The change has changed. Let's change perspective with him
For many years, change meant getting from A to B. For a business, it meant adopting a new strategy, implementing a more streamlined approach, or incorporating innovative technology. For an individual, it meant taking on new responsibilities. The means came later, they followed. Certainly, the pace of change accelerated at the beginning of the 21st century, with agility and the ability to bounce back quickly becoming paramount. However, the underlying assumption has remained the same: first the objective, then the means.
Change is no longer about defining a goal and adapting your means to achieve it. It means joining forces to evolve according to opportunities, with other skills and other visions around us. Covid, the climate emergency and the war in Ukraine have changed everything. The pandemic caused us to feel fear for our health and our lives on a personal level as we realized how vulnerable we are as a society in the face of the unknown. Certainly, our governments and the business community reacted as best they could. Global answers have been found, which has undoubtedly helped to reduce losses, but the damage has been done. Maybe we lost loved ones, got sick, or at least had to go into lockdown. The visceral fear of the unknown, which had disappeared for several generations, has resurfaced. As for the climate, change is already well under way. And without knowing exactly what that means, we all feel that future upheavals will fundamentally change our lives. Finally, the war gave us the impression of being closer to the brink. This time, we are well aware that the geopolitical balance that we took for granted has become much more precarious. We cannot control anything in our environment, not ourselves, not our governments, or the management of companies that we have less and less confidence in. The sense of security has been shattered.
In this context, offering a credible vision means betting on the future and choosing an option from a multitude of possibilities. As a result, the nature of change has changed. Today, the means come first, and with them we define intermediate goals based on the changing environment. We are no longer heading with determination to a new destination, but rather taking a certain direction and adapting to the prevailing winds. Training or being trained has become a way for us to prepare for adverse conditions, as well as to take advantage of favorable weather when it arises. That means making a commitment to play rather than sitting on the sidelines. This means taking action rather than being passive and moving forward rather than standing still.
For this, three courses of action.
First of all, an observation of the environment that allows us to feel the changes, without necessarily understanding them.
Then, an inventory of the dimensions that secure our foundations. Awareness of our strengths in a way.
Finally, the acceptance that preparing for the unknown no longer simply means equipping yourself with tools to apply. Tools alone don't have the solutions for a constantly changing world. While they are undoubtedly useful from a cognitive point of view, there is a key dimension that cannot be separated from the collective. We need to take advantage of the professional development opportunities that are available to us in order to evolve. To do this, we need to forget the illusion that we can handle everything alone.
Collaboration is key to turning opportunity into reality. Some may still look at Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg as demigods, they did not act alone. They saw the opportunity, they worked hard, but they surrounded themselves. They were stubborn, but they also sought the confrontation of ideas. And this is even more true for today's creators, whether within a start-up or an architectural firm. Only the long-term diversity of group learning will help us develop this ability to innovate from the opportunity and, when the time comes, to act collaboratively with others. The role of the collective is to help us move from theory to practice, from observation to action. Self-leadership certainly means identifying your aspirations, but also putting them into practice with your environment.
We need to be ready for change by developing reflexes to observe complexity and by training ourselves to make informed decisions through exposure to diversity. The results will follow because then, instead of changing, we will have set in motion.
