Organizational Success in the Face of Uncertainty and Unfamiliar Challenges
Instill 'Skilled Flexibility'
Chris Fernandez, Ph.D.
Organizational Development and Change Consultant
Consulting services offered pro-bono to not-for-profit service provider organizations within the community
It's happening
Uncertainty presents organizations with unprecedented challenges
The transient organizational landscape has set in motion periods of prolonged uncertainty saddled with unfamiliar challenges that employees are unable to respond to in a reliable manner, impacting organizational performance and competitiveness. Organizations that perform effectively in stable environments see their effectiveness decline when faced with extreme uncertainty. This is because uncertainty is rife with a lack of information needed to plan or update plans, implement plans, and deliver goods and services to customers in a predictable way. The information that is available is often partial, ambiguous, and rapidly changing. Employees try their very best to address the situation with existing skills and routines, that have proven to work so effectively in stable environments, but find them to be inadequate in dealing with emerging challenges, causing the organizations responsiveness and performance to decline with increasing uncertainty.
The question is what must organizations do to be able to respond effectively to the challenges brought about by rising uncertainty?
Build capability to be skillfully responsive
The capability needed to address rising uncertainty requires enhancing existing skills to promote collaboration and commitment, as well as, adding new skills to equip employees with the enhanced abilities needed to address uncertainty in its various forms.
Foster employee commitment
Gaining employee commitment requires reshaping the way we communicate, collaborate, and execute on a day-to-day basis. There is ample evidence demonstrating that when leaders and managers nurture a collaborative environment, employees experience a sense of respect and belonging, enhancing employee commitment, engagement, and performance.
Enhance ability to skillfully address uncertainty and unfamiliar challenges
The unfamiliar challenges brought about by uncertainty often lack information, the information is ambiguous, or emerging. Employees are the only ones who can scan and interpret the environment to act on it. Such challenges are too daunting to be addressed successfully by individual experts. Organizations often bring together subject matter experts (SMEs) representing functional domains related to the challenge to address the situation. The effectiveness of the SME teams however varies depending on how well they are equipped for the challenge. The SME teams that are most effective are those that
- Practice enhanced communication and collaboration skills
- Listen to differing perspectives without judgement, even colliding perspectives
- Verify differing perspectives and assumptions in an orderly manner, and arrive at a shared understanding and decision on how to proceed
- Work through tension and disagreements when perspectives collide (which is not uncommon when working through uncertainty), and
- Apply enhanced skills for solving complex challenges in a systematic way
Without enhanced skills even committed employees are at a disadvantage
The SME teams are at a disadvantage in the face of uncertainty if they do not have enhanced collaboration skills or skills for solving complex challenges. Uncertain conditions are subject to multiple interpretations that are disputable and create a tense situation. Without the enhanced skills members tend to exercise caution.
- They do not readily share their perspectives, concerned that they will be disregarded, misinterpreted, or shot down
- When perspectives are shared and collide, it results in tension. Without enhanced skills, the tension is left unresolved negatively impacting member interactions going forward
- Without a systematic framework and skills for solving complex challenges, members fall back on sequential problem-solving approaches they are familiar with, ones that work well in stable environments, but are inadequate in the face of uncertainty and unfamiliar challenges.
When members withhold information, experience tension, or do not have a suitable framework for solving complex challenges, the outcome of their efforts are often off-target or sub-optimal at best.
Organizations must ‘raise their game’ to stay successful in the midst of rising uncertainty
Organizations that take the time and effort to build employee commitment and equip employees with enhanced skills for solving complex challenges, acquire the capability to skillfully respond to unfamiliar challenges in the face of uncertainty and are able to stay productive and competitive; those that don’t, will be at a disadvantage and find themselves falling behind.
The practice of collaboration coupled with enhanced skills to solve complex and unfamiliar challenges strengthens the core muscles of the organization. Analogous to strengthening the individual core, the organization gains employee commitment, flexibility, coordination, strength, endurance, responsiveness, resulting in sustained superior performance.
How I can be helpful
Provide consultation to develop the capability to skillfully navigate uncertainty
Prior to launching my consulting practice, I spent 35 years as an organizational development and change consultant helping leaders and organizations address change and uncertainty. My role primarily focused on building capability to overcome challenges as they emerge. It entailed (i) working towards helping executives and managers appreciate new ways in which to communicate and collaborate to gain employee commitment, and (ii) develop enhanced skills for solving unfamiliar challenges in the face of uncertainty. These broad range of experiences in different organizational settings enriched my ability to be helpful in bringing about change successfully. I have provided a bio-brief and resume in the ‘about’ page.
Instill ‘Skilled Flexibility’ – a capability to skillfully address uncertainty
The exposure to a wide variety of situations have provided me with an in-depth understanding and equipped me with the necessary skills to help organizations instill the capability I now call ‘skilled flexibility’ to effectively address extreme challenges brought about by uncertainty. I use a proprietary framework named Flex-C3 that is grounded in experience and theory, to enable organizations instill skilled flexibility successfully. The C3 in Flex-C3 refers to the three modules or focus areas – Create Clarity, Practice Collaboration, and Enhance Capability – designed to bring about skilled flexibility for solving complex challenges, with confidence. The framework is backed up with coaching, skills training, tools, and support. To find out more click on the Flex-C3 framework go to the services tab.
Endorsements
What do people who I have worked with say?
Magnetrol International Inc.
I look forward to hearing from you
I am open to any question related to organizing for a collaborative, positive, and productive workplace.
Click on the ‘Contact Me‘ button below to send me a message.
Cell: 1 630 710 7214
email: chris@mindfulODpractice.com
THANK YOU