Johannesburg, 16 Aug 2022
Technology revolution informs us of technological change, whereas evolution is the gradual building of technological infrastructure from the existing.
Let’s look at technology evolution over time. Technology is a combination of components; each component itself is technology and each technology exploits an effect/phenomenon.
Technology tends to change over time and changes slowly. The nature of technology evolution requires innovation as a medium to allow us to test and iterate it at a fast and more efficient rate.
Standard engineering is what takes place when we try to make technology better; we fix errors because the environment changes and we adapt to it. This allows us to fix everyday things and make them better, like moving from manual to automation. Invention then comes into play because of continuous testing and hard work to not only have an idea, but make it work. Structural deepening allows you to do more with the invention than what it was meant to do: look at a simple gadget such as a cellphone, it has evolved over time from a simple Nokia 3210 phone to a smartphone that allows you to do so much more on a small device.
Why do we need to focus on evolution and not revolution?
It’s easy to get caught off-guard by words such as big data, IOT, blockchain, etc, yet a lot of these digital tools have been around for quite some time. The big question is, how do we optimise the existing infrastructure?
Technology runs our lives these days; there is no running away from it – it's either you adapt or you are out of the game.
There have been a lot of corporates or institutions who lacked the knowledge or understanding and they paid the price dearly. Nokia is a very good example of how business can fail if it does not adapt or evolve with technology. Technology disrupts the nature of how we live and do business, and the resistance, or lack of evolution, will somehow put you and your organisation at risk.
Leaders around the globe have been laggards in their adoption to technology and will need to catch up by employing the right skills to assist the organisation in maintaining competitiveness. It is also an opportunity for leaders to upskill their existing personnel and initiate mentoring for the improvement of employees and organisational processes.
COVID-19 made it very clear how agile leadership is critical for a business to survive and thrive. As agile leaders, we need to focus on sustainability of the organisation, forward-thinking and how to make changes operationally to empower employees.
New advancing trends like artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and other technologies are transforming the work profile of the workforce. Many workers, especially in the manufacturing sector, already work alongside autonomous robots. As more and more robots work alongside, and in tandem with, people, humans are beginning to adjust to this new reality. The World Economic Forum expects that innovation in the workplace will eliminate nearly 85 million jobs across the globe by 2025.
Industries such as healthcare, manufacturing and construction benefit heavily from adopting asset management software, as it provides businesses with a streamlined process for tracking assets with efficient data management, delivering complete visibility into asset costs, usage and return on investment for improved business performance insight.
How technology has evolved
- Floppy to e-mail
- Brick-like Nokia 5110 to iPhone/Android
- Fax to e-mail
- VHS tapes – live streaming
- Social media, oh my goodness how did we get by without it?
- Snakes and ladders to e-gaming
- All-time favourite Nokia Snake game to Roblox
When COVID-19 hit us, we saw how technology plays a huge role in the society. Hospitals, corporates, banks, etc, relied heavily on the technological infrastructure they have and how they can improve to make sure they stay above board. Unfortunately, there were casualties, as some leaders could not foresee or comprehend how technology is evolving and how they also need to evolve.
To successfully lead any business and enable it to withstand continuous change while balancing efficiency and innovation – to build diverse, inclusive and psychologically safe teams and unleash their collective intelligence – requires a very special set of skills.
Traits of innovative leadership:
- Strong customer focus – Sets the tone for the entire organisation. Create service boundaries and standards that allow people to succeed.
- Persuasive – Ability to get others to accept a good idea.
- Inspire and motivate through action – For innovation to exist, you must be inspired.
- Risk tolerant – High risk tolerance to build a vision into reality.
- Emotional stability – Grounded, with emotions under control. Innovation leaders are wired to be positive so they will do what is required to maintain a stable environment.
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