicting employee retention flight risk based on assessment data, and predicting workforce staffing levels based on seasonal trends. One theme with organizations that remain resilient amid change is sharing data with decision-makers openly. According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on the principles and attributes of organizational resilience (ISO 22316:2017), knowledge and information need to be: accessible, understandable, and adequate to support the organization's objectives; effectively shared to enable decision-making; recognized as a critical resource of the organization; created, retained, and applied through established systems and processes; shared in a timely manner with all relevant interested parties; applied in organizational learning. Although not easy to implement, data analytics investments provide competitive advantages by using data to foster growth and improve decision making. Organizational Culture An organization's ability to improve its organizational change resilience and data analytic decision making is connected to its culture. Organizational culture is "the basic tacit assumptions about how the world is and ought to be that a group of people share and that determines their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and their overt behavior" (Schein, 2017). Organizations need to consider the role of people, processes, and company culture adoption and utilization when making investments into data analytics. Culture mediates analytical knowledge and big data analytics capability on firm performance. "Culture is more powerful than anything else in the organization," and often why good management ideas fail (Schneider, 2000). Often two cultural myths get in the way of companies advancing data analytics: Myth #1: Data is unique within a given company Myth #2: The application of statistical tools is unique to each company These myths contribute to analytical solutions in one company being ignored by another. In reality, cross-industry experience creates an advantage when it comes to data analytics. In reality, companies usually have more than enough industry-specific knowledge and underestimate the value of organizational talent analytic capability. We can partner with you to develop a customized solution to transform your organizational culture and build a more change resilient organization. Walk with us and build increased organizational resilience and a culture that fits the future of the business you need. Contact us to get started today. References: Bartlett, R. (2013). A practitioner's guide to data analytics: Using data analysis to improve your organization's decision making and strategy. McGraw-Hill. New York. Chetty, R., Friedman, J Hendren, N., Stepner, M., & Opportunity Insights Team (2020). The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built Using Private Sector Data [PDF]. Ji-fan Ren, S., Fosso Wamba, S., Akter, S., Dubey, R., & Childe, S. J. (2017). Modeling quality dynamics, business value, and firm performance in a big data analytics environment. International Journal of Production Research, 55(17), 5011-5026. doi:10.1080/00207543.2016.1154209 Schein, E. H. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Schneider, W. E. (2000). Why good management ideas fail. Strategy & Leadership, 28(1), 24-29. doi:10.1108/10878570010336001 Upadhyay, P., & Kumar, A. (2020). The intermediating role of organizational culture and internal analytical knowledge between the capability of big data analytics and a firm’s performance. International Journal of Information Management, 52, 102100. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102100 van Rijmenam, M., Erekhinskaya, T., Schweitzer, J., & Williams, M. (2019). Avoid being the turkey: How big data analytics changes the game of strategy in times of ambiguity and uncertainty. Long Range Planning, 52(5), 101841. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2018.05.007 Witmer, H., Mellinger, M. S., Faculty of Culture and Society, Urban Studies (US), Malmö University, & Centre for Work-Life and Evaluation Studies (CTA). (2016). Organizational resilience: Nonprofit organizations' response to change. Work (Reading, Mass.), 54(2), 255-265. doi:10.3233/WOR-162303 Upcoming Webinar Series We know you are going to love these complementary leadership and professional development events! Organizational Talent Consulting’s webinar content is developed to help leaders meet today's complex workforce and digital challenges. Our free live webinars deliver superior leadership development based on the latest research with no travel costs. Participants interact directly in question-and-answer discussions with subject matter experts and authors on crucial topics to enhance expertise. Webinars are recorded and shared with participants for convenient on-demand access after the live event. Topics include leadership, strategic planning, coaching, change management, and more (register and learn more).

The COVID-19 global pandemic prompted many organizations to respond quickly with furloughs and layoffs to reduce labor costs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020), in April 2020, unemployment rates in 43 states reached their highest levels since unemployment data began being collected in 1976. However, organizations may have been better off to consider other options than layoffs and furloughs of large numbers of employees because of the hidden impact these changes can have on organizational performance and effectiveness. This is especially true for organizations with large percentages of knowledge workers. Figure 1. State Unemployment rates, April 2020 seasonally adjusted. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hidden Drivers The congruent and sequential alignment of strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and people drives organizational performance and effectiveness. Typically, organizational misalignment occurs due to “three sources: external to the organization, internal from managerial actions, or jointly – from a combination of external and internal sources” (Burton et al.) An internal leadership decision to layoff or furlough employees can create organizational misalignment. The question that leadership needs to be asked is if the short-term cost-benefit associated with labor savings is higher than the organizational misalignment performance cost. Failing to consider this question can result in significant marketplace losses. Options and Building Resiliency Leaders have many different drivers to create or fix organizational misalignments such as creating new strategies, new product lines, different approaches to incentives, new ways of designing work tasks, mergers, strategic alliances, and new technology solutions. While no one approach works well in every possible situation, it is worth considering if the organization's design itself contributes to being unprepared for an uncertain future. Utilizing a regular time-based schedule for optimizing the organizational design is one way to creatively build agility toward ideal organizational performance and resiliency for an uncertain future. References: Alberts, D. S. (2012). Rethinking organizational design for complex endeavors. Journal of Organization Design (Aarhus), 1(1), 14-17. doi:10.7146/jod.6338 Burton, R. M., Obel, B., & Håkonsson, D. D. (2015). Organizational design: A step-by-step approach (Third ed.). Cambridge University Press. Galbraith, J. R. (2011). Designing the customer-centric organization: A guide to strategy, structure, and process (1st; ed.). Jossey-Bass. Guthrie, J. P., & Datta, D. K. (2008). Dumb and dumber: The impact of downsizing on firm performance as moderated by industry conditions. Organization Science (Providence, R.I.), 19(1), 108-123. doi:10.1287/orsc.1070.0298 Hardcopf, R., Gonçalves, P., Linderman, K., & Bendoly, E. (2017). Short-term bias and strategic misalignment in operational solutions: Perceptions, tendencies, and traps. European Journal of Operational Research, 258(3), 1004-1021. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2016.09.036 Heracleous, L., & Werres, K. (2015). On the Road to Disaster: Strategic Misalignments and Corporate Failure, Long Range Planning, doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2015.08.006 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020). Home. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020). TED. The economics daily.