Predicting Organizational Change in 2023
The only constant in today's world is change, and organizations must be equipped to navigate whatever comes their way.
In the spirit of the new year, many folks are eager to forecast upcoming trends. But if the past few years have taught us anything, it's that the future is far from predictable. As we reviewed over 100 trend reports this January, ING admitted, “We are entering a year with the widest range of possible outcomes and forecasts.”
And who can blame them? Experts are at odds about everything from inflation to labor shortages, COVID variants to privacy regulations, and everything in between. The world is a complex, interconnected system, and it's impossible to predict with certainty what might happen next.
But here's the good news: while we may not be able to predict the future, we can certainly prepare for it. As leaders, our challenge in 2023 is to build resilience and flexibility into our organizations so that we can adapt to whatever comes our way. Instead of obsessing over trends and predictions, let's focus on tactical advice that can help us prepare for the unpredictable road ahead.
Preparing Your Organization for Change
Futile hopes of returning to pre-pandemic normalcy should be laid to rest. The ever-evolving market will require more complex changes than just shifting from Zoom meetings to physical offices. Looking back only clouds your vision, preventing a clear perspective on what is required now.
As a leader, embracing change is critical to the dynamism of your organization. Personal growth in the next 12-18 months requires honing three key skills:
First, strategic foresight in uncertain conditions, the ability to sense and anticipate weak signals of potential threats and opportunities, allowing for swift and effective response. Growth in this area demands a willingness to reconsider well-established plans and beliefs in light of evolving circumstances.
Second, decision-making in a world of tradeoffs, where equally desirable or undesirable alternatives require quick and effective decisions. Avoiding wasteful behavior and making decisions despite imperfect or incomplete information is crucial.
You'll need to create new processes - such as feedback training, leadership roundtables, and demo days - to integrate learning into your team's daily routine.
Finally, emotional intelligence throughout periods of change and transformation, the ability to manage your own emotions and those of others. This entails finding a balance between transparency and positivity, and recognizing where others are in their experience of change.
By honing these skills, you'll be well-equipped to navigate the ever-changing landscape of the market and prepare your organization for whatever lies ahead.
Make a bold move and scrap the five-year plan. Nobody knows what the future holds, so why bother creating a plan that's destined to fail? Instead, embrace a VC-style mentality: be quick to spot changes in the market, take small but diverse risks, establish investment milestones and checkpoints, and rapidly expand on the bets that gain traction. This shift will require a major mindset change within your organization, where leaders must reframe failure as an opportunity to learn and encourage greater risk-taking. You'll need to create new processes - such as feedback training, leadership roundtables, and demo days - to integrate learning into your team's daily routine.
Focus relentlessly on customer-centricity. In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, being closely connected to your customers has never been more important. With increased competition for their scarce resources and new privacy laws that make data collection more challenging, simply claiming to put the customer first is no longer sufficient. You need to demand that your business units establish independent, market-driven teams, and rethink how you collect and use data to inform your decision-making, rather than hoarding information or protecting yourself from liability.
Empower your team with greater freedom and control. After three years of a global pandemic, people are keenly aware of the changes that have been imposed on them, rather than the changes they've helped shape. If you're struggling to keep your team engaged, look for opportunities to give them back some control - both at work and in their personal lives. It may feel uncomfortable at first, and you may feel like you're losing control, but ultimately, it will make your team stronger and free you up to focus on the work that only you can do.
Ditch the "purpose-washing" and embrace "protopianism." To meet the expectations of today's discerning customers and employees, merely announcing a vision statement or paying lip service to purpose isn't enough. Instead, your organization needs to become what founding executive editor of WIRED magazine Kevin Kelly calls a "protopian." These companies recognize the challenges of trying to make anything better and strive for incremental, continuous improvement in their products and internal structures. Furthermore, they work with their people and communities to create change that benefits multiple stakeholders. As a leader, it's your responsibility to pursue an ever better future, even if it means taking the first few steps.
Develop a replicable process for scaling change. Today's organizations operate in a complex system, so there's no single solution that will solve all their problems. While reorganizations or layoffs may be necessary, they rarely change how an organization actually operates. A bold purpose statement or EVP may sound inspiring, but without meaningful actions to back it up, it will only foster skepticism. As the pandemic has demonstrated, organizations can change - the challenge is to make this a repeatable process and build capacity for continuous growth. Our team has developed an approach that has been refined by working with hundreds of teams across different industries. Regardless of the method you adopt, commit to making change a habitual behavior, not a one-time event.
What's next?
In the past few years, we've experienced much grief and loss, leading to the word "permacrisis" being chosen as the word of 2022, describing the feeling of going from one existential crisis to another. However, the start of a new year brings with it a sense of fresh hope, and it's important to remember that change is always possible. No one can accurately predict the future, which means that the field is open to anyone. Although we are facing constraints and challenges, it's also a time of rejuvenation and resurgence. The next world leaders will be made in the next 12 months. Are you and your organization positioning yourselves to be among them?
