Books to guide your growth strategy in the new world of work

Fiona Murchie takes a look at some new editions and new books to bring you up to speed.

Fiona Murchie

5 April 2022

This article is taken from the latest issue of Think Global People magazine.Click on the cover to access the digital edition.

Virtual Leadership Practical strategies for success with remote or hybrid work and teams2nd EditionPenny PullanHow do you create a culture where virtual work is effective? The timing is perfect for this second edition as we struggle or skip back to work or embrace new hybrid ways of working with trepidation or relief. Our global mobility and international management audience have of course been working virtually for years. Even for the most experienced, this book will help bring energy, focus and creativity to hybrid and virtual working.Penny Pullan, as an experienced professional international project manager, has the depth of experience to distil complex ideas into manageable bites with memorable stories, visuals and illustrations that add wit and humour along the way. Taking virtual teams to high performance really matters now more than ever against a background of global talent shortages, and exhausted and stressed employees often feeling disconnected by working in different time zones.Discover from this book how to turn things round. It will help to uplift engagement and productivity and provide tips and tricks along the way, as well as new tools and strategies to operate effectively in the virtual space.With the rise of hybrid working, you will find the new chapter invaluable, guiding you through the asymmetrical experience of the hybrid team. As Penny Pullan explains, “We don’t have to live with this asymmetry, which makes work and teams so much harder. We can make a choice to take steps to make everything more level.” She goes on to describe the various ways to set up hybrid teams and hybrid work.There is more on the topic in her 2021 title, ‘Making Workshops Work: Creative collaboration for our time’. This book will give you the knowledge and skills to develop your own competencies and confidence to become an even better facilitator running really effective workshops.Both books are clearly written, highly practical with text and mind map summaries, and plenty of reference reading. They are written by someone who knows how to make things simple and memorable for time pressed people with different learning styles. What’s not to love?Reader offer: 20% off and free P&P https://www.koganpage.com/product/ virtual-leadership-9781398604278 – Use code FBM20 for 20% off and free P&P in the UK/USAOrganization DevelopmentA practitioner’s guide for OD and HR3rd EditionMee-Yan Cheung-JudgeLinda HolbecheMee-Yan Cheung-Judge and Linda Holbeche, experts in organisation development (OD), have crafted a reference book for today that will help OD and HR practitioners to navigate the future and support their organisations and leaders through change. The book will also be of huge value for non-specialists – including global mobility professionals, those in international management struggling with change in complex global markets and managing people across borders and in unfamiliar territories – to dip into.Cultural issues, diversity and inclusion are all part of the picture. How they fit within organisational development is here to explore and adapt for your company’s own circumstances.The book is written in two parts as complementary insights. Updated for today’s world, it explores the role of HR in relation to OD and is relevant to anyone managing people who wants to understand more about how their organisation works, reflect and review practice and navigate a future direction to regenerate and flourish.There is so much change to address following the impact of the pandemic, technological advances as well as change in working practice and the workforce, not to mention across specific industry sectors from manufacturing to supply chain.As well as updating for today, there are three new chapters for the new world of work – on what is organisation health, how to build up the impact of OD in organisations and how to build a culture conducive to innovation.Organisations that can thrive in today’s fast-changing environment need the ‘right’ people working in the ‘right’ ways, effectively and ethically managed and led, which the book explores in Part Two: HR in Relation to OD: theory & practice. You don’t need to be an expert yourself, but it is helpful for engaged leaders to know how OD and HR are evolving to ensure that they are well-versed enough to support their organisation’s growth or understand more about their customer or client’s perspective.With global talent shortages high on the agenda again, how do you recruit or develop talent for the future and what will the skill sets be? How do you improve the quality of leadership? Dip into the agility and resilience chapter and you are already halfway there with useful pointers and check lists. On the subject of agility, Linda Holbeche is the author of ‘The Agile Organisation’, now also in its second edition. You can hear her thoughts on how to keep pace with change and put the wellbeing of people at the heart of sustainable organisations at our Future of Work Festival on 9 June.The New World of Work Shaping a future that helps people, organizations and our societies to thrivePeter CheeseEssential reading for anyone who wants to get up to speed on the future of work by Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for HR and people development in the UK. A good read that you can dip into, it is thought provoking and will help you to raise questions in your organisation and consider new ways of collaboration. Peter Cheese makes ideas, models and concepts accessible, but most of all his passion to support HR professionals in their role to put people first in organisations and make a difference to leadership shines through.There is a crisis of trust in many areas of society, politics and business. In these very different times, we need a shift in mindset. The book offers key capabilities and attributes for leaders that are important now and for the future. He sets out to, “paint a picture of all the things that are already impacting the world of work, as well as point to what is emerging.There are many knowns, and just as many unknowns, but we know that unchecked, the course we are on is not sustainable.”The book raises a lot of questions. The more leaders can look outwards, explore and connect the themes he identifies of organisation, work, workplace, and workforce in the context of globalisation, society and demography, economy, technology and AI, the more this will inform their decision making and actions. This new mindset should be encouraged as an essential part of business strategy, he affirms.