SUCCESS LIFE Jonah Nyoni
We continue to have greater access to information because of the internet and that access is a catalyst to fast change.
Change causes power to shift. Those that are pioneers of change become leaders in a particular industry. How then do we manage change? How do we become change-makers? Leaders have to think not only futuristically, but how they can also disrupt what has been a norm.
Life is changing fast and leaders can’t always rely on old ideas. Books are being re-written. The fear now is that those who don’t want to change find themselves paying dearly for not attuning themselves to new trends. In his book titled Accelerate, John Kotter (2014) rightly said: “The world is now changing at a rate at which the basic systems, structures, and cultures built over the past century cannot keep up with the demands being placed on them. Incremental adjustments to how you manage and strategise, no matter how clever, are not up to the job. You need something very new to stay ahead in an age of tumultuous change and growing uncertainties.”
Shock
Change brings a shock. When things are changing, those that stuck to old norms might be left behind. Some people feel threatened. Change brings shock and despondency. Change is part of life. When we changed from analogue to digital, the business was lost in the analogue sphere.
Fear
Some people get stuck in fear because of change. Humanity wants to stay only in known territories and as such when new shifts come, they bring with them fear of the unknown, sometimes pushing people out of their comfort zones. In the case of an organisation, people may start asking themselves: What will now happen to me?
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Acceptance
With time, people may also begin to accept the change. SMS text messaging used to be a norm, and people thought the WhatsApp platform was not going to last. SMS texts have now become somewhat abnormal with improving technology.
Learn
Change needs agility and speed. To catch up with change, the leader or manager has to be willing to learn; and learn very fast. The competitive advantage that we have over others is the ability to learn. Kevin Cashman (2013), in Forbes, says: “Learning agility is a key to unlocking our adaptation proficiency. It is ‘knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do. Research shows that Learning agility is a reliable indicator of leadership potential because with learning agility, people ‘excel at absorbing information from their experiences and then extrapolating from those to navigate unfamiliar situations.’ Learning agility is a complex set of skills that allows us to learn something in one situation and apply it in a completely different situation. It is about gathering patterns from one context and then using those patterns in a completely new context. In short, Learning agility is the ability to learn, adapt, and apply ourselves in constantly morphing conditions.”
Transformation
What we learn must now be put to test. That brings transformation or change. One thing that stalls progress in Africa is that we don’t want to learn and adopt new trends very early. That leads Africa to take longer in developing.
Disputing
The Nokia phone sat on its glory and was soon overtaken by streams of events which were brought about by the Samsung and Apple phones. What you know today might be useless tomorrow. So, the best you could do is to is never seat on your laurels. Learn to self-cannibalise.
Thinking like a start-up
Big companies have a lot of bureaucratic leaders and hierarchies that contribute to limitations. A great idea may take a long process to reach the top, unlike with start-ups where new ideas are implemented fast without involving a longer process.
To keep up with change, innovative, creative and fast thinking must be encouraged.
