FountainBlue's July 2024 Newsletter
We are amazingly midway through another year and making plans for 2025.! We will be returning to in-person events in Silicon Valley in 2025, providing one on-site and online program each month for February - October. Draft topics and dates are listed on our web site.
FountainBlue’s Gold Corporate Partners will also receive custom fireside chats, panel discussions, workshops and trainings prior to or following the on-site When We Speak program.
Your thoughts are welcome as we make plans for our 2025 programs.
Navigating Change: Strategies for Effective Leadership in a Rapidly Evolving Tech Landscape, published in Leadafi, June 2024
Change is a given, especially in the spaces where innovation meets leadership. The political, environmental, social, technological, legal and economic (PESTLE) shifts brought on by the pandemic and beyond have greatly affected the pace and direction of market and technology changes.
Change has always impacted leaders of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and perspectives since the beginning of time. It’s different now because today’s leaders face changes impacted by a multitude of accelerated and inter-related pressures brought about by our ever-globalizing technology and economy.
The pace of change is faster as we continue to leverage technology to connect to a global world.
Technology changes have escalated exponentially as Ai and LLMs make room for broader and wider adaptations.
The interconnectedness between formerly disparate, independent business units makes responding to change more urgent and also more complicated and complex.
Collaboration and innovation are required, but adopting these practices also can complicate, stall and even stymie progress.
There are increasingly higher stakes as larger rewards for those with the insight and ability to be first movers or early adopters, but also huge risks involved for doing so.
The continued rise of social media and the volume of empowered consumers worldwide can quickly provide wide and broad consequences for organizations and leaders.
Considering all of the above, there’s amplified pressure to do right for others, for the environment, and for those who come after us. With so much at stake and so much less time to navigate these technological and market changes, it becomes more critical to stay in front of the change curve by connecting the desire to innovate with the imperative to lead.
Connect Innovation and Leadership
We can all tell a true tale of companies and teams who lead and can’t innovate, and equally as many tales of companies who innovate and can’t lead. But it's those who bring the two forces together who navigate the headwinds and tailwinds of change best.
I have developed a model which helps respond to changes by facilitating leadership and innovation. This model is designed to strategically and proactively plan responses to technology and market shifts while respecting the interconnectedness of an organization’s people, product, operations, growth, and strategic plans to stay ahead of the change curve.
Create a Clear Understanding of Your Current State
A foundational concept for this model is the concept that we must have a clear understanding of the status of our people, product, operations and growth. A detailed status report would provide an overview of workforce skills, of product offerings and product roadmap, of operational efficiencies and hurdles, of market share, indeed a corporate overview for an organization.
Provide Detailed Red, Yellow, Green Ratings
Gather detailed data about the status of the product, people, operations and growth metrics for the organization. Decide where this snapshot fits in the graph below (generally it’s red or yellow). Then populate the remaining cells describing metrics that would be ‘good’ or even ‘stretch’ goals. Status reports would then be rated based on this chart and you will have a clear understanding of how to improve in each area.
Evaluate Plans and Implementation Strategies
Once you have a status report, you can leverage the Change Curve model as a scenario planning tool so leaders can review the ripple effect of product, innovation, market, operations and people decisions.
It can also be used to think through the BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS, GOALS (BHAG, big ideas) which can help organizations stay ahead of the change curve.
In fact, the model can be applied to everything from innovation planning to partnership evaluation, from M&A and investment opportunities to global expansion into new niche markets, from strategic partnerships to spin-offs. The sky’s the limit.
Plan for Scenarios based on Internal and External Factors
It takes a team of visionary leaders focused on innovation to plan, and implement a collaborative strategy to seize the market and business opportunities ahead. It all begins with finding clarity on where we are, where we want to go, and how we can work together to proactively navigate technology and market changes.
Interested in connecting and finding out more? I’m happy to send you appendices with step by step instructions as well as sample red, yellow, green and blue descriptions. Just Email me and/or schedule a time to connect and engage in a strategic discussion with your team regarding your change management goals.
Notes from last month’s When She Speaks Online Program
FountainBlue's June 13 When She Speaks program was on the topic of 'Build Alignment on Purpose'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists.
Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
Panelist Diana Pohle, Senior Director, Commercial Analytics & Insights, BioMarin Pharmaceuticals
Panelist Veronique Rozan, Senior Director, Product Management, Industrial and Medical Sensors, TE Connectivity
Panelist Yvonne Thomson, Vice President, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion, OpenText
We began the program with some working definitions:
Purpose: Company Desire to Serve the Greater Good beyond Profits and Shareholder Value
Mission: Company’s Impact for Stakeholders
Values: Company’s Beliefs about What’s Important
We continued by pointing to some research and survey results on the business benefits of purpose:
Improved Employee Retention and Recruitment
Gallup predicts that organizations could reduce absenteeism by 41 percent and improve quality by 33 percent if organizations increase this ratio to eight in 10 employees. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238085/state-american-workplace-report-2017.aspx
Healthier Workplace Culture
Gallup poll found that organizations scoring in the top quartile of employee engagement surveys experience better customer engagement, productivity, retention and 21 percent higher profitability. https://news.gallup.com/poll/241649/employee-engagement-rise.aspx
Fostering Innovation and Agility
Sixty-eight percent of “purposeful companies” agreed that purpose is extremely critical to an organization’s ability to innovate in times of disruption. Purpose or mission also serves as a stable reminder of why the organization exists, keeping the organization on its intended path during times of change. https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-how-can-purpose-reveal-a-path-through-uncertainty/
Increased Customer Loyalty and Trust
It is six to seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an old one, according to Forbes contributor Alex McClafferty. Additionally, repeat customers spend, on average, 33 percent more than new customers. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexmcclafferty/2015/05/18/customer-success/
Improved Corporate Brand
Purpose-driven companies have higher Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS) indicates employees strongly believe in and want to advocate for their employer's purpose, aiding recruitment. https://blog.proactioninternational.com/en/purpose-driven-business-how-purpose-drives-success
Our diverse panelists shared their wisdom, passion and experience around building alignment on purpose. Below is a summary of their feedback and suggestions.
Leadership Matters
Throughout your career, align to a North Star which represents your integrity, your passion, your desire to do right by others.
Pledge to consistently respond with authenticity, but not necessarily with full transparency, as that's not necessarily always possible or prudent.
Have the moral courage to listen to learn, not just to listen to understand and win.
Align thoughts, words and actions to a purpose for individuals, teams, the organization overall, but also for the industry and for the world, for the future where appropriate.
Manage and Grow the Team
Optimize your own fit within an organization and help others do the same.
Be clear on expectations, and selective on who joins a team and how they can contribute.
Inspire, empower and align those who fit within a team and organization, and help everyone lean into each other and make measurable impact on a shared mission.
Seek additional support – mentors, pressure-test what you’re doing.
Understand *why* someone is not aligned to a purpose, and, where possible and practical, work with her/him to align to a purpose which resonates for him/her, within or outside your team/org.
Communicate and Connect
Connect and communicate with passion and purpose, so you can deliver measurable results which make a difference.
Leaders and managers at all levels must take every opportunity to connect and communicate across the organization, to create a safe and vibrant, purpose-driven culture.
Remember that you can communicate and explain about purpose, but you can’t force commitment and passion.
Embrace the diversity that's already out there, to better innovate and deliver results with purpose.
We finished with some thoughts on how we can support the next generation as they build alignment to purpose:
Ask kids how do you want to change the world rather than what you want to be when you grow up
Consider that the sense of purpose is unique to individuals. (See below for a FountainBlue resource to help identify a purpose which resonates.)
Leverage your inner strengths and understand what you NOT want to be or do.
Develop the skills you need to pursue the passion which drives you.
Gen Z is in general actively concerned about the world and bigger issues. We can help them better accept what is happening and better empower and incentivize them to do what they can to shape the future.
It was an interesting and informative discussion which helped us celebrate both opportunities and challenges for pursuing a work, a life, aligned to a purpose.
Resource:
I created the grid below to help myself and others think through how you would personally like to live a life of purpose.
Email your thoughts to info@fountainblue.biz, or schedule a no-obligation zoom call by visiting https://cal.mixmax.com/fountainblue/purpose.
Notes from this month’s Front Line Managers Online Program
FountainBlue's June 6 Front Line Managers Online program was on the topic of 'Decision-Making Best Practices'. Please join me in thanking our panelists.
as a Product Leader - Prajakta Naik
as a Marketing Leader - Vidya Venkatesh
as a People Leader, Tammy Sanders, Lam Research
Our panelists this month represented a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives, but each had deep experience making decisions. Below is a compilation of their best practices:
Listen to the Voice of the Customer.
Whether your customer is within the organization or outside the organization, the customer will define what the problem is, specifically, and what success looks like, so stay aligned with what they need and how they define success.
Create the Guardrails and Perspectives to Structure the Decision-Making Process.
Align your decisions to corporate requirements, goals, values and mission, as well as customer requirements, workforce and financial resource availability and operational capabilities.
Step into a Leadership Role to Facilitate the Decision-Making Process.
Be accountable and responsible.
Be credible and reliable.
Be empathetic and empowering.
Communicate with transparency and integrity and hold others to the same standard.
Be the leader worth following, representing the needs of all, no matter where you sit in the org chart.
Leverage Program Management Skills to Deliver Results.
Invite feedback and input from a wide range of stakeholders throughout the decision-making process.
