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Why Strategy Often Fails

January 7, 2026/in Align.Design.Lead, Change Leadership, Organizational Design, Organizational Performance, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Not because it’s wrong, but because the structure can’t carry it.

Many leadership teams assume that once a strategy is defined, execution will follow. But in reality, strategy often collapses under the weight of a structure that wasn’t built to support it. 

Intentional Design—the operating systems, roles, and workflows that turn strategic intent into daily traction – accelerates the translation of strategy into execution.


Align. Design. Lead.TM

This article is part of our series introducing our uncomplicated, powerful framework designed to help build organizations that can adapt, perform, and thrive through complexity. To read previous articles in the series:

Introduction to the Align. Design. Lead. framework

Executive Misalignment is a Silent Killer

Align Case Study


Strategy collapse is a real risk for organizations facing: 

  • Rapid growth or new product launches—where structure hasn’t kept pace with scale
  • Post-acquisition complexity—with overlapping roles, unclear authority, and conflicting ways of working
  • Shifting go-to-market models—where cross-functional alignment is critical but hard to find
  • Evolving leadership or governance—where decision-making defaults to a few rather than being distributed

In these environments, even strong strategic plans get bogged down by unclear roles, misaligned teams, slow decision cycles and over-reliance on informal channels. Effort is duplicated. Handoffs missed. Authority is ambiguous. Collaboration is inconsistent. Execution begins to depend on personalities, not process.

It’s not a failure of intent. It’s a failure of design.


Design the organization to support the strategy – regularly

It often takes an objective analysis to understand the highest value changes you need. Here’s how we work with clients in the Design phase:

  1. Clarify the Work and Focus the Design:  Starting with our Align. Design. Lead. Organization Assessment tool, we hear directly from you about where you most significant issues may lie. We can then dive deeply into what must get done to deliver on the strategy—and what’s getting in the way. This approach adds efficiency and quicker return on investment to the effort.
  2. Define the structure: We evaluate and realign roles, reporting lines, and team interdependencies for strategic fit.  Collaboration is streamlined and agility to meet changing market needs is increased.
  3. Strengthen decision-making: We map and realign decision rights so execution flows faster—and ownership is clear.
  4. Support the middle: We ensure mid-level leaders have the tools, clarity, and support to operationalize change and lead the shift.

The Outcome: From vision to traction

  • Strategy gets translated into real, workable plans
  • Execution moves faster, with fewer dropped balls
  • Leaders know who’s responsible for what, and how to collaborate to make change stick

This is what Design looks like in action—and why it’s often where momentum is won or lost.


If you’re rolling out a new strategy—or scaling into a new phase—and your teams aren’t moving with it, let’s talk.

Schedule a conversation

 


Align. Design. Lead.TM is a flexible, non-linear framework that helps organizations move through inflection points with clarity and momentum. Whether you’re scaling, retrenching, or reimagining your business, the framework meets you where you are — helping you:

  • Align leadership teams to operate with strategic focus, speed, and cohesion
  • Design the organization to match your strategy—structure, roles, and workflows built for execution, not just org charts
  • Lead with the capacity and mindset required by mid level leaders to navigate uncertainty and drive change

For an overview of the full framework

Is your organization is under pressure but needs some assistance on where to focus next? We’d love to talk.

No fluff. No one-size-fits-all. Just clarity, momentum, and the confidence to move forward.

 

Schedule a call

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png 0 0 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2026-01-07 20:40:082026-01-07 20:40:08Why Strategy Often Fails

Align. Design. Lead.

November 19, 2025/in Agility, Align.Design.Lead, Executive Alignment, Leading Change, Organizational Design, Organizational Performance, Purpose, Strategy, Uncategorized/by James Harvey

How your organization should be wired to think, decide, and act.

From strategy to execution.

 

Let’s be clear.

Some organizations do suffer from flawed strategies. But more often, we see good strategies break down because of what’s underneath:

  • Misalignment at the top
  • Structures that can’t carry the load
  • Leaders trying to lead through change without the time, tools, or clarity they need

That’s where Align. Design. Lead. TM comes in.

