Mastering change: A conversation with Jon Foster-Pedley

AS change moves at breakneck speed, the need for every leader to learn fast, adjust quickly, implement swiftly and adapt with speed is inevitable.

The big question is: how do we master change? In this article, NewsDay Weekender columnist Jonah Nyoni (JN) ingaged Jon Foster-Pedley (JF), the dean of Henley Business School in Africa on his insights on disruptions, change, agility and effectiveness.

This year, Henley Business School Africa has been recognised as both a leading educational institute and a thriving business, winning the Large Corporate Award at the 2024 British Lions Business Excellence Awards, hosted by the British Chamber of Business in Southern Africa.

Find excerpts of the interview below:

JN: Leaders and organisations must disrupt.What is disruption? How do we disrupt and remain excellent leaders?

JF: Well, I think it would probably be wrong to confuse excellence with non-disruption.

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An excellent organisation is one that’s always producing greater value.

And if you’re not innovating and changing, how can you produce excellent value?

An excellent organisation should always be innovating.  Innovation is sometimes disruptive incremental.

Some people like to disrupt for the sake of it, to make themselves think they are innovative, but that’s not necessarily being innovative at all.

What’s innovative is producing bigger and better value.

If the context has changed, and you can’t change with it, your value will go down.

You don’t just go in with sharp elbows to push people out of the way. Who would buy that?

Just because we have got something new, it has to be really, really useful for people.

We spend a lot of time working out what people need, and if you continue with that, you are continually evolving.

Occasionally, you need to disrupt something that is becoming stale.

However, if you never become stale, you are always moving ahead.

People talk about disruption because they are locked into one way of doing business, if they cannot escape, somebody comes with a cheaper way.

Those who cannot adapt are left behind.

The best way of doing business is to continually evolve.

You don’t have to do massive, expensive disruptions.

JN: Warren Bennis once said, “Trying to oppose change is as good as trying to oppose the weather; it’s fruitless.” What is your advice to the leader or manager who needs to learn how to master change?

JF: Well, I don’t think there’s any magic formula, but there is a lot of common sense around that. Change is cyclical.

If you get stale, your organisation crumbles and you are out of touch; people tend to walk away.

If you innovate, everyone wants to be around you and your organisation.

If you do it well, you start to create more value for your clients.

People recognise that and come to you.

Simply, you have to innovate in a way that helps people.

Businesses must understand their clients, their industry and stay ahead of the game by scanning their environment.

If you innovate without structure, it becomes chaotic.

When you are in chaos, there will be no systems, no purchase orders and you will obviously lose profit.

Let’s get organised. Let’s have structure. Let’s have discipline.

Let’s have more processes and systems.

On the other hand, if you have too many systems and do that for too long without innovating, you become stale again and then chaotic.

You need to continually innovate while maintaining enough structure.

If people get tired of what they are seeing, you are out of touch.

Managers need to understand their clients’ problems and know that success comes from solving those problems and providing solutions.

If you are out of touch, you can fall into the trap of investing heavily in outdated technology or factories.

So, managers need to read widely, think, imagine, stay calm and understand what value is.

Continually service your organisation like you would a car to avoid costly collapses.

The danger is that organisations get into hierarchies and power blocks, focusing internally while the storm clouds are coming.

Prepare, stay awake, stay alive, stay alert and understand that survival is due to your capacity to learn and adapt.

Being a boss or manager means providing value, not just holding titles.

If industries collapse, society collapses.

Directors, managers and government officials must continually refresh.

JN: John Kotter, in his book Accelerate, speaks about four things: speed, agility, efficiency and effectiveness. Talking about speed, Artificial Intelligence is bringing a lot of change. Should we move with speed, or should we learn with speed?

JF: For a lot of leaders, they sacrifice speed for something else. Speed is a real competitive advantage and requires some courage.

We’re good at organising linearly, with systems, processes and protocols, but they can bloat into bureaucracies.

Organisations need to work fast but not move fast and break things.

Study agility and adapt it to your organisation.

Speed is a competitive advantage, but you also need to do things well.

You need to know a lot of entrepreneurial stuff. You don’t have to be perfect all the time; move fast and do things well enough.

Shut the door as long as no one is coming.

JN: Let’s talk about structure. What is the importance of having the right people surrounding you as a leader?

JF: You should always get the best thinkers and actors around you.

They are the ones who can tackle challenges and think through things properly.

You need people who can think first through principles all the time.

I’ve been in rooms full of clever people who collectively think very stupidly.

When recruiting, take references, understand and be careful with your interviewing process.

Talent is crucial and you need to think through it very carefully.

Leaders need to study, read, watch videos and learn continuously, especially as they become more senior.

Listen to podcasts, reflect, think and talk to people. Are you good at learning?

To be an effective executive or manager, be excellent at learning and understanding your business.