Leading Change with Foresight for Growth - Guest Article by Jennifer Bryan & Steve Wells

05/01/21

The world is increasingly subject to significant change and while the focus is often on the potential implications of exponential technology developments like artificial intelligence, robotics, adaptive manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality for example, political, economic, and social change is also happening at break-neck speed. This range of future forces—together with the current pandemic—act on life, society, and business and add to our personal and organisational sense of complexity and uncertainty.

In the past, we have been confident in our predictions about how the external environment is evolving and been able to come to a consensus about the way ahead. Increasingly we are far from certain about how the outside world is evolving and are less able to reach consensus about how to proceed. It’s this situation that we believe calls for a new focus to leading change in organisations, and that’s not easy. There’s a temptation to always do what we’ve always done. But then we get what we’ve always got; except the reality is that the world moves on and we risk being left behind.

Change management is about people and this statement of the obvious too often gets lost in over-complicated methodologies and technology-focused approaches to change. Leaders get seduced by the glitter of the gizmo and forget to pay attention to the ordinary, every-day needs of the people who will make the technology sing. Typically the people side of change is an after-thought and noticed only once things are not working as planned.

With the current environment especially, a number of questions arise concerning the nature of change and the human face of change. There needs to be a new mindset to accept and embrace exponential change, to do so with more than an eye on plausible multiple technology-centric futures, and enable a more human-centric future. Are we building a change programme that takes us toward a single, perhaps preferred future, or to help us prepare for a number of potentially different futures? Building flexibility, agility, and resilience into change programmes by exploring plausible scenarios is crucial for the future growth of our enterprises and the wellbeing of employees.

Using the ABChange Model in the context of these different future scenarios enables leaders to generate a pathway that includes the people and ensures they are taken along this journey of change. This approach ensures an organisation’s “greatest asset” is paid proper attention to whether changes are seen as radical or incremental. It marries the person and the change task together in the different future scenarios.

Many leaders find leading people through change intimidating because there are emotions involved, sometimes difficult conversations, and it takes people out of their comfort zones. With the current environment, we have all been very much outside our comfort zones for a whole variety of reasons. So, bringing together two frameworks that enable us to plot out plausible futures and how we can lead in future, gives leaders the ability to really focus on the priorities for the business to not just survive but to generate growth.

Jennifer Bryan is a practicing Change Consultant and published author, who has worked with over 30 different organisations across multiple industries. She is also a Non Executive Board Member of the ACMP (Association of Change Management Professionals) UK Chapter. She believes in helping people – in whatever capacity she can – by making sure people are thought of first, last and throughout change projects and programmes. She has created a unique leading change framework, the ABChange Model, which has been published in peer review journals and websites, as well as, presented at multiple conferences and client leadership events. The Model is underpinned by accepted theories in leadership and change. It then builds upon them a framework which enables managers to create their own strategies and action plans, effecting specific change within their organisations.

Jennifer is author of Leading People in Change – A practical guide (launch February 2021), Successfully Managing Change in the Workplace in Corporate Real Estate Journal vol. 8.1, Journey of Leadership in the Workplace in iCroner (September 2014) and Lead Behaviour in Coaching at Work (July 2012).

Steve Wells is a futurist and founder of Informing Choices Ltd., an insights business specialising in futures and foresight. His work is designed to help individuals and organisations make informed choices about the emerging future. To do that he works with drivers of future change to create ideas and scenarios that can deliver insights to those individuals and organisations that want to consider and create a better future for all. He creates thought-provoking keynote speeches and presentations, executive education events, and horizon scanning studies. Steve is a co-editor and a contributing author of Aftershocks and Opportunities – Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic World (2020), Opportunity at the Edge – Change, Challenge, and Transformation on the Path to 2025, A Very Human Future – Enriching Humanity in a Digitized World, The Future Reinvented – Reimagining Life, Society, and Business, Beyond Genuine Stupidity – Ensuring AI Serves Humanity and The Future of Business.