It has been a while.

My earlier intention to keep up with a monthly newsletter has lately faded. The last months have been a constant frenzy and I had to sacrifice our regular catch up. But here I am again, having skipped August and September, with a late Fall bi-monthly.

Much is changing, much is happening and we keep learning, which is great, albeit at time a bit exhausting. Especially the work landscape has changed very rapidly, and the most macroscopic change is of course about the role of humans: in a world where we are replaced or at least significantly helped by technology, humans can finally be human (again). This often means learning new behaviours and unlearning some old ones; rigid control-based hierarchies cripple, evolving into decentralised governance of participative leadership; professionals can focus more on being (… present, collaborative, critical, etc.) rather just doing (… the task, according to prescription); in a nutshell, everyone needs to focus more on personal leadership.

In this emailing, I want to offer my insights about the new work landscape, tell you what we do about it in Grooa, and share some news. I would also like, as usual, to stimulate thoughts and maybe even a dialogue, so I will be happy to hear from you as well.

Here are the 5 “news” that I want to share with you today:

1. We are seeing an increased demand for Short and Effective Leadership / Soft Skills Up-skilling.
Companies have resumed hiring, yet attracting the right talents is a challenge. According to a Manpower survey, more than 70% of European Organisations struggle to fill their hiring requirements. Why? A simplified answer to this complicated question is that expectations and requirements have changed. Employees expect more flexibility, which is not always easy to grant (due to objective practicalities and also old mindsets). Employers seek talents with greater ability to handle complex tasks, collaborate responsibly and make critical decisions, even in the most executional functions (due to increased automatisation, digitalisation and decentralisation of power).  So many employers are now offering leadership training, coaching and mentoring, as key benefits to attract and retain talents; and there is a new sense of urgency to get people ready for working in a new reality; so they seek swift and effective solutions, typically shorter than six weeks, adapted to their needs and of course flexible (typically with a mix of online and in person training).
It is not always easy to choose. There are many offers, some too traditional, some new and innovative, but insufficiently tested.
The Grooa solution is “The C.L.E.A.R.™ Mindset” Methodology, based on neuroscience as well as business acumen, and extensively tested with Leadership Teams of Fortune 500 companies in Europe.
You can read below about the Grooa Leadership Offer.

2. We have observed an emerging New Trend: “Cultivating Communities of Talents outside the Organisation”.
Communities of Practice were all the rage a decade or two ago; they were mainly meant as “creation and exchange of knowledge” and their interest seemed to fade away with the advent of crowd-sourcing. Now we start to notice the emergence of a new type of Community: Communities aimed at “creating and exchanging wisdom”.  More than just professional networks, these Communities call from each member to share a passion and a commitment to fostering personal growth, self-esteem and clarity of intention.  They are a testing bench for ownership, accountability, critical thinking and social influence.
You can read below about the LIS WOMAN Community. 

3. Sustainability.  This is such a huge subject that I plan to cover it in more details in one of the future newsletter, but I just want to mention one key aspect of this complex topic.  Although many organisations have started to mention sustainability and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals in their public reports, there is not yet an available SDG Certification and even the SDG Impact Standards have just been published last July 2021 by the UN Development Program department. These Standards can help Investors and Companies include the impact they have on the SDGs as an essential criteria for decision making and a guiding reference for all management processes.
Grooa is supporting a key Client in the first case of SDG Impact Standards implementation in Europe, specifically offering facilitation between UNDP and the Client as well the internal Client’s transformational Dialogue.
More on this in a future newsletter.

4. Mental Health is now broadly recognised as an essential concern for companies. No longer just a matter of personal responsibility, many Employers have started to implement or update HR policies that include supporting the total well being of people at work.  Unfortunately, these policies often clash with established management processes in some performance oriented cultures that continue to focus only on output (i.e. results in reference to set KPIs), may not be used to consider total outcome (i.e. consequences for key stakeholders, like clients, suppliers, and employees) and are not even thinking or may not have any tools to look into impact (intended as consequences for everyone and the planet; connected with the SDGs, see point number 4 above).
Within Grooa, we notice that our Mental Safety and Mindful Leadership (online) courses, as well as Mindful Coaching,  are still by large requested by single individuals (occasionally as an independent initiative for their team), rarely by companies, although something starts to change.
We mentioned these programs in several earlier newsletter (very popular especially at the beginning of the pandemic), let me know if you need to know more.

5. Grooa has earned a nice Award.  Last, but not least, I want to share something that makes me very proud and that I am sure will provide additional validation to all our trusted Clients, as well as additional reassurance to future Clients: Grooa has been Awarded as one of the Top 10 Leadership Development Providers in Europe in 2021, by the prestigious international ManageHR magazine. We are also going to be profiled on the cover of their upcoming Leadership Development issue, and I will share the link with you when it is published.
See the Award Certificate below. 

Let me know if there are any other topics or key trends that you wish covered in a next issue.

Take care and continue to  …
… courageously Lead with a Smile!

Laura Lozza
Managing Partner, Grooa AS
Registered company, HQ address: Manglerudveien 93, 0678 Oslo (Norway)
Visiting address: Grooa Inspiria Learning Center, Den Hoek 33, 5421XG Gemert (Netherlands) 

The GROOA Leaderhip Offer Whether you need to foster INNOVATION, create an INCLUSIVE environment, improve and speed-up PARTICIPATORY DECISION MAKING, encourage SHARED OWNERSHIP, ensure MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY, or all of the above, you will need to train yourself and your teams in the five key sets of skills necessary to have PRODUCTIVE AND COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS. Six Weeks Customised Modular Fundamentals of Leadership Training based on the Award Winning “The C.L.E.A.R.™ Mindset” Methodology

LIS WOMAN LIS WOMAN is a learning and networking community for International business women who are, or aspire to be, at executive, C-suite or board level. Being a woman at high level is still relatively rare and challenging; being international (living or working within different cultures) adds to the challenge. The LIS WOMAN Steering Team is formed by some of the very first international ladies in Europe who have set an example for younger generations, and we know how empowering it feels to interact and learn together with other like minded ladies who face similar situations. We accept Nominations and we will select who to invite based on individual commitment to the Community. The very first Ladies who joined and helped shape the structure of the Community are receiving a Pioneer Award and are being interviewed, so they can share their experience. The first one to be awarded is Suzannah Hoban (see picture) and her interview will soon be available online.