Samir Nakra
Future of work
Resisting change has never been an option for any species or organization. So
how do we manage this change in an organizational context?
T
here’s been massive disrup-
tion in the last few years
with technology impacting
virtually every aspect of life.
Faster computing and newer
technologies are creating newer ways to
serve customers, reducing inefficiencies
and impacting bottom-lines. We can’t avoid
the reality of these technologies anymore,
which are run on intelligent algorithms
that analyze user-inputs and develop in
real-time. It’s obvious that the next wave
of technology will impact the way we do
things and impact jobs; taking away some
and adding some others to the economy.
We can already see organization structures
become flatter and team sizes smaller, with
people working in remote, or on contract
for specific assignments. All this will
impact the way we have known work e.g.
leadership, performance, careers, value
frameworks…all will get impacted by this
wave of change.
Resisting change has never been an
option for any species or organization,
and evolution is testimony to the fact that
anyone who did resist change, perished.
So how do we manage this change in an
organizational context? The answer could
lie in systems thinking i.e. looking at the
inter-linkages of systems and balancing
the harder aspects of change with the
softer aspects of mindsets and culture.
So how do we do this? The 7S Frame-
work of McKinsey provides us one such
systemic model that can help us manage
change in a holistic manner. It consists of
the Hard Elements of Strategy, Struc-
ture, Systems and the Soft Elements of
Shared Values, Style, Staff and Skills. An
approach could be to run a diagnostic to
assess current awareness and adaptability
to this change. Needless to say, most busi-
nesses get the Hard Elements right, but it’s
the Soft Elements that don’t get adequate
planning or attention. There could be a
reason for this....the soft elements are dif-
ficult to measure and even more difficult
to implement as they are deeply wired into
people’s mindsets and behavior! It’s there-
We can’t avoid
the reality of new
technologies at the
workplace anymore,
which are run on
intelligent algo-
rithms that analyze
user-inputs and
develop in real-time
fore imperative that business along-with
HR and OD isolate these measures while
designing the intervention.
The OD team could design a diagnostic
or do an analysis using the existing organi-
zational survey, industry reports, run a
scenario planning workshop along with
the top team to arrive at a roadmap for this
change. The scenario planning workshop
can be quite useful and should be designed
around the business strategy and analyze
the cultural impact of the change, on the
way people do things. These ways in which
people do things are the softer elements of
change. Scenario planning is something
that the Armed Forces use during sand
models and war games and is extremely
effective. Some challenging questions that
could come up in such a workshop are
“How the organization drives core values
with an increasingly distributed and
diverse workforce?” “What style of leader-
ship would organizations need to build, to
manage performance with remote teams?”
“How do they see the skills matrices chang-
ing on the back of the evolving business
landscape?” Some of these questions will
throw up interesting scenarios which will
link back to the people plan.
S t o r y t e l l i n g
Outputs from this diagnostics and
design work will flow into the People
Plan, which should include work-streams
that address the Soft Elements of change.
These work-streams will link-up to impact
the overall organizational readiness and
culture for the future. Interim pit-stops
should be designed into this journey and
draw from Business and HR Analytics on
elements like performance data, customer
surveys, managerial effectiveness, attri-
tion and employee health surveys. HR/OD
should then measure needle change and
present this data to business to provide
another nudge and also link this back into
the overall design.
“Culture eats strategy for lunch” and
that is what organizations will have to
work on to adapt to the new landscape. The
changes to come will not just impact tech-
nology, but the way people interact with
each other and get things done. They will
impact culture and focusing on this aspect
of change will pay rich dividends.
About the author
Samir Nakra is Director - Performance
Excellence at RBS
MARCH 2018 | 43