Riding the wave. How many times have we heard and used this phrase in situations of courage, adaptability, energy, and where we perceived, albeit with a note of risk, important opportunities to be seized.
The action of “riding the wave,” in fact, easily leads to visualizing an agile figure on a surfboard on the crest of very large waves. Close your eyes: imagine that you are in the water on your board, on a beautiful sunny day with big waves. What do you feel?
Some will feel almost real the scent of brackish water, the wind on their skin, an extraordinary energy, the adrenaline build up and the feeling that extraordinary challenges lurk among the waves, and the thrill of the absolutely manageable fall. Others, on the other hand, may feel uncomfortable in a situation that requires great agility and adaptability, and involves a final plunge into the bend of the wave and knowing how to climb back up the crest.
For non-surfers, there is good news: venturing out to sea with a board under your arm still remains an option. It can also be avoided.
Instead, let’s try to transpose this reflection to the context we live in today: we cannot ignore the world we find ourselves in, which, as in the metaphor of the rough sea, is increasingly complex, uncertain, volatile and ambiguous. The bad news? It is impossible to avoid; we must live it as best we can, as it affects all spheres of our lives.
Agility and adaptability thus become key skills for navigating the challenges of the unpredictable and the unknown, hence the birth of the new acronym B.A.N.I.
B.A.N.I. the new acronym to describe the world
We have recently learned about, analyzed, and reacted to the world V.U.C.A. – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity – an acronym that described an environment influenced by globalization and digitization, characterized by markets in continuous and rapid transformation, in which it has become increasingly difficult to plan and analyze different situations.
Today, however, the acronym B.A.N.I.-Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, Incomprehensible-describes a situation that reflects the most current challenges, such as the fragility of seemingly stable systems, anxiety-driven decision-making, non-linear cause-effect relationships, and incomprehensible complexities.
Returning to the initial metaphor, we are not “only” dealing with a big sea and high waves, with an external world to which we have to adapt nimbly. The world seems to be no longer as we have known it so far, hiding new and nonlinear aspects.
B.A.N.I. model and the skills to be developed for the future
The most obvious effect is an increase in the level of anxiety in people, such that it heavily influences not only individual behavior, but also decision-making processes in organizations.
It is therefore incumbent upon companies to ask themselves how they can continue to maintain and increase personal and organizational effectiveness, despite such an unpredictable general environment and the rampant emotional fragility of people.
One way is certainly to work on changing the leadership model.
In fact, managers have long since ceased to be required to know everything, always have an answer, plan for the medium to long term, and carry out plans strictly. The most effective organization in these restless times is adaptive and optimistic, and is driven by a desire to discover and influence the future. It is also aware that unforeseen events and adversity are part of “navigating” and can nimbly take different forms as needed.
Therefore, the manager in the B.A.N.I. world must first learn to become anti-fragile (we also talked about this in this interview with Alessandro Donadio), to know how to cultivate confidence, agility and organizational versatility.
In particular, the organization guided by adaptive leadership must know how to adopt internal strategies, practices, and tools aimed at developing specific competencies (hard skills and soft skills) to counter and manage the phenomena of:
- fragility: with team spirit, mutual trust and cross-functional collaboration, supported by project management with more frequent and focused interim checks;
- anxiety: through shared reading of the environment and dialogue with respect to the emotional effects of uncertainty by activating simple, understandable, and quickly implemented action plans with frequent sharing of interim results;
- nonlinearity: due to the ability to recognize bias and prejudice in reading events, to limit references to previous paradigms, and to rely on objectivity to be able to make decisions even if one is “navigating by sight.”
- incomprehensibility: extending listening to all actors who experience the organizational context and encouraging them to express their views and perceptions. This fosters co-participation in decision-making in a climate of acceptance of error, understood as an effect compatible with acting in the absence of complete clarity of the framework in which one moves.
How adaptive leadership helps deal with a fluid, ever-changing world
We could describe the adaptive leader as a person who is curious, vital, a keen listener to external stimuli and internal input, and capable of synthesis.
Putting adaptive leadership into practice, then, means engaging, inspiring, and conveying confidence; one is an adaptive leader when one legitimizes experimentation and approaches mistakes as part of a growth journey, whether organizational or personal, learning quickly from them, inspiring the team to do the same, and projecting beyond them.
And if it is true that only adequate equipment will enable the enterprise, on the one hand, to move nimbly by governing the effects of new and unknown phenomena and, on the other hand, to develop the ability to lucidly seize the related opportunities, we can say that “BANI-oriented” organizations work, at least, on four drivers:
- governance: definition and dissemination of the system of rules, practices and processes by which the company is directed and controlled, so as to ensure transparency, accountability and effective risk management;
- Decision-making processes: implementation of fast and distributed decision-making processes;
- mental attitude of individuals and groups: cultivation of a solution-seeking approach to problems through critical thinking, transmission of confidence in the future, and development of credibility and esteem among people;
- organizational processes: sharing clear, simple and useful flows throughout the company;
- Transversal skills: development at all levels of the organization of skills related to managing emotions, self-awareness and change; enhancement of skills such as continuous learning, the ability to make decisions even under conditions of uncertainty, the “culture of error.”
The importance of being an anti-fragile leader in the B.A.N.I. world.
The concept of leadership in the B.A.N.I. world requires a different approach than in the past. An anti-fragile leader does not simply resist and adapt to adverse circumstances, but uses them as catalysts for growth and improvement, with the ability to anticipate trends and forestall market needs.
This conception of leadership is essential because it enables organizations not only to survive, but to thrive, taking advantage of challenges to strengthen themselves.
By working on the anti-fragility of organizational processes and people, companies can acquire new tools to navigate any sea, interpreting even the uncertain and ambiguous with the peace of mind that they have the in-house skills needed to deal with blackswans1, the unpredictable and the unknown, while also knowing how to turn the wind in their favor.
Promoting activities and investments in leadership transformation is a responsibility we must feel to society, individuals and organizations.
The starting point is the development of new competenciesthat is, investing in the preparedness of leaders to lead their teams in this “dynamic vibrancy” and to survive the waves of change by seizing its challenges.
