Fit For the Future

We're all drowning in data! But data is the core feature of so much decision-making now, especially when combined with AI. But are you using your data - REALLY using it - to inform your decisions? Like it or not, leaders need to be data-literate now, and know how to use data to gain insights and drive decsions.https://swiy.co/go-drowning-in-dataAre you making data-based decisions?I was speaking last week at a conference of CIOs - Chief Information Officers - from a broad range of industries and sectors all around Australia. The conference was not about their technical role - managing an organisation’s data and information - but about their leadership role.But when you think about it: Aren’t these two things related?Leadership requires good decision-making, and good data drive good decisions - if you do it right.The problem isn’t having access to data. We all have access to more data than ever before. You might even say we’re drowning in data!But data alone won’t help you be a better leader - unless you can leverage that data to inform your decisions. Not to MAKE your decisions, but to inform them.Think of data-driven decisions at four levels:1. Data: Collecting, cleaning, and storing data from the world.2. Information: Combining, choosing, and communicating meaning from the data.3. Insights: Understanding what that information means in context.4. Decisions: Using those insights to inform your decisions.It’s one thing to collect data – and that’s a good thing, especially with AI, which gorges itself on data. But it’s another level altogether when you use that data to drive and inform better decisions.This is for you, whatever your role in the organisation. You don’t have to be a CIO, a CTO, Chief AI Officer, or Chief Data Officer. We need to use data to help make better decisions.For more, download my worksheet here about data-driven decisions, and use it for yourself and your team.Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-drowning-in-data

You know that change is constant, but are you truly preparing your team to thrive in it? One important piece of building a culture of change agents is adopting, promoting, and supporting a learning mindset. This is more than offering occasional training. It’s about helping your people go deep, broad, and far, in their learning and development.https://swiy.co/go-leading-learningDo you have a learning mindset in your team?Most leaders say, “Yes, of course!”They say:We’re open to change.We understand we can’t stay still.We encourage everybody to adapt to change,We’re always open to new ideas from our team.Great! That’s the right mindset. But how are you putting that into practice?A key part of building a future-ready culture is nurturing a learning mindset. We need to be constantly learning, relearning, and even unlearning things that used to be true but aren’t true anymore.Whenever I talk to leaders about building a culture of change agents, this is an important feature. Sadly, it’s often forgotten.I spoke about this last week in Brisbane at a large conference of schools teaching VET (vocational and educational training): many of the essential skills we will need in the future.Two weeks before that, I spoke to employees of a large company that was running their annual “Careers Week”, helping employees map out their career plan and use the company’s resources to roll out that plan.And in a few weeks from now, I’m speaking at the Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) conference, discussing the future of work and leading through change and disruption for HR professionals and other leaders.All of this is about change, and a key part of that is having a learning mindset – for you as a leader and for your organisation to actively and proactively help people learn.Offer three kinds of learning.Broadly, think about learning at three levels: deep, wide, and far.* Deep learning is understanding more about your area of expertise - staying up to date with ongoing professional development.* Then go wide, developing broad skills we all need that are not tied to a particular role, job, or area of expertise. This includes innovation, problem solving, digital literacy, AI literacy, emotional intelligence, resilience, well-being, and critical thinking. These wide, transferable, skills apply in any role and job, and will be vital as jobs change in the future.* Finally, develop skills that help people look “far”. These are the skills of a futurist: anticipating what’s coming in the future, dealing with uncertainty and amiguity, and understanding the impact of current and future trends.As a leader, provide opportunities for your team members to develop in all three areas. And don’t forget your own learning, too!That might sound like a lot of time-consuming and expensive work, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The traditional training course still has value, of course, but you also have many other options now for learning and development. In fact, there are many ways to incorporate learning in on-the-job activities.For some examples, download my worksheet with a list of these activities, and choose which might be suitable for yourself and your team.Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-leading-learning

