On today’s podcast, we’re joined by the world’s leading futurist on global trends and innovations, and author of The Anticipatory Organization: Turn disruption and change into opportunity and advantage, Daniel Burrus.

Daniel will be sharing his extensive knowledge to help you understand how trends can be predicted, and how to utilize these trends to develop your business.

On today’s podcast:

• What is the Anticipatory Organization model?
• The biggest missing competency of any organization
• Understanding the different types of trends
• How do you identify the next trend?
• Learning to embrace disruption

Links:

• Daniel’s Website
• Daniel’s Facebook Page
• Daniel’s Twitter
• Daniel’s LinkedIn Page

What is The Anticipatory Organization Model?

The Anticipatory Organization Model provides a framework for identifying certainties in the market and for leaping ahead of your competition with much lower risk.

Developed by today’s guest Daniel Burrus, it is used by some of the largest companies in the world and has seen outstanding results. 

The biggest missing competency of any organization

Many organizations believe that agility is the most important competency for an organization to possess. Daniel believes that reacting to problems and digital disruptions, no matter how agile you or your organization are, is no longer good enough.

The world is moving at a technology driven pace which is exponential in its rate. So organizations need a way to identify the direction in which technology is moving.

By using the methodology that Daniel teaches in his book, organizations can see disruptions before they disrupt.

This foresight allows you to identify the problems that you or your customer are going to have before they happen, and pre-solve them. What’s more, it gives you the ability to see game-changing opportunities upon which you can base your own innovations with low risk.

Understanding the different types of trends

Most of us don’t spend much time looking at trends, and when we do the difficulty is identifying which ones will happen.

Daniel believes there are only really two types of trend and that once you understand their characteristics you’ll be better placed to predict which will happen.

1. Hard Trends.

Hard trends are based on future facts. They provide you with certainty in a seemingly uncertain world, and a business strategy based on certainty is low risk.

2. Soft Trends.

Soft trends are based on an assumption. Often business leaders believe that assumption is a fact and treat it as such. As a result, soft trends carry higher risk.

How do you identify the next trend?

Predicting everything is not realistic so organizations need to be agile and able to react fast to the unseen.

The new competency that Daniel has identified is how much you can see and pre-act on before the future event. With the pace of change ever increasing it’s better to get ahead of it than to languish behind it.

Daniel teaches that it’s easier than you might think to identify trends. Particularly in the case of hard trends which tend to fall within very clear identifiable categories.

1. Demographics.

As an example, in the US  there are 78 million baby boomers and it’s a hard trend that they’re going to get older. With this hard trend comes the opportunity to identify the problems this will cause and pre-solve them, creating business opportunities in the process. These baby boomers will get older, when they do what will their needs be and how can you solve them before the problems arise.

2.  Technology.

Technology is amazingly predictable. We have 4G wireless, you’ve heard about 5G wireless so can you predict what is coming next? 6G. The same applies to storing information on the cloud, it’s a hard trend that will continue to grow.

3. Government Regulation.

When a new law is passed we instinctively look at all of the things about it that we don’t like. Daniel suggests that you should be looking at the things you do like. Look for the areas of these new laws that will cause issues for others and create a service that will solve this. Using this method of identification you can Innovate with low risk.

Learning to embrace disruptions

Many leaders are afraid of disruptions. This is due to previous experiences of disruptions that have hit hard and messed things up. Disruption can mess up your career, products, services, customers, and people do not like this kind of disruption.

Leaders often believe that no one likes change which causes fear of disruption. This is not always true since not all change is negative.

So what’s the bad kind of change? It’s the kind that catches you by surprise.  

According to Daniel most of the time, these changes could have been predicted. There are ways that you can see these things coming and Daniel’s book has a methodology that allows you to do just that.

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On today’s podcast, we’re joined by Jen Roberts. The President and Founder of Difference Consulting, the resident expert in the field of employee engagement and motivating employees.

Jen says things are rapidly changing in the workplace and leadership in organizations has to respond and adapt to attract and retain multi-generational talent.

Within today’s podcast, we look at the way employees needs have changed and how leaders can create open communication environments for their teams to reach their highest potential.  

On today’s podcast:

• Organisational Landscape of 2018
• Millennials in the Workplace
• The Ideal Working Environment to Drive Engagement
• Outdated Common Business Practices
• New Business Practices Leaders Can Embrace Within the Organisation
• Engaging and Retaining Top Talent in a Multi-Generational Workforce

Links:

• Jen’s website: http://differenceconsulting.com
• Creating a coaching culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFUBhe9A2lI
• Forbes Coaches Council: https://forbescoachescouncil.com/

Organisational Landscape of 2018

We are entering a critical time where good talent within an organization is essential, as we are impending a global talent shortage, particularly in industries where there is highly skilled labor such as Cyber Security and Engineering.

There is going to be a challenge amongst leaders in organizations if they are not willing to adapt to attract and retain talent.

There’s going to be a lot going on in the next 5-10 years when technology is changing at neck-breaking speed. Plus there will be challenges that come with a multi-generational workforce.

Millennials in the Workplace

Millennial talent is the largest demographic in the workforce, comprising for 75% of the workplace by 2030.

Organizations need to be leveraging their talent and making sure they are prepared to go into leadership positions.

