🚀 Embrace the future & turn fear into opportunity

DALL-E created image — embrace the future

As I write this a colleague is suggesting that I might want to let Worldcoin scan my iris for proof of personhood. There’s so much more to explore there but it’s a good entry into this post — our relationship with the future.

The theme for #LAWW is Create the Future and the opportunity to collectively create our futures.

That’s a much better framing than is so often the case. The future too often is described as something that we are subjected to, that we can’t influence and will happen to us. The result is thinking about the future is a source of fear and therefore anxiety. As #LAWW shares the week with Mental Health Awareness Week (which is focusing on anxiety) then it’s a good reminder be proactive and not feel we’re always the victim of things around us.

Embrace the future

On a recent visit to the toy store my daughter headed to the Beanie Boo collection where I spotted Orson Ostrich. As Beanie Boo toys go Orson wasn’t high on the ‘cute’ list for my daughter — though I’m obviously going soft as I get older since I later went back to buy the thing as I felt sorry for it!

The ostrich has a reputation for burying its head in the sand but apparently this isn’t true — it’s actually checking its eggs. Our attitude to the future can be a bit like the myth — trying to pretend it won’t happen, or like the small child hiding behind their eyes “if I can’t see you, you can’t see me”. We need to be more like the Ostrich and stick our head into the future from time to time to check the things that are there and see how they might be developing.

Anticipation is better than prediction

We can’t predict the future, but we can be better prepared for it. Far too often we’ve seen a “just too late” approach to developing the future skills needed by the workforce. Now is the time for a new approach — a shift towards anticipatory learning. If you wait until you know you need it, it is already too late.

The power trio — mindset, behaviour and values

The three things that I believe can make a difference and shift us from a passive participant at the mercy of the future and towards a position of control are:

1) Mindset

2) Behaviour

3) Values

Mindset is often the biggest barrier to change. We don’t believe that we can do things differently. We get caught thinking they are at the mercy of others. We need to stop waiting to be sent on a training course and start taking control of our learning ourselves.

Good learning not ‘rule compliant’ behaviours

Children are natural explorers. They push boundaries — for good and for bad. Questions, experiments, getting things wrong and trying again is their everyday life. At some point, we shape them to see these things as bad and over time they forget how to do it. The point is reinforced even into adulthood where those who are seen to do those things are labelled rebels.

Innovation is more likely to happen when we behave in a way that creates space for things to be wrong. When we accept that the first suggestion might not be perfect. We need to learn to behave in a way that we’re almost disappointed to get a good result because we know that it is through the experiments that don’t get that result, we learn and get better. Rather than being concerned we don’t get the answer quickly enough we should think about if the question was ambitious enough that it was hard to answer.

Know what matters

Values emerge from individuals and groups (rather than from statements printed on posters in the office!) They are about the standards we work to, the things we believe are important, and the things that motivate us. What importance do you place on your own learning and development? We need stop seeing it as an extra to the job and part of the job.

Simple steps to transform your learning future

· When you’re faced with a choice with low consequences then let someone else decide for you. For example, next time you’re asked what you’d like to eat or drink then don’t express a preference but let someone else pick for you. Be comfortable with not having to make the decision.

· Read something that you wouldn’t normally pick. Recommendation engines are great for finding us things we’d like but they don’t challenge our thinking.

· Be intentional and find something that can teach you. If reading isn’t your thinking, then start by watching something (TED, YouTube, etc. will make plenty of options available).

· Follow someone you disagree with. Any social media platform will become an echo chamber over time but you can still work at keeping it more diverse than may normally be the case. Find someone who has an opinion that is different to yours and see what they say. As with reading something new, force yourself to find something worth considering in what they say.

· Ask good questions and don’t be lazy with autocomplete. There is a risk of creating confirmation bias — if you ask the search engine for evidence that having a beard makes you more intelligent then you’ll find evidence to support that view. If you ask a more open question — for example, what facial features show intelligence — you’re likely to get a more diverse body of evidence. Letting the autocomplete finish your question saves time but reduces the opportunity for you to learn.

The journey you are starting to go on is one where you become comfortable with not knowing, but uncomfortable with not finding out.

If this has inspired you to rethink your approach to building future skills then why not get in touch to understand how QA is building learning solutions to support this?