Date:   7th June

Venue: Online

Time: 11 – 12.30

Investment: €0

Book Here: https://bit.ly/3DmAQW3

Workshop Overview:

For the past few years, we have been using the acronym VUCA to help us to acclimatise to the changing demands of the workplace and the world in general. Throughout the pandemic, we recognised that the world was Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA).

Volatility: is the quality of being subject to frequent, rapid and significant change. Small triggers may result in large changes. In a volatile market, for example, the prices of commodities can rise or fall considerably in a short period of time, and the direction of a trend may reverse suddenly.

 

Uncertainty: occurs when events and outcomes are unpredictable. The cause and effect are not well understood, and previous experience may not apply to the situation. It is unclear which direction events will go; in an uncertain market, for example, it is not clear if the price will go up or down or by how much.

 

Complexity: involves a multiplicity of issues and factors, some of which may be intricately interconnected. The relationships between items and people are difficult to understand. A change in one place may cause unintended changes to other things down the line. Cause and effect are obscured by many layers, and it is not clear which factors are important in the decision-making process. In a complex market, for example, the changes in gas prices affect the prices of many other items that are not directly related.

 

Ambiguity: is shaped by a lack of clarity and difficulty understanding exactly what the situation is. Information may be misread or misinterpreted. During ambiguous situations, all the facts are not clear. The goal or intended outcome may not be evident to all parties involved. In an ambiguous market, for example, not all information is public and unseen factors may be affecting prices.

So why BANI?

Rapid transitions happening in our work and personal lives have given rise to a redefinition of the context in which we live and work. BANI helps us to appreciate and respond to changes that affect how we do our jobs and how we

interact with others. BANI creates a clear picture of how the world appears to us today and it helps us to be more effective once we appreciate each of its tangible elements. We are now operating in a world that is described as Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, and sometimes Incomprehensible (BANI).

Brittle: the kind of illusive fortress that seemingly solid systems have but which can easily crumble. Examples of this are countries who are rich due to the exploitation of a natural resource that collapse with price fluctuations, or the monocultures of our modern agriculture which are very vulnerable to pests due to their low variability.

Anxious: the anxiety caused by continuous changes. This anxiety can lead to passivity when you feel that changes are an avalanche and that there is no way to influence them. The flood of news from the media and “misinformation” also contributes to this.

Nonlinear: the disconnection and disproportion between cause and effect. We may now be seeing the impact on the climate as a result of actions taken 40 years ago; could these consequences have been predicted then? What is the relationship between the minor act of hunting or eating an animal and the trigger for a pandemic that is changing the world? There is a great difference between the scale at which things occur and the scale at which we perceive them.

Incomprehensible: the consequence of excess information and its often counterintuitive nature (like what occurs when AI or Big Data intervenes). Fortunately, what is incomprehensible today does not have to be tomorrow.

 

If you want to maximise the impact of your workplace communications, then this workshop is for you.

By the end of this workshop, you will:

• Explore BANI to make sense of a chaotic post-Covid world

• Learn how to counteract the effects of BANI by improving skills such as resilience, empathy, adaptability, flexibility, and intuition.

• Develop proactive solutions to improve connectivity and workplace communications.

• Assess your communications skillset and set stretch goals that will enable you to be a more responsive and effective communicator

 

In collaboration with Waterford Chamber Skillnet