Speaking from the ‘Other Side’
As an ex-professional leader at a great company like Telenet, I have always valued insights that provide an ‘outside-in’ perspective.
Every day, the focus is on ‘delivering the mission’ and ‘organizing your community’ as effectively as possible, while ensuring the people and their drive are rightly aligned with the assignments we are all committed to.
As a leader, you balance your focus across three time perspectives: past, present, and future.
It is easy to get caught up in the challenges of today, as delivery issues and unexpected flaws constantly arise. It is often less easy to translate the learnings of the past and project them into your future approaches. But the most challenging is keeping track of what is happening in the world around you.
This latter task is even more of a balancing act, as finding the right amount of time to reorient yourself to new trends and threats in your business field requires you to grasp that new playing field. You’ll need to spend time with your teams to understand the real challenges and their urgency. Finally, once the ‘tomorrow’ picture is well understood, you’ll need to refine your direction, plans, and goals, ensuring you keep pace and stay current.
Challenges in the Digital Age
Your refined goals, plans, and roadmap need to be executed. Digital transformation has been an ongoing and rapidly accelerating trend in the industry. Leadership and expert professionals who have been around for the past 15 years know it has been a meticulous learning journey: Technology brings change, and transformation is not just about technical realization.
Digital platforms need to be managed and maintained in a very fast-evolving world. What is new today is old tomorrow. And every stone you pick up needs to be carried along in your backpack. Thus, a smart and holistic approach balanced with a fast-moving fail-and-learn spirit is key to success. Easier said than done.
Skills—both soft and hard—need rethinking. Building the right human resource models, including leadership dynamics to attract, grow, and retain the right talent, is the only fuel for your success. Operating models, processes, even cultural and mindset changes are necessary. Processes, whether agile or otherwise, will need adaptations. An infinite change mindset is essential, as continuous (agile) delivery and constant small improvements are the new reality. Operational managers know best that managing ‘business as usual’ while delivering new changes in a production environment is not easy. Especially when you cherish your customer experience and want to avoid any crisis or unexpected disruption.
Where to Spend Your Money? And How Do Consultants Come In?
The B2B software market, implementation, IT resources & freelance market, and consultancy market have thrived over the last decade. Whether helping you strategize, implement, manage, or improve, there’s an offer for every job. Consultancy and implementation companies come in all formats, but they all have three key offerings in any mix or form:
1. They have outside-in data you don’t.
2. They have skills you might not have in the right dimension needed.
3. They have solutions and platforms.
It’s a win/win B2B ecosystem, nothing wrong with it at all. But forcefields are shifting, portfolios are widening, and AI is ushering in a new era.
Maturity in Corporations and Organizations
But have corporations and organizations become mature enough? Have we built agile operating models that are fluid and capable of encapsulating constant adaptations? Have they developed models that don’t push for incremental transformation that exhausts people? We have gone through GDPR, moved past CSRD, and now Gen AI is shifting forcefields… but are we truly ready for net zero? It is an infinite game of transformation, and we need to get better at it. On both sides. Business agility is the new digital transformation.
Constant Adaptation Climate
This climate of constant adaptation requires us to rethink some paradigms. Organizations, corporations, and leaders who have placed some weight on ‘tomorrow’ had a vision and acted upon it. They are ahead of the curve. They understand that thought leadership, empowered communities, and custom operating models that can absorb technology like a sponge are the new competitive advantages. They often have strong governance, are data-driven, have flatter but wider autonomy and accountabilities, and put people at the center of their universe, whether they are employees, customers, or partners.
I guess a catch-up wave will happen for any organization, supported by the consultancy business. And the consultancy business, going along for the journey, will have to reinvent itself as well.
My Unique Value Proposition
In this space, I want to share my experience, visions, and knowledge as a trustworthy co-navigator coming from ‘the other side,’ helping organizations set new directions, reinvent their futures, and take the first steps in crafting the right models. And help them ensure they can deliver on their mission and put people at the center. When people flourish, organizations thrive. I’m open to building new ecosystems and partnerships for today and tomorrow to enable any organization or corporation to move and ‘flex forward’!
More to learn and share, soon!