On our ‘Engaging People, Powering Companies’ podcast last week,

Amrit spoke about our bread and butter – learning and development. He asked how we can equip our employees with the skills they need in an unstable and ever-changing world, now and into the future, so they and organisations can thrive. Learning and Development departments have typically come under a bit of scrutiny in the past. Do they add value? Are they strategic enough in supporting organisations in their missions? Are they just a way of ticking boxes to say we are investing in our people?

We’d be forgiven for having the view, that in the past our L&D efforts have been more reactive than proactive, and that there was certainly more scope for this important support function to be more aligned with the needs of businesses and their ambitions. However, now it may well feel like the needs of organisations are not as clear as they used to be, due to the environments we are operating in.

Within some of our programmes we have talked about strategies for leading in a VUCA world. This concept originated in the U.S. Army War College in 1987, and then within the world of business, used more frequently in leadership contexts from around 2002. It stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous and was used as a framework to describe the challenging conditions that many organisations face, and the ability to lead in such conditions. This one is well known, however on the podcast Amrit wowed us with new acronyms that, frankly, just show where the experts see our world headed and are quite sobering. They are:

BANI – Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear and Uncomprehensible. Jamais Cascio, an American anthropologist, futurist, and author introduced the BANI concept in his 2020 article titled "Facing the Age of Chaos". Brittle in that systems that once seemed strong can suddenly break. Anxious, well aren’t we all? Particularly with so much inevitable uncertainty, because unlike the past where if one thing happened, we could pretty much map what would follow, now nothing seems to follow suit. And with that, things feel pretty uncomprehensible!

TUNA – Turbulent, Uncertain, Novel and Ambiguous. Perhaps more recent and very hard to source, this one is similar to VUCA, only here we are honing in on turbulence. This aspect acknowledges that things are harder to reflect on because every situation feels novel due to the turbulence being experienced.

RUPT – Rapid, Unpredictable, Paradoxical and Tangled. This again is hard to pinpoint but seems to have come about through the Centre of Creative Leadership, due to the overuse and limitations of the VUCA framework. The emphasis here is on rapid, paradoxical situations that are contrary, that exist simultaneously, such as cutting costs and driving growth. Both exist yet feel contradictory. Tangled is about the interconnectedness of things as if they were in a tangled web. If you pull one thread what will the consequence be? What would get tighter and more knotted? We just can’t tell.

The fact that these acronyms keep on coming, and people are trying to make sense of how we lead, work and strategize, mean it is a real issue. No longer are we in a world where organisations can plan five or ten years ahead. The days where things used to be easy to predict and we could very deliberate in defining strategies, are gone. Employees are confused and feel that perhaps leaders are concealing their plans with the detail. Much more likely though, there is no plan to share. Leaders are having to be much more emergent in their approach, planning as and when the fog starts lifting, as best they can.  

So how do we equip people with the skills needed to be able to cope with these crazy times? If you are in L & D, where would you start? How do we plan and help people develop the skills they will need for the future? First, let’s look at the skills that would be required. To do this it helps to consider what sort of skills might be sought after in a fresh new start up. Because let’s face it, the world we are living in now is very much like that. Startups cannot take a deliberate strategic approach because there are so many unknowns, but instead of this feeling unsettling and destabilising, it feels fun and exhilarating. Adapting to the changing, emerging environment is the job! So what skills are required for this type of environment from the outset?

Agility and Adaptability. Rather than being thrown by, or bowled over by change, learning to actually roll with it and look for the opportunities for growth, instead of just focussing on what is no longer and being resistant.

Working at Pace. Being able to get stuck in and realise quickly that there is not only one perfect solution, but instead we need to problem solve and think critically when there are so many variables in this tangled world we are living in.

Communication. Well, this has always been on the list, just perhaps now it is about being clearer in our language and more considered in what we are asking for and where this is coming from within us. Are we helping or hindering a situation with our beliefs and thoughts that we are communicating out to the world?

Collaboration. We are on the same team but are we acting like it? Minimising the ‘us and them’, and realising we all have our parts to play, and that one department or team is no more important than any other. Helping people cut through the noise of the unimportant, and pull together.

Emotional intelligence and empathy. Again, always on the list and one of the mainstays of great leadership and for good reason. Critical to helping people understand, feel a sense of belonging, a connection to the mission. Helping them to develop resilience personally and therefore organisationally, being able to manage stress. And to develop and strengthen relationships during times of change.

Self-Management and Driving Initiative. Being able to push forward with a growth mindset, afraid but doing it anyway, and knowing that this is how we get things done now, and that we learn from our mistakes and that it’s safe to make them.

Creating Engaging and Inclusive Workplaces. Being so clear about the culture we want and need and making sure that words and actions align across the whole group. Dealing with things quickly when anyone or anything stands to jeopardise that, so that people know what they are part of and more than that, choose to be part of it.

We can learn from startups, the skills needed to survive and thrive in today’s world and is perhaps this is where we need to focus our energy. To develop these skills across our organisations so we can behave like startups, rolling with it, taking the learnings, cultivating growth mindsets, making the most of opportunities, being tenacious, and cheering each other on as we do it to keep building this culture as our foundation.

In startups it is rare that you find one person driving the change. There are many people committed to it, trying new things and driving things forward. They cheer each other on. Let’s empower and equip our people to do this. Our leaders and managers might need to adopt new digital processes and AI, but let’s still make sure they are reflecting, and being very tuned in to what they are making it mean for their people. To help our leaders and managers understand how to learn, and to walk forward as fearlessly as possible while they do it, in this ever changing yet exciting new world, is perhaps where we need our L & D teams to be putting their focus.

Click here to listen to the podcast.