Dealing with Ambiguity
The pace of change continues to intensify — and those of us tasked with being flexible and responsive, especially in using technology to advance our organizations’ mission, vision, and values, must do as well as we possibly can in identifying what’s on the horizon. We’re hustling to make our products, tasks, and tools adjust to that future, and still retain their effectiveness, be up -to-date with information, and be engaging.
As a builder, it’s always fun to be on that world-changing edge, but it’s also nerve-wracking (amirite friends?) to be making decisions that could potentially be rendered obsolete in 18–24 months.
As a strategic person in your organization, you deal with so many questions, and have to make decisions about:
- how to cope with ambiguity?
- how to deal with expectations from multiple stakeholders?
- how to make decisions in an era of unlimited data?
- how to develop a communicable course of action that advances the organization’s mission?
- how to manage change within the organization?
- how to choose a pathway for product development?
- how to measure success or failure?
- how to identify partners, associates, and staff to fit and shape your culture?
and so much more…
In my experience to date, what works best is when there’s:
- A fine-tuned understanding of the overall capacity and capability of our staff who will be implementing the new ideas — to what level are they willing to deal with change, or cope with uncertainty? Are staff able and willing to be trained on new tools, products, or methods? Particularly if those methods run counter to “the way we did it before?” As we hire, are we willing to stretch and invest in new ideas and people with different professional and life experience?
- A good sense of where the organization wants to be headed. Note this takes deep thinking and evaluation cross-team, in order to identify a 5-year, or even a 3-year plan. If the mission is well-defined, and the vision and values are in place, the plan will be easier to identify. From there, the ideal key performance indicators naturally flow (# of web visitors, # of donors, # of paying members, # of completed orders, churn rate, ARR, etc.).
- Excellent communication across stakeholders. Now is the time to schedule advisory, board, and all-staff meetings, to calendar standing one-on-ones, to pick the items to go on your “dashboard” of metrics, to utilize all your personnel to help advance your mission, and to identify the ground rules for how your people communicate with one another. Between board members, the executive team, key leaders, and emerging leaders: identify the people and lean on them / assign them / work with them to make the overall goals happen, inside a measurable timeframe with stated deliverables. (“We will have data collection, analysis, and reporting on diversity/equity/inclusion initiatives, including employee retention, for all existing staff members and new hires by December 2019, using our annual Pulse Survey with these three questions.").
Be willing to adapt. While we don’t know what the future holds, we can build upon trends and make our own dreams into new realities. Dream with us!
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