It’s not a process you follow. It’s an approach you take—one that adapts to your starting point. Whether you need all three parts or just one right now, the framework meets you where the pressure is real.

  • ALIGN your senior team—not just around strategy, but how you decide, execute, and lead together
  • DESIGN the structure, roles, and workflows to move from vision to traction
  • LEAD with the adaptability and clarity your organization needs right now

Here’s the part many leaders miss:

In times of uncertainty, the instinct is to add layers—more processes, more rules, more initiatives. But complexity doesn’t need more complexity.

You need elegant simplicity—a way to cut through the noise and focus on what actually enables your organization to function, adapt, and perform.

 

 

Align. Design. Lead. is that kind of simplicity. It’s built from 25+ years of working with organizations at their most critical inflection points—growth, contraction, reinvention, and reset.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll unpack each part of the framework —and how our clients are applying it strategically, selectively, and successfully.

 

Schedule a call or Learn more

 

 

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/3-young-tech-execs-around-table.png 800 1200 James Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png James Harvey2025-11-19 20:32:072026-01-07 20:54:20Align. Design. Lead.

Executive misalignment is a silent killer

November 19, 2025/in Align.Design.Lead, Executive Alignment, Organizational Design, Organizational Performance, Senior Leader Development, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Here’s what to do about it

Align. Design. Lead. TM

This article is part of our series introducing Align. Design. Lead.TM —our uncomplicated framework designed to help build organizations that can adapt, perform, and thrive through complexity.

In our launch piece, we outlined the full model. Today, we’re diving into the first and often most overlooked phase:

 

ALIGN.

Most organizations don’t realize their leadership team is misaligned—until the effects show up in slower decisions, stalled results, and frustrated mid-level leaders.

Alignment isn’t about total agreement. It’s about unity: shared intent, clear roles, defined decision rights, and the leadership behavior to back it up.

At inflection points—when you’re rethinking your operating model, pivoting, merging, or scaling—executive alignment becomes the fulcrum of execution.

Why? Because in high-stakes moments, ambiguity flows downhill. If the top isn’t clear, the rest of the system fragments fast.

Consider these common scenarios:

  • Your strategy gets lean. In a retrenching environment, leadership clarity isn’t just helpful—it’s a  critical success factor. A unified team ensures that cuts and priorities are made with precision, not panic.
  • The senior team isn’t on the same page.  AI may help optimize operations, but it can’t clarify purpose, reconcile competing agendas, or build trust. Only aligned leadership teams can do that.
  • Your teams shrink and tech scales.  Alignment becomes your most significant strategic advantage. Flatter orgs move fast, but only if the top is pulling in the same direction. Without that cohesion, velocity turns to chaos.

Before you reduce headcount and reorganize, align your leadership team. 

Misalignment often creates the very inefficiencies that lead to downsizing. When leadership aligns first, decisions about where to reduce—and where to reinvest—become strategic, not reactive.


Here’s how we help clients in the Align phase of the framework:

  1. Diagnose alignment by mapping current vs. desired state across strategic and cultural dimensions.
  2. Clarify leadership identity and intent—what your team stands for, how it shows up, and what the business needs now.
  3. Define leadership behaviors and operating rhythm to match the speed, pressure, and complexity of your environment.
  4. Map decision rights and governance—so everyone knows who decides what, how, and when.

The payoff? Sharper execution, faster decisions, and a leadership team that accelerates momentum instead of diluting it.

The risk of inaction? Strategic drift. Culture erosion. A widening gap between what you say and what actually gets done.

If your team understands the strategy but isn’t agile in moving it forward—this is where you want to begin.


Align. Design. Lead.TM is a flexible framework that helps organizations move through inflection points with clarity and momentum. Whether you’re scaling, retrenching, or reimagining your business, the framework meets you where you are — helping you:

  • Align leadership teams to operate with strategic focus, speed, and cohesion
  • Design the organization to match your strategy—structure, roles, and workflows built for execution, not just org charts
  • Lead with the capacity and mindset required by mid level leaders to navigate uncertainty and drive change

For an overview of the full framework

Is your organization is under pressure but needs some assistance on where to focus next? We’d love to talk.

