When you’re looking for solutions and planning for the future, it’s tempting to look outward – to trends, consultants, or customer data – but some of your most valuable insights are already in the room. Tap into skills, perspectives, lived experience, and wisdom of everybody, even the most junior staff. Listen, reflect, learn, share and make sense of the future together.

https://swiy.co/go-internal-sensemaking

I’ve been working with the leadership team of an organisation that’s looking ahead to 2030 and beyond. They invited me to kick off their strategic leadership offsite with half a day getting them to expand their thinking and look bigger, broader, and wider.

I love working with groups like this, who know they need to do things differently. They were motivated, excited, and eagerly looking forward to understanding what’s happening outside their organisation and industry.

But I started with an exercise that wasn’t about the future.

In fact, it was very much about the past.

I call it “First Job”. In a nutshell, it goes like this:

1. Each person recalls their very first paid job – often a casual job they did after school to earn a bit of money. It could be a babysitter, working at a checkout in a supermarket, mowing the lawn for neighbours, or whatever.

2. They then identify the skills they learned from that job.

3. They then pair up, each share a real problem or challenge they’re facing right now, and the other person shares advice they learned from their first job that could help.

So, for example, person A says:

“One of the board members is constantly asking us to write unnecessary reports about XYZ, and it’s taking up way too much of my time.”

And B replies:

“Hmmm ... When I was a babysitter, I had one couple who kept phoning me every few minutes to check on their daughter. What I did was ...”

Try this with your team!

It’s a fun exercise, it gets people laughing, reminiscing about their career, thinking creatively, and often they find – to their surprise – some practical, useful ideas they can use in their job now.

But that’s not the real reason I do this exercise.

In fact, when I asked the group what value they got from the exercise, the CEO said,

“The thing I learned is that when I’m talking to ANYBODY in the organisation, I should listen more because they could have something valuable I could use.”

Yep, she nailed it!

All the other reasons are valid. But THAT’S my goal.

Because often, when people – especially senior leaders – are looking at the future, they look outside.

They ask customers.

They do scenario planning.

They (gasp!) engage a futurist.

All good things (especially the last, ha ha), but sometimes you’ll get the most valuable insights from people within your organisation.

That’s why diversity matters – with different generations, genders, ages, ethnicity, nationality, and more. Everybody brings their own experience, expertise, insights, and perspective.

So when you’re looking at the future, don’t only look outside.

This is all part of the skill of sense-making, which is an essential skill for the future. Join my online presentation to find out more, and invite others in your team and network as well.

I’ll see you in the future.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-internal-sensemaking

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Of course it’s a challenge dealing with uncertainty, but what about the certainties right in front of you? Sometimes it’s not the unknown that disrupts you, but rather the things you know are coming (like regulatory changes or major shifts in technology). The best leaders get ahead of this change by acting now rather than waiting to be disrupted. If you can see what’s coming, what are you doing about it – NOW?

https://swiy.co/go-make-the-first-move

As a leader, what CERTAINTY are you facing in the next year?

You might think that’s an odd question!

I often ask, “What uncertainty might you be facing?” And, of course, we’re all facing uncertainty, disruption, change, and sometimes total chaos. But also, some disruption is comes from certainty, not uncertainty.

I’m working with the senior leadership team of an organisation in this situation. They work in an industry that’s very heavily regulated (like many others). The federal government has already flagged major changes coming in the near future.

The leaders in this organisation, rather than waiting for that regulation, are already thinking ahead, proactively planning for the change before it’s forced on them.

That’s exactly what they should be doing, but I see many leaders and organisations who don’t think this way. They KNOW the change is coming, they know it will cause stress and disruption, and they know it will be much easier if they started changing now. But, too often, they just sit on their hands and do nothing – waiting for the inevitable tsunami of change.

I often say disruption and innovation the same, because they are both about change. It’s just disruption when the change happens to you, and innovation when you make the change yourself.

Some disruption is difficult to predict, so you have to make changes based on what MIGHT happen. But there are many other situations where you can reliably predict the change.

It’s not just government regulation, which is often flagged months or years in advance. It could be ...

the growth of AI and its impact on work and the workplace

customers demanding digital and online communication channels

Generation Z employees expecting different things from work

Even if you don’t know exactly how these scenarios will play out, if you know they will have a big impact, start thinking about them now.

What are YOU doing to manage the certainty that will create uncertainty?

This is part of the skill of sense making, which is about understanding what’s happening in the world, figuring out how to respond, and being able to communicate that with others.

I’m running an online presentation soon about sense making, where I’ll give you some practical things you can do to build and strengthen that skill for yourself and your team. It’s free, public, and open to everybody. So, if you’re interested, please register – and invite others in your team and your network.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-make-the-first-move

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a leader, your role is to help others make sense of the world. It’s about filtering the noise, choosing what really matters, learning how to adapt to external shifts, and then sharing those insights in a meaningful and engaging ways. Your ability to create clarity and purpose shapes how you, your team, and others succeed.

https://swiy.co/go-leadership-is-sense-making

As we start a new year, and you reflect on your role as a leader, what do you think is your most important role?

I’m not talking about making New Year’s Resolutions, setting goals for the year ahead, or creating a 2026 strategic plan. What about YOUR role as a leader?

As a futurist, I know one of my most important roles is to be a sense-maker.

Whether I’m speaking on a conference stage to a large audience, running a workshop with a smaller group, or facilitating a group of senior leaders in a boardroom, everybody’s looking to me to help them make more sense of the world.

They want to understand what’s going on, and want me to help them filter it and choose what’s most relevant for them. Then, they figure out how they can learn, adapt, and adjust what they do to fit with what’s happening externally. And finally, they want me to share that in engaging and meaningful ways — for themselves, the team, and the organisation.

And you know what?

This is not just a crucial role for me. This role — which is the skill of sense-making — is essential for everybody. Especially for leaders and managers, but for everybody else as well.

To summarise the three parts:

1. Choose: Understand what’s happening in the world and filter it to choose what matters most.

2. Learn: Based on what’s happening externally, determine what we need to do internally to be able to operate effectively in that world.

3. Share: Communicate what you have learned in meaningful and engaging ways, so that they inspire action.

If you want to know more about this, I’m running an online presentation very soon. It’s my first one for the year, and it’s about sense-making. I’ll share with you some practical, useful things you can do to understand more about the world, to learn how to adapt, and most importantly, to share it with your team and other stakeholders.

If you’re interested, it’s free, it’s public, it’s open to everybody — so you’ll find a link to register here. And feel free to share it with your team and network as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-leadership-is-sense-making

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.