CMI Blog

"Organizations that want to bear great fruit include the voices of all employees and enlist them in the change that they're looking to do." 

Learn More About Heather R Younger >

Let’s talk about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging - and in the context of your “Why?” Understanding why you are embarking on the journey is just as important as understanding any of the steps after that.

What I want to talk to you about today is using the voice of your employees to really gauge the proper direction of your organization. What often happens in organizations is that the leaders talk amongst themselves and maybe to the level right below. But, organizations that want to bear great fruit include the voices of all employees and enlist them in the change that they're looking to do.

1. DO A CULTURAL AUDIT OR DEI SURVEY
So, have you done a cultural audit or a Diversity, Equity Inclusion and Belonging survey recently? You want to do that because you want to be able to listen in aggregate and gather the themes that are important to the employees of your organization and use that as a way to drive everything forward. Then, you can move forward to create a strategic plan.

2. CREATE A STRATEGIC PLAN
Right now, you don't know what you don't know. And so, if you're consistently committing to using the voices of your employees as a barometer for whether you are in the right place or not - also as an information hub, to make you smarter on this journey - you are going to garner a lot more success in the process.

Remember, creating a diverse and inclusive culture is a journey.

Focus on the next best step understanding that you are on the road to success. And, you want to be focused on improvement, not perfection.

Another key principle that we really have to think about is the shift from automation to autonomy. There's been a lot of discussion about the power of automation - robotic process automation. It seems like magic, doesn't it?

You know you can take software and you can replace people and processes and really cut costs and get greater levels of efficiency. But, there's a more interesting trend beginning, which is the rise of autonomous organizations.

Have you ever wanted to buy the United States Constitution? Or the single CD that was created by the Wu Tang Clan as a once off? What about a fast food franchise? Now thinking about buying any of these things might seem some kind of strange daydream or fantasy.

But exactly those items were attempted or purchased by a new type of organization known as a DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization. Think of it as an internet community with a shared bank account. And DAOs, which are built on the blockchain, are a key emerging infrastructure - which is going to be part of this new Web 3.0 world of decentralized communities, essentially, with new types of governance protocols.

Think of it as a kind of a community entity that has no central control. And I bring up this idea because often when people think about the metaverse or Web 3.0, they get distracted by all the hype. They look at celebrities buying NFTs or kind of cartoon punks or apes. And they missed the fact that we're actually seeing a revolution in the underlying financial and governance infrastructure by which the way the world works.

In the future, many things that we see as LLCs today, or limited corporations, may be DAO. Even potentially, political PACs will actually work in this way. And the idea is powerful - because if you could bring people together, without any kind of centralized overhead of management, you can create governance tokens that allow people to actually vote, use smart contracts to handle a lot of the infrastructure and decision making.

There's really no end to the creativity by which these structures can actually reshape the financial world as we know it.

50% of all employees will need to reskill by 2025

World Economic Forum reports that 50% of all employees will need to reskill by 2025, with 40% of workers requiring reskilling of 6 months or less. This astounding percentage has accelerated since the pandemic and signifies that leaders must develop a plan for their employees – establishing skill gaps, creating a vision roadmap and determining resources required for them to reskill or upskill.

So, what are the very top list of skills leaders need for their workforce? Critical thinking and problem-solving are at the top list of skills — emerging skills such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility are also expanding. More granular data tracking for specialized skills needed comes from LinkedIn with titles such as project manager, digital marketing and human computer interaction. 

THE TOP 10 SKILLS FOR THE WORKPLACE FOR BY 2025

Our cmi roster of experts and thought leaders will prepare your leaders and teams for the necessary changes that are ahead.

CEO, bestselling author and DEI expert, Heather R Younger’s
programs provide a roadmap for navigating change, building resilience, confidence and methodologies to elicit feedback and unlock change and growth.

Tim Sanders, Upwork’s VP of Customer Insights, has deep experience in digital transformation, remote work management and agility-through-change. He is also an expert on innovating faster through cross-disciplinary collaboration and connection of silos and a work-life expert on employee burnout.

Prepare your employees for reskilling by inspiring them to rethink change. Mike Rayburn, the master of change and author of the What If? Experience will excite and entertain your business teams and leaders to initiate more possibilities and innovation for your organization and customers.

In today’s virtual, in-person and hybrid world communicating with influence is harder and more critical than it’s ever been. Stacey Hanke, a CEO and communications expert, prepares leaders and teams to consistently achieve communicative results and move people to action for increased profits and long-term relationships.

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TGRT NEWS INTERVIEW (CLIP)

MIKE WALSH

I think we're at a crossroads. A lot of these new technologies that are before us can be used to design much more personalized, much more interesting, much more human workplaces and experiences for customers. But, the opposite is true as well.