No fluff. No one-size-fits-all. Just clarity, momentum, and the confidence to move forward.

Schedule a call

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Disruptive_Arrows-scaled.jpg 1439 2560 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2025-11-19 19:20:342026-01-07 20:56:23Executive misalignment is a silent killer

Designing for Uncertainty

April 25, 2025/in Agility, Change Leadership, Culture, Leading Change, Organizational Design, Organizational Performance, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

How to Build A Resilient Organization in a Shaky Economy

Uncertainty isn’t a temporary disruption anymore—it’s the new background noise of doing business. Tariffs shift markets overnight, massive government layoffs ripple through industries, and investment slows as caution takes hold. And if it’s not these specific uncertainties, rest assured, the changing world will offer up others to take their place.

Many organizations are structured for predictable growth and efficiency—but that model cracks under pressure. One of the reasons organizations struggle with responsiveness is because they are built for stability, not agility.

So how do you design for a world where the ground is always shifting?

1. Build for Flexibility, Not Just Efficiency

Highly optimized org charts look good on paper—but they tend to collapse when circumstances change. Instead, consider flatter structures, cross-functional teams, and role fluidity. Think less about locking people into permanent roles and more about how teams can self-organize to solve emerging problems. This doesn’t mean you need to completely remove the management structure. It does mean you need to lead for empowerment, not control.

2. Create Distributed Decision-Making

In volatile times, centralized decisions move too slowly. Flatter organizations and more fluid roles needs to include distributed decision-making and autonomy so you can respond quickly in a shifting economy. Push decision-making authority closer to the action—equip leaders at every level with the clarity and trust to act quickly. Ensure alignment by creating guardrails for action with a clear vision and purpose, expressed values, and simple guidelines that inform decision making. Speed and clarity are your competitive advantages.

3. Design for Scenario Planning

A good org design helps leaders ask: “What if…?” rather than scramble to respond once something happens. Build routines for scenario planning into your leadership rhythms. Let the organization know this is part of how you are leading. Amidst uncertainty, the more people understand you’re planning for a variety of potential futures, the more their concern about the unknown diminishes. Structure your organization to flex without breaking when the unexpected arrives.

4. Reduce Internal Friction

In times of uncertainty, even minor bottlenecks become major liabilities. Look at your workflows, approval processes, and communication norms. Are they built for clarity and momentum—or control and caution? You’ll need more of the former.

Bottom Line:

Resilient organizations don’t guess right about the future. They’re just better at responding when the future surprises them. They can respond because they have proactively prepared. Design yours with that reality in mind.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Worried-Leader.jpg 674 1200 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2025-04-25 14:38:052025-04-25 14:38:05Designing for Uncertainty

Stop Fixing What’s Broken—Start Building What’s Next

February 6, 2025/in Organizational Design, Organizational Performance, Strategy, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

The Future of Your Organization Isn’t in the Repair Shop

Every December, leaders gather around boardroom tables to discuss “what’s not working.” The structure is too slow, the teams aren’t aligned, and change is happening too fast. The solution? Another reorg. But here’s the problem: too many organizations operate like mechanics—constantly patching things up instead of designing something built for the future.

Provocative Point: If your 2025 strategy still revolves around fixing inefficiencies instead of reimagining what’s possible, you’re already behind. Incremental change isn’t enough when the world is shifting at full speed.

Solution: Instead of a “tweak-and-fix” mindset, adopt a “design for scale” approach. Focus on building an organizational structure that’s fluid, adaptable, and driven by purpose—not just efficiency. This means fewer silos, more cross-functional collaboration, and leadership that’s actually empowered to make decisions. Start asking: What structure will help us seize opportunities we haven’t even considered yet?

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/org-design_woman-at-high-tech-board-1-scaled.jpeg 1435 2560 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2025-02-06 16:22:072025-02-06 21:20:02Stop Fixing What’s Broken—Start Building What’s Next

5 Leadership Conversations That Drive Organizational Growth

September 10, 2024/in Alignment, Building Trust, Career Growth, Change Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Leadership Conversations, Leading Change, Organizational Performance, Uncategorized, Workplace culture/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

If We’re Not Talking About These, What Are We Even Doing?

