Skilling-Up for the Post-Covid Era
Among the most confidential work we are engaged in these days is cocreation of virtual skill-building programs linked to the future of work. Across numerous industries in the US and Europe we are seeing savvy organizational leaders acknowledging the need to prepare their work forces in earnest for the uncertainties of the post-covid era.
In the midst of the covid storm the good news for us was/is that we have for some time been actively involved in customized virtual skill-building program and workshop design.
For our clients we are able to accelerate the creation of new customized virtual programs by building on the considerable codified knowledge that we have gained in decades of designing and delivering physical world innovation skill-building programs. Virtual discussion platforms present new constraints and opportunities for experimentation but without robust content synced to the future of work all that technology cannot deliver innovation capacity building.
Many organizations seek to scale adaptive innovation skills that will help them proactively grapple with not only covid related change but future storms, whatever they might be. Today proactive adaptability remains the name of the game.
The short-hand of continuous VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainly, Complexity, Ambiguity) seems to sum up what most organizational leaders recognize they are facing. Skilling up for a more complex set of fuzzy challenges in an accelerated change environment requires not just new mindset shifts, not just strategy canvas tinkering but a robust set of adaptable sensemaking and changemaking skills.
With rising interest in mind we have decided to publish (Coming Soon!) the core aspects of our workshop workbook that has previously only been available to our clients attending our skill-building program. Today we are happy to share these capacity building tips.
Adaptive Enterprise
Capacity Building 10 Tips
1. Recognize that continuous making sense of external marketplace vibrations (and internal data/insights) is a big part of the challenge now facing your organization.
2. Recognize that your organizations continuous challenges likely extend beyond products, services and or experiences.
3. Recognize that assembling a collection of 30,000 ft gate keeping models is not innovation capacity building, nor is business model canvas tinkering.
4. Refrain from satelliting in new fully-baked innovation skill-building workshops from outer space. Instead do the work to cocreate a systemic program interconnected to some aspect of existing corporate visions, strategies and ideally to one or more leadership champions. Build/educate an internal champion if you cannot find one. Unconnected workshops are unlikely to survive or have lasting impact.
5. Recognize its time for authentic expectations. Align your end-result ability expectations with the actual methods being taught. Don’t assume or broadcast that you are training a supersonic adaptable strategic swat team if your methods have baked-in challenge and solution path assumptions suitable for downstream applications. (See #2 above)
6. Recognize that many organizations are already suffering zoom fatigue so pacing the digestion of innovation know-how requires rethinking in virtual settings. Your virtual geographic reach may be counter-balanced by zoom fatigue constraints.
7. Recognize that mindsets and skillsets are two different things. Over-sold and overpromised in the marketplace lets recognize that mindset shift is the equivalent to the introduction to the introduction. Typically mindsets are prescriptive descriptions of what you want the skills to deliver. Don’t assume on boarding a set of cute mindsets is going to be enough changemaking capacity.
8. Recognize that the general dumbing down of innovation (equating it to mindsets and 1 hour workshops) is occurring simultaneously with the fall of attention spans and the rise of complexity facing organizations, our communities and planet earth. It's a disturbing mix. Next generation innovation leaders have to be fully aware of the challenges we all now face.
9. Recognize that real-time visualization in virtual workshops not only helps keeps everyone awake and makes the learning more engaging but models a skill central to ongoing organizational sensemaking.
10. Recognize that an introductory skill building program even if scaled virtually across the entire organization is not going to be enough changemaking skill in the face of what organizations now face. Think deep leadership skills mastery as well as broad introductory participant mastery. Scaling intro skills is just one step in the adaptive capacity building journey.
Stay tuned for more coming soon!
Interested in virtual innovation skill-building?
Send us an email: kickitup (at) humantific (dot) com
