2022 – it should have been so different

More changeable than the weather
This was supposed to be the bounce-back year, when things got back to normal after two years of Covid. But, instead, the UK took the entire summer to elect a Prime Minister who only lasted half the autumn; there was an inflation rate that hasn’t been seen since leg-warmers were in vogue; and war in Europe.

Nobody thought any of that would happen – at least not to the extent that they did anything to prepare for it, let alone prevent it. But Liz Truss’s play-pen economics will continue to damage the UK economy long into the winter of discontent and it will take decades to rebuild Ukraine.

Everyone everywhere is personally feeling the effects of yet another ‘you-couldn’t-make-this-stuff-up’ year of change that no-one saw coming. So, as this has now happened three years in a row, the question I’ve asked so many leaders this year is ‘what are you doing to better prepare your people for change?’

The only constant is the refusal to prepare for change
The answer for most of them has been a shrug of the shoulders. It seems the only thing that hasn’t changed this year is how to prepare people for change. And yet never has the global economy needed more of a boost than it needs right now. And never has it needed to adapt to grab the opportunities that are for so many organisations beyond their current reach. But just as the world was asleep at the wheel in 2014 when Russia invaded the Crimea, most organisations are just hedgehogging their way through life believing that they can just roll up when the **** hits the fan and then roll on when it's all over. And to be fair, it’s a playbook that has worked pretty well thus far. Well, kind of.

In years to come historians and sociologists will look back on the ‘soaring 20s’ and seek to explain why we didn’t move quickly enough to adjust to the new normal of off-the-chart levels of change; why we didn’t understand that people can only work at their best and be at their most engaged when they develop the counter-intuitive mindset that is ready and willing to face an unpredictable future.

Who dares wins their future
But the answer to those questions is simple. Thinking about disruption is hard. Doing anything about it is harder still, because it takes time, money and mental capacity – none of which is in surplus. The catch-22 is that it’s not easy to see the need to make you and your people more adaptable unless you’re already adaptable. It’s much easier to keep your head down, bum up and just focus on ploughing through the day-to-day. Until one day, external forces remove your ability to do that anymore.

You need to break the deadlock. Next year, dare to be one of the growing band of pioneers that will raise their Adaptability Intelligence. Kickstart the virtuous circle that will bring your people together, drive innovation and give them the confidence to tackle your biggest challenges head on.

That is, unless you think things are going to calm down and return to the ways things were back in the good old days of 2019.

Rich Alderton specialises in Adaptability Intelligence, so to learn how to become more adaptable call us on 07873 823 800, email us or complete our enquiry form.

And you can download Rich's new e-book here.