Uncertainty is a fact of life within the supply chain nowadays. In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, organizations need to be resilient in order to safeguard their long-term future in the face of ever-changing circumstances. This calls for new organizational structures, but also for employees with different skills and a new mindset. Stefan Hoogervorst, Director of The Value Chain Academy, explains how organizations can help their people to not only deal with the constant state of uncertainty, but also to turn it into a competitive advantage.
Examples of uncertainty in business
The COVID-19 pandemic catapulted supply chain uncertainty into the public eye. But just because the pandemic is now behind us, it doesn’t mean that the uncertainty has lessened. Some current examples of uncertainty in business include geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza and the increasing tension between China and Taiwan. Among other things, these issues affect the availability of materials and supply chain network design. Similarly, climate change is leading to water scarcity, which is already a real problem for a number of manufacturing companies. Meanwhile, technological advancements such as ChatGPT are moving so fast that no one can really predict the future implications.
The human factor in the face of uncertainty
In response, we see many organizations currently attempting to make their supply chains more flexible. But what actually matters is making them more resilient. This means creating the right organizational framework: implementing processes such as S&OP and IBP to identify and offset potential risks while also taking advantage of opportunities, for example. Above all, to become more resilient in the face of uncertainty, it is important that everyone works together with a single aim in mind: optimizing the overall organizational performance.
This means that everyone in the organization must understand their role and what they need to do in order to maintain and improve value chain performance. Clearly, a silo-based approach stands in the way of this, slowing down internal processes and holding back the cross-functional collaboration and decision making required for fast, effective and future-focused decisions.
The need to invest in skills and competencies
But even with the right internal structure and processes in place, to manage the supply chain uncertainty you still need people with the appropriate skills and mindset at all levels and in all departments. That’s why, at The Value Chain Academy, we are strong advocates of multidisciplinary training sessions that bring colleagues together for a shared learning experience. This creates awareness and understanding of the interdependencies between colleagues in the various functional areas, as building blocks for the mindset shift needed for cross-functional collaboration and decision making. For example, a recent training and development programme we designed for Rituals gave the colleagues a common language for discussing supply chain issues openly and encouraged them to work together on devising solutions to existing bottlenecks. This strengthened their commitment to the new way of working and removed barriers to reaching out to one another in the future, paving the way for supply chain resilience.
Cultivate a learning culture for long-term success
The programme at Rituals also helped the company to bring the supply chain department’s fundamental knowledge of end-to-end value chain management on an equal level, boosting cohesion and also confidence among the company’s predominantly young team. Moreover, it is helping the company to build a culture of continuous learning and development, demonstrating that the organization is driven to nurture and enhance its people’s career prospects, which helps in the recruitment and retention of valued talent. The feedback from Rituals’ employee surveys showed that people were more motivated to learn and innovate, so a structured training and development programme clearly supports an organization’s long-term success in multiple ways.
Additionally, a learning culture has direct benefits for supply chain leaders. When team members receive management support for their development and are equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills, they feel empowered and confident to deal with many issues arising from uncertainty. As a result, they can make decisions, solve problems and take calculated risks largely on their own initiative. By placing the responsibility in their teams, leaders free up more time to spend focusing on the long-term strategic vision and thinking ahead to anticipate supply chain uncertainties and opportunities. This further increases supply chain’s positive contribution to the organization’s long-term success.
Prepare for the future with structured training and development
Supply chain uncertainty is here to stay. To prepare for the future and face the challenges in today’s VUCA world, it is crucial to invest in your people in addition to putting the right structure and processes in place. The aim is to help them develop an adaptive, collaborative mindset so that they remain open, flexible and innovative in the face of inevitable change. A structured training and development programme can help you to build a culture of continuous learning. This supports the mindset shift that is needed to strengthen your supply chain resilience and give you a competitive edge, while also helping to attract and retain the talent your organization needs to safeguard its future.
For more insight into how a structured training and development programme can help your people to deal with supply chain uncertainty and support the long-term success of your organization, please go to: https://www.thevaluechainacademy.com/contact.
