13 Reasons Why – #3 Be Prepared

I recently did a series of short videos on LinkedIn entitled 13 Reasons Why exploring why every organisation needs to invest in building and sustaining a workforce that is resilient in the face of constant, uncertain, complex, volatile and ambiguous change.

I received positive feedback on the series and was asked to augment it with a series of articles on the same subject. Here you are.

Storm riders

Constant change is the new norm.

Constant change has been happening for some time, but it is increasing in speed, impact, disruption, volatility, ambiguity and complexity. It is uncertain.

It inevitably can cause stress, anxiety, fatigue and burnout.

We need to prepare our employees to not only survive but thrive in these conditions.

Just as we cannot control the weather, we cannot control where and when change may come from. It could be change due to emerging technology, increased competition, globalisation, changing customer and consumer demands, legalisation and regulation and so on.

Wherever it comes from, the only thing we know is that it will just keep increasing in speed and disruption.

If we want our organisation to be successful and able to outride each storm when it hits, we need our people to be prepared. We cannot ask them to face constant, volatile and uncertain change without providing the support to do so.

We need to enable them to be storm-riders.

We have an obligation to enable our workforce to weather the storm. They need to be able to bend in the wind and not break.

The need to be able to flex, adapt, converge and diverge as needed.

We need a workforce that embraces constant change and says ‘Game On’.

If we allow our workforce to break due to increased anxiety, stress, fatigue and burnout brought about by constant change, the organisation itself will break.

As the old adage goes, organisations do not change. People do. If we don’t prepare our workforce for constant change, the organisation will not change and it will cease to be relevant.

Look after your people and they will look after the rest.

“If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple”. ~ Richard Branson

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