Page 90 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

80 HBR Leader’s Handbook

and unjust, like bullying, wage inequality, and predatory lending, are rep-
licated in the digital world.”
As Walker dug deeper into this issue, he realized that many of the peo-
ple reporting to him, and others below them, were not well prepared to
tackle these issues. It wasn’t a matter of motivation or commitment, but
rather one of understanding and skill. There were few digital natives on
the foundation’s staff, much less the executive team. Walker thus faced a
challenge: despite good will on both sides, there was a gap between the
strategic needs of the organization and the capability of its people to
carry it out. Walker’s job as leader was to close the gap as quickly as
possible.
Walker considered his options. Should he ratchet down his strategic
expectations to match what his people could do? He didn’t see this as a
viable option, since that would weaken the effectiveness and competitive
position of the foundation. Another equally unappealing option was to re-
place many long-standing, highly committed, and loyal staff with new dig-
itally savvy people who could quickly grasp the new strategic agenda. But
that would compromise current programs, create negative publicity, and
destroy remaining and future employees’ faith in the social contract that
they had signed up for, destroying morale and productivity in the process.
Walker was also aware that firing people for no fault of their own would
breach the very principles of social justice that the foundation stood for.
Walker was firm on this point: “How do you stand before the staff and say
to many of them who came to the foundation because they had the skill to
work in social justice, that they are missing a critical skill needed to work
on social justice in the twenty-first century?”
Walker found a third option, however, that allowed him to meet both
the organizational and the people sides of the equation as much as possi-
ble. The solution involved a careful combination of the options: some new
hires, some staff reductions, and retention of a significant number of cur-
rent staff, but with changing expectations supported by development and
retraining, extensive performance feedback, and new goals and incentives.
“Technology fellows” were new hires introduced into each program area.
These digital technologists had the task of rapidly familiarizing existing