Are you ready for leading in a Disruptive World? If not you might be toast!

Mike Schwarzer, TLP 3 Insight Reflections, 7 June 2016

On the surface, you’d think that the world of leadership and management is pretty advanced and sophisticated. That leaders and managers understand and know how to inspire their people and to fully tap into their potential. Especially in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. A world so complex, that we cannot longer predict the future by past events.

And a world of business that finds it challenging to get their heads around this new world and the disruptive nature of new and innovative players such as Uber, AirBNB, eBay, etc that are turning existing industries upside down. And I am sure this is only the start!

Innovate or be Toast! CEO Commonwealth Bank

None of us is immune to this changing playing field, nor am I suggesting that it is easy to adapt to the new rules of the game. Yet ignoring it could be the beginning of the end. This is highlighted by recent comments made by Ian Narev, CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Innovate or be Toast! Read more here.

So when it comes to leading and managing people and innovation for this new disruptive world many organisations and the personnel put in charge to lead in this environment are ill prepared. They are stuck in an outdated way of thinking, developed for an old world. They are set in their ways, unable to get out of their own way. Old habits die hard!

Leading Innovation in a Disruptive World requires a New Way of Thinking!

How do we create a leadership capacity and a workforce that can step outside the boundaries of conventional thinking? That has mental and behavioural flexibility? That can tap into its innate creative and innovative potential? That is willing to take risks in its thinking?

Innovation is about Culture, not Technology! General Manager, Microsoft, Slovenia & Albania

In a recent LinkedIn article penned by Robert Trnovec, the General Manager, Microsoft Slovenia & Albania he points our attention to culture when it come to innovation in the new world. Read more here. What do many organisations focus on when thinking about innovation? They think of things to change such as technology, gadgets, products and services. And hopefully that will do the trick. Now there is nothing wrong with coming up with new technologies and it is absolutely necessary to stay current and competitive.

However, when it is driven from a place of necessity and survival it becomes a problem. Innovation requires creative thinking. And creative thinking comes from and through people. How creative are people when they operating in environments that are hierarchical and that run on fear and worry? It stifles it! It often is left to a select few in an organisation to come up with new ideas, and they are not necessarily the most creative. The rest of the workforce is kept out of the mix. That means there is a whole pool of talent and wisdom that is not tapped into.

Creativity and innovation in the new world requires fresh thought and new thinking focused on possibility and curiosity. Fresh thought comes from a quiet mind and conversation. Organisations that embrace collective thinking and collaboration across all levels don’t just survive, they thrive. They understand that technology, their products and services are only a means to end, to serve their customers better and help them to solve their problems.

Organisations that understand that provide environments where creativity and innovation can occur. They develop cultures that are driven by possibility and abundance. Where people feel involved in the process and that they are part of serving a cause. Where they are encouraged to think freely, enjoy taking part in the conversations and where they want to contribute. This comes back to the Power of Purpose at Work. If you haven’t already you can read my reflections on Purpose here.

Leading Innovation in the New World!

‘Leading Innovation = Change. Change = Relationships. Relationships = Connection!’

Creativity and innovation in the new world is about change, transformational change. Transformational change is relational. It requires leaders and managers to develop their ability to connect with their people and inspire them. That requires an understanding and awareness of their higher levels of meaning. The importance of how that meaning influences their contribution at work. Meaning drives behaviour and performance! And how to relate and lead through that what is on people’s minds.

Of course, this is a two street. To understand the dynamic of people’s minds, how it influences their behaviours and then to connect with them isn’t a mechanical process. It has to be genuine and natural. Perception is projection. If you come from a genuine place of understanding, interest, support, collaboration, etc. this will be reflected in your subtle behaviours and the energy that you project. Then people get a natural sense of connection. If it is not genuine they will smell a rat and the walls go up!

How do you get that connection?
 
It all starts with YOU! It starts with being human, yes I know it sounds scary. You connect from human to human. Not manager to staff or vice versa. The moment we put labels one ourselves and on people, other than that of human being, we distort our perspective of the world which we then act out through those labels. This affects the energy that we project and shifts the dynamic of the relationship that we hold with self and with others.That's where we easily disconnect.

When you connect with your own humanness, you easily connect with other human beings. There is a deep sense of trust and a feeling of ease. The dynamic of the relationship is generally in a state flow, in the moment. And when you in a state of flow you are entering the domain of creativity and insight. Here you find fresh thought and solutions to you problems. You see your world with greater clarity.

Leading Innovation, begins with Leading Self!

Leading innovation, begins with leading self! In the way you relate to yourself and through that how you show up to play the game! How do you want show up to serve your business, your people and your customer community?

Do you genuinely want to create an organisation that drives on creativity and innovation? One that inspires its people into action and that can thrive in the complexities of the new world!

If that resonates with you and you want to know how to connect with your people and to tap into their collective wisdom read on. If not, I like to thank you and I look forward to serving you with my next reflection!

to your best

Mike

PS Are you ready for the next step?

