How have you helped your client’s organisations become more agile and resilient?
Having the right training is very important. We utilise a lot of the Lean Six Sigma and other certifications. We also set up databases to help people make quick decisions based on information coming in – trying to help employees be empowered to make the right decisions on the spot.
If you want to be an agile organisation, having empowered people is great for your culture overall. It has to be implemented well, meaning the approval process can’t be too rigid, and organisations need to help people adapt and keep up.
If you want to be an agile organisation, having empowered people is great for your culture overall.
What initiatives do organisations need to take to help their people adapt and keep up with the pace of change?
I always start with culture. You need to have a culture that supports employees to be empowered, that has some accountability, so employees feel able to make good decisions, and also to make mistakes. Because mistakes are how they learn how to operate, and you’re doing them a disservice by jumping in to help, not to mention the fact that you’re creating a bottleneck.
It’s a reiterative process where we're always looking at culture – are we doing the right things? What feedback are we getting from our employees or from our customers, as to how things are being operated?
You need to have a culture that supports employees to be empowered, that has some accountability, so employees feel able to make good decisions, and also to make mistakes.
How are you looking to develop your marketing strategy as a result of the move to mixed virtual and remote working?
The pandemic gave lots of people pause, to realise that there are other areas of life to focus on. Life is a balance and it’s very easy as a business owner to be 100% involved in your business, but what’s important in your life overall? I really thought about the purpose of my business and where we want to go overall.
A lot of what we’re seeing right now is people realising they don’t need to work as hard as they were working before. I think we’re seeing this big reset, the big resignation happening across the US, and maybe in Europe. It’s easy in business to think, “I need to get these numbers and go to all these events,” but now we have this pause, and I think a lot of people are considering their priorities.
One change we’ve seen related to this are events that are a combination of Zoom and in-person, so people can make the choice of whether to travel, or stay home, and what will be most effective for them. We don’t need people to come into the office all the time, I think we have to accept now it’s going to be a hybrid approach.
One change we’ve seen related to this are events that are a combination of Zoom and in-person, so people can make the choice of whether to travel, or stay home, and what will be most effective for them.
MICHAEL CHAVIRA
Managing Partner
Axiologic Solutions LLC
Axiologic was founded in 2009 and provides solutions, support and enhancement services to clients through systems engineering, particularly in the defence and government sectors. The company has a strong employee-centric culture, creating a culture that rewards and empowers employees, including annual profit sharing from its 401k retirement plan.