Your people are already using AI - but they might not be telling you about it, because they are worried you will think they are lazy, incompetent, or cheating! If they are afraid to tell you, that's YOUR fault - and a huge missed opportunity.https://swiy.co/go-ai-secretsSomebody recently asked me whether I thought there’s too much hype about AI. I said yes, and he immediately jumped on that and said,“So you admit AI is all hype!”No! That’s not what I said.Yes, there’s too much hype about AI. But there’s also real value you can get from AI. Both of those things can be right – there’s no contradiction.It’s like Katy Perry going into space and then claiming it as a milestone for feminism. That’s hype! But equally, you could praise Amanda Nguyen – a real scientist, advocate for women’s rights, and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize – who also went on that same trip to space.Hype and value aren’t necessarily contradictory.A lot of technology is over-hyped – especially something like AI, which pushes a lot of emotional buttons. It’s also hyped by the American tech bros (or “broligarchs”) trying to talk up the value of AI to push up the value of their own companies.At the same time, millions of people are rolling up their sleeves, using AI, and getting real value from it.And this is true of your employees, too.Some recent research from Google and Ipsos found that in Australia, 74% of people – that’s three out of four – are using AI at work. But some other research from Slack done at about the same time found 42% of them don’t want to admit it to their manager!Why? You can guess at the reasons – the top three were:1. Their manager might think they are lazy2. Their manager might think they are incompetent3. Their manager might think they are cheatingSo what are YOU like as a leader?Are you open to AI? And more importantly, are you publicly open to it?Do you make it clear to your team they can use AI and should be using it? And are you giving them the tools, resources, environment, and guidelines on using it well?As you bring your people on the AI journey, it’s more important than ever that you have clear, open, transparent conversations with them – about how they feel, what they want from AI, what they are already doing with it, and what worries them about it.AI is here. It’s not going away. And you might already be in a lucky position with your people embracing it.Just be sure you support it, facilitate it, and help them go further with it.Download my worksheet here for some questions you can ask in these AI conversations with your team.Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-ai-secrets

In the war for talent, money is important, but not enough. If you're serious about attracting and keeping top talent, look at other drivers - including flexible work. In Iceland, 90% of employees now enjoy a four-day workweek, working fewer hours with no pay cut and no loss of productivity. In fact, productivity went up, well-being improved, and workplaces became more equitable.https://swiy.co/go-be-like-icelandI’m speaking soon at the AHRI (Australian Human Resources Institute) conference in Perth, talking about the future of work. One of the four key elements of the future of work is attracting the best people, and one of your most important levers in that area is offering more flexible work options.During the pandemic, flexible work meant mostly working from home. And that (often in the form of hybrid work – some days in the office, some from home) is still one kind of flexible work. But it’s not the only form of flexibility.For example, in Iceland, about 90% of workers who enjoy a four-day work week. They work four days a week rather than five, and still get paid 100% of their wages or salary. In return, they are expected to deliver 100% of their productivity.This started with a small pilot project in 2015, which worked so well they extended and expanded it in 2019. And now, it’s spread to the whole country. This is not mandated by law, but rather encouraged through workplace agreements. And now it’s part of their workplace culture.Strictly speaking, they don’t get a full day off each week. Their 40-hour week is now 36 hours, so they work four 9-hour days rather than five 8-hour days. So each day is a bit longer, but they still work fewer hours, for the same money and the same productivity.In fact, the research shows productivity has either stayed steady or, in some cases, even improved. In addition, this arrangement has dramatically improved mental health and well-being, work-life balance, and gender equality.This has been a huge success for Iceland, and is just one of the many models for flexible work.Could you do the same?Iceland is a small country, with only about half a million people, so we can’t necessarily extrapolate it to larger nations.But that’s not my point.We don’t have to do it as a country.YOU could do it for your organisation.Or maybe even just for your team.In the war for talent, money is not the only driver. Flexible work is one of the most in-demand requirements for employees.Esepcially for Generation Z, who will be 30% of the workforce by 2030.Some managers and leaders will push back and say Gen Z are entitled, privileged, unrealistic, and need to pay their dues before they can start demanding these "perks".In return, many Gen Z’s are saying, "We don’t care! If you don’t provide that, we’ll find somebody else who does". And they will.Just because others in your industry aren’t doing it, that’s no reason for you not to do it. In fact, that’s exactly why you SHOULD be doing it, as a competitive advantage for attracting the best people.Why not be a pilot project for your industry?Just an idea. Have a go. Be the Iceland for your industry, and it will put you ahead of the game in the future of work.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-be-like-iceland

Do you have a workfluencer in your team? And if you don't, maybe you should! If you have a culture you’re proud of, workfluencers are powerful brand voices for you - helping attract the right sort of talent, long before an interview. It’s time to support, nurture, and trust the people already championing your workplace.https://swiy.co/go-workfluencersIn a nutshell, a workfluencer is an employee who talks about their work in online communities.Of course, we’ve been doing this for a long time even before the online world – with friends and family at parties, with other parents at your children’s school events, in your local community or church community.A workfluencer is the 2025 version of that, and it expands and amplifies the concept because of the power and reach of online networks. Typically, it’s a younger person – a Gen Z or maybe a younger Gen Y (Millennial). They work in your team, and are also active on social media and other online networks, sharing the good, the bad, and even the ugly about work. Exactly as you do when talking to friends at a barbie, but on a much larger scale.If you don’t have workfluencers in your team, maybe you should. Not by forcing it, but by creating a culture people feel proud to boast about.If you like the people in your team, you want them to talk to their friends and community, because you want to attract more people like them. And you want those people to know about you before they join – not through the traditional hierarchical interview and recruitment process, but by knowing somebody "on the inside". Those people will be a good fit for your team, because they already know your values.This is an important element of the future of work.Generation Z (roughly in their mid-twenties now) will be a significant part of our future. By 2030, they will be 30% of our population. That means30% of your customers,30% of your community,and 30% of your employees.Of course, it will vary across industries and sectors, but broadly one in three employees will be Gen Z. That means they will also be your future leaders.So you want the best of them, and you want to leverage all their skills and talents – including their ability to influence others online.Now, some people will push back, saying it’s too much of a risk to let employees talk publicly about you.It could damage your reputation.Breach confidentiality.Create security issues.And so on. And on. And on.And you know what? You’re right ... to some extent.But that shouldn’t stop you. Yes, you need some coaching, mentoring, and guardails in place. Do it reponsibly, but do it!You might also NOT be proud of your work culture. In that case, this advice is not for you (I might have some other advice for you, but that’s a different topic!).But if you have the sort of workplace culture and team you’re proud of, you have nothing to be afraid of. Encourage and nurture workfluencers to share their experiences online, far and wide.This becomes part of your employee value proposition (EVP), which is a key element of the future of work.I’m running an online presentation soon about the future of work, and this is one of the four key elements for all leaders to understand. It’s free, public, and open to all. So please register, and invite others in your team and organisation as well.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-workfluencers

As a leader, you need to be regularly scanning the horizon and planning for the future. But if your people aren’t inspired to bring that plan to life, it won’t go anywhere. Strategy without execution is like a car without fuel. For real progress, you need to engage your team and connect your plan to meaningful work.https://swiy.co/go-from-planning-to-progressYou might have big ideas and a clear strategy (good!), but what are you doing to engage your people to execute and implement that strategy?I work with a lot of leaders – especially senior leaders – who want me to help them understand the future. They can then feed that into their strategic planning. That’s good, because it gives them more confidence and clarity about their plan and decision making.For example, here are three leadership teams I’m helping now:A high school that’s looking at extending what they do by teaching students about skills beyond the curriculum – that is, the broad skills that will help them to be more future-ready.A local council that wants to make sure they are planning for changes in their city and and for their residents.A financial services organisation that’s facing a lot of disruption from technology, and want to first leverage the technology themselves and also be disrupters themselves.With all three leadership teams, I’m helping them understand what’s coming up in the future, so it can feed into their strategic planning.But there’s a third crucial element to a successful strategy: engaging, inspiring, and motivating your people to implement and execute that strategy. Even with the best strategy in the world, if your people aren’t on board to implement it, it will fail.Many leaders are good at the first two elements, but not as good on the third. Or, even worse, they forget about the third.It’s like trying to drive a car where you have control of the steering wheel, and maybe even the accelerator, but there’s no petrol in the tank!One of my speaker colleagues, Stef du Plessis, an international leadership expert based in South Africa, puts it well. He says your people aren’t there to execute your strategy. You might think they are – after all, you’re paying them – but that doesn’t engage, motivate, or excite them.So what DO they want?They want meaningful work.They want to feel fulfilled at work.They want to know they are making a difference.Yes, of course, they want the money as well. But more than ever, your people want their work to be about more than money.So, if you want them to engage with your strategy, make it meaningful – to THEM, not to you! Align it with what people care about. Find the pieces that will motivate people, and prioritise those pieces. Then find the people who want to make that happen.Whenever leaders ask me about the future of work, I talk about four key elements. And only one of them is about the work itself – what needs to be done. The other three are about the people doing the work.If you can’t get your people on board, your strategy will fail.I’m running a free, public online presentation soon about the future of work – and especially what you can do to engage your people at work. Please register here, and invite others in your team and network as well.I’ll see you in the future.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-from-planning-to-progress

Strategic change often stalls after the initial excitement fades, especially when the change involves future scenarios that might be uncertain, unknown, or challenging. Instead of letting all that strategic thinking go to waste, focus on small, immediate actions that fit into existing workflows rather than creating extra work. Don't just inspire people in the moment; start building a culture where you support, empower, and encourage them to welcome and embrace change.https://swiy.co/go-strategy-to-actionHow do you turn strategy into action?Next month, I’m running a workshop at a strategic leadership forum for an organisation in Melbourne. They bring together their top 100 leaders every six months to work on the big issues facing their organisation. The CEO told me everybody loves those sessions, and they walk out energised and motivated.But ... Very little changes in practice. The leaders walk out with the best of intentions, ready to roll up their sleeves and put the big ideas into practice. But then life gets in the way. They get caught up in the everyday operational work, so those big ideas get forgotten.And it’s not surprising. Because those big ideas are new.And challenging.And ... well, big!So it’s easy to put them off until things get quieter, or easier, or less chaotic.Of course, that never happens!So how do you turn strategy into action? How do you stop all that great thinking go to waste?The big mistake leaders make is they try to do too much at once.They might be excited by the idea. And why not? After all, it was probably their idea! And they can’t see why everybody else is not as excited.And that’s the problem. For others in their teams - and often even for the leaders themselves - implementing big ideas takes time.And effort.And courage.And a willingness to be uncomfortable.So it’s not surprising they don’t jump at the chance!If you don’t have a culture of change agents - where your people are open, willing, or even excited about change - you’ll be fighting an uphill battle.So what can you do?First, don’t give up on that big idea! It might be crucial part of your strategy.But also work on building your culture of change. And that happens one step at a time.So give them the big picture, but also give them things they can put into action - right now. And ideally, those small actions don’t add to their workload, but slip in as part of their work.Your goal is not to get other people to do the work for you, but to build a culture where people are open to change.And there are some really specific things you can do as a leader to start building that culture.I won’t go into the details here, but I want you to start thinking that way. If your people are slow to change, think first that it might be YOUR fault. Which means you can fix it. You can’t force people to change, but you can create an environment that supports and even rewards them for having that change mindset.I’m running an online presentation soon. We’ll look at the future of work in four specific areas. And in each, I will give you a practical action you can use to build that culture of change. And of course, in the spirit of this topic, they are things YOU can do easily as well!It’s free, public, and open to all. So please join us, and invite others in your team and network as well.https://swiy.co/go-strategy-to-action

Do you have a bad attitude at work?Specifically, do you have a bad attitude about AI at work?If you’re a leader or a manager, having a bad attitude about AI is not just bad for yourself – it’s bad for your team as well. Those bad attitudes are contagious.We should be excited and curious about AI.We should be appropriately cautious about using AI.And we should be unsure about AI because we don’t know what it will look like in the next five years (let alone two years).If anybody tells you they know exactly where AI is headed, they’re either lying or deluded.So, if you say, “I’m excited about AI, I’m cautious about AI, and I’m unsure about AI”, that’s a really good start.But be careful!One thing I’ve noticed is that some people who admit to being unsure about AI turn that uncertainty into a roadblock. They say, “I don’t know enough about AI, so let’s wait until we get it exactly right before we do anything”.And then … nothing happens!Not only do YOU do nothing, but more importantly, you stop your team – or even your entire organisation – from doing anything.That’s the bad attitude I meant.Be unsure about AI (that’s health), but channel that uncertainty into education, practice, and professional development. That way, you can understand the risks, challenges, and opportunities – so you and your team can make informed decisions.The real danger is when leaders take a passive stance: “We don’t know enough, so let’s just wait”. That attitude spreads, and suddenly, an entire team holds back, even when some are eager to explore AI.A recent global survey by Slack revealed some interesting insights about AI in the workplace. In Australia, the results were largely positive: three-quarters of knowledge workers are using AI at work.BUT ... Almost half (42%) of those who use AI at work feel uncomfortable telling their manager about it!Why?When asked, employees gave three main reasons:1. Their boss might think they are less competent because they relied on AI.2. Their boss might think they are lazy for using AI instead of doing the work themselves.3. Their boss might see AI as cheating.This is an outdated mindset.Imagine if someone said, “Instead of spending 10 minutes with Google, I spent 10 hours in the library”.That might have been reasonable 25 years ago, when search engines were new. But it would be bizarre now.AI is heading in the same direction. In some organisations, it’s already as natural as using Google. In the next year or so, that will be the norm, not the exception.As a leader, your attitude matters!If you haven’t started integrating AI into your team, now is the time.And the first step is simply to talk about it.Ask your team how they feel about AI.Are they excited? Cautious? Unsure?How do they think AI could help their work?What concerns do they have?What opportunities do they see?By starting the conversation, you set the tone.And if you already have people in your team who are keen to use AI, identify them, support them, and let them be your AI champions.AI isn’t just on the way – it’s already here. The real question is: Are you embracing it, or are you holding your team back?Download my worksheet here to help craft some initial conversations about AI with your team.Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-ai-attitudes

Adopting AI successfully isn’t about the technology – it’s about your culture. As a leader, your role is not to dictate AI use, but to create an environment where people feel empowered to explore, leverage, and share AI-driven innovations with everybody else.https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-your-teamDo you have hidden AI talent in your teams?In the last week, I had two very interesting conversations with senior leadership teams from two very different organisations in completely different sectors. Despite their differences, they had one key thing in common: they were both thinking about how to integrate AI into their organisations.What struck me was I had almost identical conversations with both teams.At first, they were talking about what they needed to do was understand AI, craft an organisation-wide AI policy, create strict rules about using AI, engaging IT in creating a safe environment, and so on.And then came the turning point.In the middle of this discussion, one person - let’s call her Mikaela - spoke up. In both cases, “Mikaela” wasn’t the Chief Technology Officer, The Chief Information Officer, the Head of IT, or anyone formally responsible for AI. She was a senior leader, but in a non-technical role.She shared that she had uses AI regularly in her day-to-day work: Experimenting with ChatGPT to draft emails, analyse spreadsheets, conduct competitor analysis, and explore how her team could use AI in their roles. She had even paid for her own subscription to access advanced features and had taken the time to dig deep into the technology.So when these leadership teams asked me how they should approach AI adoption, my response was clear:Find and support AI champions in your organisation.For those senior leadership teams, “Mikaela” is their AI champion! She isn’t formally responsible for AI strategy, but she is curious, proactive, and already using AI to solve real problems. And every organisation has people like her.The role of senior leadership is not to dictate how AI should be used from the top down. Instead, it’s about helping leaders and managers throughout the organisation to find, facilitate, and support their own AI champions.This is where many organisations go wrong. The traditional approach is to impose new initiatives from the top down. But that usually takes a long, long time. And with AI, which is moving so fast, it’s difficult to get it right.A faster, more effective approach is to focus on culture, and start using AI everywhere. Adopting AI is not about the technology. Well it IS, but it’s really about people and technology working together.And that starts with your people.For more, join my online presentation about people-powered AI. It’s free, public, and open to everybody. And feel free to invite others in your team and network as well.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-ai-in-your-team