In today’s turbulent times, only innovative organizations that embrace change management can thrive during times of chaos and uncertainty. Most organizations do NOT know how to seize opportunities and avoid threats, by leveraging their greatest competitive advantage…their PEOPLE. Following are actionable tactics that you can leverage IMMEDIATELY to build a highly innovative culture that will enable you to succeed in ANY climate of uncertainty.
Embrace Distance-Based Learning.
With advances in employee training technologies like video conferencing and Skype, the power of training employees on their terms one-on-one becomes more critical.
You need to be able to tie training into employee performance management plans, in order to quantify the impact of skills development for each employee using measurable metrics to quantify your organization’s return on its employee development investments.
Virtual Team Collaboration
With today’s geographically dispersed work forces the reliance on freelance and contract-based workers to supplement your full-time workforce, the importance of tapping into a global candidate talent pool working in a geographically dispersed fashion successfully drives the need for more collaborative efforts. To create a powerful virtual team, you need stronger leadership skills, better teamwork, and communications.
Improved collaboration technology enables even small firms to leverage employees and contracts based overseas.
Some freelancer websites for you to source talent from include:
- eLance
- TopCoder
- Upwork
- Toptal
- Freelancer
- Guru
- 99designs
There are many team collaboration tools available to you and your team:
- Chat Gape
- Sqwiggle
- Campfire
- Redbooth
- ActiveCollab
- Huddle
Other tools you and your people can leverage include:
- Meeting Tools You Can Take Advantage Of:
- Video Conferencing Tools
- Video & Audio Conferencing Tools
- Instant Messaging
- Document Co-creation Tools
- Social Network Tools
- Scheduling Tools
- Virtual Team Games
- Prelude
- VuirtuWall
You can source talent from a broader geographic range while also lower compensation costs and have flexibility by sourcing freelancers. Hiring people globally means they can help you to build your organizational brand internationally.
Co-opetition Is the “New Normal.”
Given rapidly evolving technological innovations, it is often advisable to partner with key players who possess expertise (and intellectual capital) in certain spaces, and compete with others (and some times those very same strategic partners) in other technological areas. Firms that embrace co-opetition are often leaders in technology and include the likes of Microsoft, Google and Apple. They partner in some areas, and compete in others.
Vendor / Supplier Strategic Partnerships:
Your vendors and suppliers possess an expertise your organization may lack, thus the need to form more strategic and value-driven relationships with them. Rather than attempting to squeeze/negotiate the most favorable terms from them, why not consider them an asset and nurture your relationships to maximize your relationships as a lasting competitive advantage.
Treat Your Employees Like Clients, and Clients Like Employees:
Organizations claim they value their employees, but often do not follow through on such grandiose claims. One way to value your employees is to treat them like clients. Strive constantly to determine how you can best serve their needs, and consider assigning key (human resources dept.) staff to specific (groups, Departments) of employees, to learn their needs and deliver exceptional service.
Treating your most valuable clients like employees means sharing often hidden information in full transparency to disclose their account information, work with them directly to see how you can best serve their needs.