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As a leader, being adaptive is quickly becoming essential in today's business landscape. Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends Survey for 2023 revealed that disruptions like the pandemic are happening with greater regularity, leading to shorter cycles of business evolution. What can you do?
In an interview, David Mallon, Deloitte's Vice President and Chief Analyst, emphasized the need for leaders to think like researchers, "seeing the world as a series of tests or experiments and decisions as hypotheses." By doing so, leaders can put their egos into the investigation rather than the answer and be more agile in their decision-making process.
One way leaders can think like researchers is by exploring co-creation as a means of harnessing the talents of their team members. Mallon suggests that the workforce is a source of tremendous innovation, value, and energy. By involving workers in designing and implementing organizational change, companies can reap significant benefits. Deloitte's survey found that companies involving their workers this way are twice as likely to be innovative and 1.6 times more likely than their peers to anticipate and respond effectively to change.
Mallon believes that this desire for greater agency in their work is part of a broader shift that the pandemic accelerated. According to Deloitte's recent Gen Z and Millennial study, two in five Millennials have already rejected a job or assignment because it didn't align with their values. To better understand their workforce, Mallon suggests that leaders need to get to know their team members at a much deeper level. This includes learning their aspirations, what they want out of work, and what they would find valuable in terms of the data collected and how it is used.
Social media is a valuable tool for leaders to understand their employees' desires better. Workers are sharing their thoughts and experiences on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, giving leaders an unfiltered view of their workforce. However, Mallon believes this is just the tip of the iceberg and that leaders need to widen the aperture of decision-making to fully understand its impact with the human agenda in mind. Organizations must be cognizant of the effects on humans both inside and outside the organization as they solve problems.
Based on the 2023 Global Human Capital Trends Survey findings, Mallon has identified three mindset shifts that leaders can use to be innovators in the new future of work.
The first is to employ experimentation to inform better solutions, foster learning, and accelerate value. By framing critical decisions as experiments, leaders will naturally seek out data and be more willing to be proven wrong, leading to better answers for all parties involved.
The second mindset shift is to cultivate deep and intimate relationships with team members across the broader ecosystem through co-creation. By inviting the workforce to help author the future of the organization, leaders need to get to know their employees at a much deeper level. Mallon suggests that this starts with having a human conversation to learn more about their aspirations, what they want from work, and what they find valuable.
The third mindset shift is to widen the aperture of decision-making to fully understand its impact with the human agenda in mind. C-suites and boards are grappling with an ever-growing list of things that could go wrong and cause the same level of disruption as the pandemic did. By taking a holistic view of both who the organization is doing this for and who it will impact down the line, leaders can better understand the impact of their decisions and make more informed choices.
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, leaders must be willing to think like researchers and experiment with new approaches to organizational change. By embracing co-creation and deepening relationships with their workforce, leaders can tap into the tremendous innovation, value, and energy that their employees bring to the table. In addition, by widening the aperture of decision-making, leaders can take a more holistic view of the impact of their decisions on both their organization and the broader community. Mallon's insights provide a valuable roadmap for leaders looking to navigate this new future of work.
Leaders must also recognize that disruptions are becoming increasingly common and that businesses need to be prepared to adapt quickly. Mallon warns that there will be another disruption in the very near future—whatever that may be—and leaders must be ready to change their minds when presented with new information. By thinking like researchers and embracing experimentation, leaders can foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptation that will enable their organization to thrive in the face of disruption.
In conclusion, the insights from Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends Survey for 2023 highlight the importance of thinking like a researcher in today's business landscape. Leaders must be willing to experiment, embrace co-creation, and widen the aperture of decision-making to fully understand the impact of their decisions.
By doing so, they can tap into their workforce's tremendous innovation and energy and be better prepared to adapt to the disruptions that are becoming increasingly common. As Mallon says, "The single easiest bet we can make is there's going to be another similar disruption at some point in the very near future, even if we don't know exactly what it is."
Watch the full interview with David Mallon and Dan Pontefract on the Leadership NOW program below, or listen to it on your favorite podcast.
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