Change is hard but there are levers that can make it easier. Using a network of the right people to act as your change agents is one of those levers. I am a huge believer in getting employees to drive change, but the design is key as Change Agent networks are often implemented badly. Here is the usual chain of events.

While I was attending a Leadership Retreat (CTI) last week, we were asked to identify what we need to let go of, in order to become a better leader.  For me, it was “letting go of the idea that people are idiots”. Of course, I don’t mean you, dear reader, it’s everyone else.

In a Utopian workplace environment, every employee would arrive with a smile on their face, diligently work on projects about which they are passionate, interact with and assist their colleagues, have a great relationship with their boss, and when the going gets tough they would roll up their sleeves and pitch in without a second thought.

Recently I shared my six principles of delivering change at pace – in this post, I focus on the second principle – ‘Take a step by step approach’ but what has that got to do with black swans?

What if we’ve got it all wrong?  What if in fact it’s not HR that needs to be disrupted, but leadership?

Many of the management tips we will be building up in this series could apply to any executive taking up a senior job in a new organisation. But the role of the CISO is particularly sensitive in many aspects and has its own dynamics. It is often poorly understood by management and still seen by some as a necessary evil, or as an imposition by auditors or regulators.

As a follow-up from my last article - where I shared thoughts on one of the key differentiators for the businesses of tomorrow being the ability for people to make data-driven decisions within an environment of emerging, fast-paced transformation - this month I dig a little deeper into how sensing your market and making sense of your data are crucial in remaining a competitive and viable business, enabling you to continuously change faster than the competition.

Part 1 — Who is control?

In business and particularly in HR we talk about ‘fit’.  The right fit for the role, team fit, cultural fit, it’s all about fit and often as people we expect to fit in or try our best to so that we feel a sense of belonging.

Brené Brown talks repeatedly and more so in her latest book Braving The Wilderness about the differences between belonging and fitting in, and that if we ‘fit’ we lose some of our self, some of our authenticity, because to fit, we have to change who we are at the core.