Who’s at the wheel? Changing culture and leadership to support
innovation in autonomous vehicles
The new
world of transport will demand different skills, capabilities, and culture.
The driverless car was once heralded as an innovation
even too futuristic for The Jetsons. Sure, George Jetson drove a
flying car, but it still had a steering wheel, and he was clearly at the helm.
A different future has arrived, and the days of an actual human getting behind
the wheel and piloting a car may soon be as distant a memory as rabbit-ear TV
antennae.
Supplanting
human-driven vehicles are autonomous vehicles that drive themselves, and
they’re becoming more prevalent by the day. So the issue isn’t if autonomous
cars will arrive but rather to what extent they’ll change the automotive
industry; and, indeed, what effect they’ll have on all of transportation.
To remain relevant, all
automotive-focused and -related companies, from original equipment
manufacturers to technology companies to materials suppliers, must develop a
new approach to their business—especially regarding software, cybersecurity,
and the integration of the Internet of Things. The difficulty, then, is finding
the leadership that can align these areas with rapidly advancing and changing
technologies. New leaders must be able to direct a vast degree of change and
have the appropriate experience in the traditional automotive sector while also
possessing the innovative vision and digital experience to drive this vast
transformation. At the same time, this leader must be able to address the cultural
issues that come with such a dramatic paradigm shift.
To lead the charge in
the autonomous car realm and stay relevant within this changing landscape,
automotive-manufacturer leadership will need a breadth of knowledge and
capabilities that many don’t currently have. Thus, finding these leaders will
be key to revenue growth and success in the market going forward.
Challenges leaders must be equipped to tackle
The move to driverless
cars has implications for every system within a car—from navigation systems to
brakes to steering wheels. Each of these elements will need to be redesigned,
with many different considerations taken into account. Vehicle-to-vehicle and
vehicle-to-infrastructure communication will be a key factor in how autonomous
vehicles will function. And because competition will be fierce and
modernization will be happening much more rapidly in this space, companies will
have to be nimble enough to adjust their products and innovate on a
consumer-electronics timetable.
Then there are the
broader societal shifts that autonomous cars will bring. For instance, some
believe consumers will largely stop buying their own cars, instead only using
them on an hourly or as-needed basis. Urban landscapes, then, could be
dramatically altered if the need for parking decreases. If these predictions
prove true, companies will have to capture a far different consumer mind-set.
And leaders will need vastly different skill sets to do it.
Leadership will need to
be far-sighted enough to see the effects of this trend—not only within a
company but also on the greater automotive ecosystem and society at large. They
will need both tactical and strategic awareness. The knowledge base is
continually expanding, so a capable leader must have expertise in a wide array
of subjects or be able to build cooperative, cross-discipline teams. Education
is crucial: 59 percent of leaders working on artificial intelligence in the
automotive industry hold a PhD, according to Spencer Stuart internal research.
And experience with diverse and dispersed teams is highly coveted; companies
increasingly seek executives who are used to having their team spread across
the globe, so ideal leadership will also be able to lead and motivate across
geographical borders.
An ideal leader in the
autonomous car space would have a wide range of skills, including:
·
the ability to lead
across borders and build “something from nothing”
·
tactical and strategic
knowledge
·
a smooth cultural fit
·
a nonlinear mind-set
and the willingness to push a certain level of discomfort
·
a deep knowledge—and
love—of cars
Clearly, finding
someone with such a wide degree of expertise is daunting.
An alternative leadership approach
Since it can be
difficult to find a leader who encompasses all these qualities, one option is
to hire a leader specifically to oversee the transformation to autonomous
vehicles or new mobility business models while keeping separate leadership of
traditional business lines. This would essentially mean having a right-brain
leader to help spur innovation and blue-sky thinking, and a left-brain leader
to focus on traditional automotive functions such as foundation brakes or
chassis systems.
So rather than fully
integrating these groups, this approach would involve keeping them siloed. In
this way, each group can maintain its culture, be it safety- and order-driven
or learning- and purpose-driven. The more innovative leader is able to lead
disruptive initiatives with others who are flexible and adaptive to change,
while the more traditional leader can help provide an industry context and use
processes and tools that are relevant, critical, and comfortable to the more
traditional domains. Pursuing autonomous vehicle development in parallel with
the traditional business allows the company to continue to meet the current
demand with a supply of cars while also preparing for the future of the
industry. This can be an expensive process, but competition will be intense and
automotive companies will have to absorb this cost if they’re going to remain
viable and agile enough to keep pace in the new market.
Creating the right culture
More than any other
single factor, an organization’s culture holds the power to drive sustained
business performance—and it is especially important to consider culture during
times of change. At its best, culture unifies people and creates shared
attitudes and behaviors that lead to the success of an organization. Left
unattended, though, culture can become a limiting force and undermine the goals
of the organization. According to a Spencer Stuart client survey, culture
misalignment is a key factor in 68 percent of new-hire failures. When looking
to hire a leader for autonomous vehicles or, really, in any industry, culture
must be a key consideration.
Organizational cultures
will likely need to evolve from logical and systematic to innovation- and
enjoyment-driven for a transition to autonomous driving to be successful—or
they must at least find a way to combine these divergent cultural and stylistic
mind-sets. A crucial first step in evolving organizational culture is to
understand the current culture. Then it is possible to define a target culture
and the mind-sets, behaviors, and capabilities that will be needed for the
future.
This evolution doesn’t
have to be overnight—and it likely doesn’t have to happen throughout the entire
organization. Ultimately, many automotive companies may conclude that they need
to preserve the pockets of stable, process-driven manufacturing culture even as
they encourage other parts of the organization to become more flexible and
innovative. Organizations will need leaders able to bridge the cultural divide
and embody the behaviors and mind-sets the company needs to be successful.
The autonomous car
promises to be a game-changing development—one that will lead to dramatic
change within organizations and within society. Traditional automotive
companies and suppliers will need to radically transform their operations to be
successful in the future of transportation.
Companies realize the
terrain is shifting and are developing leaders who can see the big picture.
While the perfect leader may not currently exist, neither did the autonomous
car a few short years ago. As the technology develops, and with intentional
efforts, leadership will also evolve to be prepared for this new climate.
By Lisa J. Caswell, Christina E. Coplen,
and Jonathan R. Visbal October
2017
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/whos-at-the-wheel-changing-culture-and-leadership-to-support-innovation-in-autonomous-vehicles?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1711
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