Taking a heads-up approach to Future Fitness
Credit must be given to those who have raised the profile and diversity of football for girls. Having never enjoyed the game either playing in my childhood or as a spectator I did think that having two girls might mean I managed to escape the Saturday-morning pitch side. That turned out not to be the case and I am happy to be a supportive parent. That said, it is incredibly frustrating to be watching the play unfold with so little anticipation amongst those playing the game. If you want to learn to coach — in any context — then spend some time doing it in an environment where you simply cannot step in and solve the problem!
The importance of anticipation
As a spectator of any sport, it can feel like you can read the play with much greater accuracy than those on the pitch. Perhaps that is true. Perspective makes a massive difference. We are also more likely to remember the times “we said that’s what would happen” and forget the times we were completely wrong. Yet when it comes to our own game — be that sport, work or another setting — we too often put our heads down and don’t invest in anticipating the future.
How to anticipate change
We cannot predict the future. The more certain we are about any future event the more likely we are to be wrong. What we can do is to look for and be aware of change indicators. The simplest way I have found to do this is for any trend, innovation, or theme to ask two questions:
· To what extent could it change the work that I do?
· To what extent could it change the way that I do that work?
If you want to develop that you can then also think about:
· Am I doing enough to prepare for that event?
· How close is that event to occurring — and how will I know if it changes?
· Is there anything associated with those changes that I need to consider?
Understand change indicators
Cloud is a good example of this — it has changed the way we all work, it has changed the work that many of us do, but we’ve also seen new practices like DevOps and Agile emerge.
The themes or change indicators you select can be as broad or narrow as you like — will artificial weather make a difference to your job? The point isn’t to be right it’s to encourage divergent thinking and in doing so to hint at the persistent and non-persistent skills you will need now and in the future.
The importance of curiosity
Teams that learn to work well together have confidence that the next person will be there when they’re needed. For sports that is at the end of the pass. I’ll suggest that in business it’s knowing we’re working with our heads up — anticipating the changes that could impact the way we work and the work we do.
Develop curiosity. Do not dismiss something as not relevant or having impact on your job. Ask how this could change the work I do or the way I do it. Imagine that future and think about what else would change if it becomes reality.
When we do this, we move from surviving or worse being the victim of change and start to set the pace for others to aspire to.
There’s plenty of resources to help but why not take a look at the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report and grab a coffee with a colleague from another team to explore the potential impact on you and your business?
By taking the time to learn about the future of work, you can position yourself for success in the years to come.
