The World Economic Forum considers solving complex problems the first essential skill to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. That the life we live and the market in which companies live are increasingly complex is a fact as certain as it is unstoppable. As progress advances, the needs of the human being become increasingly sophisticated and, reciprocally, the creation of value by organizations also becomes more complex. This has as a direct consequence that the problems that are generated are increasingly far from being simple.
The are characterized because they do not have a clear definition, the objective to be achieved is not obvious and the steps to be taken are equally diffuse. Perhaps the greatest (and most dramatic) recent example of a complex problem has been the global economic crisis. It is true that, when it appeared, there were partial analyzes that made it possible to explain what was happening at certain levels, but it took a long time to be able to analyze what was really happening.
Much more difficult was setting the goal to be achieved and, even more, defining the steps that had to be taken. In fact, for a long time there have been, and possibly will continue to be, analyzes upon analyzes that try to shed more light on such a complex and devastating phenomenon.
However, it is not necessary to cite such an extreme example of this type of problem, because it exists in all organizations. In many cases, the results are not as expected or, worse yet, serious unforeseen events arise and, since the value chain is divided into multiple departments and responsibilities are widely distributed, it is not easy sometimes to know what is happening, which It is the objective to be achieved and what must be done.
For this reason, professionals with systemic and broad visions of the internal and external processes that give life to organizations will be increasingly needed. That, at the same time, they know how to analyze the available information with agility and that, finally, they can propose concrete actions to mitigate or solve the problems. Likewise, they need to know when to rectify and when to persevere.
In fact, it is estimated that by 2020 approximately as a core competence.
However, there are two qualities, perhaps less obvious and also linked to this type of problem, that are worth mentioning: one is the ability not to break down when events with serious consequences occur. That is, the necessary to overcome, with a practical and decisive vision that allows putting all the energy into solving the problem and not regretting what happened. And the second is to look at these types of incidents for what they are, that is, complex problems that, on many occasions, are not the fault of anyone in particular, while they are everyone’s fault at the same time.
In other words, eradicate the search for blame as well as self-exculpation and focus as soon as possible on what really matters, which is solving the problem. The more complex it is.
Note: This article is based on the World Economic Forum report
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