Not to completely annihilate the classic Animal Farm quote, but, the point is very much stands, as demonstrated in CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella’s July 2021 interview with Barrons.
When asked by Barrons, about the nature of technological adoption during the COVID19 pandemic, Nadella said “if there’s one trend that has defined the past year, it’s that digital adoption in every industry is being brought forward multiple years.”
Companies that had never considered changing their business models were forced to face the idea of going under, especially small firms run by the self-employed. By embracing difference, opening your eyes to new opportunities and methodologies to reach your audience you can find a great scope of prospective customers that would have never known you existed. Whether it is small businesses turning to platforms like TikTok, or, high street escape rooms, traditionally, seen as being onsite as an intrinsic aspect of the experience taking place via Zoom to retain revenue.
Daniel Pink, author of The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, explained that engagement at work derives from the experience of seeing yourself as part of the bigger picture; this can be through feeling a sense of mastery of your craft, autonomy and choice at work as well as a purpose. Evolving is not a conscious decision in the animal kingdom, but, since we have been given the ability to reflect and utilise hindsight, and understand the imminence of the situation, adopting new practices to save our skin is essential.
By implementing a culture of learning into your organisation, you are allowing your employees yo master their crafts; honing their skills, improving their individual skillsets whilst also improving the standing of your business. You want the outside world to know your company is an engaging, proactive organisation to work for.
The importance of being a learning organisation cannot be understated; this is not just a small-business-friendly practice. It can be implemented on wider scales, in some of the largest organisations. As Nadella explained when asked to walk through the way in which implementing Microsoft Teams can prove positive; and the importance of adopting new ideas, especially during the uncertain times.
“The second area is learning. Organizations can only grow when their people are learning and growing, too. You need to create feedback loops between the work, skills, and learning required to succeed. You need to bring learning content to employees and connect them to experts. It’s one reason we introduced Microsoft Viva earlier this year, which helps provide personalized training content to employees and centralizes companywide training, all within the flow of work, including within Teams.”
Nadella also acknowledged that “Coming out of the pandemic, [he] believe[s] we will need to define productivity much more broadly, inclusive of collaboration, learning, and well-being, and we are delivering new value in each of these areas.”
We are always learning, whether we are conscious of it or not; when we join a new role we are rained up, and each day that follows is a learning process. This could be through learning what can make your work easier, like tools and shortcuts for your company’s spreadsheets: like when Homer Simpson learns while working remotely, in Season Seven, Episode Seven of The Simpsons, that he only has to press the “Y” key to approve a function at the power plant. Or, this could be learning through mishaps, mistakes within the workplace, or observing the shortcomings of a competitor. You learn through observation. But by actively encouraging a deeper understanding and thorough process of learning, you can create a workforce of significantly more engaged and motivated individuals.
Based in London, U.K., and founded in 2016 by Arvind Mishra The Agile Works (www.TheAgileWorks.com), is an up-and-coming recruitment and Agile consulting company. Arvind is a Certified SAFe SPC and regularly delivers both private and public SAFe certification workshops.
He is a design thinking expert, Sr. enterprise, portfolio Agile Coach with over a decade of experience working as an Agile coach in diverse industries such as banking, pharma, retail, auto, oil, gas, consulting and government.
The Agile Works; a small team of three strive to help shape the leadership's mind-set and values in readiness for their business transformation journey challenges. With Arvind at the helm, we strive to provide you with the agility tools to make your company that can thrive, and not just survive.
To book a consultation, or for any enquiries, you can contact Arvind via the following email address: arvind@theagileworks.com
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