Many of us think about preparation in relation to something we know is coming. We prepare for the next role, a difficult conversation, a new strategy or technology implementation, a restructure, a marathon, or some sort of small, or huge, life event.
When we know what’s ahead, we can usually work out what we need to know, what we need to do and how we need to do it. But increasingly, so much of what’s ahead isn’t clear or maybe we don’t even know what’s coming.
∞ When it comes to our careers, we don’t know exactly what they will look like in five years – which opportunities will appear, what skills will become more or less valuable, or what might even be possible.
∞ As leaders, we don’t know every challenge we’ll be asked to navigate, every person we’ll need to lead or every decision we’ll have to make without all the information.
∞ For organisations, they don’t know exactly how AI, changing client expectations, new competitors or entirely new ways of working will reshape their businesses.
∞ And from a personal perspective, life has never been particularly interested in following the plans we make for it.
So perhaps preparing for the future isn’t about trying to predict every version of it – maybe it is developing what we’ll need to draw on, for whatever version arrives.
∞ Knowing ourselves well enough to make choices when the path isn’t obvious
∞ Remaining curious enough to learn rather than defend what we already know
∞ Building and tending to our relationships before we need them
∞ Becoming more comfortable with uncertainty
∞ Learning to understand and work with people who see things differently
∞ Understanding how and why we respond when things don’t go to plan
And remembering that even when we don’t get to choose what happens, we retain some choice in how we respond and what we do next.
None of this tells us what’s coming – but it gives us more to work with when it arrives.
Maybe that’s another way to think about preparation. Not having ourselves, our careers, our teams, our organisations or our lives perfectly prepared for every possible future – but:
𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝘂𝗽.
