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Employees with the right skills make or break an enterprise, create brand impression, represent the company’s culture and values.
Disruptive technology is changing the contemporary work environment. Employees in traditional roles are now feeling insecure and disengaged. This dissonance threatens to take away the Competitive Advantage of companies.
Employee Engagement has emerged as one of the significant pillars on which the Competitive Advantage, Productivity, and Growth of an organization rests.
Disruptive technology and the resulting Digital Economy have uprooted many of the so-called traditional jobs. Artificial Intelligence (AI) making diagnosis on medical tests is an example. Does this mean that the doctors will lose their jobs? The answer is no. Doctors will have to train to gain new skills to work with AI.
Many other fields are, likewise, seeing work of employees being taken over by machines. Does that mean employees will lose jobs? Yes and no. There is an urgent need for managements to upgrade employee roles and skills as well as take other steps that make an AI-enabled Workforce.
Upskilling Strategy can create new roles for existing employees leveraging their experience and help engage employees in an otherwise adverse work environment.
Upskilling comprises of acquisition of new and pertinent competencies, made necessary because of the current or emerging work environment. Upskilling adds to the skills the employee already possesses. Contemporary examples of Upskilling may be provision of Digital skills, Analytical skills, or Organizational Transformation skills to the employees.
Contrastingly, Reskilling means teaching totally new skills to employees. Reskilling often mandates sending employees back to college or trade school to obtain a degree or certificate in a new field.
Expanding comprehension regarding how to effectively design and implement Upskilling projects may possibly determine society’s Knowledge Assets. The following 6-phase approach to Upskilling Strategy summarizes the key actions required to ensure effective design and implementation of Upskilling initiatives:
- Determine the circumstances and define the project.
- Create a skills plan.
- Evaluate and guide each employee.
- Pair jobs and skills and involve workers.
- Pick out trainings and trainers.
- Manage the project and examine output.
Let us explore some of the phases of the Upskilling Strategy a bit more.
Determine the Circumstances and Define the Project
Each circumstance is exclusive. For determining what is involved in making an Upskilling Strategy for that particular situation; coordination, decisions, and actions on a number of levels at the same time is essential.
All Upskilling initiatives, whether originated by the local government or a result of a situation faced by a single enterprise, have some shared elements.
Create a Skills Plan
The skills plan should center priorities on the categories of jobs being impacted by the disrupting technologies, personnel extremely at risk, companies that stand to gain the greatest.
Devising a skills plan helps determine jobs that will be affected by new technologies, savings realized because of automation, categories of new skills that will be required, time span for these changes to take place.
Determining above factors helps design the training initiative that focuses on specific strategic training goals.
Evaluate and Guide Each Employee
Change always conjures fears in employees and takes them out of their comfort zones. A well-thought-out assessment program that incorporates individual counselling and guidance can go a long way towards pacifying employee fears and assisting them move to an improved situation.
Interested in learning more about pitfalls and benefits of Upskilling, costs and ROI of Upskilling initiatives, details of the 6 phases of Upskilling Strategy? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Upskilling Strategy here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Strategy Development has followed a set path since the last century where a predetermined, rectilinear, and inflexible approach defined the process.
In the 21st century, however, business leaders are devising Strategy by evolving it into a probabilistic, repeated, and multifaceted process. An approach that can both endure and adapt to the growing pace of Change and Disruption that is manifesting itself in all industries.
Using gaming, AI, unremitting execution, and adjustment, with numerous scenarios to deliberate on, leaders create “Flywheels” that successfully tackle the not so deterministic world where the future is highly uncertain.
Flywheel is a concept originally used in the power industry to explain an origin of stabilization, energy storage, and momentum. The concept was propagated in the Strategy context by author Jim Collins. Employing the Flywheel concept, executives are able to validate assumptions through simulations as well as in the real-world scenarios.
Rather than using past assumptions and relying on instincts, using the Flywheel Strategy, decision makers exploit the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Analytics. They model the multitude of variables and produce a sizable number of simulations that propose many strategic bets, option-value bets, and no regret moves.
