Uncertainty is the new normal

New Zealand is shaking again.  Earthquakes are rocking Wellington and the top of the South Island.  They’ve caused damage, interrupted business and created a climate of uncertainty and fear for many people. 

It’s hard to sleep when your bed shakes and you need to decide whether to stay in bed or get up and Drop Cover and Hold on.   

It’s hard to run a business when transport is down or offices are closed for clean ups and engineer inspections. 

Last week I met Ase Lunde, a senior crisis & disaster management professional with 25 years of experience across organisations such as the UN, the Swedish police and the Swedish National Defence College.   This is her core area of expertise -resilience; how can organisations survive, absorb and adapt to crises and uncertainty and still deliver effectively? 

I’ve written before about resilience from an individual expat’s perspective - for those moving overseas and living in another culture uncertainty is definitely the new normal and resilience is critical.  There are a number of resources on www.cicollective.com for members to increase their personal resilience.  

So it was interesting to hear how Ase believes the world has changed and the impact of those changes has created more uncertainty and risk.  Not just from an environmental / natural disaster perspective but also from geopolitical, information and infrastructure perspectives.

The nature of effective leadership in these situations has also changed, moving from a command and control style to a more collaborative style of leadership.  According to Ase’s experience effective leaders in resilient organisations connect and collaborate with other organisations, agencies and resources. 

This sort of collaboration across agencies, across borders would be difficult without a number of skills including cultural intelligence. 

Many of you know New Zealand is my country of birth and Wellington and the South Island are home for many of my family.  I am feeling for them.  We’ve been here before and know how bad things can get.  But we are lucky. Earthquakes of a similar size over the past few days in China have resulted in many deaths while there have only been a few injuries in NZ. 

And I know my family and friends are a resilient bunch and they will survive and adapt to this uncertainty.