FUTURE READY  BUSINESSES

Preparing to thrive in uncertain conditions – Kiran Dhanapala

This year dramatically kick-started the decade that is poised to be characterised by VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) on steroids. Outlier events can no longer be safely deemed lower probability instances in planning and scenario analyses.

John Elkington – viewed as the godfather of sustainability – expects an ‘exponential decade’ given that the operating environment has many disruptive challenges with exponential impacts.

These challenges also present opportunities for exponential progress and breakthroughs, especially for business in terms of aligning markets with natural, social and economic systems.

This in turn implies building resilience, driving equitable and sustainable growth, and reinventing capitalism to shift from shareholders to stakeholders, and integrating climate goals into business strategies among other aspects as vital drivers of long-term success.

Elkington advocates responsibility, resilience and regeneration (the three Rs) for these times. The global shift is from responsibility to resilience.

Given the potential for great breakthroughs as well as challenges, we need a different approach to work – especially to strengthen corporate sustainability activities. This will decide how the future pans out for individuals and organisations over this decade. ‘Short termism’ must be replaced by longer time frames and an emphasis on sustainable business.

Many are calling for new strategies that emphasise resilience, which is positive and proactive.

But what is resilience?

A global study points to new insights about building resilience, indicating that it is not linked to gender, age, ethnicity or nationality. Rather, resilience is a reactive state of mind created by exposure to suffering. And the more tangible a threat appears, the more resilient people become.

One’s exposure to unavoidable suffering means greater and more likely resilience. Furthermore, the reality was almost always less scary than the imagined and enabled people to learn their capabilities.

Based on changes experienced in working conditions due to the coronavirus, the study reveals that absorbing more changes means greater resilience. As such, it implies that people do better when leaders communicate clearly in crises and describe threats in detail; clarity and honesty lead to greater strength.

The World Business Commission on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) notes that resilience is complex, dynamic and consciously transformational. To strengthen resilience, companies must improve risk management, invest in human and social capital, and better integrate sustainability.


This means integrating risk management into processes and management systems, and corporate culture.

As for human and social capital, investment must be a priority whether this means extending workforce protec-tion to non-permanent staff, promoting diversity, inclusion and collaboration.

It also means enabling flexi-ble work arrangements such as working from home (WFH) – which encompasses IT and other forms of support – to ensure they are effective and structured, and promote a work-life balance that covers gender issues.

Stronger integration of sustainability includes using social metrics such as staff wellbeing, diversity and other measures, as well as the social aspects of sustainability, stakeholder consultation and longer time frames.

Boards can promote resilience to make their organisations future fit through several measures.

These measures include encouraging stress tests in comprehensive risk reviews; identifying worst case scenarios and assessing threats; suggesting, assessing and discussing developing principles for effective responses; promoting technologies to minimise disruptions and expand remote work options with support; and promote staff retraining programmes, internships and similar initiatives as business needs change.

Companies must look to creatively build the right future leadership with talent planning discussions, by identifying necessary values through succession planning and by screening contenders accordingly.

Additionally, boards must adopt a holistic view of their organisations so they can be rallied around a North Star purpose that speaks to all staff, stimulating collaboration and empowering stakeholders to actively play a role in achie-ving them.

Boards must act decisively with a learning attitude that allows for pivoting if needed; be curious and explore shifts from old models; redesign compensation to make them responsive to disruption, emphasise weight on long-term incentives, and incentivise resilience while maintaining accountability.

The needs of all stakeholders must be balanced and adjustments should be symmetrical. Businesses should add scorecards that include contributions to stakeholders, and vary incentives based on strategic and financial outcomes.

Moreover, they must maintain full transparency internally and externally with clear communication.