Although there is a pre-conception that millennials are lazy, they are actually willing to work hard. But they also want to work smarter with by leveraging technology.

The Ideal Working Environment to Drive Engagement

Millennials, in particular, are looking for meaningful work, where they are making a valuable contribution to the success of the organization.

Jen says a much more flexible working environment with a humane work environment will help retain talent and encourage people to reach their full potential.

Management also needs to be much more hands-on with transparent communication, giving their employees real autonomy to go and do their best at work.

Outdated Common Business Practices

As opposed to the hierarchical command and control approach, people are now looking for open and continuous communication where you can flow between ‘levels’.

Annual performance reviews are going out of date, as successful leaders create a dialogue between the individuals working in their teams to help them adapt and make changes there in the moment and celebrate successes they are achieving as well.

Jen says we are entering a time where working is going to become much more results-based rather than fixed and ridged.

New Business Practices Leaders Can Embrace Within the Organization

Setting a strategic vision for the organization allows your employees the autonomy to actually accomplish their work in a way that suits them and get the results you’re looking for.

Leaders can focus on fostering continuous feedback and really creating that environment for open communication, through engagement surveys, mobile apps, team meetings and implementing development programmes.

Engaging and Retaining Top Talent in a Multi-Generational Workforce

People are no longer attracted to companies for salary and benefits, people really want to work for organizations who consider their human needs and will set them up for success.

Leaders in organizations need to work on rethinking and rewriting positions for organizational agility, leveraging the internal team, not always specific to promotion.

The Best Way to Find Jen

Visit our website: www.differenceconsulting.com and schedule a complimentary discovery call, which is the first step in their process, to really take a look at how leaders can get started. It’s great way for Difference Consulting to find the next steps for leaders, who can further this by entering into the next phase of the process.

The next phase is to hold a more detailed Difference Consulting discovery conversation and schedule a strategy day.

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When job seeking, your resume is the document that gets you through the door and in front of the hiring agent. But what goes into developing the perfect resume and what is it that makes you really stand out from the crowd in an oversaturated job market?

On today’s show, we are joined by Kris McGuigan, a top resume writer and careers advisor who is one of only 120 people worldwide to achieve the prestigious Academy of Certified Resume Writers Designation.

Kris’s passion is helping others to identify and unleash their potential. Figuring out the best way to market themselves and representing all of the value that individuals can bring to the marketplace.

Today she’ll be walking you through the steps of how you can ensure you have the best resume possible as you embark on your search for a new career.

On today’s podcast:

• What needs to be on your resume?
• Should you enlist the help of a professional resume writer?
• How regularly should you update your resume?
• Should you tailor your resume to specific job roles?
• Three things the modern resume should have

Links:

• Kris’s Facebook Page
• Kris’s LinkedIn Page
• Kris’s Website

Should you enlist the help of a professional resume writer?

These days our resumes are so much more than a chronological listing of the jobs we have done. The modern resume is a marketing document that needs to sell you, the job seeker and make you stand out from the crowd.

Research shows that working with a professional writer can make you 40% more likely to get noticed by either a recruiter or hiring agent. Kris believes that a professional writer can help you to ensure that you not only have the most updated and relevant information on your resume but will guarantee that it meets with modern practices.

It will ultimately give you the best opportunity of getting past the gatekeeper and in front of your prospective employer.

How regularly should you update your resume?

“Dig your well before you’re thirsty.” is the mantra Kris adopts.

You want to make sure that you have an updated personal brand and that you’re ready for any unforeseen circumstances. Whether that’s a change in the market and you find yourself out of work, or there is a promotion you’re being considered for.

You don’t want to find yourself in a time driven situation in which you need to update a document you haven’t looked at for ten years.

Kris’s belief is that it much better serves your career to have an ongoing document that you can use, can be proud of and can properly reflect your current brand at any given time.

Should you tailor your resume to specific job roles?

Individuals should have a single resume and there are very few outlying circumstances, however, your resume should use position specific language.

Having individual resumes that are specifically tailored to each job for which you are applying has the potential to create a schizophrenic job search in place of a search that is clearly focussed.

It is important to have an idea of the direction you are trying to go in and then market yourself appropriately, incorporating position-specific language, and aligning it across your resume and your LinkedIn profile.

Changing your resume for every job you apply for can quickly become disorganized, confuse recruiters and cause you to rack your brains trying to remember which version you sent across to the person on the other end of the phone.

Three things the modern resume must have

Ensure your resume meets these criteria to give yourself the best chance for success.

1. Position specific language

Nowadays your resume will pass through a series of different automated filters (Applicant Tracking Software Systems). These filters act as the gatekeeper to the hiring agent on the other side and are specifically looking for keywords, so you need to make sure you have incorporated the correct language that is relevant to your industry and position.

2. Results oriented detail

Be sure to outline what you have accomplished and the things you have achieved that can add to the bottom line of the organization to which you are applying.

Your resume should be a snapshot of your greatest career accomplishments, rather than a laundry list of all of your job duties. Describe these achievements in a manner that makes it easy for potential employers to understand your return on investment.

3. Eye-catching presentation

Your resume is a marketing tool and you need to use it as such. You have less than seven seconds to capture the interest of a recruiter. Good use of white space and a modern font can greatly increase your chances.

Kris’s final tip for modernizing your resume in less than 10 seconds? Stop using Times New Roman.

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