Crowdsourcing our own personal development

Whose responsibility is it to empower our flourishing in the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world we live in today?

As organisations change and grow, we are quick to de-risk decision making using tested models and frameworks to understand and manage complexity. However, as individuals, we seem content to wade through overwhelm and confusion without tools of our own.

Our lives and careers are demanding significantly more of us. Our innate human abilities fall a long way short of the needs of our current reality. Investment in adult development is lagging embarrassingly behind in the race against the unprecedented change experienced in the world around us in recent years.

In the dynamic age of the knowledge worker, it is no longer acceptable or possible to habitually follow standard operating procedure year after year. The expectation is that we are innovative, adaptive and resilient and that we routinely show empathy and compassion towards the customers we serve, those we lead and the people we work alongside.

Relationships, the family unit and our wellbeing are increasingly subject to tremendous pressure. Separation, divorce, obesity, mental illness and suicide are all dramatically on the rise.  

I believe the companies we work for have a responsibility to become not just our source of income but also the vehicle of our human development. I also trust that organisations who embrace such an opportunity will reap the rewards in business performance.

While corporate investment in adult development remains a benefit for the top 5–10 % of performers, we are unlikely to see an improvement. In the meantime, we must find ways to crowdsource our own development.

In posts to follow I’m going to share some of the tools I have curated to help me, and my teams, understand the world, build better relationships and make good decisions.

If you have a map, model, tool or framework you’ve had success with personally or professionally please let me know in the comments. Perhaps we can collaborate to share it and in doing improve everyone’s experience of life.