During the past several months, as the reality of the pandemic has sunk in, business organizations have accelerated their evolution of remote leadership within matrixed structures. Before the pandemic, many managers realized (and lamented) they had direct reports they had never “met personally.” Now, working with remote employees in the matrix that you may never meet is the new reality. There is no lamenting or complaining that you can’t do your job because of remoteness. This change has left many leaders wondering what they are supposed to do and how to do it. Clearly new skills and best practices of leading remotely in the matrix are required.

One of the many realizations about our “new normal” is that speed matters more than ever. I was  interviewing a CEO of a large global company today as part of the process to tailor an upcoming Business Acumen program for his direct reports. Within the first few moments, I could feel the instant connection in terms of the way he though about strategy and the way we design our Business Acumen and business simulation solutions. I could also sense that he had an intuitive feel for the rhythm of his business and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead during the rest of 2020 and into 2021.

Seasoned executives like this CEO know how often to make certain decisions, how hard to drive specific objectives, and how quickly to react to changing circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

July was another extremely busy month in the world of virtual business simulation capability development. Our team had the opportunity to work with hundreds of leaders from around the world delivering customized, virtual learning experiences developing leadership capabilities in the area of Business Acumen.

As our technology and reporting capabilities have advanced, and as we have become more focused on the data analytics that Business Acumen skill development engagements can produce, it is my pleasure to share some interesting trends that can be used to understand and explain some of the behaviors you may be seeing in your organization, within your peers, or within your direct reports.

Here are three unique trends that we have observed and assessed coming out of our post-simulation data analytics:

There are several business books that I have read in my career that have had a profound impact on the way that I think and lead one of the most impactful talent development firms in the world. The first is called “The Discipline of Market Leaders,” by Tracey and Wiersema and the other is “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t,” by James C. Collins. One of the notable takeaways from the book is the quote and now inspirational theme that “Good is the Enemy of Great.” The concept is that too many people and too many organizations “settle” and take short cuts accepting that “good” is good enough and that they don’t need to do the really hard work to be great. Being just good is the enemy of being great.

Leaders use this quote and the other great concepts from the book to inspire, motivate, and lead. And for many it works, and their people and companies are better for it.