Instead of numbing decision-makers with a profusion of options they created, the simulations render elucidative insights. Also, the AI system is made more capable through learning mechanisms called Reinforcement Learning by selecting from the above strategies.
The collection of strategic choices is increased exponentially and cost of experimentation is diminished by this approach. Decision-makers are also empowered by this tool to make better decisions. Likewise, organizations are able to select accurate market approaches, pricing, advertising, and customer strategies for several cities and communities, over a time span.
Strategy Flywheels can be used as a basis for developing Growth Flywheels by organizations. The Flywheel Strategy approach consists of the following 3 phases:
- Sense: Market Sensing
- Think: Strategy Formulation and Investment Planning
- Act: Performance Evaluation and Learning
The dynamic and resilient Flywheel Strategy of Sense, Think, Act has 3 parts, which are based on establishing policies, contending with dynamic models within the background of environmental assumptions, and handling randomness.
Let us delve a little deeper into the 3 phases.
Sense: Market Sensing
Environmental assumptions are formulated through this procedure of extraneous Market Sensing.
Uncertainties to which probability assignment is difficult are the target of Market Sensing activity. Most urgent strategic matters can be detected and senior leaders consistently engaged in devising a response to them by recurrently sensing extraneous market changes.
Improvements in Machine Learning and cutting-edge AI can aid in not only expanding the quantity of information scanned but also enhancing the quality of content evaluated.
Think: Strategy Formulation and Investment Planning
Conventional strategic thinking can be aided in the new way of strategizing by the 3-phase process for Gamification—Design and Build, Simulate, and Evaluate.
A stable strategy consists of a portfolio of investments and projects with diverse risk profiles. Diverse risk profile of performance is a mix of:
- No-regret moves
- Strategic bets
- Option-value bets
Act: Performance Evaluation and Learning
Performance Evaluation and Learning from the efforts has to be carried out so that improvement in proficiency to sense the market and experiment with new ideas occurs.
Interested in learning more about how Amazon and Uber used Flywheels, how the Gamification approach is used in Flywheel Strategy formulation, and what constitutes a diverse risk profile? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Flywheel Strategy here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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“Strategy without Tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu
For effective Strategy Development and Strategic Planning, we must master both Strategy and Tactics. Our frameworks cover all phases of Strategy, from Strategy Design and Formulation to Strategy Deployment and Execution; as well as all levels of Strategy, from Corporate Strategy to Business Strategy to “Tactical” Strategy. Many of these methodologies are authored by global strategy consulting firms and have been successfully implemented at their Fortune 100 client organizations.
These frameworks include Porter’s Five Forces, BCG Growth-Share Matrix, Greiner’s Growth Model, Capabilities-driven Strategy (CDS), Business Model Innovation (BMI), Value Chain Analysis (VCA), Endgame Niche Strategies, Value Patterns, Integrated Strategy Model for Value Creation, Scenario Planning, to name a few.
Learn about our Strategy Development Best Practice Frameworks here.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one area considered by many executives to enable Automation and steer positive growth. A couple of years ago, most executives thought that deployment of Artificial Intelligence isn’t a big deal. However, revamping traditional systems, implementing AI, and scaling it, in reality, is not as simple as it seems.
A survey by PwC Research in 2020, which gathered responses of 1062 business leaders, validates that scaling and industrializing AI is not straightforward at all. Only 4% of the respondents asserted that they plan on implementing organization-wide AI in 2020. A year earlier, the same survey revealed 20% of the executives planning to do that. The survey shows a significant decrease in the number of senior leaders thinking of executing AI.
The reason for this dwindling interest in AI deployment is mainly because of the tough prerequisites necessary—contemplation, resources, preparedness, overhauling legacy systems, and integration of technology applications—for enterprise-wide AI implementation.
