With reports of slumping productivity and shockingly low engagement levels across the globe, it appears that unprecedented change has left organisations struggling to compete in the modern world. Here we explore what organisations can do to help their Managers keep pace with change. Article by Laura Ashley-Timms, Director of Coaching – Notion.
The Manager – An Endangered Species?
The writing is on the wall: traditional organisational paradigms will soon be a thing of the past. Top-down, hierarchical organisational structures simply weren’t designed to cope with the tsunami of change faced by organisations today. They echo a time of far greater simplicity and a management philosophy that was mainly about command and control. It’s true, that the command and control model of leadership probably outlived its usefulness long ago but its endurance in the workplace has served to weaken innovation, performance and productivity and crucially, it has impaired the organisations’ ability to respond to change.
But change on this scale is impossible to ignore and any organisation that clings to what they know are in dire straits – when lifetime careers, physical workspaces and fixed working hours are replaced by multi-staged careers, virtual working, and flexible, project based initiatives – the ‘typical’ employee-manager relationship will no longer be fit for purpose. A new breed of Manager must emerge, yet, at a time when management agility is needed more than ever before, complexity slows everything down, and all that we think we know about ‘Management’ is disrupted in every way.
Evolution of MAN-agers
To retain competitiveness, organisations will have to tear up their rule books on everything they know about old school hierarchical management models, bureaucracy and conformity; they’re not going to serve or save them now. Neither is burying one’s old school head in the sand around diversity issues either. A new way of harnessing human capital is needed – something more fluid, flexible and relevant – at the heart of which is releasing resourcefulness. For the Manager, a different way of interacting, communicating, co-creating and problem solving is needed.
Managers who can build and flex new muscles that help them to continually question and re-assess the status quo will become masters of reinvention capable of embracing the barrage of change that comes their way. But, they can’t do it on their own – they also need to be able to enable these behaviours in others.
To develop the internal capability and agility needed to rise to the challenges of an unknown future, organisations need to bring into focus the extraordinary management that is already present, albeit often unseen, working tirelessly behind the scenes in most companies.
It is within the organisation’s under-culture that people demonstrate genuine creativity and where virtuous learning occurs. These people are not bound by the formal management or processes of the organisation. They possess the qualities, that if harnessed effectively and deployed widely, can deliver the resilience needed to outperform in times of significant change.
The Art of Enquiry
Inviting people to think about what will help them to perform, adapt and become resilient in a more uncertain world is an evaluative process of self-exploration which raises self-awareness. What people soon begin to realise is that it’s not what they know that assists survival but the questioning of what they know.
Engendering high levels of curiosity in an organisation puts ‘enquiry’ at the heart of its culture. By taking an ‘Enquiry-Led Approach’, Managers can perform better in their roles, help others contribute at a higher level and improve how they engage with people at work and more broadly, in life.
Enquiry encourages better answers and better outcomes for individuals, teams and organisations. A coaching style of engagement that is multi-directional within the organisation will prove to be an invaluable skill that builds independence, enables performance – and in the face of change – creates resilience.
Deloitte’s 2017 Global Trends Report supports this premise stating that 80% of organisations recognise the high importance of developing agile and diverse leaders able to push the boundaries of traditional hierarchies in order to drive commercial success in rapidly changing networks.1 Getting to grips with this trend is a critical challenge for organisations that want to beat their competitors.
Unquestionably, for many Managers in organisations, this begs a significant change in behaviour – a rewiring of what they think they ‘know’. However, people can and do adapt and learn. Beliefs can change and people can become attached to new mental models – this is central to enabling performance.
Enabling People to Perform
Self-confidence and resourcefulness will develop faster in an environment that demonstratively encourages enquiry. Insightful questioning (put simply the ability to ask better questions) is a skill set that is largely missing and without it organisations are bounded by the capacity of the few, rather than the unbounded talent of the many.
A new psychological contract is needed which can support an environment that is primed to welcome questions necessary for creativity and change – this ‘Enquiry- Led Approach’ has the power to revolutionise what occurs between individuals and groups.
These new behaviours can transcend the individual and have a profound impact on the relationships between people, the quality of ideas, and on the way things are done. By developing coaching behaviours in a culture that is open to questions and enquiry, organisations can also develop the collective mindset and skills needed to adapt, transform and perform in any new situation.
Enabling the workforce to be more self-reliant, to question the status quo and to be empowered to step-up and contribute at a higher level are the virtuous benefits of encouraging more of an ‘Enquiry-Led Approach’ to leadership and management. Set this within the context of an emerging ‘coaching culture’ supported vocally by leadership, and you begin to see how untapped potential is unleashed. Higher performance and productivity are the most welcome outcomes.
References 1 Deloitte Global Human Trends 2017 2 Notion What is Coaching? Poll 2015
