Digital transformation isn’t about evolving your business and company culture slowly – it’s about adapting, surviving, and thriving.

Digital transformation has been the focus of many businesses as we collectively move through the COVID-19 pandemic and adapt to new working styles. Most new technological adoptions at the workplace have been to increase productivity, manage accountability, and a better transition to effective remote work.

Despite digital transformation appearing as linear in this COVID-19 example, this pattern shouldn’t be thought of as the norm. As digital transformation and technology become more commonplace, digital transformation can be a “mass extinction” event for businesses. Leadership risks losing in the digital transformation age if they fail to adapt – ultimately, risking elimination.

What does digital transformation mean?

Digital transformation may look different for every company. This difference in appearance is what makes it challenging to create an all-encompassing definition. Simply put, digital transformation can be defined as the integration of digital technology into any area of business.

This digital transformation fundamentally affects how businesses operate and how their goods/services are delivered to customers.

Beyond the implementation of technology, digital integration requires changes in leadership, organizational structure, and company culture. It impacts the way that managers and employees ultimately function and complete their jobs. This results in the need for new processes and procedures that span the entire organization.

Interconnectivity between devices and data will ultimately help to drive better analytics. Digital transformation will also drive mergers and acquisitions as companies begin to see overlap that makes sense in more ways than just the goods or services that they provide customers.

Digital transformation is the biggest hurdle (and opportunity) that businesses and managers must face moving into 2023 and beyond.

Top 3 Trends in Digital Transformation for Businesses Today

1)    Cybersecurity and Data Governance

As hacking and other digital threats become more common, cybersecurity and proper data governance are top of mind for businesses of all sizes. Securing data and ensuring that you have the proper checks and balances in place to protect your customers and employees is critical.

Moving into 2023 and beyond, cybersecurity tools that are available to smaller businesses will become a major digital transformation trend. This will become an everyday piece for leadership to consider implementing just like HR and marketing practices.

2)    Cloud Computing

Computing in the cloud is also another trend in digital transformation which allows for greater power with remote work and efficiency of hardware. Cloud computing costs have also dropped significantly over the last two years which has made the cost barrier to entry much lower than previously thought.

The technology of cloud computing also offers security and speed that allows for businesses to pivot and adapt at a faster rate than previously thought.

3)    AI and Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are two terms that have been thrown around for the last decade with minimal weight for the average company. However, as this tech continues to improve every day, it is being implemented in various areas with different capabilities. Some of the current commercial uses of AI include financial services, healthcare and medicine, public safety, military, and manufacturing.

As the technology continues to evolve, look to AI and machine learning to become more regular in almost every workplace in various capacities. Consider getting ahead of the curve by researching if there are any current uses of these technologies within your current organization.

Reasons why Digital Transformation Matters for your Company Culture

• Improve customer experience
• Automate business processes internally and externally
• Focus employee attention on things that matter
• Increase efficiency
• Encourage mergers, partnerships, and acquisitions
• Gather more data for better decisions and business cases
• There could be major drawbacks to not embracing digital transformation

As stated above, digital transformation is both an opportunity and a threat for businesses today. Corporate leadership and managers would benefit from considering how digital transformation and tech are going to impact their unique business spaces ahead of time. Anticipate trends and begin research or implementation early to ensure that your business is maximizing a great opportunity to survive and thrive.

We would love to hear your comments.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Disruption in the workplace can come from anywhere. Be it a global pandemic, an office renovation project, or a software roll-out… here’s how to lead your team through disruptions.

Managers and leadership across the globe have been dealing with “unprecedented times” for the last two years. COVID-19 has been a significant disruption in just about every aspect of our lives. While the pandemic’s disruption has come on a mega-scale, workplace disruptions are nothing new for managers or leadership. Now, more than ever, it’s incredibly important to have the competencies to navigate managerial decision-making.

At the helm of many of the decision-making opportunities in a workplace is the CEO. However, that’s not the only manager who should have relevant skills and competencies in managing disruptions.

The more trained and engaged that managers are in disruption mitigation, the healthier that an overall workplace environment can be.

In these uncertain times, how can leadership optimize better decision-making?

Here’s where to start.

Address Mental Leadership Challenges During Disruption

• Internalized Cognitive Biases – Where managers consciously (or unconsciously) apply biases to their current situation, despite each situation is unique to previous disruptions.
• Aversion to Change Management – Change is hard. Embracing and managing a team of employees through change is even harder. Managers who struggle with change management competencies will have a challenging time moving through disruptions.
• Hesitancy to Directly Communicate – Direct communication with staff, leadership, and stakeholders is incredibly important to maintaining some semblance of normalcy through a disruption. Lack of, hesitancy, or complete failure of communication is a great way to lose buy-in from those that you’ll need it from most during a disruptive time.
• Failure to Create Contingency Plans – Considering all avenues of outcomes is important to expertly pivot and react to disruption in the workplace. Be prepared for situations beyond the one that you’re dealing with. For example, plan appropriately if an office renovation will take longer than initially planned. How will you accommodate displaced employees whose regular work schedules have been disrupted?