We all know that leadership isn’t about showing up, issuing a few directives, and hoping for the best. Real leadership? It’s a conversation—one that never ends, especially if you’re serious about growth. But not just any chat will do. We’re talking about powerful, sometimes uncomfortable conversations that push your team and your organization forward. Are you ready for them?

Conversation #1: “Here’s What’s Not Working—Let’s Fix It”
Too many leaders dance around the obvious issues. Growth doesn’t happen when everyone’s patting each other on the back. It happens when you call out what’s broken and actively work to fix it. Whether it’s processes, attitudes, or outdated systems, this conversation might sting a little, but trust us, it’s worth the pain.

Conversation #2: “What’s Our Next Big Move?”
Sitting still isn’t an option. Great leaders are always planning the next step—even if the last one hasn’t finished landing yet. Don’t be afraid to challenge your team with big, bold questions. “What’s next?” keeps everyone sharp and keeps your business ahead of the curve. Plus, it’s more exciting than “Let’s just stay the course,” right?

Conversation #3: “How Can I Help You Grow?”
Shocking news: leadership is about your team, not just you. If you’re not regularly asking how you can support your people in their personal and professional growth, you’re missing the mark. No one wants to feel stagnant, and when your team members grow, so does the organization. Simple math.

Conversation #4: “Let’s Talk About Failure”
Guess what? Everyone’s going to fail at some point. Pretending it won’t happen isn’t leadership—it’s delusion. Real leaders talk about failure before it happens, so when it does, it’s a learning moment, not a catastrophe. This conversation builds resilience, encourages risk-taking, and prevents your team from fearing every mistake.

Conversation #5: “Are We Still Aligned?”
Organizations are like marriages—they need constant check-ins. If your leadership team isn’t aligned on the vision, strategy, and values, you’re going to hit some serious turbulence. Make this conversation a regular part of your leadership cadence to ensure everyone’s on the same page, rowing in the same direction, and ready to adapt as needed.

 

Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue. If you’re not having these conversations, it’s time to get talking. Your organization’s growth depends on it—and frankly, so does your own development as a leader.

 

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Hand-Turning-Dial.png 1413 2121 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2024-09-10 18:49:552024-10-30 18:09:115 Leadership Conversations That Drive Organizational Growth

How to Get the C-suite on Board?

January 18, 2024/in Agility, Alignment, Change Leadership, Leadership, Motivation, Organizational Performance, Performance, Strategy, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Now is the time to invest in leadership development

Cost control efforts, including layoffs, are increasing across multiple industries. Leadership development initiatives can be an easy target. However, this is often the best time to invest in your organization’s leaders, when even more is going to be asked of them. So, how do you get the c-suite on board?

Some of your CEO’s top areas of focus for 2024 are likely to be: attracting and retaining top talent, continue with digital transformation and drive growth – and, you guessed  – reduce costs at the same time (source:  Conference Board 2024 CEO Outlook Report). And, they need leaders who can support these priorities. 

This opens the door for you to guide the c-suite on how to invest limited resources in leadership development that will be most impactful. How do you get the  C-suite’s crucial support for leadership development?

Frame it up: 2 Questions to ask yourself

Start by framing your conversation to address their biggest concern – positively impacting business results.

What is the business case for your organization?  Thinking like a CEO is critical to winning their support.

  • What are executives most concerned about in 2024? In a nutshell, it’s Growth, Technology, and Talent. If you want to dig deeper, take a look at the 2024 CEO Outlook survey from the Conference Board, and the most recent Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey Insights

  •  Find out not only what is most critical to your c-suite, but how they are talking about it. Be conversant in your company’s mission, business strategy, KPI’s / OKR’s and financial performance. Have direct discussions with senior leaders about what’s critical to them. Be prepared to provide relevant data (employee engagement, client satisfaction, attrition and talent acquisition, absenteeism, etc.). Business strategy documents, annual reports, and formal communications to leaders and employees are also good sources to prepare for discussions.
  • Create a direct link between your organization’s pain pointsand how the leadership development will help ease it. See more below.

