An Open Letter to the Field Service Sector

Jun 11, 2020 • News • Leadership and Strategy • Field Service Expo 2020

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Field Service News has expressed his thinking behind why it is so vital that the Field Service Expo 2020 goes ahead citing the pivotal rule he believes field service will play in rebuilding the economy...

Register your place at Field Service Expo 2020 now @

https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en/field-service-expo-2020

Hi Folks,

Firstly, I hope you are all still keeping as well as can be in these turbulent times.

Secondly, I wanted to make an announcement regarding the Field Service Expo 2020 - which is scheduled to be held on the 30th September and the 1st of October, at the Edgbaston International Cricket Ground, Birmingham, UK.

The important message is that we are planning to go ahead with the event.

I've put some thoughts together on a video to outline our reasoning and how we plan to proceed which you can find below.

In fact, having given this long consideration, I feel it is our fundamental responsibility, as the leading voice within the field service sector, to do everything we can to make this event happen if at all possible.

I truly believe that as we plot the path towards recovery, the field service sector will play a crucial role in building economic stability as we return to prosperity. The reality is that the likelihood of an extended economic downturn will see companies leaning heavier on the existing service and maintenance agreements they have in place as they seek to get the most from the assets they already have in place. Additionally, the need for new thinking could well drive forward the concepts of servitization and outcome-based service offerings in much the same way the economic downturn of 2008 drove the adoption of SaaS models.

We have been moving towards a service-centric economy for some time, but now as we move into the 'new normal' of tomorrow, the drivers for that have shifted from nice-to-have to necessity.

For the field service sector to continue to meet the demands of this 'new normal' it is imperative we embrace digital transformation and identify the solutions that can drive our service delivery to the next level. This is what the Field Service Expo was designed to do. To connect field service organisations, like yours, with the key solutions providers that can propel you forwards on your digitalisation journey.

Of course, we are still in uncertain times, and I want you to know that our approach to ensuring the safety of all attendees has been both methodical and practical. Every measure will be taken to protect the safety of our attendees while still providing an opportunity for us all to come together as we drive our sector forwards and ensure that the hardships we have all faced during the first half of 2020, were not in vain as together we build a brighter tomorrow.

Should the worst case scenario emerge where we face a second wave and we are simply unable to go ahead with the Field Service Expo, then we have already planned a second date in Spring 2021 and all registrations for this year's Expo will be valid for the revised date. However, we believe it is vital we move forward and make this event happen this year if it is at all feasible.

Entry to the event will also be free for this year for all attendees again because we believe it is crucial we bring the industry together. However, due to social distancing measures that may still be in place, passes will be restricted and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Therefore, I urge anyone thinking of joining us for the expo to register now on the link below.

I look forward to seeing you and meeting with you all there and as always if you have any questions you are welcome to contact me directly on my personal email kris@fieldservicenews.com

Cheers,

Kris

Editor-in-Chief & Founder,
Field Service News

Register your place at Field Service Expo 2020 now @

https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en/field-service-expo-2020

Leadership: Lessons Learnt from the Pandemic

Jun 10, 2020 • Features • Digital Transformation • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy

Nick Frank like many has been spending more time with his young family during the pandemic and says there is much to learn from a child's perspective as we move through and beyond Covid-19 in service.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose..."

- Dr. Seuss

Dr Seuss children’s books are famous the world over and as many of us mix work with home schooling, we can appreciate there is so much to learn from a children’s view of the world. Maybe you are now getting to the point where you can start to learn the lessons from your pandemic experience. Maybe you are now getting to the point where you can start to learn the lessons from your pandemic experience.

5 LEarnings the Field Service Sector Can Take From the Covid-19 Crisis

Here are the top five lessons learned we have heard, which I am sure will be added to in the coming months:

1. We can move fast when we want to!

It has been amazing at how fast companies have adapted to working remotely and in a new operating reality. One manager we talked to told us how a major equipment manufacturer rolled out an Augmented Reality Solution in 3 days, taking risks that they never would have thought in the pre-COVID 19 world. It just goes to show what organisations can do when they have clear vision and purpose.

