Attend a Human Capital Virtual Think Tank Session

Uncertainty Principles: Aligning Culture, Process, and Leadership in a Crisis

→ February 3rd, 2021, 10:30 AM EDT

For most organizations, the past year has necessitated change at an unprecedented rate and scale, and while much of it was painful, those who adapted are entering 2021 leaner and smarter than ever before. However, uncertainty still clouds the immediate future, with the virus surging and the global economy faltering. The stress that this places on culture and operational structures is tremendous, and alignment becomes incredibly difficult to maintain – employees and leaders alike worry about their jobs, their health, and their families; remote work makes it harder for teams to engage and collaborate; and competitive pressures accelerate even as internal resources are depleted. In crisis environments, organizations must continuously take honest stock of their trajectory, their human and technological capacity, and the institutional biases that threaten to stifle innovation. In turn, this analysis must be leveraged to inform proactive interventions that are designed to align behavior, belief, and process under strong, flexible leadership. While achieving a unified purpose through transformation is not a new goal for HCM leadership, actualizing this vision has never been more critical.

This Virtual Session will examine the following:

• What changes or restructuring have you initiated over the last year, how successful were they, and what were the cultural or behavioral barriers you had to overcome? Did the crisis allow you to move more quickly, and with more support, than you would have otherwise?

• What are the guiding practices, tools, and techniques required to successfully drive transformation amidst so much uncertainty? How do the ingredients for securing buy-in change to reflect the interests and expectations of leaders vs rank and file employees?

• What traits are most important for establishing flexibility and enabling an organization to adjust on the fly, and manage unintended downstream consequences? What are the best practices for identifying the right levers and incentives, as well as likely resistance and challenges to your vision? How do you achieve an accurate view of your culture as it is today without biasing the results?

• What have you done to reshape and retool your workforce to reflect the operation you need to become, and how has this played out in terms of things like upskilling, redeployment, recruitment, automation, etc.?

• As Churchill said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste” –what have you learned about yourself and your leaders amidst this crisis, and how are you channeling those lessons to reflect change?