In the spirit of the new year, many folks are eager to forecast upcoming trends. But if the past few years have taught us anything, it's that the future is far from predictable. As we reviewed over 100 trend reports this January, ING admitted, “We are entering a year with the widest range of possible outcomes and forecasts.”
And who can blame them? Experts are at odds about everything from inflation to labor shortages, COVID variants to privacy regulations, and everything in between. The world is a complex, interconnected system, and it's impossible to predict with certainty what might happen next.
But here's the good news: while we may not be able to predict the future, we can certainly prepare for it. As leaders, our challenge in 2023 is to build resilience and flexibility into our organizations so that we can adapt to whatever comes our way. Instead of obsessing over trends and predictions, let's focus on tactical advice that can help us prepare for the unpredictable road ahead.
Preparing Your Organization for Change
Futile hopes of returning to pre-pandemic normalcy should be laid to rest. The ever-evolving market will require more complex changes than just shifting from Zoom meetings to physical offices. Looking back only clouds your vision, preventing a clear perspective on what is required now.
As a leader, embracing change is critical to the dynamism of your organization. Personal growth in the next 12-18 months requires honing three key skills:
First, strategic foresight in uncertain conditions, the ability to sense and anticipate weak signals of potential threats and opportunities, allowing for swift and effective response. Growth in this area demands a willingness to reconsider well-established plans and beliefs in light of evolving circumstances.
Second, decision-making in a world of tradeoffs, where equally desirable or undesirable alternatives require quick and effective decisions. Avoiding wasteful behavior and making decisions despite imperfect or incomplete information is crucial.
You'll need to create new processes - such as feedback training, leadership roundtables, and demo days - to integrate learning into your team's daily routine.
Finally, emotional intelligence throughout periods of change and transformation, the ability to manage your own emotions and those of others. This entails finding a balance between transparency and positivity, and recognizing where others are in their experience of change.
By honing these skills, you'll be well-equipped to navigate the ever-changing landscape of the market and prepare your organization for whatever lies ahead.
Make a bold move and scrap the five-year plan. Nobody knows what the future holds, so why bother creating a plan that's destined to fail? Instead, embrace a VC-style mentality: be quick to spot changes in the market, take small but diverse risks, establish investment milestones and checkpoints, and rapidly expand on the bets that gain traction. This shift will require a major mindset change within your organization, where leaders must reframe failure as an opportunity to learn and encourage greater risk-taking. You'll need to create new processes - such as feedback training, leadership roundtables, and demo days - to integrate learning into your team's daily routine.
Focus relentlessly on customer-centricity. In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, being closely connected to your customers has never been more important. With increased competition for their scarce resources and new privacy laws that make data collection more challenging, simply claiming to put the customer first is no longer sufficient. You need to demand that your business units establish independent, market-driven teams, and rethink how you collect and use data to inform your decision-making, rather than hoarding information or protecting yourself from liability.
Empower your team with greater freedom and control. After three years of a global pandemic, people are keenly aware of the changes that have been imposed on them, rather than the changes they've helped shape. If you're struggling to keep your team engaged, look for opportunities to give them back some control - both at work and in their personal lives. It may feel uncomfortable at first, and you may feel like you're losing control, but ultimately, it will make your team stronger and free you up to focus on the work that only you can do.
Ditch the "purpose-washing" and embrace "protopianism." To meet the expectations of today's discerning customers and employees, merely announcing a vision statement or paying lip service to purpose isn't enough. Instead, your organization needs to become what founding executive editor of WIRED magazine Kevin Kelly calls a "protopian." These companies recognize the challenges of trying to make anything better and strive for incremental, continuous improvement in their products and internal structures. Furthermore, they work with their people and communities to create change that benefits multiple stakeholders. As a leader, it's your responsibility to pursue an ever better future, even if it means taking the first few steps.
Develop a replicable process for scaling change. Today's organizations operate in a complex system, so there's no single solution that will solve all their problems. While reorganizations or layoffs may be necessary, they rarely change how an organization actually operates. A bold purpose statement or EVP may sound inspiring, but without meaningful actions to back it up, it will only foster skepticism. As the pandemic has demonstrated, organizations can change - the challenge is to make this a repeatable process and build capacity for continuous growth. Our team has developed an approach that has been refined by working with hundreds of teams across different industries. Regardless of the method you adopt, commit to making change a habitual behavior, not a one-time event.
What's next?
In the past few years, we've experienced much grief and loss, leading to the word "permacrisis" being chosen as the word of 2022, describing the feeling of going from one existential crisis to another. However, the start of a new year brings with it a sense of fresh hope, and it's important to remember that change is always possible. No one can accurately predict the future, which means that the field is open to anyone. Although we are facing constraints and challenges, it's also a time of rejuvenation and resurgence. The next world leaders will be made in the next 12 months. Are you and your organization positioning yourselves to be among them?
