Future-proofing your organisation: 5 essential tools for leaders

3 minute read

Discover the five essential tools every leader needs to navigate a rapidly changing business landscape and prepare their organisation for future success with Hack Future Lab founder and expert on the future of leadership Terence Mauri

A female leader standing at a crossroads looking forward with signposts displaying icons to represent simplicity, few meetings, attention, saying no and asking questions

HR and business leaders are going through turbulent times, from talent and workforce to tech-led disruption. Still, the ability to future-proof your organisation is only as good as your mindsets, choices and assumptions. It’s time to upend the belief that leaders are the preservers of the status quo; we are the challengers of the status quo. 

I believe a change in perspective is worth at least 100 IQ points because our current perceptions are grounded in our past assumptions. The philosopher Yuk Hui wrote: "To regain the future we must nurture our relationship with the unknown.”  

Every organisation starts as an act of disruption but to sustain vitality for the long term requires reimagination, which is the human force that can push through the unknown and define a bolder future. New contexts demand fresh perspectives. Big disruptive trends threaten to upend and reshape every vertical over the next five years – AI, industry convergence, talent scarcity, new customers, new regulations and new competitors will only accelerate. 

Change used to happen as a breeze. Now it feels like a category-five typhoon. According to Hack Future Lab’s research:

  • 93% of leaders expect significant AI-driven disruption over the next five years but only 27% have the right mindsets and capabilities to respond
  • 81% of leaders agree that they feel overwhelmed by the speed and scale of business disruption
  • 77% of leaders believe that their organisations suffer from talent-crushing bureaucracy

The question for you is, will you watch the world change around you or will you be future-ready from the start? Here are five shortcuts for preparing your organisation for what’s next and next.

1. Ask questions

The late professor Richard Feynman said: “Knowledge is having the right answers. Intelligence is asking the right questions. Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions.” Questions sharpen two vastly underutilised skill sets: courage and humility. To find the upside in disruption we must be willing to step out from a world of familiarity to a world of possibility, where the reward is unknown but we find new opportunities for breakthrough growth and game-changing ideas. Questions are central to finding the upside in disruption and are the key to shifting from a ‘yes, but’ mindset to a ‘yes, and?’ one.

What are the boldest questions you will ask this year that will make you feel good and challenge your thinking? For example, what are your billion-dollar beliefs about the future (eg, AI, decarbonisation, talent, DEI, sustainable work) 

2. Fight complexity with simplicity

Are you a complexifier or a simplifier? When you encounter a problem you can’t solve don’t make it smaller – make it bigger. Today’s challenges can’t be solved with yesterday’s thinking. Thinking small and being an incrementalist depletes your ambition and energy. You’ll ignite purpose and spark new ideas and fresh perspectives when you embrace the urgency and scale of your biggest challenges.

3. Have meeting-free days

You’re having too many meetings! Hack Future Lab’s research highlights that since the pandemic the number of back-to-back meetings has doubled and they are often scheduled with no breaks in between. Too many wasteful conferences lead to a higher cognitive and leadership tax. A meeting-free day increases autonomy, engagement, focus and resilience by over 3X.

4. Have a ‘no’ strategy

Hack Future Lab’s research highlights that 83% of leaders are drowning in too many priorities and overcommitments. This erodes attention and doubles the risk of shallow work (low contribution) versus deep work (high contribution). A ‘no’ strategy is one of the best forms of optimisation and a powerful way to protect attention. It’s a clarifier, a simplifier and a multiplier of ROI – not return on investment but return on intelligence.

5. Attention is a growth multiplier

If there’s one final piece of advice for leaders it would be to remember that data isn’t the new oil. Attention is the new oil. Attention to context-setting, pace-setting and direction-setting. Attention to learning and un-learning. Attention to shaping a bold future and making things happen. A leader’s attention, pace and mindset are under constant pressure when navigating the future of work and leading and embracing perpetual transformation.

Future thinking from the start

Hack Future Lab’s findings reveal that while most organisations recognise agility as a top strategic priority only 15% describe themselves as having widespread agile behaviours. The agility paradox highlights the crucial role of unlearning, pushing the business outside its comfort zone, transforming risks into rewards and driving change at the speed of the customer. When managers fail to unlearn they become overwhelmed with obsolete working and leadership styles that slow decision-making and erode value. They should let go of outdated ‘best practices’ that no longer serve their purpose and are now considered ‘broken practices.’

Unlearning is the highest form of learning in a busy, distracted world and the ultimate insurance policy against ‘Zombie Leadership’ (dead leadership that fails to adapt to changing circumstances) or ‘enshittification’ – a term coined by Cory Doctorow to describe the slow decay in everything we do. It is at the heart of every future-focused organisation, allowing managers to focus on accelerated growth and rethink outdated mindsets. At its core unlearning is a deliberate leadership activity that helps us move from reactive to proactive resilience; managers update their assumptions and behaviours to make space for new learning and keep pace with change.

Without unlearning leadership breaks down, organisations die younger, people stop growing and cultures decay. In an age of record social tension, economic nationalism and technological revolution, it’s time for leaders to start preparing their organisations for the future and turning disruption into a tailwind for learning, growth and re-imagination. 

Terence Mauri, pictured, is an expert on the future of leadership, artificial intelligence and disruption. His book, The Upside of Disruption: The Path to Leading and Thriving in the Unknown, is out now

Terence Mauri

Published 9 October 2024
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