Transcript

You are living and working in unprecedented times where the world is uncertain and unpredictable.

There are uncertainties in every decision you make.

Uncertainty is caused by fluctuations in economic activities. For example, foreign currency exchange, infrastructure, the efficiency of local institutions, and inflation.

Uncertainty is caused by the inability to predict political developments. For example, war and changes in governments.

Uncertainty is caused by your inability to predict regulatory developments. For example, reforms, regulations and level of corruption.

There is uncertainty about collective action when people are faced with differences between their own values and values of the institutions that they are part of.

Uncertainty is caused by nature itself, terrorist attacks, or technological disasters.

Uncertainty can be associated with production inputs, acquisition of adequate quantities and qualities of inputs into the production process.

Uncertainty can also relate to unexpected changes in demand, lack of availability of complementary products, and the presence of substitute products.

There is the unpredictability of the future state of competition in the markets organisations operate in.

There is an inability to predict actions and plans of potential partners or employees within the organisation.

There is the unpredictability of research and development results.

There is uncertainty about the operation of the organisation and employees’ productivity.

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It is no surprise that the World Uncertainty Index has been trending upwards since 1990.

All these uncertainties can impact your decisions. They can also impact your performance and success.

When you have a crisis of uncertainty such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which arrived at overwhelming speed and enormous scale, individuals and organisations face a potentially paralysing volume of uncertain decisions.

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So, what is uncertainty in the first place?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, uncertainty is “a situation in which something is not known, something that is not known or certain, or the feeling of not being sure what will happen in the future.”

Uncertainty is the lack of knowledge about the future. It covers situations, things and feelings.

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The international risk standard, ISO 31000, defines uncertainty as “the state, even partial, of deficiency of information related to, understanding or knowledge of, an event, its consequence, or likelihood.”

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To understand and ultimately respond positively to uncertainties, you should be clear about what to do. That is, the outcome that you want to achieve.

Success will always start with you and the destination that you want to head towards. Knowing the outcomes that you want to achieve will go a long way in reducing the unnecessary uncertainties that you can create for yourself.

This will be the key to your future success, knowing what you want to achieve. It is about knowing what success looks like and how you can measure that success.

When you know what to achieve, you are in a better position to know how to do it.

Knowing the what will determine the how.

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Thanks for watching.

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