“If you don’t like change...

...you’ll like irrelevance even less.”



One of our all-time favorite quotes from General Shinseki illustrates one of the key challenges leaders face when leading organizational change. More often than not, the focus is on the physical changes the organizations must tackle to achieve their strategy. While important, the psychological changes are the intangible, less measurable definable changes that also factor into the overall success of the change efforts. However, executing a new strategy with outdated operational support elements is the quickest path to irrelevance. As businesses prepare for another business cycle, this idea is critical to their sustainable success!

In our “The Missing Piece” series of books, we define the operational support elements as the people, processes, tools and compensation systems necessary to support the organizational Vision, Mission and Strategy. We will take a look at each of these elements through the lens of relevance in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) business environment.

• People ~ In our leadership and business coaching practice, we often use the mantra, “It’s not about being employed, it’s about being employable.” In this context, people must have the relevant technical, functional, and people skills to execute the change strategy. A common leadership mistake is to begin by restructuring the organization which is akin to moving the desk chairs on the Titanic. It is more important to know what new soft skills and hard skills define relevance, then executing a development process cementing the new skills that are paramount to sustainable success, especially within the leadership ranks!

• Process ~ The Deming Institute estimates over 90% of the problems in organizations are process related (versus people related). Maintaining relevance is a key issue for leaders in that processes are typically not routinely vetted for validity over time. The recent pandemic proved that point clearly. Having an established cadence to review core and supporting processes for effectiveness and efficiency keeps them relevant over time. Even now, with the pandemic in the rear-view mirror, organizations continue to struggle adapting their processes in a hybrid working structure!

• Tools ~ As leaders clearly now operate in a digitized business environment, relevance is an ongoing part of the discussion around automation. But to be clear, the relevant tools/technology need to effectively support the relevant core processes, which in turn support the relevant people (soft and hard) skills. The conversation that crosses all three is how artificial intelligence (AI) factors into an organization’s overall strategy. Much of the handwringing about AI is the jobs it will replace. To be more correct, those jobs will be replaced by people who know how to leverage AI to achieve sustainable success. In other words, by people who stay relevant!

• Compensation ~ The final operational support element is compensation, both monetary and non-monetary. More and more articles are written around what motivates this new workforce that’s operating in a predominantly hybrid work arrangement. Research continues to show how things like challenging work, recognition and culture are ultimately more important than pay, structure and supervision What’s old is Frederick Herzberg posited this in the late 1950’s with his Two-Factor Theory of Motivation. What’s new is the ever-changing context in which leaders apply these principles to the current hybrid workforce!

This concept of staying relevant is crucial for achieving sustainable success in today’s VUCA business environment. As the expression goes, “If leaders keep doing what they’re doing, they keep getting what they’re getting.” And what they’re getting without constantly adapting is a slow march to irrelevance!

How are you staying relevant as a leader and how do you know? If you're not sure, we can help.

Lead well!