Organizations must be prepared to face external disruptions such as economic downturns or changes in market conditions. To ensure that their long-term business transformation efforts remain aligned with their corporate culture and values, leaders must take proactive steps. This includes examining the market for changes that could lead to new competitors, eliminating non-essential work of employees involved in the transformation project, and hiring candidates with unconventional backgrounds to fill technological positions. The global race for talent is a dynamic topic that is both independent of and related to external disruptions.
Companies should not overload themselves with too many initiatives in a short period of time, but instead execute them consistently over a more sustainable period of time. To increase the value of human capital over time, organizations should introduce social capital as a factor in employees' professional development through key performance indicators that focus on relational metrics such as collaboration, learning, and creating connections. At the same time, employees must understand the advantages of the transformation for both the organization and themselves as individuals. CEOs can lead their organization to a strong position that allows them to withstand current obstacles and lay the foundation for taking advantage of future opportunities by focusing on the human concerns of the workforce and keeping the emotional journey of the people in the organization at the center of strategic decisions.
Organizations must also cultivate organizational resilience, which is difficult when business leaders, front-line workers, and business units are affected by multiple disruptions at once. To do this, they must eliminate silos and use “tiger” equipment to address the problems of large companies. Additionally, they must create a dry well to take advantage of when the workforce needs to go deeper to face the challenges ahead. Previous McKinsey research shows that during the last economic recession, around 10% of listed companies included in the research base fared considerably better than the rest. By following these steps, organizations can ensure that their long-term business transformation efforts remain aligned with their corporate culture and values in times of uncertainty or disruption caused by external factors.