3 Routes to Better Decision-Making during Disruptions

1)         Focus on Building the Right Decision-Making Team

Making the right decisions in leadership means having the correct team and voices included in those decisions. After a potential (or impending) disruption is identified, the first step should be to consider which perspectives should be involved when making the decisions around the disruption plan.

2)         Gather Data and Metrics to Build your Case

Making the right decisions means making informed decisions. The more information, resources, and research that you gather around the disruption (and resulting decision) makes it airtight. If there are rumblings or questions around the result of the decision-making process, having the right information to rely on can be a major lifesaver as a manager.

3)         Recognize if you need External Guidance

Not sure if you have the internal team for optimized decision-making around your impending disruption? Consider a consultant or tap into your professional network to see if anyone else has relevant experience with a similar disruption. External guidance can bring in a fresh perspective with less bias than those who are experiencing the disruption in real-time.

Please share with your colleagues & staff.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

How Managers Can Help Employees Set Meaningful Goals.

Meta Description: Discover how setting high goals improves performance by inspiring individuals to work harder & smarter resulting in a greater focus and prioritizing their work.

Employee goal-setting is a crucial responsibility for company managers/Leadership. By setting measurable and attainable goals, a manager can guide improvement in employee performance and actively help strengthen the business and enhance its reputation as an employer of choice.

Here are some suggestions to set goals in the workplace to help you make these possible benefits a reality this year:

1. Guide Employees on how they can have an Influence.

Present the company’s main goals over six months, and discuss with your team members to share their knowledge and ideas on how they can assist the company in achieving these objectives.

Managers should avoid creating these for their employees. Let each employee create the goal based on the company’s mission and assist them along the way. Help employees focus their goals and utilize their competencies.

2. Discover Common Ground Between Employee and Business Goals.

Encourage employees to discuss their own goals and consider how working towards them can help the company achieve its goals, according to Jennifer Tardy, CEO of Jennifer Tardy Consulting LLC, located in Bowie, Md. When you have a one-on-one discussion, encourage employees to think about ways to utilize the interest or skill they’re trying to improve to fill in a gap within the team. Let them consider how their interests might be a good fit for the workplace.

3. Help Employees accomplish their Goals.

Allowing employees to work towards their goals is a part of great company culture. Encourage employees to break down their goals into small-scale achievements or milestones, which should be celebrated.

If a goal doesn’t get met, don’t simply put it on the following year’s list. Instead, it’s essential to determine why a goal was not met and then discuss how to modify the goal/purpose to ensure it’s achievable.

4. Show Employees the Advantage of Getting a Goal.

Shoemaker (a women’s executive coach in Greensboro) said, encouraging employees to consider how achieving that goal could make their lives better. Perhaps they’ll be more confident, acquire new skills, or even earn recognition. “Help your employees see the end goal not as an endpoint, but the start of something that can be different and better for them,” she said.

Conclusion

Employee goals are the basis of the adequate performance of management. Goals can help employees align with the mission of the organization. They also aid employees in seeing how their contribution fits the bigger picture and what impact they have on the business. Goals guide and direct employee efforts, inspire performance, enhance performance evaluation and strategic planning. Without the proper goals, performance and engagement will suffer.

We would love to hear your comments.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Traits of Leadership That CEOs Should Avoid

Meta Description: CEOs who acknowledge they’re portraying poor leadership traits can devise a better way forward. Learn strategies to identify the negative characteristics.

Self-Examination of Bad Characteristics

CEOs tend to concentrate on the positive aspects of their business. But, in the end, it’s the best place to begin when it comes to learning from the past and taking away lessons from mistakes and successes.

However, CEOs can also benefit from being able to spot the signs of bad characteristics of leadership. When they approach this self-examination with a vulnerable and open mind, they can create a more effective way to lead in the future.

5 bad leadership qualities CEOs should avoid:

1. You don’t accept responsibility and blame others

An executive’s dedication to accountability for mistakes can boost your credibility and confidence. However, your position and power have nothing to do with your appearance. They are everything dependent on how you work and what you do to your employees.

The leadership is responsible for everything. Therefore, leaders should learn from their mistakes in their decision-making instead of pointing at the wrong person.

2. You act like a tyrant

This is a type of lousy leader that stands by itself. They aren’t leaders; nobody likes them.

Tyrants rarely succeed; harming or insulting others undermines confidence. Influential leaders are dedicated to their contributors as well as the entire team.

Introspection and comparing/contrasting right vs. wrong leaders are one way to consider if you have these leadership qualities and competencies.

3. You don’t actively listen

A good leader always listens, and a lousy leader is not listening. So — Begin by enhancing your active listening abilities with the three A’s of:

• Attitude: Maintaining a positive attitude involves tackling criticism with respect and appreciation that there is something to learn from other people.
• Attention: To be a satisfactory listener, you must have a good concentration span.
• Adjustment: The final point is that the adjustment process is just being open mind to what the other is saying. Stay focused and don’t prejudge.

No CEO would deliberately ignore or dismiss other people’s opinions; however, they might be in the habit of doing precisely that.

