The Competitive Advantage of Seeing What Others Don't

What does the view look like from where you are right now?

Jim Haudan in 'The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap between People and Possibilities' explains how people across an organisation 'fly' at different levels. He suggests 1000ft, 15000ft and 35000ft. 

Because we're flying at different altitudes, we have different views and perspectives.You'd know it from being in an aircraft:

• On the ground: you can see the airport and the tarmac as you're taxiing to the runway;
• Up in the air: up to a few thousand feet up there, you can make out towns and cities, roads and patchwork quilts of fields and farms; and
• Cruising Altitude: way up there, at 35,000 feet you're getting the big picture and a broad perspective stretching way over the horizon.

Just above here is a visual I use with teams to get them thinking about these different levels. You can write your thoughts in the clouds!

Relax and enjoy the flight; these levels are normal, natural and a part of everyday. But sheeesh it's hard when you're trying to bring people together to align to a strategy, implement a change or adopt some new ways of doing things!

We're so biased to see things that reinforce our beliefs that we need to take some deliberate action to see things in another way... in a way that other people may not see. 

Gary Klein in 'Seeing What Others Don't: The remarkable ways we gain insights' suggests:

"our insights stem from the force for noticing connections, coincidences, and curiosities"

So think about where you're seeing things from, and are you allowing enough connections, coincidences and curiosities in? Ask yourself:

• How does the view change if you climb up, up up?

• What's different if you zoom down and get a closer view?

• How do things look from where you are if you're 'on the ground'?

• What perspective, view or angle are you missing out on from where you are now?

• What do you need to do so you have a broader (or narrower) view?

• What might you have missed?

Klein says further: 
 

"people who can pick up on trends, spot patterns, wonder about irregularities, and notice coincidences are an important resource."

Seeing things, connecting the dots and making sense: this is the true competitive advantage of being able to see what others don't ...and I reckon that's a must-have skill for the uncertain future of work. 

5 Capabilities for Leading into the Unknown

Leaders leading in uncertain times and unknown situations are needing more flexible capabilities; a mindset of being able to flex and shift no matter what's happening. 

To lead into the unknown - whatever your industry, field, expertise or role - here are five capabilities for keeping it together when you're not sure what's up ahead:


 
1. Start Before You're Ready
You can't wait for the script to arrive. You've got to get momentum and get doing. 

Ray Bradbury, the science fiction, horror and fantasy writer, said, ‘First you jump off the cliff and you build your wings on the way down’. And although some believe the quote attributable to Kurt Vonnegut, another equally interesting and creative author, the message is the same: leap and the net will appear, you will adapt, you’ll work it out and you’ll be moving. We are adaptable humans. Our survival depends on it. 

2. Like Surprises
Scriptwriters call them 'plot twists' and we notice them as shocks, surprises or bolts from the blue. Once you’ve started before you’re ready and you’re in motion, some unexpected stuff will happen along the way. How spontaneous are you?  Do you insist on sticking with the plan or are you open to other ways, paths and possibilities?

3. Try Something Else
Experimenting helps you refine, edit and alter your thinking, offers, service, design or idea. It's rare for the first version to be the final version... of anything. In a world that's more accepting of failure as a learning process, you've got to see what works as well as what doesn't. As Keith Johnstone, teacher and godfather guru of improvisation says 'Do something, rather than having lengthy discussions about doing something'. 
 

4. Go Co

"If you want to see the future coming, 90% of what you need to learn you'll learn from outside your industry" - so says Gary Hammel, author of 'Leading the Revolution'.

Thinking with diversity invites varied views, talents, experiences, cultures and backgrounds to the table or conversation to co-create good work. 'Co' is all about together. Working with others is a... co-brainer. It's impossible to do it all by yourself. Plus, others need your expertise to make what they're doing brilliant too.  

5. Be Curious
Being a risk taker and brave explorer in times of uncertainty can feel like it’s too big a risk; but bold actions can also reap huge rewards. Leaders who set up an environment where others can succeed are staying open to what that team can do. That means stepping into some uncertainty, some unknown and some unsure. 

There's nothing to fear when you're leading into the unknown.

The opposite of fear isn't bravery; it's curiosity.  

The Rise of Authentic

It's refreshing to see books, journals and blog posts speak about how authenticity in leadership and communications matter. How vulnerability is the new black. That when a leader exposes their human underbelly, their teams will connect, be inspired and do the good work. 

But what's authentic? Gabrielle Dolan's new book Ignite takes a great hit at it. She says it's about being real. Real talk, real leadership, real results. She's spot on. 

Real. It's needed because too many leaders continue to :

• Deliver dull PowerPoint packs full of bullet points following a template
• Use 'insert chart' or 'draw table' commands to put boxes and shapes in presentation documents
• Spend days and days and hours and hours of theirs and other people's time trying to get a presentation pack looking just right before they send out the 34 pages of detailed, boxy, dot pointed drivel.

It's so fake it's unreal. 