Talking to a cross section of managers, it also becomes clear that the most successful had already been building a culture of flexible working and innovation. This has allowed them to react effectively to the challenge. One hopes these successes should re-enforce companies’ ‘can-do’ beliefs and increase the pace of innovation. Although the road has been tougher for those conservative companies who have been slower to embrace digital technology, the cliff edge nature of the crisis has created the ‘burning platform’ required to drive change. For these companies it will be a real leadership test if they can take the bold decisions required to increase their dynamism and not revert back to type.

2. Communicate, communicate and communicate is a vital success factor

Research has shown that those organisations that are most successful at thriving in difficult situations, do so because they have the support of their stakeholders. In this crisis, we continually hear leaders talk about the importance of communication to employees and customers. Remote working has forced managers and team members to review not only how they talk to each other but recognise why communication is so important!

It has also forced many companies to think more deeply about their customers success and even the success of their industry. Working with their stakeholders to make tough decisions about what can and cannot happen. For example, how to solve customer issues without having and engineer on site. We even spoke to an Aerospace Maintenance Solution provider who decided to offer free of charge their Helpline to their competitors’ customers, because they had the capability and these customers needed support.

3. Flexibility and Agility are key to survival

What has surprised me is how many industrial companies have somehow kept moving ahead and utilising their field resources. Although most are running below capacity, many have been agile and fortunate enough to maximise resources. Some examples:

Print equipment manufacturer switching service resources to priority industry such as food packaging
Switching field staff to technical support roles
Using down time for product training and even role out of new service systems
Working with employees around using vacation time to minimize the economic impact.

A challenge for many is how to incorporate this new found agility into the culture of the company in a sustainable way.

4. Gaining a true understanding of the value of digitalisation

Many companies have had a crash course in Digital. Not so much in the technology itself but the value of the technology. For many OEM’s it is understanding how it is possible to solve customer problems through remote/digital access, having a 360 degree view of the customer situation from the home office or simply how to work collaboratively as a team.

From the customer side there is a greater appreciation of how technology can be used to keep their plants running or become more effective. Where IT security was a concern, perhaps now greater effort will be made to allay these worries.
For all parties a new openness to the use of technology presents a great opportunity to change the way we work together.

5. The best prepared have naturally built resilience into people and organisations

One of the major lessons learned has been to see the difference between a fear driven reactive approach to dealing with crisis, to one that comes from an inner resilience and is more step by step. Those with the latter mindset, in a strange way welcome the crisis as it has reinforced what their companies have to get right to survive. They perceive the change in attitude to risk, digitisation and people as a tremendous opportunity to be grasped.

As we speak, we are seeing new commercial and leadership learnings starting to evolve. However, it is clear that the companies that build on these lessons will emerge from this pandemic crisis stronger, fitter and more agile. NOW is an exciting time to be in business as we must scale new heights in innovation and effectiveness in order to survive.

Is Covid-19 the Ultimate Disruptor and What Will Business Look Like When We Emerge?

Jun 03, 2020 • Features • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

In this highlight from the Field Service Podcast Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News and Kevin Green, former CEO of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation discuss what the impact of Covid-19 will be in terms of market...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Can we Look forward to a New Normal that is Better than before?

In the last few months we’ve seen such rapid changes in such a short amount of time. There is often talk about disrupters entering a market, but the truth is that perhaps the biggest disrupter our civilisation has ever seen is not a new emerging technology or organisation but the Covid-19 pandemic.

Across the conversation with Green on episode one series five of the Field Service Podcast we explored a number of different aspects to what breeds agility and adaptability into an organisation. We discussed the crucial role of leadership, strategy, people and processes reflecting back on the positives that have emerged as companies have been forced into action to survive the global lockdowns and the economic tsunami of recession, they look set to trigger.

