From Resistant to Future Ready
Why change
When we are perfectly
Comfortable
Right
Where we are
At least until it becomes
Uncomfortably
Wrong
Innovating requires change.
Typically before it is obviously necessary. Leading the way. Heading in a new direction with uncertain?outcomes. Before the results are proven – otherwise if the outcomes were already certain and the results proven, it would not be an innovation.
So it is not surprising that as you lead into the future,
you will be met with significant doubt and resistance.
Not everyone will be as ready as you are for transformative change. Whether your ideas for a better way forward?are directly challenged or quietly undermined, resistance is inevitable.
And valuable.
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‘Better’ can be a highly subjective concept. Sometimes it is obvious that the change will be better for some, while not for others. Other times it requires pausing to reflect and understand more deeply, to gain greater clarity?– potentially resulting in a shift?in direction.
Changing the change.
By understanding the different states of change readiness?you might encounter on the way forward, it becomes easier to collaborate?by adapting how we approach and work with others. Instead of pushing ahead against their will, we can inspire others upwards.
Building a better future together.
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Depending on the nature of the change involved and the cultural state of the organisation, individuals can progress through six different levels of change readiness:
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As human?beings, we are complex and nuanced. Each individual is likely to be a mix of these states – responding to some aspects of change while resisting others. At the same time this mix of states combines to measure an overall level of change readiness.
In the same way that our individual emotions and responses combine to define an overall individual level of change readiness, individual levels can be measured across teams and organisations as a whole to define a collective level of change readiness – ranging from fully future ready to being highly…
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Resistant
We have all met them. Even been one of them ourselves at times. People who resist change. Resist the future.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that the world is changing all around them, they cling to the past, determined to stop progress – or at least slow it down. Holding back your organisation. Holding back the future you.
Why do they insist on doing this? At a surface level it is easy to say people do not like change. In reality the underlying dynamics are not as simplistic as this – as in many aspects of life we most certainly do like change. In many aspects of life we most certainly do like change.
See what I mean – I am guessing you would have far preferred if I had not repeated the previous sentence. Demonstrating that in many aspects of life we are indeed looking for change and variation, rather than repetition and predictability.
Sometimes resistance can also be incredibly valuable. If you have ever driven a vehicle without brakes, you know firsthand the importance of resistance. At the same time, if the brakes are always on or applied too frequently, we soon fall behind or go nowhere at all.
At a neurological?level our brains?are wired to identify and repeat familiar patterns. Just as it is far easier and safer to travel on an established road than it is to go off-roading, it is easier for our thoughts to travel from neuron?to neuron across well-worn synaptic?connections.
So to accelerate forward inspire the resistant with new possibilities for the future, rather than just sitting back and waiting for change to overtake them, causing your organisation to be…
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Reactive
The thing about the future is it is always arriving. And never arriving. It is impossible to resist the future forever because it is constantly turning into the present.
That does not mean we cannot prepare for it. However the majority of people do not. They wait until change is inevitable and then react when they have to. Which is fine when the shift is an easy one to make. However in business?– and in life – often the changes are challenging, requiring considerable time and effort to develop new skills and processes.
Take for example email. Which was invented first – email or the lava lamp? Both originated around the same time in the mid 1960s – more than half a century ago. While you will not find too many lava lamps?on office desks, you will still find the majority of people busy sending emails.
Meanwhile the next generation of workers have already started shifting their communication onto new collaboration?platforms?for more efficient and connected communications. Just as our personal communication long ago evolved to social platforms such as Instagram?and WhatsApp, our workplace communications are slowly but surely shifting onto collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams?and Slack.
So instead of being forced to react when others stop replying to your emails… just as they stopped replying to faxes, carrier pigeons?and stone tablets… look more closely at the future arriving all around you, taking time out to be…
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Reflective
Strategic planning is a critical aspect of any organisation. Whether it is a formal annual planning process or conversations about the future, successfully achieving goals depends on making the shift from reacting to reflecting. Examining past performance?in order to determine where best to refocus energy and resources for greater outcomes.
This reflective mode of operating works well in slow-moving environments with relatively predictable outcomes. It is how we arrived at conventional leadership structures where experienced board?members guide the next generation of leaders by reflecting their past learnings.
As the rate of change accelerated, traditional strategic planning?cycles could no longer keep up. Shifting from annual planning cycles to quarterly and then even shorter, in order to become more…
Responsive
Agile. Collaborative. Diverse. Inclusive. If you look at the critical shifts?happening within modern workplaces, they are all designed to enable organisations to become more responsive.
To better understand, anticipate and adapt to the changing needs of their customers, communities and stakeholders. Although these shifts might seem to be relatively recent, they have been going on for a very long time.
For example the ‘Agile Manifesto’?which defined new ways of working was first written more than two decades ago. At the time it was…
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Revolutionary
As much as leaders often talk about the concept of disruption?– the reality is most people do not like to disrupt. And they like being disrupted even less.
Not sure if that is the case? Take a look at your next meeting. Where do people sit? Do they sit around the table where the chairs are placed – even sitting in the exact same chair? Or do they randomly… disruptively… move the chairs around into totally new locations in the room?
Or literally going a step further – do they take their chairs out of the room to meet in a totally different space, while also collaborating with more diverse people than the echo chamber?often found in the room?
This disruptive shift is the same transformation that is slowly happening over time to entire industries. Except that at first the existing structures are reorganised without anyone paying much attention. Because disruption typically does not happen all at once with a big bang. It begins quietly on the edges?with a few revolutionaries.
So how do you make this shift – from the relative safety?of responding to the known, crossing the revolutionary dangers of the unknown?to become…
Future Ready
Your future is not entirely off in the distance. It is actually all around you – you might just not be seeing it.
Like glimpsing road markings through the rain, we can gain greater vision by looking more closely at the faint signals?in the environment around us. Noticing subtle shifts that indicate what lies ahead – enabling organisations to accelerate?into the future with greater confidence.
For example did you notice a time when the number of people walking around with wireless?earbuds?increased?
Did you vaguely think it was just a modern way to listen?to music… or did you pause to consider the unfolding impact of conversational interfaces combined with artificially intelligent assistants?
Following commands. Providing direction. Slowly shifting us from glowing screens?to the new world of invisible interfaces.
So do not wait for the future of your business or industry to become entirely clear. As the risk is that perfect clarity only occurs at the point of… impact.
Instead, focus with greater clarity on the signals of your future all around you. Then accelerate forward.
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Advancing forward to become Future Ready.
Then as the future gets closer becoming FutureReady.
Until the future merges with the present and we become…
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Futuready.
Summary
This is a chapter from our book Futurework – A Guidebook for The Future of Work
Inspire
Inspire forward with new possibilities
As a Futurist living on the edge of the world, I’ve presented on stages and screens across the globe from San?Francisco to South Auckland to Sydney.
Shift
Gain momentum by shifting perspectives
Facilitation is a complex process. In a complex world it’s only getting more complex. Fortunately it’s the complexity of facilitating that inspires the way we work.
Upskill
Upskill to transform the future
Adaptive. Digital. Collaborative. Diverse. Inclusive. If you look at the critical shifts happening within modern workplaces, they’re designed to enable organisations to become more responsive.