Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 5, 2015 6 NEWS Find these suppliers and more in the HR Vendors Guide – your source for human resources vendors, suppliers, consultants and professional development from across Canada. Visit www.hrreporter.com/hr-vendors-guide HR VENDORS GUIDE HR VENDORS GUIDE Are you looking for help with recruitment? Training and development? Recognition? Information on HR professional development and post- secondary programs? adjust and reward the right kinds of behaviours?" said Stuart. "How do they have agile processes and organizational constructs so that, as the change comes, they can move quicker and be much faster to adopt and ad- just their game plans? And then, fundamentally, how do they invest and deploy the resourcing?" Long-term perspective Some companies are already en- gaging in long-term planning for disruptive technologies, said Hal Gregersen, executive director of the MIT Leadership Center in Cambridge, Mass. For instance, MIT is integrating robots into some of its programs, and sur- geons are using robotic technol- ogy to assist with surgery. But many organizations aren't doing this — and it's not unusual for companies to become mired in short-term thinking that re- volves around the next quarter or the next year. But that sort of thinking misses the big picture, said Stuart. "Companies are now waking up at the board level and at the man- agement level and saying, 'We can't just look at the tree that's in front of us — we have to look at the whole forest and, in fact, beyond the forest, to determine what is going to make us viable for the future,'" he said. "There are entire companies and industries getting adjusted and wiped out by (these) types of capabilities." And it doesn't matter if it's a large multinational or a small mom and pop shop — every busi- ness needs to prepare for disrup- tive change, said Stuart. "All industries, all sizes of companies (in the survey) were in a similar position in terms of their readiness and prepared- ness, and the risk in terms of their organization." Broader awareness To truly prepare for these chang- es, organizations need to become familiar with new and emerging technologies and business mod- els, he said. "It really starts with the aware- ness. If the companies don't un- derstand the technologies and the new business models that are coming, and the pace that they're coming at, (that's a problem)." Many employers have accept- ed that changes are coming, but haven't taken action, said Stuart. " ere's kind of a bit of cogni- tive dissonance. ey realize it, but they haven't yet done any- thing about it," he said. "Some of it is they're realizing and starting to work (on it), but they haven't yet been able to build it into their core systems and organizational constructs. So there is a process." Gregersen has a favourite quote from philosopher Niccolo Machi- avelli that says most of us do not believe in anything new until we have actually experienced it. "To me, this is the fundamen- tal challenge of something like these future exponential changes, robotic interactions in the work- place… the challenge for leaders is how do they fi gure out what they don't know they don't know, be- fore it's too late?" he said. " e real challenge for leaders in organizations or companies that aren't getting ready for that future is getting the leaders more comfortable with exploring what they don't know they don't know." Leaders will also have to pre- pare themselves for the impact these changes will have on jobs, said Stuart. " ere's going to be some very interesting implications and that's actually going to create a whole new series of jobs. On one hand, it puts jobs at risk; on the other hand, it's going to create a whole series of jobs around data science, algorithm assessments, operational optimization using that data," he said. And another key piece? Lead- ers will have to be willing to fi nd the areas where they are wrong or predicted incorrectly, said Gregersen. " e future is full of seriously unexpected surprises," he said. "In the past, that was just pure science fi ction. And we now live in an age where so much of science fi ction in the past is becoming re- ality in the present." Employers must understand new tech, business models WORKPLACE < pg. 1 Credit: Fabrizio Bensch (Reuters) Humanoid robot bartender "Carl" gestures to guests at the Robots Bar and Lounge in the eastern German town of Ilmenau in 2013. All is not lost Concrete steps employers can take to improve their capacity to anticipate, respond to and capitalize on the disruptive forces ahead. Cultivate awareness Foster awareness of the forces that have the potential to disrupt a business or industry so you can take action today to prepare for disruption's impact tomorrow. Foster organizational agility Embrace new ways of working and making decisions to avoid becoming mired in bureaucracy that can bring change to a screeching halt. Build the right culture Develop a resilient, innovative culture so you can withstand disruption in the future and benefi t from important benefi ts today. Develop effective resources Acquire and deploy the best people, technology and fi nancial resources so you can be more resilient and competitive in the face of disruption. Source: Age of Disruption, Deloitte Canada "We live in an age where so much of science fi ction is becoming reality."

• Cover