Thank you, Mick. Somebody asked me a while ago why people refer to me as one of the pioneers of coaching and mentoring. I usually say it's because everyone else who was around at the time is either dead, deaf, or demented. As for which of those I might be—I’m certainly going deaf anyway.
Today, we’re going to have a little bit of a discussion around coaching and organizational agility. We'll look at some of the forces at work and some of the new concepts and ways of thinking that might be helpful.
Let me start by sharing my screen. There we go—this should be visible to all.
The Declining Lifespan of Businesses
We have a lot of issues going on, and I thought this study was interesting. It hasn't been repeated, but it provides some compelling data. In 2015, 400,000 new businesses were started in the United States, while 470,000 businesses closed. The rate of company deaths exceeded the rate of births in that period.
Over time, this number fluctuates, but it shows that the lifetime of companies is gradually decreasing. Fifty percent of businesses fail within their first five years, and 96% fail within ten years.
I've experienced this personally as an entrepreneur. When I set up my first formal limited company with a colleague, we did so under a government loan guarantee scheme. Several businesses were started during that period. About eight or nine years later, I went back to the accountants who helped us prepare our funding and asked how many of those businesses were still in existence. The answer? We were the only one.
Project Failure and Poor Decision-Making
Beyond business longevity, there are significant issues around project success. Only 26% of major projects succeed, according to the Project Management Institute. Seventeen percent of IT projects fail so badly that they threaten the existence of the company. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s only 17%, given the complete disasters we’ve seen in this area.
Why do businesses fail to change fast enough or in the right way? Studies show that poor management decisions are often the result of inadequate environmental scanning. The world changes faster than many leaders realize, and they fail to notice these changes.
There's a great book called Upheaval that offers interesting insights into how nations go through trauma. Another book, Thinking the Unthinkable, discusses how we fail to recognize changes happening around us.
Ultimately, the key question is: Are you changing and adapting as a business as fast—or faster—than the environment around you? Or are you always behind the curve?
Innovation vs. Organizational Arthritis
In a coaching session with a company recently, they believed they were more innovative than their competitors. However, their biggest competitor was launching nearly twice as many new products each year. They were basing their belief on past performance—when they were younger and more agile. But as they aged, organizational arthritis crept in.
It’s not just internal struggles; the environment changes too. The business you think you're in may no longer be the business you are actually in.
Performance Management and Changing Roles
Another example is how organizations handle performance management. In a study I conducted, we found that companies often place someone in a role they are well suited for. Over time, as the job requirements evolve, instead of moving that person to a better-fitting role, companies try to performance-manage them into a failing situation.
As a result, successful people are turned into failures. Corporate corridors are littered with the bodies of those who have been performance-managed into despair simply because their environment changed and neither they nor the organization adapted.
VUCA vs. Vision and Agility
We often hear about VUCA—Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. It’s true but uninspiring. A more useful perspective is to replace it with Vision, Understanding, Clarity, Adaptability, and Agility.
If we can build organizations that have vision, clarity, and adaptability, we stand a far greater chance of surviving and thriving.
Leadership Changes in a Post-COVID World
One of the challenges we now face is the transition from virtual to hybrid work. Leadership styles that were once effective in a traditional office setting may no longer work. People have grown used to more autonomy. Leaders who try to revert to pre-pandemic control methods will face resistance.
How do we help leaders cope with this shift? How do we ensure we don’t regress to old, less agile ways of working?
Social Interaction and Mental Health
Another issue is social interaction. The isolation from working at home has led to significant mental health challenges. Studies show that social interaction is crucial—people need between six and eleven social interactions daily to maintain mental well-being.
One study looked at individuals isolated in the Antarctic for months. The result? Their brains physically shrank due to a lack of social interaction.
If remote work is here to stay, how do we maintain these crucial social connections?
The Future of Coaching
There is an increasing need for qualified team coaches. Our estimates suggest that over the next five years, there will be a demand for 150,000 new team coaches globally. Currently, there are only about 3,000–4,000 qualified team coaches worldwide.
Much of coaching today focuses on individuals, but we need more emphasis on coaching teams. Even before coaching teams directly, leaders must be coached to create a coaching culture within their teams.
Final Thoughts
In a world of increasing complexity, leaders and coaches must embrace systemic thinking. Rather than seeking quick fixes, they must understand the broader systems at play.
We must move beyond rigid processes and into a mindset of continuous learning, adaptation, and agility.
Thank you all for your time today. Any final questions before we wrap up?