What is the ROI / Impact?  If you have been able to demonstrate a strong ROI of past leadership development initiatives at your organization, that’s gold. If you don’t have that data, you can point to studies from reputable organizations that show a link between leadership development and business performance. Use this kind of data sparingly and targeted to your C-suite’s biggest concerns. This graphic from joshbersin.com provides compelling high-level support:

A diagram of a company Description automatically generated

Or some of these statistics could pique their interest:

  • Companies with top quartile leadership effectiveness generate 5 times more shareholder return.
  • According to 55% of CEOs, the biggest problem is creating the next generation of leaders. (Deloitte,)
  • The cost of replacing an employee can be 50-60% of their salary,sometime up to 200% of their salary for overall costs.

Talking with the C-suite

In addition to data and framing it up, positioning your business case is critical. Here are some ways to talk with your c-suite about leadership development.

Alignment:“We need to improve our leaders’ ability to align with the organization on business strategy, goals, and culture.”

  • Alignment needs to be regularly reinforced at all levels of the organization, from the most senior leaders to the most junior employees. For example, innovation is one of our core business imperatives. Leaders at all levels need to create environments on their teams where people will share new ideas and step out of old ways of thinking, Strong leadership development can show them how to do this and apply it in their real work.
  • Better aligned leaders make better decisions. They are also faster at adopting new technology.Our business’s innovative strength will be a direct byproduct of helping our leaders and their teams to better align with our business strategy and goals.
  • Leadership development is best when customizedso that critical skills are taught and practiced in ways that reflect our strategy and values. And I will ensure any development program does that.

Engagement:“We know from our engagement surveys, leaders and managers want the organization to invest in them” (if you don’t have engagement surveys, use some of the statistics discussed above). Opportunity for development is one of the top motivating factors listed in virtually all studies and surveys on engagement.

  • The bottom line for better engaged managers and employees is better performance. Teams that are engaged work more productively; they’re more likely to got the extra mile to achieve organizational goals, and they collaborate across teams more willingly.
  • In our continually changing business environment, leaders are desperately looking to boost their ability to stay on top of their people challenges.
  • Developing our leaders has a trickle-down effect on the teams and employees. They will be better led and therefore more engaged themselves. That results in better retention, lower hiring costs, and increased productivity.
  • Showing our leaders how to build empathy and trustwith their team members builds connection and embeds engagement more deeply in the organization.

Performance:  “When our leaders have their teams better aligned and better engaged, they will perform better.”

  • Our leadership development will emphasize effective communication and collaboration, which leads to better working relationships and less operational friction. That means fewer misunderstandings, mistakes, and wasted time and resources.
  • We also need to improve team and individual accountability. That includes mutual accountability amongst team members and their leaders. When leaders share more accountably with their teams, it drives engagement and performance.
Growth:  “When our leaders are better aligned with our strategy, and have more engaged and productive teams… they will be better able to help grow the business. Their professional growth helps drives team and organizational growth.”
  • Leadership development hones skills like adaptability and continual learning. That helps create an organization that is agile in the face of constant change.
  • Over time it builds muscle-memory for how to shift gears quickly and effectively from one business imperative to a more urgent or critical one.
  • Well-developed leaders are also better at identifying organizational growth opportunities and mitigating risks that threaten that growth.

Of course, you will find language and examples to make this framework more specific to your organization. That will make it resonate more with your senior leaders.

The value of effective leadership development is that it supports and accelerates the business strategy. It helps create a culture of adaptability and innovation. All of which helps your organization stay competitive in relentlessly changing markets.

All of which makes leadership development a wise investment, and not merely a cost.

Contact us for more information on how we can help you build leaders who enhance connection, performance and growth in your business.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Presenting-to-Execs-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2024-01-18 21:56:072024-08-01 17:26:46How to Get the C-suite on Board?

How Organizational Capital Boosts Financial Performance

April 5, 2023/in Leadership, Organizational Performance, Performance, Talent/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Companies have significantly better financial performance when they create a culture of consultative and challenging leadership, skill development, and collaboration. These factors also support bottom-up innovation, and positive and inclusive work environments, that McKinsey referred to as building “Organizational Capital.”

Sustained Excellence

McKinsey’s Global Institute looked at the impact of investing in human capital and skill development on company performance. Looking at 1,800 large companies across 15 sectors they assessed how much these companies focused on human capital and whether they financially outperformed their sector peer.
It turns out there is a significant impact.  The study identified what McKinsey calls People + Performance Winners. These companies excel at creating opportunities for employees to build skills, which they measured by looking at internal mobility, training hours, and organizational health scores. They also consistently clear the highest bar for financial performance. P + P Winners achieve more consistent results and have greater earnings resilience, along with the ability to attract and retain talent.
McKinsey asked, ‘How did they succeed on both fronts?’ The additional key element for these companies is what McKinsey calls Organizational Capital – their management practices, systems, and culture. It’s not enough to simply hire and train the great talent, it’s essential to create the environment where they can thrive. Think of it as the car that surrounds a driver. Even the best drivers are able to perform at higher levels when they have the best steering, braking, engines, and safety features in their cars.
As McKinsey noted in their report, “P+P Winners have a distinctive signature characterized by consultative and challenging leadership styles; bottom-up innovation and collaboration; positive and inclusive work environments; and rewards and advancement opportunities for employees.”
This research is important for all HR professionals and leaders who care about performance. It reinforces the view that we at NextBridge have always held:  People and company performance are a “both/and”conversation. Investing in one while not investing in the other will move the needle on some indicators of company success, but it won’t create sustained, consistent success in a variety of economic environments. Those companies that have the highest success are those that excel at balancing their investments and building organizations that thrive.

 

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Pieces-Of-Puzzle-Coming-Together-2.jpg 783 1200 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2023-04-05 18:07:372024-10-30 18:05:03How Organizational Capital Boosts Financial Performance

5 Minutes. 5 Days. (Re)gaining Joy at Work

May 24, 2022/in Alignment, Career Growth, Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Performance, Performance, Personal and Professional Goals, Purpose, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Joy and happiness are two different things. Both impact things like creativity, individual productivity, and the company’s bottom line (yes, it’s true). But joy is more sustainable.  Here’s a 5-minute per day, one-week plan for kickstarting your path to getting more joy out of work.

Are you missing joy at work?  Or maybe, you’ve never even put the two words joy and work together in the same sentence.  May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Joy is important to mental health. Finding it at work is very challenging for many of us. However, finding it may be more important than ever.

Isn’t joy just another word for happiness?  Not really. According to Merriam Webster dictionary joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune. Joy comes from being connected to our uniqueness, authenticity, to others and to something meaningful. Joy is something we create and more intrinsic. Happiness is sparked by an external event or situation. Research shows both joy and happiness impact our creativity, energy, productivity, health, ability to handle stress, and the company’s bottom line. Joy is more sustainable.

Interested in (re)gaining joy at work? After all, we do spend most of our days working. Creating joy needs to be an active pursuit made up of small steps we take every day. I challenge you to take the 5-minute, 5-day challenge to (re)gain joy at work. It works best when you implement it over 5 consecutive days and jot your answers down somewhere so you can look back on them.

Day One: 5 minutes:  Reconnect to your North Star.  What is your big why?  Why do you do the work you do? How is it helping you live your values? How does your work connect with other important things in your life? What about it is driving you right now?

Day Two: 5 minutes:  What is one thing you can influence or change at work that will allow you to align with your North Star more completely – even if it’s a small thing. What is one task you could do? Or stop doing? What is one opportunity you could take to give yourself a few minutes to focus on something more meaningful? Or to laugh? Or to take a deep breath?

Day Three: 5 minutes: What colleague could you help?  Maybe you’re thinking you don’t have time to help a colleague because you have so much on your plate.  What if you grabbed them a cup of coffee when you go to grab one yourself? Could you have a walk and talk to help them think through a challenge while you both go to pick up lunch (that you may be eating at your desk so you can keep working!)

Day Four: 5 minutes: What are your strengths?  What energizes you?  What is one way, in the next week, you could more fully use that strength? How could you craft your job so that you are able to do this more consistently and frequently?

