Mission-critical transformation demands unusual courage. Many attempts fail when leaders try to de-risk change by making incremental, disconnected improvements that do not meet the need for radically new ways of thinking, leading and ways of working. Contrary to the good intent, incremental improvement increases risk because it delays necessary, coordinated transformation of the system.
It takes courage to shift:
Thinking: what new strategies require a radical departure from how we have imagined our organization in the past? Being open to new thinking is critical when conditions are complex: i.e., dynamic, unpredictable and interdependent.
Leading: how must the leader or leaders evolve to cause essential change? No system evolves if the most influential leaders are not evolving. What new ways of leading will accelerate mission-critical transformation?
Ways of working: evolving the system of relationships, not just the silos. This requires an accurate picture of how the current system supports old work and accidentally interferes with new work. The result of that picture: discovering crucial leverage points that focus resources on what matters most to accelerate mission-critical change.
Conversant partners with you to design a custom program that builds Connected Intelligence within your organization, people and teams.
What is Connected Intelligence?
Connected intelligence is the ability to:
- Solve previously unsolvable problems
- Recognize problems of complexity
- Develop new ways of thinking, leading, and working
- Include diverse perspectives in rapid cycles of learning to respond to uncertainty
Download the Connected Intelligence Overview to learn more.
Eight Signs You Need Connected Intelligence
Courageous leaders respond when the mission is at risk. When the senior executive(s) or leaders driving the mission-critical transformation sees some, or all, of these eight signals it is time to change how we are thinking, leading and working:
- Multi-year attempts to solve known problems have failed
- “Whack-a-mole” leadership: rapid attacks on symptoms without addressing root cause
- Resistance: key people are overtly or covertly misaligned regarding mission-critical goals
- Key commitments are frequently delayed or never delivered
- Blame and/or excuse-making are common
- Turf protection: silo leaders lobby the CEO for their agenda
- Difficulties attracting and/or retaining key talent
- Fear is rising and confidence is falling among colleagues, customers and/or investors.
The Benefits of Connected Intelligence
- Improves time to results
- Builds alignment with crucial stakeholders
- Accelerates conflict resolution
- Creates committed, energized accountability
- Reduces risk
- Focuses resources for greatest ROI
- Embeds a lasting systems leadership mindset
Want to Learn More About Connected Intelligence?
Download the Connected Intelligence Overview to learn more about our process or to find out if your organization can benefit from this work, please connect with us.
