Dear 2020,

Today is the 30th December 2020 and I wanted to write this letter to you before the year closes out and we welcome in your successor 2021.

We talked endlessly about resilience in the face of constant, unprecedented and uncertain change, but did little about it.

Before you go, can you have a word in 2021’s ear about that last point and ask 2021 to have a word with me before f**king it all up like you did?

Yours, Karen

At the start of this year, I was engaged to undertake organisational change management (OCM) on a significant project for a very large organisation in Australia.

The first physical meeting with the project sponsor was on 2nd January 2020. It was also the last!

The entire organisation change has been conducted virtually and was a resounding success.

The CIO has to whisper about the trends and technology that are reshaping the industry in which they operate, and how the organisation can leverage these trends to grow market share and gain competitive advantage. They have to whisper about how technology will drive the business strategy and increase performance.

A recent McKinsey and Company article by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Leanne Williams entitled “Mental Health in the Workplace: The Coming Revolution” contained some disturbing statistics.

COVID-19 has only served to exacerbate the mental health issues experienced by employees.

Based on analysis by McKinsey, COVID-19 could result in potential 50% increase in the prevalence of behavioural health conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organisations to seriously reconsider and/or revise their employee working arrangements.

Whilst the question of whether everyone needed to be in an office location had been endlessly discussed, the 2020 pandemic answered the question loud and clear. No.

Individuals and organisations have realised the benefits that could be gained from a WFX arrangement. This is a great time of organisational change.

I have no problem with organizations investing in providing employees with access to Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Officers. My issue is that doing that alone, does not cut it.

Firstly, we need to prevent mental health issues from happening - not try and fix it after the event. Secondly, without removing the stigma of mental health in the workplace the initiative will have little or no positive impact.

There is no band-aid solution.

Whilst it looks like there is light at the end of this pandemic tunnel for some, for others it just looks like a train coming in the opposite direction.

Organisations should be investing in building workforce resilience now and help alleviate the stress and anxiety that leads to fatigue and burnout.

As and when we start to emerge from this pandemic the stresses and anxieties put on our employees will only be amplified.

I am sick and tired of talking to organisations who tell me that they have got this workforce resilience thing covered because they ran a workshop 6 months ago or they have kindly furnished their employees with an app that will support their mental wellbeing.

Fatimah Abbouchi - Agile Management Office - talks to me about all things Change Management in the Agile Ideas Podcast #60.

The CIO has a role as an advisor, educator and evangelist. The CIO has a responsibility to ensure that the rest of the C-suite and business leaders are guided, educated and inspired about technologies and how they can be applied in the business to achieve the desired digital transformation.

Back in 2016, Gartner estimated that by 2020, 100% of IT roles will require an intermediate level of proficiency in business acumen.

That starts with the CIO. The CIO has to move from being a functional leader to becoming a strategic leader.

This means developing deep business acumen. It will not be possible to deliver on a digital transformation without an in-depth understanding of the business. The CIO has to be a business partner.

Gartner predicts that by 2021, “CIOs will be as responsible for culture change as chief HR officers (CHROs).”

A partnership with the CHRO is the perfect way to align technology selections and design processes to shape desired work behaviours .

Successful digital transformation and the future of work depends on the CIO and the CHRO working together as enablers and decision makers to further organisational goals.

In a world where the speed and volatility of change is ever increasing, we need to stop talking about managing resistance to change and start talking about building resilience to change.

The World Health Organization describes stress as the “global health epidemic of the 21st century.”

It is time to unleash The Resiliator!

We are now in an era of continuous change, and this will require a culture of adaptation, agility, resilience and innovation for organisational survival.

The CIO has a key role in the establishment of the right ways of thinking and the right ways of working. The CIO has to build the right mindsets for this era of constant and disruptive change.

Gartner predicts that by 2021, “CIOs will be as responsible for culture change as chief HR officers (CHROs).”

CIOs and their teams will need a change management strategy that embraces the can-do attitude and agile approaches that got employees working remotely in a timeframe never experienced before.

They will need a change management strategy to be future fit.

elationship management is useful when it comes to dealing with conflict; by engaging and collaborating with others earlier than later, we can prevent the inevitable blowup in the future.

Relationship management builds upon self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness skills.

Social awareness is a keen understanding of other people and their emotions. Additionally, it involves using this understanding to determine your interactions with the people around you. The emotional cues that people send you will help put yourself in the other person’s shoes so that you are able to empathise with them.

Self-awareness means you know who you are. Understanding yourself is foundational to other leadership competencies including self-control, empathy, collaboration, effective decision-making and building trust.

Also critical for leadership is self-management. Self-management is your ability to use your awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and direct your behaviour positively. This involves your ability to put your immediate needs aside to focus on long-term goals.

Self-awareness is one of the most important capabilities for leaders to develop. Self-awareness is one of the core components of emotional intelligence.

According to Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, authors of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, describe self-awareness as your ability to recognise and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behaviour and relationships.”

When we try something different, the chances are we will have setbacks. We have to have no fear about those setbacks. They are part of the growth process.

if you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough.