The document summarizes a public speech about responsive leadership for the future of work. It discusses how the world is changing rapidly due to disruptive technologies and megatrends, requiring organizations to take a more holistic, responsive, and entrepreneurial approach. Specifically, it recommends that organizations focus on holism across strategy, leadership and culture; responsiveness through agile structures and processes; and entrepreneurship by empowering internal teams to act independently and innovatively. The speaker argues this will allow organizations to better adapt and thrive in today's volatile environment.

1. Responsive leadership – a guide
A summary of my public speaks
March 2016
Erik Korsvik Østergaard, Partner, Bloch&Østergaard
Going to work should be nice, great, and awesome!

2. The 30 second summary
So, the world is changing ever faster.
A line of megatrends (including disruptive
technology) is driving business forward,
and forcing new behavior into
organizations, leaders, and employees.
This requires:
Holism
A new holistic approach to strategy,
leadership, and people, with an updated
mindset and skillset for you and your
leaders.
Responsiveness
Trimming and redefining your organization
and culture to respond fast enough.
Entrepreneurship
A redesign of the way you organize work,
constant innovation, internal startups, and
a portfolio approach.
1
2
3
Let’s go through the 3 areas!
Disclaimer: These are my slides from my public speaks, with some minor editing to give them context or “speakers notes”.
!

3. The world is changing
… and I bet you already know that.
Skip the next six slides, if you want. This is just a fast summary.
!

4. 4
Volatile Uncertain Complex Ambiguous
The world is VUCA

5. 5
40% of Fortune 500 companies will be gone in 10 years
Is someone or something changing your business?
Do you know what problem you are solving?
- Babson School of Business, Washington University
Can you respond to the changes?

6. 6
Half of the jobs will be automated
- SCENARIO, Centre for Futures Studies
“Your job; now available from the app store”
Our children’s jobs have yet to be invented

9. Megatrends
9
Purpose + Meaningfulness
Relations + Connectedness
Silver Backs + Millennia
Female Shift in Leadership
Radical Sustainability + Circular Economics
Urbanisation + Globalisation
Technology + Going digital

10. Holism
in the Future of Work
1

11. Speakers notes
Being affected by these megatrends and
new demands, you need to think
holistically about your organization –
you need to look at these five elements
at the same time:
• Purpose and direction
• Innovation
• Culture
• Organizing
(which is a verb, not a noun)
• Leadership
You need to change the mindset,
skillset, and behavior of your leaders to
embrace this.
You have to focus on attracting,
engaging, and retaining both
employees, customers, and the
community.
The new leader understands this, and
has a holistic view on the business, the
organization, the team, and the
employees.
Focus on how to create value (VOI), not
just profit (ROI)
Purpose, relations and results is what
counts – and it creates happiness at
work too.
11

12. Future
of Work
Purpose
and
direction
Organizing
Culture
Innovation
Leadership
12
A holistic approach

13. 13
Source: @LeadershipABC, Kenneth Mikkelsen
The many required shifts

14. Don’t compete on
SKILLS
and
PRICE
(Red Ocean)
Focus on
EFFECT
and
RELATIONS
(Blue Ocean)
New rules of the game

15. Behaviour of a leader
15
Ensures purpose and
meaning (WHY), and
that we’re making a
difference
Challenges status quo
(both HOW and WHAT)
and encourages the
team to do the same
Ensures
direction and traction
via
dialogue and delegation
Values collaboration,
innovation, and
brainstorming
Avoids titles and
hierarchy. Focuses on
roles and network.
Relations beat skills
Measures
the right things
Is a role model on trust,
respect, involvement,
empowerment, and
emotional intelligence
Thrives with uncertainty
and complexity, and
avoids
oversimplifications

16. Responsiveness
in the Future of Work
2

17. Speakers notes
Your organization needs to
respond, adapt, and be agile.
If not, you will have a limited
lifespan in the Future of Work.
The next pages present some
approaches for analyzing and
designing your organization.
Take a look at the five
parameters/sliders for “The
Responsive Organization” (see
next slide). If you push them all to
the left, you’ll be effective. If you
push them all to the right, you’ll
be responsive. What mix of
parameters do you want?
Similarly for the “Design principles
of adaptable organizations” and
for the “PUK Leadership Profile”:
Use it as a platform for debate:
What should you focus on now?
Finally, here’s 10 characteristics of
organizations that we work with,
that are moving towards a more
responsive design.
17

18. 18
Efficiency,
more predictable
Versus
Responsiveness,
less predictable
Profit Purpose
Hierarchies Networks
Controlling Empowering
Planning Experimentation
Privacy Transparency
The Responsive Organization – what mix do you want?
Source: responsive.org

19. Design principles of
adaptable organisations
What should you focus on?
Source: Gary Hamel et al.:
“Hackathon Report - Management
Innovation eXchange”
19

20. Evidence: 10 characteristics of responsive organizations
Purpose and
meaningfulness
Relations
beat skills
Larger
line teams
Smaller
project teams
Everyone is a
leader
Followership
supports
leadership
Step down
from the
Ivory Tower
Listen,
then decide
Intense
sprints
Not more,
but better
Source: +10 clients that we’ve helped in the last few years

21. PUK Leadership Profile Red
(Wolf pack)
Amber
(Army)
Orange
(Machine)
Green
(Family)
Teal
(Living Organism)
Scope:
<organisation>
<Area>
<Number of
employees>
Submitted by
<name>
dd-MMM-2016
Constant exercise of power to
keep foot soldiers in line.
Highly reactive. Thrives in
chaotic environments
• Division of labour
• Command authority
Highly formal roles within a
hierarchical pyramid. Top-
down command and control.
Future is a repetition of the
past.
• Formal roles (stable and
scalable hierarchies)
• Stable, replicable processes
(long-term perspectives)
Goal is to beat competition,
achieve profit and growth.
Management by objectives.
Command and control over
what. Freedom over how.
• Innovation
• Accountability
• Meritocracy
Focus on culture and
empowerment to boost
employee motivation.
Stakeholders replace
shareholders as primary
purpose.
• Empowerment
• Egalitarian management
• Stakeholder mode
Self-management replaces
hierarchical pyramid.
Organizations are seen as
living entities, oriented
towards realizing their
potential
• Self-management
• Wholeness
• Evolutionary purpose
Purpose + direction
Vision, Value, Results,
Meaning,
Prioritisation, Profit,
Transparency
Innovation
Challenging status quo,
Experimentation, Creativity,
Technology, Fail fast, No-
blame, Entrepreneurship,
Risk management
Culture
Integrity, Intimacy, Relations,
Feedback, Dialogue, Listening,
Motivation, Dignity, Fairness,
Well-being, Coaching, Passion,
Engagement, Drive, Firmness,
Caring, Empowerment, Trust,
Involvement, Authenticity,
Diversity
Organizing +
delivery
Decentralisation,
Collaboration, Autonomy,
Mastery, Enabling,
Accountability, Commitment,
Choice, Flexibility, Agility,
Processes, Getting things
done
PUK v1.0Source: Bloch&Østergaard, in collaboration with representatives from the University of Southern Denmark
and several large Danish organizations in the finance and engineering industries

22. The responsive, networked organization
Do you want effective silos
or responsive networks?
Or both?

23. Entrepreneurship
in the Future of Work
3

24. Speakers notes
Start thinking of your
organization as a portfolio of
(small) businesses or start-
ups, also called a
team-of-teams.
Give them autonomy,
support, and accountability.
Allow them to make mistakes,
but ensure validated learning.
This means that being an
entrepreneur inside the
organization is a career path.
This also means, that your
role as leader changes. You’ll
see that the team-of-teams
approach requires you to act
as a coach/mentor, as a
portfolio manager, and as
internal strategist from time
to time.
If you roll out an Agile project
approach (which is a great
idea), then do also push Agile
Leadership into the
management meetings.
24

25. An innovation-friendly culture and process
Willingness to
change the
status quo
Engage with
customers
Creativity and
experimentation
Fail fast.
Fail forward.
Demo and
feedback
Use it, or
throw away?
No-blame
Stop. Evaluate.
Learn.
Adjust. Repeat.

26. Think ‘organising’
not ‘organisation’
26
• Teams group, dissolve, and regroup
• Teams establish their own structure
• Teams establish values and identity
• Teams are organising in an organisation
• Management stays in control
• Outer boundaries are kept
• Internal flexibility and well-being

27. The role of the leader
Coaching
and
mentoring
•using your emotional
intelligence and
experience
Being
strategic
•thinking as an
entrepreneur, working
ON “your business”
White space
management
•i.e. maneuvering the
areas in your organization
“where rules are vague,
authority is fuzzy, budgets
are non-existent, and
strategy is unclear”
Pathfinder, domain expert, guide

28. Career platform in Future Of Work
People Project Specialist
Top management
Middle management
Frontline
The old career path: The only way is up.
This approach is going to die.
The new career platform: Not up, but around
Manager
“Get things done”
Purpose: Run the business
Leader
“Follow me”
Purpose: Grow the business Entrepreneur
“Try this”
Purpose: Transform the business
The employee in Future Of Work understands to shift between roles;
and wants to be lead that way, on all levels of the organisation:
In frontline, as middle manager, and as top manager you can be
a manager, a leader or an entrepreneur of your role

29. Summary

30. The 30 second summary

31. Bloch&Østergaard
Because going to work should be nice, great, and awesome
31