In today’s turbulent, skills-first world, the #1 skill we need to improve is our tolerance for uncertainty and ability to embrace change in all its forms at all levels. Companies and individuals simply can’t afford not to invest in this area.
All organizations are dealing with what speaker and futurist April Rinne calls “flux overload,” a state of confusion, dread, and imbalance borne out of a lack of control, economic upheavals, broader existential threats including climate change and global conflict, rapidly evolving technologies, issues with organizational culture, the fierce war for talent, work-life stresses, and mental health crises. This laundry list of factors leaves teams at a loss at how to tackle the slew of issues they’re facing, mired in their anxieties and incapable of making progress.
Rinne argues that embracing change creates potential for positive futures, expanding horizons and encouraging creativity and collaboration. When we see change differently, and not from a place of only fear, we identify old blind spots and are able to do better the next time we’re confronted with upheaval.
This is especially relevant in the field of healthcare, an industry that sees constant innovation and has to pivot especially quickly in the case of crises, such as pandemics, which create giant surges in demand for care. Healthcare also suffers from frequent workforce shortages and especially bad cases of employee burnout, which in turn compromises patient care and can create feelings of animosity between patients and their caregivers and broader trends of distrusting medical professionals. An aging population also creates demands for care that healthcare groups struggle to keep up with, leading to people in this field feeling constantly overwhelmed.
This is a complicated set of dynamics to address given both the stew of factors and the importance of work in this sector– people’s lives are literally at stake– but Rinne argues there is opportunity in this chaos. People can develop what she calls a “Flux Mindset,” in which change is not seen as inherently frightening, and uncertainty leads to less stress. This leads to personal benefits for employees, who experience less fatigue, and in turn has long-lasting effects on work culture, with increased trust between team members and higher levels of motivation.
Although the situation globally and within the workplace is overwhelming, there is hope for a cleare, brighter future, one in which the “Flux Mindset” is a sort of superpower, allowing for hyper-adaptability and the replacement of fear with excitement when it comes to facing new challenges and embracing change.
