I’ve been working with senior leaders and technical or operational experts for nearly two decades in my role as a leadership consultant coach and facilitator.
I’m struck with the number of people overwhelmed by the ambiguities, volatilities and disruptive changes of our times.
I’m also amazed by the extent that there exists broken relationships inside organisations, preventing effective forward movement, collaboration and high performance.
I’m increasingly realising that there are two skills that perhaps even artificial intelligence, reckoned by some pundits to overtake human intelligence by 2030, won’t be able to do.
One skill is creativity. Being creative, rather than innovative, requires the ability to start with nothing – no preconceived ideas or program, whilst being alert and observant, waiting for answers to your question “what is the possibility?”
I don’t think artificial intelligence can be like that since it is in itself a program with already conceived probabilities.
Besides, creativity is not about the possession of knowledge or information recall or speed of processing solutions from the data recall.
The other skill is the ability to mend broken relationships, and that can only be achieved by the parties themselves.
It requires empathy and values, an ability to listen and ask, accept responsibility and above all forgive and to want to move forward in cooperation and collaboration.
Above all, mending relationships needs to be authentic and we can detect when it is not, when it is artificial.
For people in organisations to thrive, not just survive through the changes occurring now and beyond, I believe we must hone these two skills of creativity and mending relationships.
What do you think?