Day Five: 5 minutes.  Reflect and reward yourself.  What accomplishment are you proud of this week? How did you live your big why? What one thing did you influence or change? Who did you lend a hand to? How did you use your strengths more fully? Do you feel more joy today than you did 5 days ago?

Integrate this challenge into your daily routine every week. Assess the impact at the end of 3-weeks and 3 months. Let me know what happens.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Woman-Celebrating-Success.png 1414 2121 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2022-05-24 18:45:372022-09-27 15:41:105 Minutes. 5 Days. (Re)gaining Joy at Work

Has Your Team’s Leadership Been Tested in 2021?

November 17, 2021/in Change Leadership, Leadership, Organizational Performance, Performance Management, Workplace culture/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

The Hard Truth: It’s Not Going to Get Easier.   Here Are the Trends and What You Can Do…

Adapting to rapidly changing market, technology and client-demand trends will consume organizations in 2022.  Which means that the risk of change burnout for employees and leaders alike is soaring.  Leaders at all levels will need to improve their change leadership capability quickly and continually.

Consider the following trends:

  • Hybrid work models are here to stay and will continue to evolve. 63% of high-growth companies already have enabled hybrid work models.  While 69% of negative or no-growth companies are focused on complete on-site or all-remote models.  McKinsey
  • Hybrid models will fail for 30% of businesses on their first try.  Why?  According to Forrester, shifting to a permanent hybrid model won’t be easy.  There are significant, competing demands between face-to-face and remote work along a myriad of dimensions: including roles, processes, and promotion opportunities.
  • The “great attrition” will continue.  64% of workers said they are at least somewhat likely to leave their job in the next 3-6 months, according to PwC.

What talent development strategies are most organizations focused on?

  • Skill building is the number one action taken by businesses to close pandemic-era skill gaps – for 69% of businesses.  That’s 13 points higher than redeploying, 17 points higher than hiring and 33 points higher than contracting.  McKinsey.
  • Social, emotional, and advanced cognitive skills are the most focused-on development targets.  What’s #1? Leadership and managing others.  McKinsey.
  • Top two priorities for 2022 according to 550 HR Leaders surveyed by Gartner?  #1 is Building critical skills and #2 is organizational design / change management.
  • Start with strategy.  How will your organization respond to both the business and talent changes coming your way? Link team objectives and people development to your strategy. Be sure to set expectations that priorities will shift over the course of 2022.
  • Increase engagement.  Seems like you’ve heard this before? It gets more important in 2022. To ensure your hybrid model works, make sure you have a thorough DEI plan.  Get a balance of both office and remote voices when you consider policy, plans, and assignments. Align your reward and recognition strategy with your DEI objectives.
  • Don’t fall behind. This is not the year to be playing catch up.  Your 2022 organizational strategy and planning must account for the massive market and talent changes taking place. Uncover what’s worked over the last 18 months, what hasn’t worked, and build some projections about how things will be different in 2022. And that includes assessing the leadership skills necessary to implement and continually adapt your hybrid model.

To continue to be successful, organizations will need to do some or all of the following:

  • restructure jobs
  • figure out how to organize work processes differently
  • rethink how your teams need to work together
  • build trust and rapport with your employees
  • work hard to maintain or recreate a better business culture
  • address the change burnout problem we’re all facing
  • develop new leadership mindsets and skills

Could You Use a Partner to Help Boost Your Team’s Leadership Capability and Business Culture? 

We’ve been working with our clients for over 20 years to help solve these kinds of challenges. As your leadership team develops your 2022 plans, we’re here to partner with you.

In recent months we’ve seen an uptick in inquiries into how we can help leaders and their organizations work, lead, and organize differently. Our clients have been benefitting from our newest suite of programs and consulting services, Solving the Hybrid Puzzle.

Or contact us for more information. 978-475-8424 info@nextbridgeconsulting.com

 

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/pexels-miguel-á-padriñán-194094-scaled.jpg 1702 2560 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2021-11-17 14:58:472021-11-17 14:58:47Has Your Team’s Leadership Been Tested in 2021?
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