Given the severe restrictions on human and business activity that COVID-19 has unleashed around the world, virtually every CEO and HR leader faces the same challenge: how to manage and maintain an organization’s culture in turbulent times. One unpalatable truth that this crisis has exposed is that most organizations are using antiquated frameworks to manage their most complex asset: human capital. The data on the resource most critical to effective crisis management lacks rigor.
To help clients better understand their corporate cultures and build resilience during this period of crisis, global leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder and Zurich-based behavioral analytics firm Sinequanon (SQN) are now offering the Odyssey Index™, an AI-enabled crisis management tool that equips business leaders with the data-driven insights they need. “Today more than ever, organizations need to cultivate an environment of trust while at the same time nurturing employees’ sense of meaning and purpose,” says Egon Zehnder partner and SQN board member Gabriel Andrade. “You can use this chance to emerge from the crisis with a strengthened culture.” Understanding the constraints facing so many organizations, we are providing the Odyssey Index™ free of charge for the first month in exchange for a donation to a COVID-19 charity.
The Odyssey Index™ is simple in its delivery and seamless in its execution. Each Monday morning, a small representation of employees receives an approximately six-minute gamified survey in their inbox, with carefully crafted questions rooted in behavioral science. These questions gather both structured and unstructured data, which is used to generate a weekly Odyssey dashboard. The process helps leaders measure the behaviors of their employees, clustered around four subcultures that SQN has learned are critical to effective crisis management: Understanding & Purpose; Adaptability & Learning; Grit & Resilience; Structure & Way of Working. Odyssey also provides insights on whether leadership’s communications are understood and effective, and identifies what may be preventing employees from taking needed actions.
The Index leverages SQN’s revolutionary Twisit® (‘the way I see it’) mindset and behavior measurement platform, as well as the client-specific algorithms of its Living Analytics® AI engine, to measure exactly how well the organization is coping with the crisis. SQN’s proprietary tools can then be used to guide an organization toward a culture equipped to thrive in a crisis. The Odyssey Index™ converts data into a spreadsheet dashboard with which leaders can conduct further analysis and then, with SQN’s client-specific recommendations, take the appropriate steps to improve its culture. “This helps mitigate the Catch-22 situation corporate leaders often find themselves confronted with during a crisis: having to take fast and decisive action but with incomplete information,” says Per Lagerstrom, SQN’s Chief Executive Officer. The Odyssey Index™ offers full data privacy compliance since it relies on anonymized data as well as the latest cybersecurity standards available for containerized cloud usage. It requires no connection to existing IT architecture and can be upgraded from the cloud as updates emerge.
Whether your organization is a small or medium-sized regional business with 1,500 employees or a global enterprise employing 50,000 people across multiple business units, the Odyssey Index™ can make an immediate impact on your human capital management. We genuinely appreciate the gravity of the challenge that COVID-19 presents to businesses. That’s why after the first free month, clients can continue using the Odyssey Index™ for a nominal monthly fee of EUR 15,000, with the option to terminate the service at any time with one week’s notice. To learn more please visit https://www.sqnodyssey.world and https://www.egonzehnder.com/sqn-unleashing-the-power-of-human-capital. Egon Zehnder also offers free leadership advisory sessions to top teams within organizations, asking in return for a donation.