ASLIGUL ATASAGUN

How can we as individuals — who don't know much about the technology — create our own playbooks, for our own transformation, and be able to adapt ourselves to this digital transformation?

MIKE WALSH

It's a terrific question. And to me, it's probably one of the most important questions for anyone who's working in a big company today. Because sometimes when you work in these very large organizations you feel a loss of power, a lack of agency. You're waiting for the CEO and the top management to come up with their plan for change. And, while I'm sure they're working on that plan, the truth is that all of us have got a role to play in the changes that are coming. And sometimes that means, you know, trying to write a personal transformation plan for yourself. 

Ask yourself, Am I doing enough to learn about the new technologies that are out there? Am I following what my competitors are doing? What other things are happening in other industries? What can I learn from that, to maybe better inform my decision making in my role? 

How can I develop new behaviours that I can model to inspire other people around me? I think this is a much more positive way of looking at the changes that are happening, because there's no point fighting them and there's no point just waiting for people to tell you what to do. I think now is the time to really take charge and take control of this process.

A Secretary of Defense for the US was once asked a very revealing question: 

“What keeps you up at night?”

That’s important to know, right? What are our weaknesses, what are the threats? 

His answer completely rocked me.

He said, “Nothing. I keep others up at night.” 

What a revolutionary mindset! 

In essence, the safest, most successful approach is to be the one to whom others react, rather than vice versa. 

For my business clients it made me think of the many different approaches and mindsets they each have toward change. Most tell me they are managing change, embracing change, or adapting to change, with entire trainings and programs centered around those. 

These are noble aspirations… if the best you hope to do is survive. 

If, instead you want to thrive, to grow, to profit, to lead, I am inviting you to elevate to a new mindset.

It’s time for you to stop managing change, and start to create change… to lead change. 

I want you to be the ones who define the curve, rather than follow it.

Imagine the transformation you could create if all the time, money and effort you spend teaching your teams how to react to change, you instead spend teaching them to proactively create change - to discover, create and act on new opportunities pre-emptively?

You’d be unstoppable. 

This is the essence of the “What IF Mindset.” 

Yes, sometimes the unexpected happens and we must respond by managing, embracing or adapting. Please recognize, though, these are all reactive postures and we want to move back to proactive change quickly. 

To do this I want you to leverage an interesting phenomenon: When you boldly create and lead change, your response to outside change naturally strengthens, evolves, and in many cases becomes unnecessary. 

In essence, the best defense is a good offense. 

How do we create change? By constantly asking “What if we could that? What if we didn’t do that?” By adopting the “What IF Mindset” for innovation, creativity, radical problem solving, you harness your team’s sense of purpose.

You are surrounded right now by opportunities that you’re missing. From billion-dollar innovations that change the world, to simple productivity changes which supercharge your bottom line.

Together, let’s discover and act on those opportunities by elevating your organizational mindset to one of creating and leading change.

A change of wording typically results in you gaining that response or an answer to your question.

Using a simple technique, I am going to provide two pieces of magic in one short section. The psychology behind this technique, which involves turning an open question into a closed one, results in you receiving a guaranteed outcome or answer.

It came to me, first of all, from trying to prevent a giant mistake I see so many people make when they reach the end of a sales presentation.

Following many a presentation, the question people reach for is, “Do you have any questions?” Asking this creates the subconscious suggestion that the other person should have questions, and if they don’t, it makes them feel peculiar and perhaps even a little stupid. This encourages them to leave the decision-making conversation and go away to think about it.

A simple change of wording puts you in control. Swap the phrase, “Do you have any questions?” with the improved, “What questions do you have for me?” The minute you assume an outcome, the easiest response for them to give is that they have no questions. What does this really mean? It means they have made a decision and you are perfectly positioned to ask for it. This change of wording typically results in you gaining that response or in the specific questions they need answers to.

Either way, you are far closer to a decision, and you avoid the dreaded, “I need some time to think about it.”

That was the first simple lesson, but I promised two for one in this section. This next change is so simple and so profound, it works whether spoken, written, by text message . . . it works everywhere. It’s best used when you are looking to garner an additional piece of information from the other person and you want it effortlessly.

Consider a scenario in which you have met someone and would like to have a conversation with them at a later time. A mistake many people make is asking, “Can I have your phone number?” When you ask somebody, “Can I have your. . .?” it creates a permission-based resistance in the other person, which makes it harder to get what you hoped for, since a “yes” or “no” response is required. It can be seen as an invasion of privacy. Instead, asking the alternative question, “What’s the best number to contact you at?” results in people effortlessly giving you the information you requested.

Both of these sets of Magic Words demonstrate how changing a couple of words can make all the difference in the results you get from your conversations.