Perhaps the simplest question, has the most complex answer. It is also the question on everybody’s lips. What comes next? What does the new-normal of tomorrow look like?

“When we look at the impact of disruption a classic example of this will be what happens at the end of this year,” Green states.

“If you take a cultural analogy, you know, the adaptive organisation will say ‘okay, what have we learned from this? How do we adapt what we do in light of that [learning]?’

The challenges we’ve all been through in recent months, surely it would be criminal to not seize the learnings from this time as Green suggests and build a better, brighter version of what we had before the lockdowns came?

“Actually, we found that we can have 90% people working from home and we can still deliver the product, we can do some amazing things, using technology as a tool so how do we structure our business going forward? Do we continue to have people working at home, perhaps we have half the people and we can get rid of some office space because we don't need it anymore?

"That's a demonstration of an organisation which is learning and developing and taking the experience of this crisis and trying to build on it and use it for good. What you will find though is that some other organisations will just revert the type. The lockdowns will eventually be lifted and everyone goes back to work and we carry on in the same way.

“That is a classic example of an adaptive learning organisation, versus one which isn't responsive to its environment because it won't see the opportunities that the crisis has created for it and won't learn from this and won't adapt. We'll see a lot of organisations, just go back to doing things it as they’ve always done them.

“However, I think there will be other organisations that saying ‘hang on a second, there is some real good stuff that we've learned here. We've used technology differently, our staff have operated in different ways and we've given them more autonomy. Why don't we build on that and use it as we go forward?”

The challenges we’ve all been through in recent months, surely it would be criminal to not seize the learnings from this time as Green suggests and build a better, brighter version of what we had before the lockdowns came?

Can Entrepreneurialism be Added to Corporate DNA? (podcast highlights)

Jun 01, 2020 • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News, talks to author of best-selling book Competitive People Strategy and ex CEO of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation Kevin Green about whether Entrepreneurial organisations have a secret...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Outline the true purpose of your organisation

We have seen a number of companies adapt and pivot in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and an entrepreneurial streak has been evident in the vast majority of those companies that have been at the forefront in doing so.

As other companies who may not have such innovative flair embedded within their ranks look on from the sidelines the question many business leaders are now asking is whether such entrepreneurial leanings can be developed and nurtured or whether they are just essential characteristics and so should be ‘acquired’ for recruitment instead?

“It [entrepreneurialism] is quite often in organisations that are going to turn on a sixpence , they're going to respond very, very quickly,” Green suggests.

“Quite often it's about their purpose, he adds “I don't think Dyson talks about money, they talk about design at it’s principle. If there's a challenge the country has like building ventilators, then Dyson would automatically step up to the plate because of its purpose.

“I think organisations whose leadership has created that purpose, those who’ve created an agile culture, these are the ones likely to be able to respond quickly to these sorts of external events and challenges..."

“They think ‘actually there is a major challenge here, the country needs an organisation to help design and build new ventilators. We've got a lot of expertise that's right at the heart of what we do.’ So, they were able to step into that space to help. An organisation that's pretty agile and nimble can come forward and respond and I think they've certainly done that.”

It is within this ethos of firmly understanding a companies purpose that Green believes the ability to adapt lies.

“I think organisations whose leadership has created that purpose, those who’ve created an agile culture, these are the ones likely to be able to respond quickly to these sorts of external events and challenges. Whereas if you're big and lumbering and you're, you're very mechanistic, it's much more difficult to be able to, you know, turn on that sixpence.

“In fact, [these companies are] more like an oil tanker, it takes a long time to change things if you’ve done things the same way for decades and decades and everything's quite hard wired,” Green adds.

“Leadership has a major role to play in organisational design and culture. If you are three quarters of the way, there already then it enables you to respond to these challenges which are thrown down whereas other organisations will find it much, much more difficult.”

