Leadership coach urges companies to become ‘anti-fragile’ to survive disruption

Leadership coach,Shane Ram has urged businesses to become anti-fragile in an age of disruption, arguing that an anti-fragile organisation will be able to resist setbacks better than one that is simply resilient.

Ram, who has worked as an executive at several C-suite companies and has used technologies to create desired leadership behaviours, said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations have focused on being resilient. He advised, however, that more companies should strive to become anti-fragile because it better guarantees survival in an age of disruption. Anti-fragile is the ability to gain and emerge stronger from shocks, stressors, faults, and mistakes.

“Coming out of COVID-19, many people spoke about building resilient organisations. But organisations need to embrace the concept of becoming anti-fragile.” He advised. “Something that is fragile breaks. Something that is resilient withstands pressure but does not really change.”

“However, anything that is anti-fragile gets stronger the more pressure that is applied to it, and in this era of disruption, anti-fragility will assist companies to not just survive, but grow stronger,” he added.

Ram was the keynote speaker at a recent JN Life Insurance Strategic Planning Retreat. The leadership coach noted that at present, the proliferation of social media has contributed to many people becoming fragile. He emphasised that this fragility has spilled over into corporations, in terms of weak leadership and poor management. Other issues that can also lead to fragility include inadequate self-awareness and self-leadership, too much group thinking, overcentralisation of decision-making, not enough communication, and not having the right people in the right structure,” he revealed.

The Trinidad-based coach said companies that were slow to innovate and employ effective change management were also at risk of becoming fragile.

“One of the areas that also exposes an entity to fragility centres around change management and resistance to innovation. If entities don’t have proper change-management systems and processes in place to rapidly deal with disruption and are not doing enough risk management, this will also increase fragility in organisations,” he noted.

The leadership coach advised that for entities to become anti-fragile, the change-management process must involve people at all levels.

“One of the myths that have been busted when it comes to change management is that when you talk about a change, people do not think about ‘What’s in it for me’? But rather, ‘What am I going to lose based on this change’? So when you do change management, you have to be very real and authentic,” he said.

He added that organisations should also communicate effectively by keeping messages about change simple and honest.

“Many of us in corporate tend to get very technical, want to show off our intelligence and teach what we learned. But when we bombard people with complex messages, it can become overwhelming, and then there will be resistance,” he stated. “Also, tell the truth. If it’s going to be hard, don’t say it’s going to be easy.”

Ram opined that mindset and emotional intelligence were also important in this age of disruption.

“Anti-fragile people build and interlock mental and emotional systems that help them to thrive. I think we have strong people. We have educated people in many organisations, but it is that missing emotional and mental side that really keeps people, and, therefore, organisations, from achieving their full potential,” he noted.

He also urged companies to become disruptors as part of becoming anti-fragile and surviving in this new era.

“I encourage people to be the disruptors, not to be disrupted. The key to becoming anti-fragile in this new era is through continuous learning, following trends, and becoming a lifelong learner. The fastest way to learn is to be among people who will challenge you to learn and be ready for change,” he said.

Hugh Reid, general manager, JN Life Insurance, said Ram’s presentation had a very positive impact on his team and their strategic -plan deliberations.

“In an era of disruption where companies have had to change how they operate, Mr Ram’s presentation has given us valuable insights into how we can become stronger and look beyond being resilient, but being anti-fragile. We have learned some valuable lessons on how to grow in this age of disruption and will be implementing measures to ensure we can grow more anti-fragile in this era,” he said.