Changing a couple of words can make all the difference in the results you get from your conversations.

"Many leaders think delivering a perfect presentation in a high-stakes scenario is enough to earn influence, but it’s not."

1 big idea

When someone on your team is in the middle of a crisis, sometimes it’s all you can see; you get nervous, you waver between hovering and avoidance; you might even feel guilty for worrying about the work.

But here’s something to remember that can help you push past that awkwardness: Your employee is more than their crisis.

2 insights from our workplace research

• As much as you might wish those thoughts away, it’s natural to have secret worries about errors or schedules when someone on your team is struggling with an awful event. But when employees tell us about the bosses who earned their loyalty in tough times, they talk about the ones who arrive with compassion first.
• How can you manage that when all you feel is stress? You keep things separate. To your employee, you show care, support, and a listening ear. When you’re with your peers, that’s the time to unload all those concerns about deadlines and dropped balls.

The best managers we’ve met always saw each of their employees as a whole person—especially during a crisis. Whatever they’re going through, make sure it isn’t the subject of every conversation you have. If you used to talk about sports or kids or movies, keep doing that. If work is helping them hold it together, follow their lead and discuss the work, just like before. Treating an employee in crisis like they’re still who they always were can help them feel more like themselves too.

1 moment to master

A great way to stay on track when someone on your team gets sideswiped is to have a plan at the ready. This week, take some time to review the supports your company offers, like paid time off, counselling, loans, or an EAP. Then, get familiar with the terms and what an employee would need to do to access those benefits.

Also, assess your team’s readiness to act as a support network too:

• Do you have a phone tree or chat group that could quickly raise a meal-delivery or fundraising army?
• Who could you call on to step in or take on extra duties if needed?
  • Keep privacy in mind: always get permission from the employee before revealing any personal information.
• Sketch out what your team can do before a crisis hits to help avoid brain lock later, when emotions are high.

The new normal seems to be a never-ending, changing target and so we have to learn to be flexible.”

There has never been a point in time where adaptability - the ability to deal with change - has been more essential.

The new normal seems to be a never-ending, changing target and so we have to learn to be flexible.

But why is change so hard?

One word - fear.

Change triggers a fear of loss. Giving up what we know, what we enjoy and what is comfortable.

What happens in our mind when we face the unknown is we ask, what if? And our mind tends to answer with a worst-case scenario response.

Our minds are actually trying to protect us and so it helps us to see what we need to avoid but it creates a fear that isn’t necessarily real and, more importantly, it is debilitating.

The problem with fear is it stops us from taking action and effective change requires action.

So, when we play the What If Game in our mind, we have to consciously and strategically answer with a positive response.
We need to see that change leads to growth, new and better results. And use that vision to take action toward creating that reality.

Managing fear is a very real thing for each of us and our teams.
To navigate the constantly changing landscape, we need to be action oriented and understand how to push past fear.

Adaptability is an essential skill in today’s world and it operates much like a muscle. It grows with use.

Managing fear is the first step. Then with consistent action, we grow our adaptability muscle.

WHAT BUSINESS TEAMS THINK ABOUT MIKE
Your presentation was excellent, really insightful and so appropriate for us as we start to build our plans for a bolder tomorrow. We have ratings in from the Summit, and your session scored a 5* rating. In fact, 22% of respondents said that Mike Walsh was the highlight of the whole 4 day Summit!

Karla Hrabar, Global CD Strategy Director, Unilever

MIKE WALSH NEW TOPIC

The Future Favors the Bold

Now is the time for transformational leadership. Customers are changing, generational priorities are shifting, and industries are being reshaped by the collision of AI and data-driven business models. In this new world, only organizations willing to adapt, experiment and embrace learning at scale will succeed.

There is nothing inevitable about progress. The status quo is the path of least resistance. A better, brighter future is the direct result of radical reinvention not incremental improvement. Too often we fail to commit energy and resources to the real drivers of difference: projects that depart from the norm, products or services that never existed before, and technologies combined in new and unexpected ways.

Transformation is a path not a plan. It could be the courageous decision to back a provocative idea from an unexpected source or the recognition that a broken rule might be a smarter way of doing things. It could be as big as merging with a disruptive competitor or as simple as hiring someone whose thinking challenges what you know to be true. The future is not an upgrade on the familiar, it is a world built by the bold.

Based on Mike Walsh’s extensive research into the habits and mindsets of the world’s most dynamic organizations and leaders, this keynote will not only inspire your teams to embrace a new approach to change but will also empower them with a robust set of next actions personalized for their specific challenges, pain points and growth opportunities.

In this keynote, attendees will learn:
• The bold believe that 'more is different' not 'less is more'
• The bold believe that failure is free, and success is expensive
• The bold have a bias for action, even when the future is uncertain