What is the new normal?

There’s no doubt that the last 12 months have got most people muttering, ‘Well, truth is stranger than fiction, after all.’ It’s easy to get caught up in the mass, global Chicken Little, ‘the sky is falling in’ reaction to events such as the Trump election and the Brexit referendum.

We’re used to keeping an eye on the world to spot the trends, shifts, and Netflix series coming our way. But this can sometimes blind us to our unique experience living and doing business in Africa. Operating in change and uncertainty is our status quo. And, without wanting to glamourise the very real challenges Africa faces, the unintended consequence is that we’ve become extraordinarily resilient and adaptable – comfortable with not only riding out tectonic disruptions but also turning them into opportunities.

Here in South Africa we’ve been through a few pretty bumpy few years, to put it mildly. From musical chairs in our finance minister’s office, which wiped out around R500 billion in value from the economy and saw the rand go into free fall at the end of 2015; a yo-yoing petrol price; a 6,6% official inflation rate (many would argue the true inflation rate is double that!); and last but not least, a highly uncertain political landscape. Not to mention that, like the rest of the world, we are facing a massive period of digital disruption as we enter the fourth industrial economy. Change is quite literally our constant.

Today we need to tap into our inherent entrepreneurial savvy more than ever before. At all levels.

For instance, typically when you plan you set parameters and make some fairly significant assumptions: ‘Robots won’t be replacing my people in the next five years’; ‘The UK will still be part of the European Union’; ‘Smartphones aren’t going to become the biggest supplier of my product.’

Today, these assumptions are pointless! You can’t plan for the amount of disruption that is coming your way. And if you try, you risk baking a panicky, knee-jerk reaction into your numbers. At best, this would be inappropriate and regrettable when the dust settles. At worst, this approach becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Instead, ensure your planning and business strategy is responsive to change by looping in the view from the grass roots of your organisation. Head office might be running around like Chicken Little, but the people on the ground can often see the opportunities, and know where to hustle. That is why you employed them, after all.

Look for the opportunities. We are resilient and uniquely adapted to make things happen, so we should be relishing the potential presented by the turbulence in the world today!

Navigating the new normal

• Realise you can’t begin to plan for the amount of disruption you are about to face.
• Embrace the hustle like you’ve never done before.
• Don’t codify a Chicken Little response – it may just come true.
• Look for opportunities and don’t only focus on the threats.
• Leverage our adaptability and resilience, the unintended consequence of ‘our normal’.

As published Accountancy SA – 1st September 2017

http://www.accountancysa.org.za/wordpress/viewpoint-what-is-the-new-normal/

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