A lot of companies struggle with two apparently unrelated problems: disengaged younger workers and a weak response to changing market conditions. A few companies have tackled both problems at the same time by creating a “shadow board” — a group of non-executive employees that works with senior executives on strategic initiatives.
Each company has its own “culture” – the values and norms that define what is and isn’t appropriate behavior for the organization. Culture guides how you work, and a healthy one enables companies to attract and retain highly motivated employees and unite them around a common goal, purpose, or cause in pursuit of sustainable performance.
No one has a bigger impact on new employees’ success than the managers who hired them. Why? Because more than anyone else the hiring manager understands what his or her people need to accomplish and what it will take — skills, resources, connections — for them to become fully effective.
Strong value creation in the TMT sector benefits the overall economy, as technology and digitization pervade even the most basic industries. Digitization is creating the same sort of fundamental shift that occurred a century ago with electrification, only exponentially faster.
The transition from executive to non-executive is a particularly interesting one – one which requires an evolution from a leadership role to one requiring stewardship, guidance and, perhaps most important, mediation – aligning the interests of key stakeholders.
Companies increasingly rely on diverse, multidisciplinary teams that combine the collective capabilities of women and men, people of different cultural heritage, and younger and older workers. But simply throwing a mix of people together doesn’t guarantee high performance; it requires inclusive leadership — leadership that assures that all team members feel they are treated respectfully and fairly, are valued and sense that they belong, and are confident and inspired.