Prioritize competing projects based on predefined criteria, as agreed by a broad swath of stakeholders.
Communicate progress toward measured goals.
Proactively manage people and financial resources.
Below is a list of decision-making tools which may be useful:
Highlight a Decision Making Diagram / Decision Tree to map out decision alternatives, outcomes, and probabilities.
Make a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) diagram to spell out each element impacting the decision.
Create a Force Field Analysis to identify the driving and restraining forces for a particular decision or change.
Use a Decision Matrix to evaluate and prioritize a list of options based on predetermined weighted criteria, as agreed by a broad range of stakeholders.
Design a Pareto Analysis Rubric to identify the most significant factors (the weighting) contributing to a problem and to ensure everyone is aligned on the parameters for an upcoming decision.
Use MVPs and prototypes to help you frame an upcoming decision about a proposed feature
Focus on a Problem Clarity strategy with proof points for why a decision should be made and have an end goal in mind.
Use an Elimination Model to help dismiss decision options which don’t align with corporate values, resources, workforce capabilities, process obligations, etc.,
Below is additional feedback and input on the decision-making process:
It doesn’t have to be a good decision each time, every time. Focus on failing fast, failing forward rather than always being right, but always learn from past failures.
Influence stakeholders appropriately and with integrity - good intentions, appropriate data.
Beware of the data – work with trustworthy people to ask the right questions and to provide the appropriate data to make a unbiased decision.
Have the integrity to present information neutrally.
Break the ‘we’ve always done things this way’ excuses, because it’s blocking the decisions which could bring positive change to the internal and external customers.
Consider the timing for a decision.
Include and empower the stakeholders to help make the right decisions for all parties.
Engage the next generation, open the door and ask how things can be done differently.
Commit to a decision and follow through.
Decide when to update a prior decision.
When you’re talking to stakeholders and ideas go above and beyond, refocus to the projects in front of you, urgently needed now, while not squashing the big picture discussion.
The decisions we make today help define the realities we face tomorrow, so it's our hope that you've found some kernels of wisdom in the learnings we've gathered from this month's inspiring panelists!
Notes from last month’s VIP Roundtable Online Program
FountainBlue's June 14 VIP roundtable was on the topic of 'The Future of Work'. Below is a summary of the conversation.
This month's executives are clearly faced with the challenges and opportunities around the future of work, including Hybrid and Remote Work Arrangements, the Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Changing Job Roles, Flexibility and Work-Life Balance Concerns, the Growth of Independent Work, as well as the Rise of Virtual Organizations and Teams.
Our panelists emphasize the importance of building a trust-based, engaged, empowered, productive and passionate workforce which is aligned on the corporate mission, vision and goals, while delivering to the needs of the customer. Indeed, if we have can deliver the experience of trust and belonging leveraging technologies, we can optimize the trifecta of productivity, creativity, *and* innovation!
We could help individuals, teams and the organization overall to transition seamlessly to a hybrid work world with a rich, diverse and inclusive culture that balances work from home and work on-site, without compromising productivity, collaboration, or innovation.
Our executives challenged us to leverage technology to gently integrate the very human social needs, like the desire to connect deeply with work-mates as well as the need for serendipitous social interactions while producing high-quality business results.
There are many thought-provoking opportunities ahead.
With the blurring of lines between work and home, people are leveraging technologies and solutions both at home and at work so that they can be fully productive wherever they are physically.
With the advancements in networking, mobile, and automotive technology, we are approaching the ability to seamlessly work as you commute from one place to another.
With the integration of AI, data collection, integration, and management tasks can be automated more easily and seamlessly, freely people to ask questions and make decisions based on large volumes of real-time, vetted, data.
With AR/VR immersive experiences enabled by cutting edge technologies, users can experience deeper emotional connections to each other.
But challenges remain:
Workforce Preparation
How do we upskill and reskill current individuals and teams so that they are active contributors in the new ways that we work together?
How do we manage through the very real fear of losing your job due to technology innovations?
Cultural Transformation
How do we leverage technology to naturally integrate human habits to build a resilient, inclusive, and collaborative culture?
How do we connect, inform, educate and support diverse people across generations across geographies?
Support for Our Workers
What can we do to address the natural isolation which stems from *not* building in-person relationships at work as we continue morphing into hybrid workforce scenarios?
How do we build a sense of belonging and community if we don't meet in person?
As we wound up our discussion, I was surprised at the interesting and passionate discussion about how to maintain a level of respect and civility in the workplace.
It's a testament that the executives in attendance spoke so consistently and eloquently about how the future of work is more around how we enable and empower our workforce, as that is what will help individuals and teams deliver on business imperatives.
Resource:
At the request of our executives in attendance, we have compiled some research on how to best upskill our workers to meet the Future of Work requirements. E-mail us if you would like to include your favorite resource as well.