Here is how it is going to work!

We are in the business of helping leaders and organisations to solve the problems that they have not been able to solve elsewhere and create the results they want to achieve.

We help them to step outside of themselves, out of their blind spots and get a wider view. We help them to create bigger minds with a bigger capacity to operate in and through complex environments.

Think of the things that keep you and your team awake at night? What problems would you like to have solved that would make your time working with us worthwhile? If we could help you do that, what would that be worth to you?

How to solve those problems and more is what you will experience at our upcoming public ...

SELF-LEADERSHIP – Accessing Personal Genius Program
The Structure & Tools to Make Change Stick and to Tap into Your Creative Wisdom! 
Adelaide, 21 to 23 June 2016.  

In this program you will experience the structure and tools of making change stick, what we call meaning into performance and tapping into your creative space of mind. Change involves taking new thinking (mind) and embedding it into behaviour (body). The reason why many change initiatives fail is that the new thinking never reaches the behaviour. Additionally, creativity resides outside the conscious mind.

We know the structure of that process and have the tools to make the shift as well as step into your creative wisdom.

In this program we will share this structure with you and teach you the tools to create lasting change and transformation and the insights that come with it.

We’re looking for a small group of very specific people for this 'transformational leadership' program. 

• You are a new or seasoned leader of people (i.e. team-leader, department head, general manager, sales manager, HR professional, training professional, OD professional, coach, etc).
• You work in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environments.
• You are asked to do more with less. To create better outcomes with less resources.
• You’re an enthusiastic, optimistic, open minded and friendly people-person.
• You genuinely want to make a difference and create an environment where people can flourish and organisations can thrive.
• You have an open approach to learning, and are willing to step out of your comfort zone if necessary.
• You can keep a secret.
  

If that’s you, then reply to this email here and let us know a little about your background (if you don’t know what to tell us about, look at the list above for inspiration). Also tell us about some of the pressing challenges that keep you awake at night and what would be one thing that you could do better or do more of that would make a difference in your life and your work. Make the subject line “Transformational Leadership'.

Why this program?

“My conversations with clients used to be transactional, now they are transformational. It’s not about the widgets I sell anymore, it’s all about the relationship with the person. It’s really exploring and addressing the client’s needs and solving their problems instead of a preset agenda of what to sell. This shift in my thinking has profoundly increased the business I am generating now” Connor O’Rourke, General Manager Sales, Datacom Systems SA, Adelaide, SA Pty Ltd

 

“When working with a client just recently, I was able to bring into play a number of the principles about the higher intentions and states that they are in. After doing this program it really helped me to understand the nature of our higher intentions and also to communicate this to my clients … you could see the light bulbs going off for them.”

Listen to how this program impacted on Michelle Holland, former Manager, People & Culture, City of Salisbury, SA and a recent graduate! Click on this link https://youtu.be/gDNT4rgsUD8 or the picture above.

Want to collaborate with us to help you solve your problems?
What a better opportunity to invest your end of financial year budget in the up skilling of your leaders with leading edge thinking! Click here.

More about this program!

This is an ideal program if you want to live a higher quality of life, have meaningful relationships with others, create lasting change and achieve greater results for your business and for your clients.

It will give you the insights on how people create higher level meanings and intentions about their world. How those meanings and intentions are then manifested and experienced in their neurology which consequently drives their behaviours i.e. Mindsets that support or limit people’s quality of being in the world, their performances at work and play, and their ability to achieve personal and business goals.

Understanding the structure of that process will give you the tools to engage a person at their higher levels of thinking (meanings and intentions) and create transformational and lasting change from inside-out (changing mindset, fundamentally thinking differently about their world, Big WHY) rather than from the outside-in (changing behaviour i.e. doing things differently).

This program is transformational and can be a life changing experience for you as many other participants have.

Contact me here or call 0419 866 427 if you have any further questions about the event.

To register and to take your magic to the next level reply to this email and I will email you a registration form. Alternatively visit our site click here.

to your highest and best

Mike

PPS if this is not for you but you know of someone that might be a good fit please forward this email to them and ask them to reply to this email address mike@thoughtleadingpeople.com.au.

About Mike Schwarzer

Mike is a Performance Strategist & Modeler and an Internationally Certified Trainer in Neuro-Semantic NLP with the International Society of Neuro-Sematics ISNS. The ISNS is a global NLP community, operating in over 40 countries, dedicated to helping people actualise excellence by transforming Meaning into Performance. He is also a leadership team member of the Institute of Neuro-Semantics Australia the Australian branch of ISNS. An experienced facilitator and coach, with an ability to connect and align people and organisations, he helps them to fine tune their performance wizardry to bridge the gap between where they are and where they want to go!

For more information about Mike visit www.mikeschwarzer.com and www.thoughtleadingpeople.com.au.