Are you creating an all-weather organisation?
Edinburgh’s world famous Hogmanay (New Year) celebrations were cancelled this year. Wind and rain, quite normal winter weather in Scotland’s capital city, were deemed too severe to set up the staging and lights for the big show. So 45,000 tourists and countless locals were left disappointed and out of pocket.
It’s tough to build an organisation that can cope with all weathers. Coping with all weathers means that your approach has to be one that is agile, even when it's tempting to hunker down and to rely on traditional old ideas to see us through.
All-weather organisations deliver the goods, even when the conditions are tough.
If you want to weather the year ahead, you need to think about whether your organisation is an all-weather organisation.
All-weather organisations don't put off innovation until things calm down or become clearer: they develop agile prototyping cultures that test out ideas and grow the good ones.
All-weather organisations don't assume 'tried and tested' expertise of yesterday is going to be right for them now - they're always asking questions and pushing for more than what the experts said was the right thing to do yesterday.
All-weather organisations are transparent about their thinking, collaborative and networked in their execution of ideas, and have clear paths for people to step up to the plate and take on responsibility.
All-weather organisations have a purpose that rings true and is understood by everyone - people not in the organisation want to be, because their purpose clearly steers every choice they make.
Are you an all-weather organisation, or do you really only flourish when the conditions are just right?