Leadership Readiness: Adapting for Today and Tomorrow

Resetting the Course for Talent Development and the Cultural Agenda

Challenge

A niche company with a strong position in custom equipment management systems approached Dewar Sloan with several concerns about current leadership depth, capacity, succession planning, and the evolution of the organization.

The Leadership Team sensed some turbulence ahead

Succession Questions

The leadership team was aging, but no clear succession plan was in place to guide the next generation of leaders.

Strategic Crossroads

Company leaders faced a major decision: stay focused on the core business or expand into adjacent markets.

Weighing the Risks

Every path forward came with trade-offs. Market expansion meant new challenges, while staying put risked stagnation.

Ready for the Future

Without structured transition planning, leadership gaps could well constrain long-term success and business evolutions.

The broader issue at stake?

Leadership that matched-up with the strategy, culture, resources, and structure needed to assure the near-term and long-term success of the company.

Options and Solutions

Dewar Sloan worked with four Strategic Teams to explore a series of issues, trends, and forces that would shape the best prospects for current and future leadership.

  • The Insight Team explored broad changes in the nature of the Work to Be Done by the organization — strategic and operational. This included research on new forms of work automation and execution.
  • The Markets Team studied the Customer – who they are, what they want, and how they act in the marketplace. Further, how will core and emergent customers evolve.
  • The Talents Team examined the Talent Base and Talent Supply Chains of the company – as part of the company’s future structure and strategy picture.
  • The Culture Team reviewed the principles, values, practices, and norms that would support the core business as well as the adjacent business development avenues.

In roughly 120 days, these Strategic Teams framed a clear set of ideas that came into form as strong leadership options and practical leadership development solutions.

Intent and Impact

Developing Effective Leadership at Every Level is a Strategic Intention for most organizations today. Why this matters is more about the advantages that accrue over time and over cycles of change. In this case, the company had clarified its intentions, broadened its perspectives, advanced the engagement of employees, reduced operating friction, and elevated the company’s positions and performance. Strategic and Adaptive Leadership in Motion.

The Challenges of Today, and the Options for Tomorrow

Opening the Conversations that Matter

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