The team isn't engaged and they're not really, truly listening. They're busy listening to and thinking other more interesting and inspiring things. Things that involve them, make sense to them and give them an insight to something else, something bigger. That hefty wad of information is not only lacking authenticity, it's dull, boring, uninspiring. They tune out. Yawn!

So how do you be authentic? Now, today and tomorrow?

Here's how:

• Show your people what you're thinking. Your thoughts. It might not all be finalized right now but show them a low fidelity outline, a rough sketch of 'here's how this could look.' 
• Be honest with them: 'This may not be the finished thing, but here's what I'd love us to think about creating'. 
• Get their input. What do they reckon. How do they see it? What could they do with it? How could they shape it, share it and drive it?
• Share your thinking, that's what's authentic and human.That's a start. It may not be the end point but it's the 'now' point. 

This is the vulnerable leader. They're saying via their behavior : I do not know all. I am relinquishing command and control, I am collaborative leader, leading a team of humans who all have skills, knowledge and expertise...so tell me what you think.

Your team, organisation and industry need to know who you are and what you think...now. That's authentic. 

Put it out there even if it's not finished, final and fully done. 

What happens next ...now that will be authentic! 

Think. Build. Ship. Tweak.

Forget the days of heading to the CD shop to buy a CD – just stream what you want to listen to via an online service like Spotify.

So how does a business like Spotify get their sh*t together and take on a market, and an industry and revel in the opportunity to disrupt?
 
Henrik Kniberg shined a light on some of the leadership and management insights of Spotify at a conference recently - he's been working as a lean and agile coach.  

Go anti-silo and have squads and tribes
Henrik reckons a minimum viable bureaurcracy is the way to go…to group people into tribes; to have squads of people who collaborate with each other to find the best solution. These groups cut across the organisation. It’s somewhat of an anti silo strategy.

Healthy culture heals broken processes
Don’t try and scale your product or service – rather, descale the organisation. A healthy culture is what will heal broken processes. We’ve all felt the pain of a broken process when we’ve interacted with a business or organisation and things just didn't go well :-(
 
It seems that control is dying but not yet buried. In fact it’s trust that flourishes; it’s more powerful than control. Having autonomy across the organisation means you can move fast. Be agile.

What agility looks like
In Henrik's words, agility looks like this:

• Think it
• Build it
• Ship it
• Tweak it

Don’t you love it?
 
And it's alignment that enables the autonomy. Without people being aligned to the vision, plan and purpose, you’ll create fear, silos, yawn culture, and a host of flow on problems.

Fail fast ... and recover from it
You’ve got to let people make mistakes. To fail fast. But then recover from the failure.

I think too many leaders think they're encouraging failure yet secretly fear failure because it takes so damn long to recover from it – “hmmm, best to not go there at all,” they think.
 
Rather, go there. Fail it fast. But Henrik says limit your ‘blast radiance’ – limit the effect of the fail and how far it impacts around the organisation.

Are we learning anything people?

Leverage the learning from the fail. And further, you’ve got to then share the learning from the fail. Trust and support people.

Contemporary leaders of today have to let go and let their teams make sense of what needs to be done and how to do it. Community is what matters.
 
Move fast, fail fast, limit the blast.
Think. Build. Ship. Tweak.

Do you know what the future of work will look like?

Can you imagine the effects of teaching computers to understand? It's happening now... not just thinking computers but understanding computers. 
 

What will that mean for the future of our work?

At the REMIX Summit in Sydney recently, the focus was on the future and the intersection of technology, culture and entrepreneurship. There will be more freelancing - so how do you hold a culture together in that type of environment?

We'll need to be stronger leaders. 

Fast, small technology is proving to be both an enabler and a disruptor. Look at that 'smart' phone you've got there and what its capable of. 

 

Despite us not being able to exactly predict human behaviour, we've got to remember that work is about us... it's about people... humans.

A great deal of our work is knowledge work and knowledge knows no borders. In the future, you'll see your career as a lattice... not a ladder. Careers, opportunities, jobs, roles and pathways will criss cross and complement; they won't be straight up and down.

Workplaces will need to be more attractive experiences that bring people together, evolving into vibrant 24/7 precincts that aren't just about work. 

Pass me my bathrobe please!

 

One of the Remix Summit speakers suggested the 'hotel experience' would come to workplaces, where we feel welcome at work, where we are less of an employee and more of a guest. 

 

What does the future of work mean for leaders leading in these environments that are uncertain, changing and complex? 

Leaders will need to be sense makers... everyday.

At the heart of it, leaders will need to make quicker and clearer sense of things, for themselves, the people they lead and for others they interact with. They'll need to engage across even more diverse interests and cultures and they'll need to be aligning and realigning their teams to the strategic shifts that become constant and frequent. 

For some more detailed reading pleasure, CEDA the Committee for Economic Development here in Australia released their Australia's Future Workforce Report today and you can get hold of it here. 

How will you keep adapting for the future of work? How will you keep the team connected, the culture thriving, the workplace adapting and the competition afraid of your bold responses?

In a quote from the Remix Summit:

The work of the future will be at the edges of what we know.

Keep looking, learning and pushing the edges of your work. You're gonna need it for the future.