"Agility" is the watchword for today's survivors, according to two original thinkers on leadership and teamwork who will be featuring at Training Solutions.
"The ideal business mindset used to be all about ruggedness and steroid-soaked aggression," says Sunday Times columnist and conference presenter on globalisation and the future of work Helen Vandevelde, "these days it’s much more about using influencing skills to shape common values and generate shared loyalties."
Vandevelde has teamed up with Giles Trendle, former war correspondent, to deliver their ground-breaking seminar on "business agility in a fast-changing world".
They have fused their expertise - one with his exceptional access to the guerrilla mindset derived from his in-depth interviews with the Hezballah group in Beirut - and the other with her serrated-edge knowledge of global business dynamics - to spark a seminar programme that accelerates the pulse of business competitiveness.
Vandevelde is acutely aware that globalisation, digital communication and fragmented employee loyalties bring new threats and opportunities in today’s volatile, high-risk business world. "The key is to anticipate future trends and turn them into workable strategies for wealth creation ahead of the competition," argues Vandevelde. Her interviews with global business leaders and academics have informed her analysis of undercurrents of change which are reshaping the nature of business endeavour.
Trendle’s knowledge is derived from witnessing how a small group of guerrillas - outgunned, outnumbered and operating in the most extreme conditions - deployed the right mindset to win over a conventionally more powerful enemy. Businesses are learning that being agile and flexible – both at a personal and an organisational level – is the key to survival when you have to deal with constant turmoil," Trendle maintains. He and Vandevelde are responding to the frantic search - by businesses of all kinds from corporate enterprises to small start-ups - for versatile minds energised by risk and reward.
Both have spotted how conventional businesses line up against a bewildering array of new and unorthodox opponents who appear out of nowhere with innovative ideas that threaten the old ways and undermine confidence in conventional solutions.
"Resourceful freethinkers steal a march on big business," asserts Trendle. In times of upheaval - like those generated by today's relentless technological advance – innovation lies with the people or organisations who display the versatility (and audacity) to anticipate and create the future before it arrives. "It's always fascinating to see people developing the characteristics of the agile mindset," Trendle goes on. "They're the ones who spot new opportunities and outwit competitor moves. They also anticipate and pre-empt the ‘wild cards’ that represent sources of potential risk."
Trendle and Vandevelde have shaken these fluid ideas into a cocktail of experiences and insights that distinguish their seminar programme from more orthodox sources of learning. Their individual agility assessment questionnaire, with which they kick off their session, launches delegates into reflective and stimulating debate.
So how do they assess their impact? "We still get some old-fashioned macho types," Vandevelde muses. "But most of them tune in to our style of delivery. It's amazing how quickly they see that looking tough is for posers, while acting smart is for winners."
You can see Helen Vandevelde and Giles Trendle at Training Solutions Day One (19th June), Room Two, 2.15.