A robust AI Implementation Strategy needs to be first devised in order to assist the organizations in moving forward with their AI deployment plans. Research reveals 5 key priorities of AI Strategy that businesses should follow to position themselves as AI leaders and reap value from Transformation in future. These priorities not only highlight the key requirements for AI deployment but also pinpoint ways to maximize pay offs associated with the initiative:
- Boring AI
- AI-ready Workforce
- Responsible and Ethical AI
- AI Operationalization
- Business Model Innovation
Let’s delve deeper into a few of these key priorities.
Boring AI
One of the key reasons to employ AI, as cited by PwC research, is to automate routine administrative functions—e.g., using AI to pull information from tax forms, bills of lading, or invoices that can otherwise take up long hours of human effort. 44% of respondents revealed that AI will help them operate more efficiently.
To ensure AI adds value to the business, leaders should develop a strategy to identify the areas where AI can have a much deeper impact; build capabilities to do that; develop AI solutions, govern them, and embed them with existing systems.
AI-ready Workforce
Building or enhancing the capabilities of the workforce to become AI ready is critical today not only for technology enterprises but also for other businesses. Organizations should identify the skills required for AI and train their people to deploy AI solutions.
However, thinking of achieving this through traditional means of offering training sessions isn’t a viable strategy to tap the opportunities offered by AI. In addition to training people, organizations should cross-skill their people in multiple trades and provide them the opportunities to apply and hone in the skills learnt. In fact, organizations should reward people who apply what they learn into real-time problem-solving and productivity enhancement.
Responsible and Ethical AI
AI can be perilous if adequate understanding of its responsible use and necessary procedures to protect against its risks and negative usage are not taken. There are growing apprehensions around AI related risks e.g., biased algorithms, facial recognition tools, and deep fakes. As per PwC survey, a large majority of respondents, using AI routinely, declared readiness in their organizations in terms of taking sufficient measures to protect against AI risks.
However, in reality most organizations are quite far from implementing controls around data and decisions generated using AI. Just about 33% businesses mentioned having the ability to fully tackle risks associated with data powering AI, AI models, outputs, and reporting. It is imperative to have rigorous Risk Management processes in place to effectively use AI in the workplace and address the risks associated with it. AI risks can be mitigated by integrating processes, tools, and controls needed to address AI bias, explainability, security, accountability, and ethics.
Interested in learning more about the other key strategic priorities essential for AI deployment readiness? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Artificial Intelligence Strategy: Top Priorities here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Today’s C-suite is making a significant investment in new technologies. Yet, it is failing to achieve full value. Technologies are being deployed in pockets or silos without a Strategy for scaling the Innovation from these technologies across the enterprise. Unable to scale their Innovation, organizations are not realizing the full benefits of their technology investments.
An Innovation Achievement Gap exists. What is the Innovation Achievement Gap? This is the difference between potential and realized value from technology investments. When new technology does not achieve its full value, the Innovation Achievement Gap exists.
What Companies are Facing Today
The enormous challenge of Innovation Management with legacy systems is facing companies today. The conventional IT stack is not built or designed for the world of tomorrow. These are our software applications, data, hardware, telecommunications, facilities, and data centers. Today’s cloud-oriented world is full of analytics. There are sensors, mobile computing, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and billions of devices. Digital Transformation is changing the face ob business.
True, companies have started in the cloud. But the systems have not been adopted at the pace of technological change. As a result, there are distinct Leaders and Laggards when it comes to the adoption and penetration of technologies. Leaders are seeing more than 2X the revenue growth of Laggards. Laggards, on the other hand, often adopt technologies as individual point solutions without a strategy for enabling systems than can achieve enterprise-wide, game-changing innovation. While they might have pockets of brilliance, Laggards cannot maximize the value achieved. To be a Leader is to have an Innovation Leadership Mindset.
Simply said, adopting technologies does not guarantee success. This requires a systematic and sequential strategy in line with Next-gen Enterprise Systems. This needs an Innovation Leadership Mindset.
Doing Things Differently: The Innovation Leadership Mindset
Leaders differ much from Laggards. Embedded within their whole being is the Innovation Leadership Mindset.
