Future Fitness: Developing Managerial and Organizational Competency

The fourth industrial revolution has sparked many conversations regarding companies becoming future ready. However, the future fit course shifts the narrative from becoming future ready to becoming future fit as this is something that needs to be continuously worked on much like physical fitness. In the new VUCA world, things are rapidly shifting and managers and organizations need to be able to adjust to survive and thrive.

History reveals that global, episodic changes every few decades have been the norm. However, the paradigm has now shifted to living in a world filled with continuous, rapid change. The future fit course is designed to help managers thrive in this world of continuous change. Managers need to improve their ability to outline and address opportunities and challenges in a complex and shifting world and formulate executable decisions. Furthermore, managers need to be able to collaborate in execution. Therefore, this issue is more of a management issue than a leadership issue.

Managers need to laud creative thinking or their teams will carry on repeating the same patterns. By overcoming the firefighting trap when confronted by challenges and using their precious energy wisely to design the conversations that are going to get the right things accomplished, they will navigate complex issues effectively and collaboratively.

Rapid Sense Making

The first step to effective management in a VUCA environment involves making sense of the situation rapidly because we cannot manage something we do not understand. Managers need to learn to rapidly make sense of complexity and see the difference between things that are complicated versus things that are complex. When things are complex there is no single right or wrong way to do things. When things are complicated however, we can design a blueprint to get to a correct answer and make sense of change when we do not have the luxury of time and a long period to analyse the situation.

In many countries and certainly across the African continent, managers struggle with execution and achieving the right outcomes and dealing with complexity exacerbates the situation. This course teaches managers to apply a systems-based thinking approach to help them make sense of situations that arise.

Formulating Executable Decisions

In order to succeed at navigating change successfully and maximizing the opportunities that become available, managers need to formulate decisions that drive innovation. Specifically, they need to be able to formulate executable and high leverage approaches that allow their teams to execute the tactics that lead to success. This program focuses on action learning processes and also addresses the changing social contract that organizations have with the world as they move from profit to purpose.

Action learning is the idea that an experience occurs when an action is taken. Managers can learn from that experience. They may not always get things right the first time especially when dealing with complexity therefore it becomes an iterative process. In order to plan the right course of action, Managers have to figure out the right question to ask and use a systems approach to use the answers to strategically. By asking a powerful question, responses can be elicited that can be turned into variables.

For example, if the question ‘What factors do we need to manage excellently to be future fit managers?’ is posed to a group, several answers can be converted into variables. These could include emotional intelligence, 4^th industrial capacity, resilience in the midst of change, ability to think critically, effectiveness of change management, levels of creativity to innovate products and services, ability to adapt to a new future fit culture and execution speed. When a systemic view is taken of these variables, it is apparent that these variables interact with each other and form a system. By developing an inter- relationship diagram that highlights these interconnections, drivers, links and outcomes can be identified. Links are not strong drivers and not strong outcomes. The model can then be converted into a stairway that helps organizations make sense of complexity and easily visualize the factors that drive their strategy, the outcomes they want to work towards and the links that are essential to connecting the drivers with the outcomes. The Future Fit course will expand on this Systemic Stairway methodology created by Dr. Julian Day and can help you learn to craft executable decisions collaboratively.

One of the main problems observed by Dr. Julian Day in the companies he has worked with is that managerial strategies tend to be too broad so nobody really knows what their individual roles are and what actions to implement. Another key factor for managers to consider when crafting implementation plans is that it is important to secure solid commitments because without commitments there is no action and nothing will change.

Securing Solid Commitments

As more people become involved in a situation, the messier the situation will tend to become. If managers wish to make real impact and effect positive change they need to rethink how they approach complex situations. Managers need to learn to collaborate with other people even if they have different or conflicting priorities especially in the case of complex situations where there are no right answers and people have legitimate perspectives. Knowing how to build consensus on executable decisions on the way forward and securing commitment is an important skill. Action does not happen without commitment which in turn cannot be gained without belief. Therefore, it is important to approach the problems collaboratively to secure buy-in.

By learning the discipline of commitment management, Managers will be able to guarantee implementation. Overcoming resistance to change, making projects manageable and building in feedback loops can help organizations improve their chances of future success.

In conclusion, this course will teach you the quickest route to developing high impact, problem-solving and decision-making skills required to manage any complex situation from inception to implementation. Become a manager that can make situations manageable quickly and help your organization to become future fit.

The Future Fit Management Programme

This Programme enables organizations and businesses to develop and enhance future fit capabilities that will support their relevance and sustainability in the 4^th Industrial Revolution world where change is accelerating, many disruptive forces are at play and multiple crises are likely to abound for the foreseeable future.

Sean Hettema, the Course Leader has over 25 years of experience in organizational development. He has held senior roles in large corporate companies and consulted for various clients spanning across various industries such as FMCG, mining, financial services and the hospitality industry. His areas of specialization include leadership development, performance management, business optimization and restructuring processes.

Dr. Julian Day has worked in the IT industry as a software developer, systems analyst and project manager. He is a Faculty Member at GIBS Business School and University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. His PhD research centred around the design of collaborative projects. He has developed a practical methodology for enabling diverse people to collaborate intelligently in all types of complex situations. One of the cornerstones of this methodology is the Systemic Stairway which helps leaders develop future fit management skills. This methodology has been used by many organizations to manage complex situations and implement successful projects. Learn more about the Future- Fit Management Programme

Article by Shailja Sharma, Executive Fellow and Coach

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