Thriving through change: mindsets and skills

Living with extreme change has become our new normal. Though the pandemic might have finally entered our collective rear views, its era-defining consequences were only the first in a series of disruptions that threaten to topple and remould the way we do business, interact with our customers and employees, and define how we live our purpose.

Structural supply chain issues, ballooning inflation and cost of living, rising interest rates, the democratisation of AI and the climate crisis are just some of the major challenges that have (and will) impact every business. It can be overwhelming to realise that the only thing we can rely on is the inevitability of drastic change.

The temptation in these moments is to cocoon into survival mode, picking off small product tweaks, optimisations and cost-cutting measures. While this is a temporary fix, it does little to ensure long-term success and growth.

At Magnetic we know forward-thinking, human-centric innovation can help weather the storm. It can equip businesses to confidently outcompete their peers through products and services that meet shifting demands and business landscapes. To stay ahead of today’s constant challenges, businesses need to grasp change and adapt, experimenting with new tools and new ways of working and thinking.

But we’re not naive. We know this is all easier said than done. Teams are overstretched and under-pressure, talent continues to churn, and though there are tiny green shoots of growth in the economy, there’s still nervousness and hesitancy.

How do you make the case for experimentation, innovation and investment? How do you inspire other people to join the charge?

Changing mindsets

A leader’s role is to hold the vision and light the fire for change. This gets a bit trickier when people become resistant to change during uncertain times. It’s how we’re wired to be when the status quo seems the least disruptive course of action.

This immobility is made worse when the case for change is unclear. If people cannot see how the future will become brighter after the shift, they are unlikely to put the effort in to make the change worthwhile. What transpires is a vicious cycle of half-baked executions or well-meaning yet vague strategic moves, inevitably ending up lowering morale and eroding confidence.

Additionally, we’re built to be biased towards short-term results. If the outcomes aren’t fast enough, people lose faith in the direction of travel, abandon efforts too quickly and feel like the whole thing was one big waste of time. At Magnetic we encourage the people and businesses we work with to embed resilience into their innovation strategy by testing fast and failing cheap, validating key assumptions and iterating on ideas with customer evidence. However, a strategy is only as resilient as the people who action it. Telling a compelling story and creating a change mindset within your business sets a vision to follow that can combat our innate short-termism.

How do you move from keeping your head above water to leading and steering teams to brighter horizons? It requires us to resist the unconscious processes in our brain that we’ve developed in order to make life easier. Change starts with a mindset shift.

Influencer programmes are one of the tools and techniques at the heart of change – from top down and bottom up. We created Just, a powerful new brand with a strong social purpose at its core, following quite a stressful, painfully slow merger between two fierce rivals. Employee engagement was at rock bottom, and belief had been destroyed.

In order to regain sufficient trust to launch a new brand, we recruited Just Makers, employees who were already natural influencers. We worked with the Just Makers to empower them around a common purpose. Thanks to the their influence, changes were made smoothly, meaning we achieved a ￡40m merger savings target a year earlier than planned. Even though many jobs were at risk, employee engagement went up by 16%.

But how can we construct a compelling story to convince a critical mass to believe? How can we get people excited to make change happen, and turn ideas into action?

Building skills

Along with the shift in mindsets is the just-as-tricky need to ensure the right people have the right skills.

The workplace has changed more rapidly in the past three years than in the previous three decades, and an estimated 60% of us will need to learn new capabilities. The pace of change has to be matched by the pace of upskilling, and time is of the essence. It might shock you to realise that ChatGPT launched less than a year ago, and brought with it new interpretations of the way employees will interact with AI and machine learning in their day-to-day. Who knows what we might look back on this time next year?

So what skills are needed in the age of uncertainty? A report this year by the World Economic Forum stated that the two most important skills employees need today are analytical thinking (which includes problem solving) and creative thinking. Resilience, flexibility, the need to be more agile during unpredictable change, motivation, curiosity and a commitment to life-long learning rounded off the list.

The employee of the future wants to learn how their business works, how they can contribute meaningfully to purpose and impact, demonstrate an enthusiasm for their development, and be comfortable evolving their role in response to ever-changing business environments.

So-called ‘soft’ skills are therefore as critical as hard skills. And hard skills are as varied as ever. Companies are prioritising upskilling workforces in AI, big data, leadership, social influence, design and user experience. So too will there be a need to understand and act on sustainability; 87% of leaders expect to increase their organisation’s investment in sustainability over the next two years. This won’t just be in technology but in domain expertise, as the issue of the climate crisis takes centre stage in the minds of businesses and their customers.

Overwhelming? Maybe so, but one thing leaders should avoid is jumping on every bandwagon, demanding that something be done immediately with the shiniest toy in the pram. This leads to wasted investment, unfocused prioritisation, and a mismanagement of employee skills, with possible lay-offs (Meta’s workforce cuts last year come to mind). Avoid temptation, and explore with intent.

Where are the gaps in your business? What skillsets could grow existing or adjacent value propositions? Where might be best for you to focus? The first place to start might be with a problem statement: exactly what problem are you trying to solve by investing in a new skillset?

Join the conversation

Join our Exchange discussion on Wednesday 1 November from 8.00–9.00am, in our London studio. It’s a chance to have some breakfast and enjoy a stimulating conversation with bold and interesting cross-industry leaders from our network, exploring how to change mindsets and build skills in order to thrive through change.