Historically, in stable times, organizations derived competitive advantage through progressive attempts to be more standardized, efficient and better at doing what ‘they had been doing’ for a long time. In unpredictable times, organizational survival requires the understanding that organizations exist within a broader external ecosystem, united by a specific, customer-centric purpose that is constantly evolving to remain relevant. What we have learned from clients who are embracing an ecosystem mindset:

• Organizations that view themselves within an ecosystem compete better in today’s business landscape. When they leverage external communities, partnerships and alliances, they have greater visibility into the needs and behaviours of their customers. Adaptable Organizations are able to quickly detect shifts in the external environment, and flex appropriately.
• In spite of constant iteration and adaption, a shared purpose is the glue that anchors an ecosystem. It defines success for the organization through the eyes of customers, stakeholders, and society. In turn, employees, motivated by meaningful work, are driven towards the outcomes desired by the organization.
• A bold organizational purpose cascades through the organization using customer-focused missions. Teams work effectively towards their respective missions without impeding on each other, but are united by an enduring organizational purpose.

Operating environments will only continue to become more complex. We help clients interpret their strategies and position in the ecosystem into customer-focused missions that energize the culture and organization. This is a departure from only using industry benchmarks or popular organizational models - it’s about intimate customization to the changing needs of customers and stakeholders.

When change is predictable, stable organizational hierarchies can support order, clear decision-making, and functional silos to ensure maximum efficiency. However, in an era of exponential change, traditional organization models cannot keep up. What we are starting to see when it comes to structure and design of Adaptable Organizations:

• Organizations must align both formal and informal structures to customer-focused missions. Traditional approaches often force the organization to work purely functionally or in a matrix environment without understanding the impact to human networks. Instead, organizations must uncover how teams naturally interact with each other and with the customer, and then build the multi-disciplinary teams, communities, reporting relationships, and communication channels that support these human interactions.
• Adaptable Organizations simultaneously manage customer adaptability and scaled efficiency. They recognize that both are necessary, and achieve an effective balance through the use of functional and cross-functional, centralized and decentralized teams.
• To enable an Adaptable Organization, flexible governance models are necessary. Governance enables adaptable work when bureaucracy is limited, decisions are transparent, and individuals are empowered.
• A test-and-learn approach to implementation is preferable. The roadmap to becoming an Adaptable Organization is a series of small, incremental changes, rather than a big bang. Organizations must decide how much autonomy, flexibility, and agility is required for their particular strategy.

Conventional wisdom believes that high-performing individuals deliver organizational performance. Adaptable Organizations place greater emphasis on the team and unlock individual performance through team composition and new ways of working. What effective team development looks like in an Adaptable Organization:

• The understanding that individual performance is intrinsically linked to team composition. Only when the diverse perspectives, unique skillsets, and broad experiences of individuals are brought together do individuals truly thrive.
• A clear focus that unites the team to the organization’s purpose. Each team has its own mission or focus around which it can direct its efforts and motivate its members; however, all of the teams within an organization are ultimately aligned to its purpose.
• Iterative and empowered execution by teams. Teams must adopt an agile, “fail fast” mentality where frequent touchpoints, iteration reviews, and cross-team planning enable them to respond swiftly to fluctuating customer demands. This is made possible only when decision-making rights are transparent, and teams are given flexibility and autonomy.
• A safe place for collaboration and connected ways of working. This is achieved through flexible communication, connecting on a human level, and uniting under the broader organization’s mission. True collaboration can unlock latent productivity and inclusion, in order to realize greater agility.

As organizations pivot and adapt to shifting contexts, the adaptability of leaders becomes essential. Leaders must be able to energize, empower, and connect people across the ecosystem and lead any team in any context. Leadership in the Adaptable Organization is a departure from the traditional, role-based view of leadership:

• Leaders exist at all levels of the organization. Leaders are now multi-function and multi-context, across all disciplines. More so than traditional organizations, Adaptable Organizations require a strong pipeline of leadership; therefore, candidates must be identified and leadership skills developed at every level.
• Leaders are inclusive orchestrators, not heroes. They lead not because of position, tenure, or expertise, but because of their vision and ability to connect individuals across the organization. In an Adaptable Organization, three paramount leadership capabilities that emerge are the ability to energize, empower, and connect. These capabilities points to raw leadership potential instead of technical expertise.
• Leaders must embrace vulnerability and create psychological safety. In order to enable a culture of failing fast and taking risks, it is integral that leaders build a safe space where ideas can be shared and diversity of thought thrives. They do so through practicing and encouraging vulnerability, authenticity, and raw leadership.
• Complexity and ambiguity demand versatility. Leaders in the Adaptable Organization must constantly navigate change and uncertainty. In order to lead effectively, they must empower everyone in the organization, particularly those closest to the customer, to make decisions and take ownership. The versatile leader can lead effectively in any context, inside or outside of their traditional areas of expertise.

Identifying, developing, and retaining strong leadership is integral to any organization’s success, and the bar for leadership effectiveness is constantly being raised. We help our clients build effective leadership pipelines and programs that meet their strategic needs and which ensure they can navigate into the long-term.

The traditional view of the employee assumes people inherently resist change and talent programs provide stability. In Adaptable Organizations, resiliency and accepting change becomes part of the organization's DNA and talent programs exist to enable that resilience. How an individual is woven into the ecosystem of an Adaptable Organization:

• Individuals must understand that adaptable is not something you do, it is something you become. Organizations must coach their people to adopt mindsets of growth, imagination, diversity, and experimentation. Only when such a mindset is adopted at the individual level, will teams and organizations be able to execute on adaptable work.
• The focus is on people, not on job titles. Traditional role-based job descriptions, recruitment practices, and orientation programs are no longer relevant. Instead, talent management recognizes that roles are fluid and skillsets are diverse. Recruitment and onboarding programs center around the purpose, culture, and customers of the organization.
• Growth, learning, and performance management take place on an ongoing basis. In order to reflect a rapidly-evolving external environment, learning and performance management can no longer be static, infrequent, and formal. Peer reviews and career discussions are frequent, agile touchpoints. Learning is continuous, embedded into day-to-day work, and changes based on the needs of the individual.
• Flexibility is a key feature of an individual’s career development. As opposed to the traditional view of climbing the hierarchal ladder in a fixed role, organizations recognize that career paths are becoming increasingly complex, cross-functional, and latticed. They support their talent through horizontal job rotations, fluid work roles, and the activation of organizational networks.

Helping people embrace change and continuous learning is difficult. To truly be adaptable, we believe that organizations need to enable individual resilience through flexible talent programs. We help clients design and adopt leading edge talent approaches to elevate a shifting and diverse workforce that includes both humans and machines.