Riding the Waves: How Teams Can Navigate Change and Create Value
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In this first article of 2025, amidst the rapid changes we’re experiencing, we aim to share some thoughts for teams about how to stay relevant, thrive and prepare for what’s coming. Our hope is to offer practical insights and foster good moods that suit the times.
As a friend recently observed, change is always happening, but right now it feels as though someone’s dropped a brick on the accelerator pedal. Election outcomes worldwide and the transformative impacts of AI signal significant shifts ahead. While it may be tempting to retreat or ignore these changes, now is not the time to bury our heads in the sand.
Let’s turn our attention to preparing teams for what’s ahead, using an unexpected yet fitting detour—surfing*.
Many people find joy in walking along the beach, swimming, or catching waves. The ocean, and surfing in particular, provides a compelling metaphor for business and teams.
When you surf, the first step is to take stock. You assess the conditions to anticipate the waves that are coming. You can only catch the waves that are there. Similarly, in business, the concerns of your current and potential clients, along with emerging threats and opportunities, are the waves on the horizon. No matter how compelling your offer seems to you, it must align with what clients’ value and need. Consider Kodak’s infamous failure to adapt to the shift toward digital photography as a cautionary tale.
Once you identify a wave worth catching, you need to commit fully. Half-hearted paddling won’t get you there. In business, this means teams must have a clear and stated purpose and align on goals, that ultimately create value for clients and stakeholders. Committing is different to agreeing. Reflect on teams you’ve observed or been part of where individuals prioritised their own needs over the collective purpose, or had competing or conflicting priorities. Such dynamics often result in untapped potential, wasted effort and friction.
The third essential practice is coordination. Surfers adjust their posture and movements in response to the wave’s changes. And sometimes they wipe out. Similarly, businesses encounter unexpected events and challenges. Great teams cultivate the skills and conversations necessary to make and fulfil commitments, change tack as circumstances change, and rebuild trust when conflicts or setbacks arise.
These three practices form a strong foundation for effective business planning and for cultivating high-value creating teams**:
Taking stock – Making assessments about what lies ahead.
Committing – Aligning the team’s purpose and goals.
Coordinating – Engaging in conversations to get work done and reset when needed.
Like surfing, these are learnable and masterable skills.
If you’d like to know more, we’ve attached a guide in the body of the email called “Designing your Offer: A Tool for Teams Wanting to Reset or Grow”, explaining how these ideas work in practice.
If this metaphor resonates and you’d like to spark new thinking within your team, we’re offering free one-hour workshops in the first quarter of 2025. The workshops will explore these themes and how to better ride the waves that are coming in 2025.
To schedule a session, email mark@openroadconsulting.com.au or message Mark on 0409 527 729, requesting a free surfing workshop. We’ll get in touch to arrange a time.
* The idea for using surfing as a metaphor stems from a 2013 report by the National Council for Innovation and Competitiveness in Chile, chaired by Dr. Fernando Flores. Titled “Strategic Orientations for Innovation: Surfing Towards the Future,” the report eloquently captures the parallels between surfing and navigating change. It states, “Surfing embodies the ability to navigate uncertainty, adapt to ever-changing conditions, and harness the energy of waves to move forward. It reflects the spirit of innovation: balancing preparation with improvisation, skill with intuition, and ambition with respect for the environment.” The thinking in this article and guide was inspired by Dr Fernando Flores, Chauncey Bell and their students, and have been tried and tested with clients for 10 years.
** The phrase “High-Value Creating Teams” is used by Professor Peter Hawkins (author of Leadership Team Coaching and many books on effective teams), as an alternative to high performing teams. We like the phrase “high-value creating” because that’s what we believe teams are about - creating value for others..