Having an Innovation Leadership Mindset is clicking the future into place. There are 4 core pillars of the Innovation Leadership Mindset. Let’s define the first 2:
- Invest in innovation. Leaders invest more in innovation. Organizations with Innovation Leadership Mindset direct a greater percentage of its IT budget toward innovation. They accelerate investment innovation over the next 5 years. Leaders are far advanced from Laggards when it comes to investing in innovations. Leaders invest 93% on innovation and are expected to increase this to 97% in the next 5 years. On the other hand, laggards invest only 64% on innovation with a planned investment of 74% in the next 5 years.
- Develop Innovation Systems. Leaders show a consistently higher rate of technology adoption. Organizations with Innovation Leadership Mindset adopt new technologies earlier and develop higher levels of expertise. They prioritize and sequence implementation in optimal ways. Leaders have been found to adopt a fundamental general-purpose technology at a rate of 98%. An example of this is Artificial Intelligence. Laggards, on the other hand, have faith in a fast follower approach. They take technology haphazardly leading to patchwork across the organization.
There are 2 other core pillars that are equally important. One is Scale Technology Innovation and the other is Evolve Next-gen Enterprise Systems. Leaders that set their sights on innovating at scale target 3 times more business processes with technologies. Leaders have also drummed up their resources towards building the Next-gen Enterprise Systems.
Next-gen Enterprise Systems are systems that are capable of repeatable and scalable innovations. It is Boundaryless, Adaptable, and Radically Human. Outpacing others calls for organizations to start envisioning their own version of Boundaryless, Adaptable, and Radically Human Next-gen Enterprise Systems.
Interested in gaining more understanding of the Innovation Leadership Mindset? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about the Innovation Leadership Mindset here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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Disruptive technologies are helping companies automate work. Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence are taking up jobs which were in the past earmarked only for smart humans. Driver-less cars, automated check-in kiosks at airports, and autopilots steering the aircrafts are just few instances of how automation is transforming our world.
However, automation presents unique challenges that organizations need to identify and mitigate appropriately. These include costs associated with job losses; confidentiality of data; quality and safety risks stemming from automated processes; and regulatory implications.
Other critical factors to consider before investing in automation are adoption, pace of development of automation, and readiness of organizational leadership in redefining processes and roles to support automation.
The key question is how automation will impact our work in future. Should we anticipate benefits — e.g., efficiency gains and quality of life improvements — or dread further disruption of established business and job cuts?
Research by McKinsey suggests that Robotic Process Automation will impact 4 workplace areas the most:
- Workplace Activities
- (Re)definition of Work
- High-wage Jobs
- Creativity and Meaning
Now, let’s discuss the first two key areas in further detail.
Workplace Activities
Research findings (based on the US labor market data) reveal that the future does not likely hold complete automation of individual jobs, but rather automation of certain activities within specific occupations. The assumption that only routine, codifiable activities can be easily automated — and those that necessitate implicit knowledge will be unaffected — is misleading. Automation has already reached (or surpassed) the median level of human performance in some cases.
Capital or hardware-intensive industries — under stringent regulatory control — are slow and expensive to automate and need more time to reap return on investments. Whereas, the sectors where automation is mostly software based (e.g., financial services) may create value at a far lower cost and within rather shorter span of time.
(Re)definition of Work
The current level of automation can potentially transform a number of occupations to a certain level, but it requires redefinition of job roles and activities. Research reveals that only about 5% of occupations can be completely automated with the current level of technology.
In spite of this, automation can boost human productivity even in the highest paid occupations by taking care of repetitive daily tasks — e.g., analyzing paperwork, reports, data and evaluating applications based on criteria — and freeing up time for people to focus more on high value work that involves human emotions and creativity.
For instance, Automation and Machine Learning can automate diagnosis of common ailments, thereby enabling the doctors to concentrate more on acute or complicated problems. Likewise, lawyers can employ data mining tools to sift through piles of documentation to isolate the most relevant cases for their review.
Interested in learning more about the other key areas most impacted by Robotic Process Automation? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Impact of Robotic Process Automation here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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