5 Considerations for Building an Adaptive Culture (podcast highlights)

May 29, 2020 • Features • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

In this highlight from the Field Service Podcast Kevin Green, author of Competitive People Strategy and former CEO of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation lists five key considerations that he believes can lead an organisation to...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

The Key Ingredients to an Adaptive Culture? People and Processes

In any kind of change management process there is a deep rooted need for establishing clear processes and outlining the reasons for change in a clear, concise and transparent manner at all levels. However, this is particularly crucial when trying to change something as firmly embedded within an organisation as its corporate culture. The culture of a company is as fundamental as it gets when it comes to the core ethos that exists across all areas of operation.

Tackling such a change requires significant understanding of both where you are and where you wish to be so you can effectively plot a path from one to the other. In episode one of season five of the Field Service Podcast, Green outlined five key considerations which he believes organisations looking to establish such change should be aware of.

“I think there are five things that most organisations, if they're going to build an adaptive culture need to know,” Green explained.

“The first of these is to create a clear, coherent purpose. Why are we here? What are we doing? What do we stand for? This should be something that stands the test of time so people can see it's not just about money, it's about something else, something more fundamental to why the business exists.

“Secondly, I think you've got to define, embed and live the values. You've got to really make sure that the values mean something, and that people understand them. You can’t just impose them, you must engage people in a conversation so that they feel they own them. They [the wider team within the business, must feel they] are part of the organisation that's created them.

The third consideration Green outlines revolves around who you hire within your leadership teams.

"You have to make sure you recruit talent and that you don't get obsessed with superstars..."

“You must hire and develop managers who are good people, managers who can coach and develop people,” Green adds.

You don’t want management who take the attitude of ‘I’m the boss I tell you what to do’ in a traditional instruction-driven manner Green explains, commenting “It's more about listening, engaging, developing, helping people learn."

The fourth consideration is again rooted in finding the right people that will thrive in the type of environment you are creating. “You have to make sure you recruit talent and that you don't get obsessed with superstars,” Green comments “Make sure that people fit the culture. [This way] you find managers and leaders and other talent that are going to thrive in the environment you're creating.”

The final consideration Green outlines is process orientated. “You really need to focus on how the work actually gets done,” he asserts.

“For example, is it lean or agile? There's lots of tools out there, which are all about empowering people to work locally to improve things. An environment of continuous improvement where people's views are listened to, where they can come up with solutions to the problems that customers and people are having with the product or service is hugely important.

“If you follow those five things, you're pretty well along on journey of moving from a mechanistic culture to one which is much more adaptive and responsive to customers wants and needs.”

Benefits of the Rapid Evolution We've All Endured (Podcast Highlights)

May 27, 2020 • Features • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

In this highlight form the Field Service Podcast, Kevin Green, former CEO of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News focus on the potential upside of the crisis we've all faced together...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

The Galvanising Effect of Rapid Evolution at times of Crisis

There is no doubt the pressure of global lockdowns has forced organisations to change. There simply wasn’t adoption for most businesses to ‘stay calm and carry-on’ as the popular British meme suggests.

Business survival as the world went on temporary hiatus was more in line with dynamic Darwinian concepts than steadfast stoicism. It was not the largest organisations that found themselves at safe enough distance from harm, just look at the aviation sector for evidence that the pandemic has taken its toll among industry heavyweights and minnows alike, it is those who were able to adapt the fastest.

Yet, dare we say it in the light of such a wide reaching tragedy that has touched the lives of almost everyone on the planet in some way shape and form, but there is equally an opportunity presented here for organisations that have the innate ability to adapt enclosed within their corporate DNA.

In fact, it is perhaps the responsibility of those organisations capable of doing so to thrive now as we plot a path back towards whatever it is that will be our ‘new-normal’. We need them to do so for the sake of kick-starting floundering economies. We need them to do so because this whole saga is in desperate need for a silver lining.

