08 Oct The Vital Skills We Need To Move Forward In These Unpredictable Times
Every day we seem to have a new political headline around the ominous date of Brexit. The number of Cabinet Ministers and MPs who have resigned, changed party, or their long-held values is mind boggling. But it is also worrying because of the impact on all of us professionally, personally, and within our places in society. We hear the scare stories such as the possible prescriptions shortage but have no control over these external uncontrollable forces.
So how can WE actively approach this whole situation? How can WE move forward in such an unpredictable situation?
TED Talks recently added Human Skills We Need in an Unpredictable World by the writer and entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan which is essential viewing for us all in this current political, business, environmental and social climate. She explores the issues we are facing today, and how we can prepare ourselves as individuals, families, work colleagues and businesses to strengthen our resilience – or, as she puts it – robustness.
Robustness equals Resilience. This is an essential skill which Advance’s director Heather Wright focuses on during her courses. Building a resilient mindset empowers us to face our daily and unpredictable challenges, and to be strong leaders who can make the decisions and take action in times of change. Heather focuses on developing resilience to establish the growth mindset we need to enable us to move forward and adapt when we are faced with challenging circumstances, and the uncontrollable (like our current political climate).
In her talk, Margaret Heffernan highlights our need for cooperation, collaboration, connection when facing difficult experiences, and emphasises “Our growing dependence on technology risks us becoming less skilled, more vulnerable to the deep and growing complexity of the real world. “ She believes this reliance prevents us from making our own decisions, and taking action (Alexa and Siri are just two major examples).
She also explores the need to experiment and use our imagination to try out ideas, to prepare for the just in case scenarios, rather than react when the unforeseen happens.
And finally, bravery. Having the courage to step out of our comfort zones and take that risk. Another vital strength which Heather discusses on her courses. Having a courageous mindset enables us to learn and grow as humans, and our courage strengthens our resilience to deal with the uncontrollable of the wider world.
We may not be able to control the uncontrollables, but we CAN focus on how we react to the current events, prepare ourselves, establish our own positive mindset, and experiment with ideas and strategies.
As Margaret Heffernan says: “Preparedness, coalition-building, imagination, experiments, bravery — in an unpredictable age, these are tremendous sources of resilience and strength. They aren’t efficient, but they give us limitless capacity for adaptation, variation and invention. And the less we know about the future, the more we’re going to need these tremendous sources of human, messy, unpredictable skills.”
These are not just the skills, but the strengths we need to face the uncontrollable circumstances, and create the future we choose.