In Argentina, during the first seventy days of this year, a phrase composed in Spanish of three words has been ...
In Argentina, during the first seventy days of this year, a phrase composed in Spanish of three words has been heard a lot. The phrase has a great impact despite comprising only seven letters in those three words.
“They can’t see it! (No la ven!)” is frequently heard in the media, said in social or business gatherings, read on social networks, and even used by kids to make jokes.
It refers to an inability to see the obvious. It denotes a process of denial, lack of acceptance, resistance to change. It indicates a lack of understanding attributed to living in a previous paradigm.
Tom Hadley, a British consultant with whom I have the pleasure of coinciding at Qintessence Finances, talks about macro trends/micro lens. By using this vivid term, he also focuses on the perspective. Without seeing the macro trends, it’s futile to use micro lenses.
During these days, I couldn’t help but associate this expression with the world of businesses. It is very evident that, in some organizations, there is an incapacity or denial to see. To deeply understand the metamorphosis of work. To visualize the determinant social changes that came to stay with the technological revolution, population aging, and the pandemic.
Work is no longer what it used to be. This is the title of Albert Cañigueral’s latest book, but it’s also a fact. Simple, objective, conclusive, indisputable.
Many companies seem to ignore a revolution that is happening right in front of their noses, before their eyes, in broad daylight. It’s as if the whirlwind of daily life blinds them to the boiling happening in the BANI world.
They continue to think about employment instead of seeing different forms of work.
They continue to think about employees instead of seeing a pool of talent adding value from different places and in different ways.
They continue to think about schedules instead of seeing objectives.
They continue to think about certifications instead of seeing competencies, sets of skills, abilities, attitudes, that need to be continually developed throughout life.
They continue to think about localized work with a “brick and mortar” logic without seeing that work is a task to be done and not necessarily a place to go anymore. Work has been delocalized, digital transformation is happening, flexibility is non-negotiable, and all this is challenging old leadership skills.
They continue to seek commitment, “wearing the company’s jersey,” the lifelong employee, instead of seeing engagement, value proposition, listening that allows designing flexible proposals to be the first choice for talent seeking development in different stages of their lives.
They continue in a paradigm where a person studies, applies their skills for a productive period, and retires, and they don’t see that this whole cycle is changing, longer, and more complex, with people spending more time in physical and cognitive fullness who will relate to organizations in different ways, who will have to be trained throughout their lives, and who are already more demanding with their time.
They continue to define profiles laden with stereotypes without questioning it; without seeing the richness of diversity and its direct correlation with creativity and innovation.
They continue to promote Human Resources departments, a toxic and obsolete oxymoron that does not allow them to see the People department, focus on them, and increase the possibility of innovating to disruption.
They continue to think that there is a talent shortage and do not see that talent exists but has decided to work differently.
They continue to think in linear and competitive terms and do not see the benefits of exponentiality and collaboration.
They continue to see themselves as a delimited and closed unit and not as part of an ecosystem of extended enterprises generating value chains.
They continue to seek stability that no longer exists and do not see that uncertainty no longer generates so much fear and that people want to be part of a change.
They continue to see technology with a dystopian lens and not as the co-pilot that can take people and the organization to the next evolutionary stage.
They continue in inertia, clinging to old categories and at a constant speed, heading directly towards the iceberg.
They can’t see it! They are Quixotes too busy fighting windmills. This conceptual blindness keeps them away from smart working and Industry 4.0 competitiveness, leaving them vulnerable to 4.0 organizations designed from a technological basis that promote diversity in the broadest sense of the concept, manage exponentiality, and focus on people in all their projects.
In this moment of transition between what still hasn’t fully died and what hasn’t fully been born, being able to see equals survival. Managing an organization from the old paradigm is, in the medium term, signing the death certificate. Making friends with the opportunities offered by the new paradigm is the possibility of reaching unforeseen places. It allows dreaming and forming smart organizations with a global vision. This, for a region like ours, is unprecedented.
The implicit reward in the challenge is extraordinary.
It’s true that it’s not easy to dare to take the first step when often there isn’t even clarity about what it is. But it’s also true that assuming the risk is essential.
It’s good to illuminate the path before starting to walk. Lights and looks.
Being willing to see with a different light.
Perhaps, in reality, that is the first step on the path of transformation.
