The Art of Pivoting for CEOs. Managing Complexity and Change

The business environment is becoming increasingly complex for business leaders. In the face of rapidly changing markets, global crises, geopolitical landscapes, industry regulations, and technological advancements, it’s easy for business dealings to become complex.

While complexity is essential to business success, too much complexity and change can impede growth.

Business partners, employers, and customers may jump through too many hoops to access their needs, leading to frustration and abandonment. Complexity may also create departmental silos as staff focus solely on tackling their jobs and how to keep them as opposed to collaborating with others and innovating for the good of the company.

How can CEOs manage complexity and change while meeting the expectations of shareholders, business partners, employees, and consumers?

Here are five tips.

One: Redefine Employee Roles

Redefine management and staff roles to correlate with your desired complexity or change. Not only will this minimise role duplication and lack of accountability, but it will also help identify employee capabilities. Some individuals can tackle change more effectively than others. These ambidextrous people will keep the business operations ticking while examining innovative ways to grow and improve.

Two: Communicate Effectively

Harvard Business School research revealed that up to 95 per cent of corporate workers have little or no understanding of their company’s strategy. Develop clear departmental objectives (a one-pager will do) that articulate how the team’s contribution and successful performance align with your organisation’s overall strategy. Amplify your listening by leveraging new and informal channels to encourage staff engagement. I have found this gives great results.

Three: Aim for Weekly Meetings

Rather than wait for annual appraisals, implement continuous performance management meetings where your managers meet with you every week. Through these meetings, you can identify obstacles hindering the realisation of departmental and overall objectives and address them promptly. The frequency of these meetings means they don’t need to be overly long or too formal—10 minutes should be enough.

Four: Develop Dexterity

Changes and complexities often create a sense of loss of control and uncertainty, leading management teams to introduce new rules and processes. These reactions mostly turn counterproductive, further complicating internal structures and processes, hindering productivity and unmotivating employees.

Re-examine your business model to identify areas you can simplify, promote flexibility, reduce excessive bureaucracy, and make customer interfaces friendlier.

Five: Reward Innovation

Your staff drive your processes and interact with customers so they have a clearer understanding of what needs improvement and how to achieve it. Creating a culture that encourages, recognises, and embraces innovative ideas drives employees to explore their creativity and develop solutions that contribute to your overall strategy and business differentiation.

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