“These days, I think you have to be constantly thinking about what’s next, what’s new and how do I adapt”
“I think we still need great leaders with vision, the ability to find and coach people, to encourage people, to help them renew themselves, to go forward……The future still depends on great leaders who reinvent themselves”.
~ Beth Comstock, Vice Chairman of GE, Head of GE’s Business Innovations.
As business owners and leaders of our organisations we have many responsibilities. We are tasked with providing the vision and defining the organisation’s mindset, engaging the best in people and managing change and culture. Living in a world facing exponential change makes this increasingly challenging.
Maintaining awareness and a readiness to change are a must. We must adapt and reinvent ourselves and our organisations, ensuring that our staff do so as well if we want to stay competitive and relevant.
Here are some tips from one leader with an extraordinary mindset who already implemented some innovative ideas into her organisation. Beth Comstock is the Vice Chairman of GE and head of GE’s business innovations. GE is a great example of a company changing the rules of the game in their industry. Here are Beth’s 8 Principles of Exponential Leadership as presented at the Abundance 360 CEO Summit and shared by Peter Diamandis.
Be a Mission-Based “Emergence” Leader
Your job as leader is to manage change and culture. Change is sudden and disruptive. An emergence leader is constantly focused on and ready for change.
Organise and Restructure around Information Flows
Information is fast-moving in the digital age. To keep up, ditch the hierarchy and build in openness, radical feedback and full transparency.
Empower Individuals
Build a team of people who are prepared for change and empower them to do their best by giving them autonomy. Get people excited to own their power.
Provide the Vision and define the company’s “Mindset Orientation”
Create the mindset of incentivising your team to do their fastest in the best way they can. Allow them to figure their way out. They may fail. Encourage them to fail fast so they can learn from their mistakes and keep going.
Establish Feedback Loops
As a leader be prepared to give and receive feedback. And, ensure that you actually use it. Feedback loops might look like this:
- Instead of just relying on employee performance reviews enable, anyone to give anyone else feedback. This may be hard to receive but encourage it and learn from it.
- Ask your team very direct questions such as “What is the one thing that is true that you think I don’t want to hear?” This alone has the potential to nip issues in the bud and to avert some disasters.
- Stick to simple feedback mechanisms rather than long, convoluted employee surveys. Ask for feedback such as “Continue doing…” or “Consider changing …” Make it simple, fast and actionable.
Get comfortable with Ambiguity and Uncertainty
This is the key to surviving the change that is coming. Get used to the ambiguity of working with people who know how to figure it out and who don’t need as much instruction.
Mash up Minds and Machines
Use technology to your advantage by developing collaborations between people and machines; between artificial intelligence and your people operating your company, your customers and your executives. Teams that don’t do this will be left behind.
Prioritise Innovation and Observe the Patterns that Block it
Navigate the tension associated with innovation. Don’t give up or back-off when things get hard. Hold the team accountable for growing and stick around long enough to see the patterns to understand what went wrong.
Make a Start Now
Start getting ready now. The changes you make now are critical in getting ready for the new era. With the fast-paced evolution of technology and its impact on human roles, there has never been a better time to embrace your human-ness. Reconnect yourself and your staff with your authentic, best and unrealised potential. Get ready to see opportunities and to understand the qualities, strengths and talents that you can tap into to help you stay agile. Reinvent yourself to complement technological resources and to better-meet the demands of tomorrow.
Get in touch to organise your personal impact strategy discussion to find out how you can get started.
