MALAYSIAN Millennials and Gen Z are unanimous in ranking adaptability and flexibility as a characteristic for success in a post-pandemic economic environment.
As the Malaysian government introduced yet another movement restriction in June 2021, organisations and workforces collectively braced themselves for another period of uncertainty. In the last 15 months since the first movement control order was implemented, Malaysian organisations and workforces have been forced to adapt at every ministry announcement in the quest to survive and hopefully thrive.
The majority of the Malaysian workforce comprises of Millennials (born between 1981–1994) and Gen Z’s (born from 1995 onwards). According to Deloitte’s 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey, the Millennials and Gen Zs in Malaysia are unanimous in ranking adaptability and flexibility as the number one characteristic for success in a post-pandemic economic environment, ahead of role expertise and technological savviness.
As such, Malaysian companies need to take advantage of this period of incredible change to re-think current management practices to transform themselves into what we call an “adaptable organisation”.
Decoding the adaptable organisation
Becoming an adaptable organisation is a fundamental shift in operating philosophy where large global organisations behave more like startups, with modernised people practices that enable enterprise agility. An adaptable organisation requires leaders to look at their business through five layers – ecosystem activation, organisational adaptability, mission-focused agile teams, pioneering leaders, and the transformation of individual roles as people work with new technology.
An integrated and collaborative ecosystem is the first layer of an adaptable organisation. Adaptable organisations exist in purpose-driven ecosystems with defined customer-focused missions. It is a departure from only using industry benchmarks or popular organisational models – it’s about intimate customisation to the changing needs of customers and stakeholders.
How work is organised is the second layer: Adaptability demands a shift away from organising capabilities in a hierarchical way towards a network of multi-disciplinary organisations. This embraces natural connections, avoiding more traditional approaches that often force organisations to work purely functionally or in a matrix environment without understanding the impact on how humans interact naturally.
Mission-focused agile teams represent the third layer of organisational adaptability. A greater emphasis on agile teams can unlock individual performance through team diversity and new ways of working. Agile methods are not just for technology or product functions. The entire business can work this way with the right mindset, training, and execution.
Leaders of an adaptable organisation form the fourth layer of adaptability as they set the direction of how work is managed and led. In an adaptable organisation, leaders serve as inclusive orchestrators instead of technical task masters to unlock the full potential of diverse skill sets. Leaders must be versatile, able to energise, empower, and connect people across the ecosystem and lead any team in any context.
The last layer of adaptability, individuals, allows for the unlocking of true individual resilience through flexible talent programs, enabling employees to want to learn, grow, and develop in their workplace. This is where innovative talent approaches can come in to elevate a shifting and diverse workforce that includes humans and machines.
Transforming into an adaptable organisation
There are a few tried and tested success factors critical to an organisation’s journey to adaptability. With older Millennials moving up to the ranks of senior employees, their expectations of work and the workforce are becoming the North Star that organisations look toward. Many organisations in Malaysia have sent their workforce for training and changed business processes to become more agile. However, they are still finding that such measures are not effective in making their organisations nimbler.
The key is this – becoming truly adaptable requires a fundamental rethink of the business from top to bottom. Adaptability is about evolution rather than revolution. These principles can be perceived as aspirational when coming face to face with hard targets each quarter. However, there is no hard and fast way for an organisation to “become” adaptable. This is a journey, one that requires leadership at all levels, not just the C-suite.
Many leaders are tempted to slide back into old habits to meet existing business goals. Be ready to get called out. Adaptability is a business goal, and a long term one at that. At times, participative and democratic outcomes were not achieved through fully democratic processes, so leaders must embody these principles to ensure that employees feel empowered to also adopt them.
True change takes time. Leaders must be reminded to stay the course, and treat transformation as a business goal – one that might not yield results in one quarter, but one that will strengthen the organisation to be at the forefront of their industry’s future.
The 2021 Deloitte Millennial and Gen Z Survey is conducted annually to understand the views of Millennials and Gen Z respondents on a variety of topics – from their actions to make a positive impact in the world; to work and what they are looking for in a job and an employer; to the world of business in a society; to the issue of mental health and stress; and more.
This article was contributed by Deloitte Malaysia consulting director Lee Yun-Han and consultant Vera Tan.
