Now is the Time to Prepare Leaders and Teams to Navigate Uncertainty
A timely message from LifeLabs Learning CEO
Uncertainty is now the norm. And as the 2024 U.S. presidential election draws closer, you can’t ignore its presence in the workplace.
Senior leaders face tough decisions about spending and investments amid economic policy uncertainty.
Managers work to support team members who might be distracted and polarized as political sensitivities seep into workplace culture.
Individual workers feel the strain of increasing political anxiety, often impacting their performance.
As anticipation grows about the election outcome, 62% of CEOs in a recent survey said they would delay significant investment decisions until after the election.
While it might make sense to hold off on major capital expenditures until November, now is not the time to delay investment in learning and development. It’s the perfect time to prepare your leaders and teams for today's challenges and tomorrow's unknowns.
Why You Shouldn’t Delay Investing in L&D
Investing in resilience, adaptability, and change management skills training for leaders before the unknown happens ensures your business and your people are ready for any outcome. While participants leave our live workshops already doing things differently, the real benefits of skills training come from cumulative progress over time.
Equipping your leaders with resilience skills today gives them time to practice them in real-life scenarios over and over. If you wait until the uncertain event happens, you miss out on days, or even months, of impactful growth!
Countdown to the 2024 U.S. presidential election - The time to prepare for uncertainty is now!
What We Know vs. What We Don’t Know
Our Adaptivity & Resilience and Leading Change workshops teach the two-hander technique to help manage what's in your control and what's not. It's a great tool for decision-making during uncertain times, helping you understand the “minimum viable clarity” required to move forward or decide on your next step.
Let’s put the two-hander to work to decide whether to wait until after the presidential election to invest in leadership skills training or to take action now!
On one hand, we know…
1. Responding to disruption pays off.
Companies that embrace change generate 3x more revenue than those that resist it. Whether it’s a shift in policies, changing market conditions, or new technologies, meeting change with organizational readiness and agility leads to:
Improved team engagement
Increased profitability
A competitive edge
Organizations that wait to prepare their managers to respond to evolving circumstances risk reduced team morale, stagnation, and competition from more proactive companies.
The Value of Adaptability and Resilience
During the 2020–21 economic recovery, resilient companies generated 50% higher total shareholder returns than their less resilient peers.
High-tech companies with adaptable cultures saw a 28% revenue increase over three years.
Businesses in the top quartile for healthy, resilient behaviors are over 40% less likely to go bankrupt than those in the bottom quartile.
Source: McKinsey
2. Cycles of uncertainty will continue even after the 2024 election.
Uncertainty is constant, whether due to intensifying regulations, geopolitical disruption, or fluctuating interest rates. While the 2024 presidential election is an extraordinary example, there's always something promising more uncertainty. Once the election is behind us, change and ambiguity will persist.
So why wait for the news cycle to change? There’s no value in postponing leadership development and capability building that ensures you’re prepared to tackle whatever comes your way.
3. The need for strong leadership skills is immediate and ongoing.
Despite today's unrelenting uncertainty, and 97% of executives recognizing the importance of resilience:
Only 50% of organizations are well-prepared to anticipate and respond to external shocks, according to a McKinsey survey.
Only 23% of organizations’ leaders have the capabilities to navigate a disrupted world, per a Deloitte survey.
Clearly, many organizations have room for improvement in this area, and the clock is ticking! Developing adaptability and resilience leadership capabilities helps organizations create the workforces they need to thrive in both challenging and good times.
On the other hand, we don’t know… (but can prepare for)
1. How the outcome of the election will impact your business.
The results of the upcoming election will dictate shifts in policies, regulations, and economic conditions. While businesses can’t control these political outcomes or their effects on industries, markets, and consumer behavior, they can proactively manage risk and prepare for multiple scenarios.
Scenario planning is a valuable tool in uncertain environments. Our Adaptivity & Resilience workshop teaches this approach: Consider three possible outcomes and rate each in terms of likelihood and preparedness. Focus your time, resources, and energy on seemingly inevitable scenarios and where you're least prepared.
2. How the outcome of the election will impact your workforce.
Emotions run high during transitions, and it's impossible to predict the level of discourse or resistance to change that may follow the election. Regardless of the outcome, your team is likely to need extra support and understanding.
Train your leaders now in people skills to help your team stay engaged and avoid burnout during volatile times. Managers need to listen actively, show empathy, and address stress and anxiety to meet each person's personal and practical needs.
Our Leading Change Playbook provides tools and strategies for fostering a change-ready culture and preparing leaders to be a source of stability in a world of constant flux.
Take Action Now
Change won’t wait for you to be ready! Use this time of uncertainty as an opportunity to grow your organization’s and team’s resilience. Strategically invest in your people to prepare them for whatever happens next. Research shows investments in resilience boost confidence by 57% in handling disruptions more effectively!
Get started by checking out the Change Toolbox in our Leading Change Playbook and partnering with LifeLabs Learning to help your team navigate change effectively.
