Yet another insightful update from Oliver Wyman. Their annual "State of the Financial Services Industry" report is a go-to read that always provides new insights into the broader industry. In their latest one, they emphasise the continuing importance of the ongoing digital transformation efforts.
Oliver Wyman refers to the meeting of the VISION mindset with the VALUE mindset as financial institutions struggle to deliver on the investments they need to be successful in 10-years time while providing value in the short-term.
For the VISION mindset, we need to transform to survive, think innovation, creativity and long-term horizons. Taking a big five personality traits perspective, a typical person in this space may have higher openness, lower conscientiousness and lower extroversion.
"We need to transform to survive."
For the VALUE mindset, delivering financial returns in the present, think logical, disciplined, and factual.
Also looking at it from a personality traits perspective - lower openness, high conscientiousness are more likely with people responsible for delivering the numbers.
This meeting of these two mindsets and the pressure that arises from the foot on the gas for more investment and more rapid change versus the foot on the break, when will we see a return, we need to slow things down presents opportunities for coaching to help.
Foot on the break versus foot on the gas pedal.
Often organisations struggle to make sustainable change which isn't because of a lack of intent or the will to make things happen. It is common for visions to be articulated, goals and plans refined and shared, actions to be started only to falter and stall shortly afterwards. There is an underlying issue – we often have to change ourselves – to successfully implement changes in how we work.
Coaching can help
Whether through 1-2-1 executive coaching, team coaching or transition coaching:
managing transitions
bringing in talent or changing roles
bridging the gaps, managing differences and finding a common language
confronting and dealing with conflict
identifying and developing new skills
developing trust, improving team cohesion and bonding to the common goals and each other
An excellent book on how to nurture ideas and transform industries is "Loonshots" by Safi Bahcall. Listeners of the Tim Ferriss podcast will be familiar with Safi, who is a regular. The author explains the critical principles behind productionising innovation and how to ensure early-stage ideas are nurtured and protected from black and white analysis of financial returns:
Phase separation - separate the innovation and everyday groups
People responsible for creativity and innovation need to be sheltered from the people responsible for BAU activities. It is familiar and comfortable to pick at the faults in early-stage projects as the typical incentives for everyday management are misaligned with innovation.
Dynamic equilibrium - seamless exchange between the two groups
A careful balance is required between the innovation and BAU teams to ensure critical employees are supported. The key is to manage the transfer of ideas between teams and not the technology, i.e. the technical ideas themselves.
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