Canadian HR Reporter

STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK'S PANEL of thought leaders brings decades of experience from the senior ranks of Canada's business community. eir commentary puts HR management issues into context and looks at the practical implications of proposals and policies. CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 15, 2017 EXECUTIVE SERIES 9 www.scnetwork.ca Join our professional community of Canadian HR & Organizational Leaders: • Connecting @ monthly events • Collaborating with peers • Challenging conventional thinking The Power of Human Capital CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP FOR 35 YEARS Great Leaders GROW www.scnetwork.ca Diff erent – and yet the same Four SCNetwork members engage in a back-and-forth on Deloitte's presentation Jan van der Hoop: Overall, the speakers did a good job of nailing the fi ve trends HR professionals need to be losing sleep over. But, at the same time, there's nothing new or surprising on the list. It's not a slight against the au- thors of the report — the part that gets under my skin is the list hasn't changed much in the last 30 years. e things that were ineffi cient or caused friction in organizations then, by and large, still do. Organizational development remains a messy business; career management is still nebulous; tal- ent acquisition still delivers a mea- sly 20 per cent confi dence rating; and leadership will forever be on the list as something to improve, as long as we continue to work in systems and structures that seem perfectly designed to trigger our fi ght-or-fl ight refl exes. Towards the end, Amir Rahn- ema highlighted organizations that seem to be cracking the nut — becoming more nimble, more customer- or market-responsive, and more productive — by form- ing cross-functional teams of peo- ple "organized around fi les, not portfolios." Essentially, teams that are assembled to address a specifi c problem, then disbanded again. And I thought, "Wait a minute." e concept is nothing new. I was taught the importance of custom- er centricity early in my career, back in the 1980s — it was called "quality circles" in those days. It all stems from management consul- tant W. Edwards Deming's work in the 1950s, and the core concept has morphed into many forms and labels, such as Lean Manu- facturing Principles. So, if this is all new yet again, and we agree it's a better way to work and operate, what is it about us or the energy or power struc- tures of organizations that stops us from adopting that imperative? Ian Hendry: I disagree. A lot has changed in the past 30 years. Sure, there are some central themes — leadership will always need to evolve given changing times, but this workforce is far more chal- lenging than the cohorts back in the 1980s. If structures haven't adapted fast enough, that is borne out in the fact that a majority of companies believe they need to redesign their organization to suc- ceed in the digital age. Conceivably, this could be disruption as we've never seen it before. If this indeed will be a tsunami driven by technologi- cal upheaval, if we are learning about it now, it also explains why very few companies have strong digital leadership development programs today. Could it be so exaggerated that companies don't believe in the digital hype? Paul Pittman: I never thought I would be defending big consulting but we really shouldn't shoot the messenger here… maybe that was a bit hasty. e challenges through the years remain the same, but it's the problems that are diff erent. I used to organize the same insights as a partner in big consulting and complained about the same thing; the responses were always the same but actually, upon deeper dive, it was the issues underlying these headers that were changing. As always, it's about how we foster sustainable engagement in the face of change — be it human or technological, or both. It's the nature of things and HR is never well-prepared. I am not a proponent of think- ing digitization or HR analytics are going to be major — these are categorized as challenges to at- tract consulting solutions. ey are no more a challenge (or an op- portunity) than the calculator or the laptop, and I am confi dent we will survive the millennial apoca- lypse, which has also been over- done. Previous cohort changes have worried management and would have garnered the same response to the same survey ques- tion if asked then. More clients and colleagues are reaching the conclusion these challenges are not new technol- ogy- or age-related but a better- educated, smarter intake that has harnessed the tool of technology better than the managers who are hiring them. I am not sure why this should surprise us — it's what we wanted for our children. e organizational challenge is how to release the wisdom in manage- ment teams and how to encour- age them to foster constraint-free environments that enable prob- lem-solving. It's about leadership rather than management. Tracey White: Well said, Paul. I agree with your observation about a growing digital divide. is di- vide is not about demographics directly. For too long, managers and HR have been concerned about figuring out the millen- nials as a cohort. Yet, the same thing happened when generation X and the baby boomers entered the workforce. An obsession with demographics overlooks the real- ity we are all living in a moment of exponential technological change. e millennials are not the fi rst, nor will they be the last, gen- eration to experience such rapid technological change. New technologies we are an- ticipating — artifi cial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics — have yet to impact organiza- tions significantly. Change will unfold over the next decade, en- compassing more than the millen- nials. It will require us to rethink how work is organized, valued and compensated. It will also re- quire new organizational forms, which was Rahnema's focus. To get there, we need to change our mental models about how organi- zations operate. Two data points from the pre- sentation concerned me most. First, Deloitte reported, "HR is being left out of AI-driven work redesign," with only 36 per cent of companies reporting "HR is in- volved as an advisor in some way." Second, the trend labelled "robot- ics, cognitive computing and AI" as last on the list, with 60 per cent of survey respondents saying it is "not/somewhat important." e fi nancial crisis of 2008 was a psychological shock. Ten years on, I believe our common mental model is things will return to nor- mal eventually. Leaders, manag- ers and HR wait for the return of economic stability and full-time employment. But, as one partici- pant observed, work performed by contingent employees is one of the fastest-growing segments and these workers are often not on HR's radar screen. is is tan- gible evidence of a disconnect un- covered by Deloitte's data, and is where the opportunity for HR lies. Paul: ere were some nice nug- gets in the presentation that gen- erated a lot of discussion with this intellectually inquisitive audience, partly because there are not a lot of ready-made solutions. Audiences of this calibre and experience are concerned with trends, but super- sensitive to their being interpreted into expedient conclusions. Canada has few mega global players and not many in indus- tries (other than government) that naturally lend themselves to responding to dramatic organiza- tion remodelling. I also wonder whether the cultural dimension requires deeper contemplation. I appreciated the honesty about not having all the answers. The reason organizational modelling has not radically evolved in 2,000 years is because it works — humans respond to someone taking charge. They adapt and morph (teams to tribes is just different nomenclature) but, essentially, the models play to the human need. I participated in several self- managed project teams in diff er- ent companies 20 years ago. e 100-people rule is a leadership tenet based on human capabil- ity too. While it is correct that a 1950s manager might recognize the shape of today's organiza- tion, she wouldn't have a clue how it works. Much of the United States GDP is lost to bureaucracy — that's called compliance for a more complicated world. It's all wonderfully debatable stuff . Organizations have sought adaptability for eons, which means being diff erent; an orga- nizational model that suits your demographic profi le, culture, val- ues, product or service, client or customer is the right one for you, and will diff erentiate you from the pack. at's not the one your com- petitor just adopted. Ian: Whether we are learning from the past or not, I have no personal doubt that digitization — meaning human and machine collaboration — is both new and upon us. is will have an impact. Whether it be relatively benign, as some might believe, or signifi cant, as I believe it will be, will be prov- en out, over time. e study indi- cates we are unprepared and so, hopefully, the participants have received the message that time is their enemy. Jan: Well said, folks. is brings us back full circle. Our organiza- tions' structures and processes, and our leaders and people need to communicate, adapt and evolve at a faster clip than ever before. So, what do we, as a community of HR professionals, need to do diff er- ently to be seen as leaders in these times of rapid change? Ian Hendry Paul Pittman Jan van der Hoop Tracey White PANELLISTS: • Ian Hendry, former president of the Strategic Capability Network and managing partner at Karian & Associates in Toronto • Jan G. van der Hoop, president of Fit First Technologies in Toronto • Tracey White, owner and managing director at Strategy in Action in Toronto • Paul Pittman, founder and president of the Human Well in Toronto

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