Green certainly sees that there are opportunities to establish more dynamic cultures within our organisations and that those who do so will flourish. However, those who fail to do so may face a future of extinction rather than evolution.

“The way most organisations change is when they're in crisis,” he explains.

"One of the great things about change is that if your backs are against the wall, it's easier to make big calls than if you're trying to change in an organisation in a more evolutionary, type of way, in a more incremental manner...”

“As we've seen in the recent health crisis, lots of organisations have made very quick decisions and changed at pace because they've had to, there was absolutely no choice, but what you find is most organisations don't change. When I was at the Royal Mail as HR director, we were losing a million and a half pounds a day. So we had to change, we had to change at pace. That galvanises people and they make choices that would have never been choices and decisions that wouldn't have been made in normal circumstances.

So, one of the great things about change is that if your backs are against the wall, it's easier to make big calls than if you're trying to change in an organisation in a more evolutionary, type of way, in a more incremental manner,” Green adds.

However, while the onset of Covid-19 has forced rapid change within many organisations, for those companies with a more rigid leadership structure, Green warns that evolving into a more dynamic organisation can take time, something some companies may find scarce.

“If you're a new leadership team and you've inherited an organisation which is very, very mechanistic and top down, then it [establishing a culture change] takes time. It is not an easy thing to change your culture. It is about involving people. It's about engaging people. It's about trying to manage people, but in a different way.

“It's about creating, but also some of it will be about dismantling systems and processes. You need to take apart ways of working, that have been in place for many years. Changing a culture is something that has to be deliberate, thoughtful, and well executed. It's not something you can just swap overnight and expect everyone to behave differently. In fact, if you do that, you’ll end up in chaos.”

What is certain though is even if your organisation leadership is based in a top-down, mechanistic style of approach – there has never been a more pressing time to address this and begin introducing more modern, dynamic approaches to leadership within you organisation then right now.

The Importance of Consistent Values In Leadership (Podcast Highlights)

May 22, 2020 • Features • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

In this highlight form the Field Service Podcast, Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Kevin Green, former HR Director of the Royal Mail and author of the best selling book Competitive People Strategy about how we identify the...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Leadership Values should be lived not put up on a wall

One of the things that has been evident amongst many organisations who have adapted best to the challenging operating conditions of the last few months is that there has been a genuine in the trenches approach to how we're all getting through this together.

One of the things that has really come to the fore in terms of good leadership has been a leadership method that has strengthened this message. The common mantra of many a leadership communication at this time is that so we're all pulling together, we're all moving in the same direction together and to achieve recovery we must embrace a very collegial approach.

As Green outlined in Season Five, Episode One of The Field Service Podcast the ability to not only convey such a message, but to actively live it, is something that is embedded in strong leadership.

“We talk a lot about behaviours and values within organisations,” he begins as we touch on the topic. “When organisations are tested, they're put under pressure, then it's how you behave that your people will remember. They won’t remember what's written down on a piece of paper or the value stuff up on a wall. They remember when there are tough decisions to be made, how our leaders made those decisions - did they live by their values?

“The obvious one is has the organisation tried to keep as many people employed as possible and get as many people to the other side?” He adds.

"When recovery comes and people have a choice about who they work for, will people will want to stay and work for your organisation?"

This consideration is something that has been echoed across much of the content here on Field Service News and beyond. The way an organisation acts towards their staff during crisis could have a significant impact on their ability to retain skilled field workers when the economies begin to reopen. Remember, many field service organisations will be seeking to catch up on capacity lost during the crisis and as such the field service engineer is likely to be a role very much in demand.

Green touched in this in the wider business context as he continued; “Staff don't forget, there's a long corporate memory within most organisations,” he explains.

