Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>AS change moves at breakneck speed, the need for every leader to learn fast, adjust quickly, implement swiftly and adapt with speed is inevitable.<\/p>\nThe big question is: how do we master change? In this article, NewsDay Weekender columnist Jonah Nyoni (JN) ingaged Jon Foster-Pedley (JF), the dean of Henley Business School in Africa on his insights on disruptions, change, agility and effectiveness.<\/p>\n
This year, Henley Business School Africa has been recognised as both a leading educational institute and a thriving business, winning the Large Corporate Award at the 2024 British Lions Business Excellence Awards, hosted by the British Chamber of Business in Southern Africa.<\/p>\n
Find excerpts of the interview below:<\/p>\n
JN: Leaders and organisations must disrupt.What is disruption? How do we disrupt and remain excellent leaders?<\/b>
\nJF<\/b>: Well, I think it would probably be wrong to confuse excellence with non-disruption.<\/p>\n
An excellent organisation is one that\u2019s always producing greater value.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019re not innovating and changing, how can you produce excellent value?<\/p>\n
An excellent organisation should always be innovating. Innovation is sometimes disruptive incremental.<\/p>\n
Some people like to disrupt for the sake of it, to make themselves think they are innovative, but that\u2019s not necessarily being innovative at all.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s innovative is producing bigger and better value.<\/p>\n
If the context has changed, and you can\u2019t change with it, your value will go down.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t just go in with sharp elbows to push people out of the way. Who would buy that?<\/p>\n
Just because we have got something new, it has to be really, really useful for people.<\/p>\n
We spend a lot of time working out what people need, and if you continue with that, you are continually evolving.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, you need to disrupt something that is becoming stale.<\/p>\n
However, if you never become stale, you are always moving ahead.<\/p>\n
People talk about disruption because they are locked into one way of doing business, if they cannot escape, somebody comes with a cheaper way.<\/p>\n
Those who cannot adapt are left behind.<\/p>\n
The best way of doing business is to continually evolve.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to do massive, expensive disruptions.<\/p>\n
JN: Warren Bennis once said, \u201cTrying to oppose change is as good as trying to oppose the weather; it\u2019s fruitless.\u201d What is your advice to the leader or manager who needs to learn how to master change?<\/b>
\nJF<\/b>: Well, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any magic formula, but there is a lot of common sense around that. Change is cyclical.<\/p>\n
If you get stale, your organisation crumbles and you are out of touch; people tend to walk away.<\/p>\n
If you innovate, everyone wants to be around you and your organisation.<\/p>\n
If you do it well, you start to create more value for your clients.<\/p>\n
People recognise that and come to you.<\/p>\n
Simply, you have to innovate in a way that helps people.<\/p>\n
Businesses must understand their clients, their industry and stay ahead of the game by scanning their environment.<\/p>\n
If you innovate without structure, it becomes chaotic.<\/p>\n
When you are in chaos, there will be no systems, no purchase orders and you will obviously lose profit.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get organised. Let\u2019s have structure. Let\u2019s have discipline.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s have more processes and systems.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if you have too many systems and do that for too long without innovating, you become stale again and then chaotic.<\/p>\n
You need to continually innovate while maintaining enough structure.<\/p>\n
If people get tired of what they are seeing, you are out of touch.<\/p>\n
Managers need to understand their clients\u2019 problems and know that success comes from solving those problems and providing solutions.<\/p>\n
If you are out of touch, you can fall into the trap of investing heavily in outdated technology or factories.<\/p>\n
So, managers need to read widely, think, imagine, stay calm and understand what value is.<\/p>\n
Continually service your organisation like you would a car to avoid costly collapses.<\/p>\n
The danger is that organisations get into hierarchies and power blocks, focusing internally while the storm clouds are coming.<\/p>\n
Prepare, stay awake, stay alive, stay alert and understand that survival is due to your capacity to learn and adapt.<\/p>\n
Being a boss or manager means providing value, not just holding titles.<\/p>\n
If industries collapse, society collapses.<\/p>\n
Directors, managers and government officials must continually refresh.<\/p>\n
JN: John Kotter, in his book <\/b>Accelerate, speaks about four things: speed, agility, efficiency and effectiveness. Talking about speed, Artificial Intelligence is bringing a lot of change. Should we move with speed, or should we learn with speed?<\/b>
\nJF<\/b>: For a lot of leaders, they sacrifice speed for something else. Speed is a real competitive advantage and requires some courage.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re good at organising linearly, with systems, processes and protocols, but they can bloat into bureaucracies.<\/p>\n
Organisations need to work fast but not move fast and break things.<\/p>\n
Study agility and adapt it to your organisation.<\/p>\n
Speed is a competitive advantage, but you also need to do things well.<\/p>\n
You need to know a lot of entrepreneurial stuff. You don\u2019t have to be perfect all the time; move fast and do things well enough.<\/p>\n
Shut the door as long as no one is coming.<\/p>\n
JN: Let\u2019s talk about structure. What is the importance of having the right people surrounding you as a leader?<\/b>
\nJF<\/b>: You should always get the best thinkers and actors around you.<\/p>\n
They are the ones who can tackle challenges and think through things properly.<\/p>\n
You need people who can think first through principles all the time.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been in rooms full of clever people who collectively think very stupidly.<\/p>\n
When recruiting, take references, understand and be careful with your interviewing process.<\/p>\n
Talent is crucial and you need to think through it very carefully.<\/p>\n
Leaders need to study, read, watch videos and learn continuously, especially as they become more senior.<\/p>\n
Listen to podcasts, reflect, think and talk to people. Are you good at learning?<\/p>\n
To be an effective executive or manager, be excellent at learning and understanding your business.<\/p>\n
Source: NewsDay<\/b><\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jonah Nyoni Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. AS change moves at breakneck speed, the need for every leader to learn fast, adjust quickly, implement swiftly and adapt with speed is inevitable. The big question is: how do we master change? In this article, NewsDay Weekender columnist Jonah Nyoni (JN) ingaged Jon Foster-Pedley (JF), the dean of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":100395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-100396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\n
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