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Embrace adaptability in the age of technology

Written by Scott Anthony | Tuck Business School | Feb 13, 2025 2:27:03 AM

As traditional workforce management models become obsolete, organizations must adopt a regenerative approach that fosters adaptability and innovation. HR has the opportunity to lead this transformation by promoting continuous learning, experimentation, and innovation, writes Scott D Anthony.

For over a century, workforce management focused on maximizing output while treating human resources as costs, rooted in Frederick Taylor's time and motion studies. This approach is now recognized as unsustainable and harmful. Companies today understand the need for a more regenerative approach, especially with continuous change and rapid technological advancement. But how can this be executed effectively?

The importance of adaptability and innovation

Adaptability is crucial for organizational success in today’s highly interconnected industries. Employees must learn to thrive amid chaos, embracing experimentation and uncertainty. This requires a shift in mindset, where leaders model adaptability despite the discomfort it may bring, while also demonstrating vulnerability and openness to learning. This inspires teams to navigate disruption.

Some leaders, like Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, naturally embrace adaptability. He acknowledges that despite his immense success, he's wrong about a third of the time. This humility and acceptance of failure are crucial traits for fostering a culture of innovation.

Microsoft, under Satya Nadella, exemplifies transformation driven by a growth mindset. Similarly, DBS Bank in Singapore fosters innovation in a traditionally conservative industry. Shiseido’s appointment of its first external CEO in more than a century instilled major transformations, showcasing innovation in a traditional culture.

Creating a culture of experimentation

To ensure that employees are adaptable and able to leverage new technology, organizations need to foster an environment of experimentation and play. This involves several key steps:

  1. Access to tools: Employees need access to the latest technologies, including AI tools, to experiment and understand their capabilities. It's counterproductive to promote a technology-driven future while restricting access to these tools. Ensure your workforce can freely explore and utilize new technologies.
  2. Learning through play: Create a culture where learning and experimenting with new tools is seen as fun and engaging rather than burdensome. Encouraging purposeful play can significantly enhance learning and adoption of new technologies. This approach reduces fear of failure and promotes innovation.
  3. Education and training: Offering courses and training programs focused on the practical application of new technologies, like generative AI, can help employees integrate these tools into their work. Collaborative learning environments where employees can learn together and share knowledge are particularly effective.
  4. Supportive leadership: Leaders must model the behavior they wish to see, demonstrating openness and a willingness to experiment and learn. This sets the tone for the rest of the organization.
  5. Balanced perspective: It's important to address both the opportunities and the challenges that new technologies like AI present. While acknowledging potential threats, you can also focus on the benefits and how these tools can enhance job performance and drive innovation.
  6. Job security and growth: Communicating that new technologies are meant to augment human capabilities rather than replace them can alleviate fears. Emphasizing that the real threat is not AI itself, but rather not using AI effectively, can motivate employees to embrace these tools.
  7. Encouraging innovation: Establishing an innovation-friendly culture where employees feel safe to explore and fail can drive significant advancements. This involves recognizing and rewarding innovative efforts and creating a safe space for experimentation.
  8. Continuous feedback and improvement: Implementing a feedback loop where employees can share their experiences and insights about new technologies—the good, bad, and ugly—can help the organization refine its approach and support continuous improvement.

Technology alone cannot future-proof your workforce. Success lies in building a culture where employees feel empowered to adapt, learn, and grow alongside emerging tools. AI is a tool to amplify human potential, not a replacement for it.

The role of HR

HR plays a crucial role in facilitating adaptability and innovation. It begins with crafting a talent strategy that attracts individuals with curiosity and a willingness to learn. This means seeking candidates who are not only technically skilled, but also open to embracing new technologies and methodologies.

HR should promote continuous learning and encourage cross-functional collaboration. Celebrating small wins and learning from failures should be integral to the culture.

Leadership mindset and behaviors

Leaders must model desired behaviors, demonstrating a willingness to learn and take risks. As Scott Cook, founder of Intuit, emphasizes, leaders are no longer the primary decision-makers. Instead, experiments become the decision-makers, so leaders must create conditions where experiments can be conducted, allowing teams autonomy to find the best course of action.

Aligning performance metrics and rewards with desired behaviors is another important step. Develop evaluation criteria recognizing innovation, curiosity, and risk-taking. Traditional metrics focused on short-term results may need to be adjusted to value long-term growth and learning, and paying more attention to the behaviors people follow than the immediate outcomes they obtain.

Establishing robust feedback mechanisms for employees to share their experiences and suggestions is essential. This feedback can inform ongoing improvements and adjustments to training and development. It must be safe for people to share what doesn’t work without fear of being penalized.

There are already organizations leading the way in this, including the Coca-Cola Company’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Lisa Chang. A strategic thinker and a vital partner to CEO James Quincey, Lisa has been instrumental in integrating a revamped talent strategy into the organization's broader strategy as it undergoes its transformation.

Looking to the future

More broadly, the concept of a ‘job’ is shifting. People will move across teams and roles, lending skills wherever they're needed. The concept of applying for a job, joining a function, and step-wise proceeding through a succession of upgrades within that function is already outdated. The future is much more fluid, and this flexibility will keep people engaged and fulfilled in their work, reducing the boredom that often sets in after a year or two. Organizations that lean into this will see their employees stay longer and be more productive.

We’re at a transitional moment. During times of disruption, it is important to be able to anticipate future developments. Think about the iPhone’s evolution. Back in April 2008, the co-CEO of Research in Motion (later BlackBerry) dismissed it. And there were good reasons to dismiss it at that moment. The iPhone wasn’t transforming markets yet. There was no App Store. You could only get an iPhone on one network. And connection speeds were slow. But the future possibilities were in plain sight, making it easy to see how groundbreaking it would become. It’s all about seeing the movie, not just the snapshot.

Organizations need to anticipate these future trends. Embrace change, foster continuous learning, and adapt to new skills. That’s where the future is headed—a dynamic, adaptive, skills-oriented landscape that benefits everyone.