Why uncertainty absorption is becoming ever more relevant

We live in times of accelerating change. This is highly relevant for decision-making in organisations, as the consequences of a decision are becoming less and less predictable.

Admittedly, it has never been possible to know at the moment of a decision whether it is the right one. But the influencing factors are now quite different: war in Europe, supply chain problems, skills shortages, political uncertainty due to shifting majorities in parliaments, currency uncertainty, the fear of a new pandemic and much more. And of course high energy prices are part of this too – along with the question of how they will develop in the future.

“The greater the uncertainty, the more important an organisation’s ability to absorb it becomes.”

Against this background, the decision-making process in organisations is significantly affected. Nobody wants to take responsibility for possibly having made the wrong decision and perhaps having to face the consequences.

This is why, ever since organisations were first founded, there have been decision premises according to which decisions are made in an organisation – programmatically or communicatively. Now it looks very much as if many of these decision premises no longer work properly in a dynamically changing environment.

An additional factor fuelling uncertainty is the wide range of reporting on channels that did not even exist 15 or 20 years ago. Social media has largely replaced television, and it is becoming ever harder to tell fake news from real news.

The complexity of the news and information landscape makes it increasingly difficult for many leaders to find their bearings and drives uncertainty even further.

In addition, many organisations have entered a period of searching for their identity and future, in which it is more important than ever to answer the question: Who do we want to be in ten years, and how do we want to operate in the market?