Team performance – Culture and Leadership remain the key enablers
Dr Michael Reilly is a qualified Psychologist and Director at Change Corp. He has previously worked with NHS and public sector organisations on transformation projects such as digital patient pathways, managing change, online mental health services for patients and online education portals for GPs.
The global pandemic has brought into sharp focus some assumptions about organisation and work. For decades “management science” has assumed that stability was a prerequisite for growth and productivity. The reality is that global productivity has not greatly improved in spite of technology innovation which in many respects is presented as an enabler for improved productivity and innovation along with sustained periods of “stability”. In actual fact, the environment in the last decade in the Western world has been marked by turmoil – the financial crisis, Brexit, the rise of nationalism and now a global pandemic.
As Barry Welch wrote:
“Arrangements of all kinds – as in the natural world – tend to be in a state of incipient decay from the day they are put in place”
(Welch, 1992 Managing to Make Organisations Work p15).
So what is the organisation response to the pandemic? In essence, the promise of the “social enterprise” concept is required to be acted upon.
The term “social enterprise” was first cited by Deloitte in 2018 and it is interesting that they have re-visited this concept in their latest Global Trends 2020 survey. [1] A social enterprise is about not just producing, growth and revenue – it is about fostering collaboration at all levels and taking responsibility for the environment and all stakeholders’ needs.
Published prior to the now clear impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the key findings of the 2020 report are that organisations must re-define Purpose, Potential and Perspective. Purpose must be more that what the organisation does. It must design work that has the individual at centre, their wellbeing, values and attitudes. Potential is about helping people feel secure in reinvention using technology, knowledge management and building resilience. Perspective is about embracing “here and now” uncertainty, embracing collaboration and fostering honest transparency between teams.
The conclusions of the Global survey (9,000 respondents worldwide), brings us back to the Change Corp purpose – creating a learning journey to inspired leadership!
In terms of organisation readiness to change – wellbeing was seen as the most important issue (80%) but only 12% of respondents were “very ready” for this and 38% “ready”.
Wellbeing drives improvement in workforce experience more than any other business outcome.
Interestingly, the second most important issue is sense of belonging to the enterprise. This reflects what Deloitte call a “huge human capital issue” and out of the survey “Culture” and “Leadership” are the most important enablers to create that sense of belonging.
Find out more about our learning journey to inspire leadership with Team Leaders for the future.
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[1] The Social Enterprise at Work: Paradox as a path forward, 2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends