I thought you would find this article insightful valuable and insightful. It is so important because there has been a massive acceleration into remote relationship building and remote sales. Most companies are NOT doing very well with this transition. Sales are down and stress is HIGH>
It’s an executive briefing from August 4th 2021 from McKinsey & Company. It is briefing note #66. The link to the full briefing is below.
My partner and friend Kevin Milne made me aware of the article and gave me some great insights into it.
In short, this article’s message is this:
“When change accelerates, so does the need to learn”
Here are 3 key takeaways that I believe are very important. Please feel free to read the briefing and share with me what you found to be most beneficial for your role and organization.
1. The need for new workforce skills, particularly social (emphasis mine), emotional, and advanced cognitive abilities.
2. 58% of respondents said that closing skills gaps became a higher priority since the pandemic began. This only hints at the need for retraining especially with work-from-home, Zoom meetings, more emails, more social and the lack of face-to-face. It is all so new for so many people.
3. In this era of accelerated change, adaptability not only can, but must be nurtured. Developing the adaptability muscle requires self-care, a focus on purpose, the ability to recognize the default mindset, deeper connections with colleagues, and an environment where it is safe to learn. Wow!
The article also leans into what I, and my colleagues, have discussed around the B2B landscape.
There is a huge need for a new style, and continual learning in the sales process and new business acquisition. Too many companies are at a stand still on growth because they have not yet adapted to the acceleration of digital first (or digital only) relationship building and sales activity methods all teams currently face.
Especially if a sales team is still ONLY using outdated, techniques that are very quickly losing their efficacy.
Other keys areas in the brief that may be of interest around new learnings / trainings are:
– High need for new styles in Leadership and Management
– Organization wide need for adaptability and continuous learning
– Digital Skills. All digital skills but especially communication and relationship building
– Interpersonal skills and empathy because everyone is in transition and learning new behaviors and lifestyle.
It also has a section on Social and Emotional skills – like we train at FunnelAmplified.
The biggest need for all organizations is to lead your team into this new digital and social territory. To become a Social Organization where an entire company embraces social as a platform that is used to reduce the distance between your team members and clients, prospects, colleagues and future team members.
Please make sure you read that last sentence. Organizations who can equip and train their entire team to utilize social and digital as a medium for connecting to people, WILL DOMINATE their industry. The organizations who begin to train in these areas first WILL be the winners.
It is just like the Cloud. Those who moved their first, won.
Social is where your new customers and prospects are spending time. They are looking for you, your insights and your assistance to become a partner of choice.
2025 is now 2021.
I hope this brief adds value to you all. Our goal is to help guide your team to a better, more engaged path to opportunity through digital and social sales activities that truly build high quality, highly engage opportunities.
Please, if you feel compelled, share with me what you learned from the brief or my thoughts on it.
This article is published on:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/covid-19-implications-for-business#
