Month: March 2021

IT Leadership Lessons Learned During Covid

As the corporate focus shifts from response to repair now that the Covid 19 vaccine is becoming more available, leaders look to lessons they learned and prepare for what’s next. In this article by Clint Boulton for CIO Magazine, a publication about and for IT Leaders, Clint speaks with 7 IT leaders from companies including, HP, RSM International, Johnson Controls, and McAfee to hear from them what the past 12 months have taught them and what that means for their business. Here are a summary and snippet. You can read the article in its entirety here.

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The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, and soon after IT leaders rushed to mitigate the impact on their businesses, marshaling teams to work remotely.

CIOs boosted infrastructure capacity, shipped laptops to residences, and migrated applications small and large to software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and cloud software. Eighty-two percent of CIOs surveyed say they have implemented new technologies and IT strategies during the pandemic, according to IDG’s 2021 State of the CIO survey.

Beyond implementing new technologies at scale, CIOs embraced the mental-health hurdles associated with managing remote teams whose work-life balance has been disrupted.

“Like most organizations, the pandemic took us by surprise,” says Paul Herring, global chief innovation officer of accounting firm RSM International. “We had to adjust quickly.”

Here IT leaders reflect on what they learned from a year of leading teams during the pandemic, as well as how work will likely change going forward.

(more…)

March 28, 2021 / Articles We Like / Blog / HR / Talent Management

Talent Management and Post-Pandemic Rules

As executive coaches working with high-tech leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area we hear many opinions, ideas, and theories about the post-pandemic work world, especially as it relates to a notion of “new normal”.

As such, I wanted to share this particular article, “The Post-Pandemic Rules of Talent Management”, published in Harvard Business Review. Here, writers Becky Frankiewicz and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic clearly outline data-based trends and focuses on two critical areas – building culture outside of the office and the ever-more-challenging work-life integration. The article, originally published early in the pandemic considers an unforeseeable physical return to the office.

At the time of publication, the idea of a completely remote workforce felt abrupt, unsettling, out of control, and abnormal. Today, an entire team working remotely or hybrid no longer feels unthinkable. It’s become a reality and potentially an incredibly productive strategy.

Now that the talent pool can be fished from virtually anywhere leaders recognize the potential skills, experience, and capabilities they can access, from anywhere. And, thanks to technology, the tools for managing remote talent are easily and effectively accessible. They can remove the idea of costly employee relocation from the hiring process.

But what about workplace culture? Is it possible to build a culture when only half or even no employees step foot in the office?

See how HBR breaks down Covid 19’s culture correction.

Here’s a snippet:

At the onset of the Covid-19 crisis, talent literally left the building, and we’re now beginning to realize that in many places, it is unlikely to come back. Technology is moving humanity away from the office and back into homes across our nation every day. We are building culture outside of buildings, with work that supports life on a more even playing field, with talent that can come from anywhere. As we look to the future, it’s time to unleash this new way of working for the long-term, with a focus on well-being, equality, and productivity that can work for both employers and employees long after this crisis ends. It’s time to embrace the truly global talent pool that is available to drive growth, regardless of where people call home.

Over the past decades, rapid digital transformation has enabled organizations to completely reimagine the way they work and manage talent. From reliable video conferencing platforms to digital collaboration software, to ubiquitous cloud-based connectivity, and a data-centric approach to strategic decision-making powered by the synergy between artificial and human intelligence, an imaginary worker from the 1950s would surely marvel at the current landscape of work as if they were in a Black Mirror episode.

Find the article in its entirety here: “The Post-Pandemic Rules of Talent Management,” by Becky Frankiewicz and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic in HBR.

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Would you like assistance navigating your company’s new normal post-Covid 19? Take a look at our executive leadership coaching programs for both one on one coaching and group workshops.

See how we can help you build an unstoppable, highly competitive, and innovative corporate culture