Times of crisis require leaders and organizations to adapt. There’s no doubt that the current pandemic has been a major disruptor. After several months of varying levels of restrictions, including total shutdowns of many workplaces, it’s still not clear exactly when or how things will return to “normal.”
As a community, we are learning more every day about what it takes to be successful during turbulent times. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review identifies five principles that can be used to guide leaders toward keeping their organizations more fluid and easily adaptable to changing circumstances (5 Principles to Guide Adaptive Leadership). The guiding principles include evidence-based learning; stress tests; streamlining decision making; strengthening transparency, inclusion, and accountability; and mobilizing collective action.
Perhaps most encouragingly, the article concludes with the statement, “Our collective future may be uncertain, but uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity.” It’s true that innovation is often born from unexpected or difficult circumstances. So how can leaders and organizations make the most of this opportunity?
How to Develop Your Leaders
At the Highlands Company, we’ve been developing leaders and organizations for almost 30 years. Following are some of our top tools to help you on your path to growth. Don’t wait until things settle down, or get “back to normal,” because the creative window closes once routine takes over. Now is the time to take proactive steps so that your organization is prepared for anything.
Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) – The Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) is the gold standard in human assessments. Using a series of timed tests, users complete worksamples that measure natural abilities such as visual speed and accuracy, inductive reasoning, verbal aptitude, structural visualization, and more. While every HAB taker receives a detailed report upon completion of the test, the Leader Report has been designed specifically for leaders to help them leverage their strengths to work more productively. It also provides team leaders with a tool to identify blind spots among the group, and a method to assess fit with job responsibilities. (You can learn more about the Leader Report in this blog post.)
Highlands Workshops – Bring the power of the HAB to your organization by inviting a Highlands Certified Consultant to lead a workshop, either virtually or in-person. Our workshops are flexible and can be customized to any organization, depending on the desired outcomes, group size, and other factors. In addition to taking the HAB, workshop participants benefit from live instruction and exercises that are designed to bring the HAB results directly to tangible, practical situations. Transformational learning and development only happen when participants are engaged with the subject matter, which is just one of the factors that makes Highlands Workshops uniquely effective.
Some of the organizations and companies that have benefited from Highlands workshops include: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Coca-Cola, IBM, Marriott, Cisco Systems, US Naval Academy, Kaiser Permanente, and the Georgia School Superintendents Association (GSSA).
Times of crisis and disruption are seldom welcome but can still be beneficial if you seek to learn from the experience and leverage that knowledge against future disruptions. Take action today to make you and your organization more resilient and better prepared for whatever the future holds. Learn more about how the Highlands Company can strengthen your leaders and organization here. Connect with a Certified Highlands Consultant and get started today!
