Leadership Bites: Navigating the BANI World
Recently, I attended a webcast about ‘organisation’s sustainable stretch’, and for the second time, the acronym BANI, a framework for understanding the world, was discussed.
As a business owner and thought leader, I value frameworks because they help us make sense of the world and how we are impacted by outside influences, as well as develop new ways to navigate these complexities.
One thing is certain: in today’s fast-changing business environment, leaders have to navigate unpredictability and complexity like never before. While VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) has long served as the framework for comprehending our environment, a new paradigm, BANI, has developed.
BANI, which stands for Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible, was coined by futurist Jamais Cascio and provides a new perspective on understanding and addressing today’s difficulties.
BANI, which stands for Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible, was coined by futurist Jamais Cascio and provides a new perspective on understanding and addressing today’s difficulties.
FROM VUCA TO BANI: A NECESSARY EVOLUTION
VUCA helps leaders handle quick changes and unexpected situations. VUCA’s limitations become apparent as the globe becomes more connected and technologically advanced. BANI reflects today’s fragmented and vulnerable environment. Understanding BANI helps businesses and leaders understand modern challenges and develop more effective solutions.
What does BANI stand for and how can we respond?
Brittle: The fragility of modern systems
The first component of BANI is “brittle.” In this context, “brittle” refers to our systems’ fragility and susceptibility to abrupt breakdowns. Despite appearing strong on the surface, many organisational structures and procedures are vulnerable to catastrophic failure when pressured.
What organisations and leaders can do:
Invest in resilient systems that can tolerate shocks. This includes diversifying supply chains, establishing robust risk management techniques, and creating adaptable operational processes.
Diversity is essential to resiliency. In an unforeseen event, a workforce that thinks and acts alike will fail. Utilise DISC profiles to assess the diversity of behaviour styles in your team and their strengths – especially under pressure.
Using DISC as a tool to create conditions for diverse individuals to thrive and feel connected will result in a far broader and deeper collective skill set that can better handle catastrophic crises.
Anxious: The pervasive sense of fear and worry
“Anxious” describes the widespread anxiety and uncertainty that pervades individuals and organisations. The constant flood of information and data, rapid technological advances, and global crises all add to anxiety, which has an impact on decision-making and general well-being.
What organisations and leaders can do:
Create an environment where employees feel brave enough to express concerns and take risks without fear of negative repercussions. Transparent and frequent communication reduces uncertainty. Leaders should deliver clear and consistent information while also being transparent about issues and strategies.
Lean into your team’s communication preferences, and what they individually need to feel psychosocially safe.
Empathy has become essential. Leaders must understand the impact of tension on their staff and help them maintain equilibrium. It requires resilient, trusted relationships.
Non-linear: The unpredictability of change
The “Non-linear” part of BANI emphasises the unpredictable and disproportionate nature of cause-and-effect in today’s society. Small actions can have enormous and unexpected implications, making it difficult to forecast results and plan accordingly.
What organisations and leaders can do:
Develop flexible strategies that can be altered as circumstances change. Agile techniques and adaptable leadership strategies are critical for managing non-linear change. Look at the DISC profiles of your team, and how they cope with change. Make sure your strategies allow for the different needs they may have so you keep everyone engaged, even in times of unpredictability.
Scenario planning helps companies anticipate and prepare for many outcomes. This proactive approach mitigates unexpected events.
Businesses need individuals who can constantly learn on the go, look ahead and scan circumstances, stay acutely aware of themselves and others, and loosely hold their own agenda and values to be agile in the BANI era.
Incomprehensible: Difficulty understanding complex systems
The term “incomprehensible” refers to modern systems’ overwhelming complexity and opacity, which makes it difficult to completely grasp or predict their behaviour. This incomprehensibility can be attributed to technological improvements, global interconnection, and an overwhelming amount of data.
What organisations and leaders can do:
Staying current and comprehending complex systems requires continuous learning and upskilling. Encourage curiosity and creativity.
Incomprehensible leaders must use intuition, instinct, and rationality internally and externally. This requires well developed Emotional Intelligence.
Leaders must also admit their ignorance and seek help. They must know their own strengths and weaknesses and develop strong self-awareness.
These adaptive difficulties require open-minded leaders who can adjust, be sensitive, learn from others, and make decisions with limited knowledge.
Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organisation is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.
Frances Hesselbein
Learning from practice
Research emphasises the relevance of implementing the BANI framework. According to the Harvard Business Review, organisations who recognised the fragility of their systems were better prepared for the COVID-19 epidemic. They had contingency preparations and were able to pivot fast while maintaining operational continuity.
Leading in a BANI world
The shift from VUCA to BANI reflects the changing nature of our environment and the difficulties that leaders face. For leaders, the solution is to create resilience, promote psychological safety, embrace flexibility, invest in continuous learning, and use data analytics.
Understanding how to succeed at this while managing a diverse team is crucial. DISC Flow’s combination of DISC and emotional intelligence provides an excellent tool to help Leaders face this challenge.
By implementing these techniques and tools, leaders can negotiate the complexity of the BANI world, transforming difficulties into opportunities and guaranteeing long-term success in an ever-changing context.
