Is your business ‘alive’?
Successful businesses need almost human characteristics in order to adapt to constantly changing conditions
Remember the DVD shops and travel agencies that used to be found on every other block in residential neighbourhoods across Hong Kong? Some are still there, but many have shuttered as online alternatives put them out of business.
The rise of digital services has caused profound changes in the business landscape globally. If companies want to survive and thrive, they need to become what we call “living businesses”. That is, businesses that almost has human characteristics – responsive, emotive, ambitious – and can shift their weight when the ground moves beneath them.
Winners in the digital era have successfully embraced a change mindset
In today’s business landscape, the ground is constantly moving in unpredictable ways. Most companies in Hong Kong standing on that constantly moving patch resemble old-fashioned robots: full of cogs and wheels – and thus slow, clumsy and prone to fall.
Living businesses are not about cogs and wheels. They are about employees who are willing to continually adapt and change. To foster this, companies need to nurture their people to help them grow.
They need to put all the people in their company first and break down their existing models, particularly if their models are full of old-fashioned organisational silos that hinder cooperation and change. That means shifting the focus from hierarchy to competency; from functional silos to fluid teams; from administration to responsibility. This encourages employees, from the very top to the latest hire, to embrace a “change” mindset.
For many Hong Kong management teams this is controversial. It runs at odds with the way they have always run their business. It challenges hierarchical leadership. It requires employees to think dynamically and share their views. It throws out the window rote learning and embraces continuous education.