4. You’re unaware to weaknesses

Some leaders claim to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, but it’s difficult to spot. Most often, they are due to a lack of action.

Everyone else sees this as well, except for the person struggling to recognize their weaknesses. Self-awareness is a way for leaders to acknowledge their shortcomings. Ask others how you can serve them better in their tasks and abilities. Is there something they would like for you to do better? Their answers may help you see blind spots in your leadership style and allow you an opportunity to improve as a leader.

5. You aren’t keen to keep learning

CEOs, CFOs, COOs, need to be aware of the importance of continual development and improvement, particularly in the ever-changing and complex Company Culture.

One effective way to accelerate your learning as a CEO is to form an inclusive group of peers that allows you to learn from one another’s experiences, gain perspective, and hold yourself accountable for your decisions and the results. Create a plan of action within your group to help you keep on track.

Conclusion

Leadership is the key to the success or failure of any company. This is why these traits must be applied to anyone trying to enhance their skills. Whatever the circumstance, be aware that successful leaders need to exhibit integrity, aptitude, acumen, vision, trustworthiness, and communication abilities to guide their teams to success successfully.

We would love to hear your comments.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

How to find the right balance and flexibility in your leadership style.

Traditional “Command and Control” leadership styles are now considered outdated; such styles are no longer effective with our quick changing and unpredictable world.  The modern leadership style needs a unique, collaborative, and agile approach to deal with challenges.

Today things are more complex than in the old days; every leader faces new challenges in the shape of crisis, risks, technological changes, and many others. The outdated fixed leadership style has failed, and it could not deal with the myriad of challenges that today’s leaders face.

We need a versatile leadership style that not just suits the company culture but is also helpful to deal with the issues during this unpredictable time.

A wider range of leadership styles makes a leader more effective and successful.

Ways to find the right balance and flexibility in your leadership style. 

A versatile leadership style requires progressing through three major stages.

Stage 1- Self-understanding

Starting with self-understanding, you could never find your comfort level until you understand your weaknesses and strengths. It is also called cognitive self-awareness.  It is only possible to notice all the formal and informal feedback when you welcome external feedback.

Stage 2- Understand the situation

Your leadership style must be suitable for each situation. Understand the situation &  environment you are working in and what task is in your hand. First, try to understand the situation but not be judgmental. When understanding the situation, a leader should also consider the people’s emotions and what traits and skills people exhibit. You may need focused effort and practice to understand others’ emotions.

Stage 3- Widen your leadership style range

Great leaders understand the situation and adapt their leadership style. As situations arise, you can bridge the gap by applying different approaches.

• Target micro- behaviors

It is very tough to shift your behavior quickly; it is not a one or two-day task. You should target the micro-behaviors to get the desired change in your behavior. Pay close attention to the behaviors during different aspects of every situation. You may see a pattern which in turn, could be an area for improvement.

• Find role models.

It may also be easier for you to seek motivation from peers who possess different leadership skills and capabilities. Once you find the role models, try to develop and apply.

• Look at your team for help.

If you feel bridging the gap in your default style and appropriate response are ineffective in terms of efforts and time, then looking at your team for help to fill the gap could be an excellent strategy.

Please share with your colleagues & staff.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

3 Reasons To Get Rid Of Racial Inequity In The Workplace

There are so many things going on in the world right now. We as a whole are experiencing so many things that we never fathomed would come about. Racial equality is something that many say we have yet to accomplish. The outlook is that minorities are not treated as fairly as white people when it comes to police, in court, voting, at work, getting loans, a mortgage, and at restaurants and stores and a variety of other scenarios.                                                      

To Get Rid of Injustices

When people have different beliefs than others and think that there should be a separation because of the way a person looks it is referred to as racism. Racial inequity in the workplace happens when there is injustice and /or unfairness between people due to the color of their skin. This injustice can be seen in their income or some other factors at work.

A world without inequity would base income, promotions, and other work related issues on talent and not on the color of a person’s skin. When inequity and injustice are prevalent in the workplace you will also find lower productivity. It can also reduce the quality of workmanship.

To Be Fair To All Employees

The hiring, firing, promoting, and paying process of any job should not have anything to do with the ethnicity of the employee. Every employee should have a fair chance at the position no matter what the color of his or her skin is. As an executive or person in a place of power in the workplace, it is important to show that you are not swayed by any of these things. Everyone should have the same opportunities available to him or her. Fairness between employees regardless of their skin color will boost morale overall.

To Stop Bullying in The Workplace

This sounds like an odd thing to say about the workplace, but adults can be just as harmful with their words as kids. We think bullying is just something kids do on the playground, but we often see it in the conference room or the cubicles as well. It does not matter your age; your feelings can still get hurt. When coworkers think it is funny to make racial slurs or use inappropriate name-calling, it can affect people. When people try to tell jokes that involve rude context about African Americans, Latinos, Asians, or any other race it can lead to some pretty big problems as well as legal repercussions.

Many companies are creating a zero tolerance towards these kinds of acts. It is time to keep everyone safe with equal opportunities in your company.

Please share with your colleagues & staff.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.