“So leaders have got to think about the decisions they're making with a lens as to how does this play out to my people now, but as you mentioned, when recovery comes and people have a choice about who they work for, will people will want to stay and work for your organisation? A lot of that will be dependent on how the leadership behaved when the organisation was under huge pressure, and whether they did the right thing by the people.

“Now, that isn't to say that organisations don't make to make need to cut costs and make some people redundant because I think in this environment, some have had to do that. But it's also about how you communicate that and how do you engage your people?

“One Chief Executive I was talking to recently phoned every single member of staff that was made redundant, and had an individual conversation with them, and then said at the end of that conversation to every single one, and there were about 60 or 70 people, ‘this isn't your fault, and when we get back, then I'm going to prioritise and re employing you people. I really don't want to do this, but I had no choice’ and he explained the circumstances on a personal one to one level.

“Now, that is leadership. [He] still made the tough decision, but actually [he] implemented it in a way which means those people most probably will go back and work for him when the roles do become available again.”

Identifying Organisational Culture in Business (Podcast Highlights)

May 22, 2020 • Features • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News and Kevin Green, former HR Director of Royal Mail and the best selling author of Competitive People Strategy discuss what culture is within an organisation and how to identify whether a corporate...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Does your leadership team understand the Value of Nurturing culture within the business?

In the few short months since the Covid-19 pandemic spread around the world and we went into a global lockdown everything has changed.

As Kevin Green explained in Season Five, Epsiode, One of the Field Service Podcast, it is as if a meteorite has hit us and the world of industry went into temporary shutdown operating at minimum capacity. There is talk that in terms of economics, we could potentially bounce back as sharply as we fell, although the majority of analysts are now predicting a longer more sustained road to recovery

However, the truth remains that we are collectively waking up into a different world than that which existed pre-pandemic and that will be the case no matter how quickly we get to the recovery.

There are fundamental things that will have changed, particularly in some of the service industries which have been hardest hit such as the hospitality sector. Yet similarly we have seen a massive boost to the digital transformation projects that were dots on the horizon for many companies just a few months earlier which have become mission-critical necessities today.

Equally we have seen businesses become adaptive, with those leading the way pivoting in some of the most remarkable way to help battle the pandemic but also to keep their teams in work and the revenue flowing even in these most challenging of years.

But how do we create an adaptive culture? How we make sure that our team are able to continue evolving throughout the recovery processes, we move beyond into a post COVID-19 world?

"The issue for me is whether the organisation has really spent time thinking about it [the corporate culture] and understanding it and do the leaders get that developing, enhancing and reinforcing a culture is what gets great results?"

“Every organisation has a culture, whether it's a well-articulated and something that's been designed or created over a period of time, or whether it's just how people behave within the business,” explained Green.

“One of the good examples I always use when I talk about culture is how do people behave when the manager is not there? Do they still work incredibly hard and do they still give discretionary effort? Or actually when the manager is not around, they just muck around, and not work hard? That will describe your culture, how people feel about the organisation.

“The other great example is when you meet someone that works for an organisation in a social setting and you ask them, what's it like to work there? What do they say? That's when you can, that's a real articulation of your culture,” Green adds.

For Green though the value of culture within an organisation goes far, far beyond coping within crisis – it is where the inherent value of the business lies and is something that absolutely needs to be nurtured by the leadership team.

“The issue for me is whether the organisation has really spent time thinking about it [the corporate culture] and understanding it and do the leaders get that developing, enhancing and reinforcing a culture is what gets great results?

“My belief is that most value in today's economy comes from human beings. It used to be about access to capital and machinery. But now it's about you know, and if you look at the PwC survey of Chief Execs globally, the number one issue is talent. Have I got the talent? Have I got more talent than my competitors? Can I find it? And can I retain it?

“To do that, you've got to have a culture where people want to work, where they can turn up and do good work, you and that's the fundamental thing about having an adaptive culture, you must articulate your purpose. Why does the organisation exist?”

