ReImagining the Future
Reimagine the Future
Our ability to shape our future is only limited by our imagination and our ability to work together.
Our world has been turned upside down over the last two years, this has had a massive impact in the way we do business but more importantly on how we view our lives. The disruption has been unnerving, uncomfortable and at times infuriating. So much of what we took for granted changed and we found ourselves having to learn new ways of doing things. We can look at this period in history as an opportunity to reset, start again and do things differently. The term we are hearing more and more out there is Reimagine the Future, but how does one go about doing just that?
1. Allow Your System to Unlearn and Relearn.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” -Alvin Toffler.
Now more than ever is the time for you and your organization to embark on the mission to unlearn what is no longer serving you and relearn new ways of being and doing. This is not about just saying the phrase “we need to unlearn” during meetings as mental exercise but going about the work of figuring out what it is you need to unlearn.
At a personal level it can be very distracting and frustrating to try and work in new ways, while your mindset is still stuck in the old way of doing things. The cognitive dissonance of doing this over a long period of time will simply cause you to lose motivation and focus. Now imagine your whole organisation having to undergo the same exercise. Decide to go through a period of unlearning by clarifying what you need to unlearn and what you must relearn for your reimagined future. Get experts to help you with this and don’t rush it.
2. Do Some Horizon Scanning and Course-Correcting.
Horizon scanning is the exercise of looking at current and future trends that can impact the future of your industry and organization, so you can adjust your plan of action. In other words, it is thinking like a futurist. That doesn't mean you get to have a crystal ball that foretells the future, but it means that you acquire the ability to see and read the signs that shape the future.
A futurist is someone who builds the capacity to see and understand the implications of change.
To reimagine, you and your organization need to embark on gathering information about what lies ahead and how it will impact your success going forward. Horizon scanning is an ongoing exercise that should be embedded in all your strategic and planning exercises. You can start now by identifying 3 key trends that stand to disrupt your industry in the next 3 months to 3 years (3:3:3) and come up with mitigation strategies.
3. Experiment Your Way to the Future.
One of the best ways to reimagine and create your future is to experiment your way to it. It can be very daunting to transform and change your routine and your whole organisation in one go and it is definitely not recommended to do so. Rather, come up with a series of small and manageable experiments that you and your team can undertake without burning the whole place down. By embarking on a series of small experiments, you can re-evaluate each one and learn the lessons from each before deciding to adopt them. Creating a culture of experimentation can help you to reimagine your future.
A crisis is a perfect time to reimagine the future and dream of new possibilities. Creating your future is about taking the time to dream of new possibilities and setting new goals that you can achieve. While others are trying to salvage what’s left of the old boats; you should be building a newer, better boat that will navigate the yet uncharted seas.
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Buhle Dlamini is a sought after global speaker on the future of work, Inclusion and Cultural Intelligence. He is the member of TomorrowTodayGlobal and The Cultural Intelligence Center
Ask Buhle to talk to your leadership about Building Back Better AC/DC (After Covid / During Covid). This offering is designed for leaders and senior teams to have a strategic conversation about how to thrive and build back better into the future. The aim to provide context and guide leaders to make future-fit decisions about the way forward.