As we continue to grow into a post Covid world, it is likely that it is those companies that understand what it is to establish and adaptable culture that are likely to thrive in the ‘new-normal’.

Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World (Podcast Highlights)

May 20, 2020 • Features • Royal Mail • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • Kevin Green

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Kevin Green, former CEO Recruitment and Employment Confederation and the best selling author of Competitive People Strategy about what leadership looks like in the face of the Covid-19...

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

The Importance of Trust Within leadership

The role of leadership has perhaps never been under the microscope more than it is today.

It is in times of crisis that we see strong leadership come to the fore but is there a different type of leadership required for managing an organisation through a crisis. Winston Churchill for example, regarded by many as one of the world’s great leaders was able to galvanise the British during the second world war to somehow bring to a halt the apparently unstoppable might of the Nazi war machine. Yet, in the first election of peacetime in 1945 he led the Conservatives to a shocking landslide defeat at the hands of Clement Attlee’s Labour Party.

As we read, listen and watch about the impact of Covid-19 the war-time analogies continue to flow, it is hard for us to draw any other parallels as none really exist within living memory.

So, are the leadership traits that we're seeing emerge now different to what will be required after the pandemic? Or is it just that there is a magnifying glass on good leadership at the moment and what we are paying attention to is best practice in terms of leadership?

“I think the businesses that have responded most positively and have been the most agile and responsive in in the face of something which is a pretty extreme and very rare event are the organisations who have very clear ideas about how organisations should be run,” Kevin Green, commented on The Field Service Podcast, Season Five, Epiosde One.

"The centre of the organisation is responsible for strategy, long term thinking and some guiding principles and then they devolve decision making to people to in the appropriate place in the organisation to respond to customers wants and needs."

One of the common areas that Green has identified amongst such organisations is that there is an understanding that trust must be embedded across the organisation rather than the absolute approach of a more authoritarian leadership style.

“It's not command and control from the top,” he explains “it's not everything rises to the top but [these companies are applying] very dissipated decision making. Here the centre of the organisation is responsible for strategy, long term thinking and some guiding principles and then they devolve decision making to people to in the appropriate place in the organisation to respond to customers wants and needs.

“Those organisations that have already got that type of leadership, mentality and culture are the ones that have responded most quickly and most effectively. If you’ve got a command and control structure it's very, very difficult for one group of people, that don't have all the facts, [who] aren't in control of everything ,to make decisions on every data point,” he adds.

However, it is not just an efficiency challenge that Green sees in a command and control approach. There is also the heavy weight of burden that this can carry on the leadership team and this can have a significant impact on their own performance as well if left unchecked.

As Green explains; “You get swamped and the pressure becomes quite profound. [To avoid this] the centre of the organisation needs to create direction, clarity and communication for their people and then allow leaders at a local level to make decisions about how best to implement them.

“What this [Covid-19] has highlighted is that good leadership, where people trust their people and trust their managers to make the right decisions in 90% of circumstances and have got the benefit [of that approach] while those are perhaps a little bit more old fashioned [in their leadership structure] have struggled.”

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5 LEarnings the Field Service Sector Can Take From the Covid-19 Crisis

1. We can move fast when we want to!

2. Communicate, communicate and communicate is a vital success factor

3. Flexibility and Agility are key to survival

4. Gaining a true understanding of the value of digitalisation

5. The best prepared have naturally built resilience into people and organisations

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Can we Look forward to a New Normal that is Better than before?

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Outline the true purpose of your organisation

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

The Key Ingredients to an Adaptive Culture? People and Processes

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

The Galvanising Effect of Rapid Evolution at times of Crisis

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Leadership Values should be lived not put up on a wall

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

Does your leadership team understand the Value of Nurturing culture within the business?

Further Reading:

Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts and look for Series Five, Episode One 'Kevin Green on Leadership, Strategy and the Economic Impact of Lockdown' for the full episode...

The Importance of Trust Within leadership

Further Reading:

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