“Preparedness, coalition-building, imagination, experiments, bravery – in an unpredictable age, these are tremendous sources of resilience and strength. They aren’t efficient, but they give us limitless capacity for adaptation, variation and invention. And the less we know about the future, the more we’re going to need these tremendous sources of human, messy, unpredictable skills.”
– Margaret Heffernan

A TED Talk I often recommend is by the brilliant communicator Margaret Heffernan: The Human Skills We Need In An Unpredictable World. Recorded in August 2019, just a few months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Margaret highlights the incredible importance of investing time in human connections, which are the foundations of resilience, hope and innovation in navigating uncertainty.

In my experience working with teams during 2020/21, it was the teams with sturdy cultures that pivoted quickly and stayed open to experimenting and learning in a rapidly changing context. Cultures already laced with relational fractures were cleaved open, creating even bigger ruptures.

As psychotherapist Esther Perel notes: “The quality of our connections determines the quality of our lives.” And quality connections are built through investments of time, attention and care.

Team Learning Activity

I think this video makes for a great “Lunch & Learn” activity with team members, either in person or online.

  • Invite team members to a 40min Lunch and Learn session
  • Watch this 16-minute TED Talk together
  • Using the list below, select 3 – 5 discussion prompts to pose to the team for discussion.
  • You may like to short breakout groups/rooms for each question (5-6mins each).
  • You may like to use sticky notes or a virtual whiteboard like Miro to capture responses and ideas.
  • Shortlist ideas the team would like to experiment with, assign accountability and build actions and reporting into the monthly/quarterly plan.

Discussion Prompts

1. Efficiency vs. Adaptability
Margaret warns that over-reliance on efficiency, especially through technology, can erode our ability to respond to unexpected challenges.
Prompt: Can you think of a time when being ‘efficient’ hindered adaptability in your work or life? How might you strike a better balance?

2. Embracing “Messy” Human Skills
She argues we need more “messy” human skills like imagination, humility and bravery to navigate unpredictable situations. These qualities, though messy and time-consuming, fuel resilience and creativity.
Prompt: Which of these (imagination, humility, bravery) do you find most challenging, either to embody or to nurture in others? Why?

3. Real-World Experiments That Work
Consider the rugby team taken away during season to ski and do social projects, which deepened their solidarity; and a tech company’s “Love Week” where employees purposely call out creative, helpful things colleagues did, energising the business.
Prompt: Which example resonates more with you, and what could a human-centred experiment look like in your team or organisation?

4. Technology Outsourcing Our Thinking and Compassion
Margaret comments that when machines guide our decisions or mediate our interactions—like parenting apps or medical records—our capacity for empathy, connection, and judgment can suffer.
Prompt: In what areas of your life or work do you feel technology is limiting your ability to think, connect, or feel empathy? What could you try doing instead?

5. Social Bonds as a Lifeline in Crisis
Heffernan recounts that executives who survived existential threats credited their resilience not to data or tech, but the quality of their connections to friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, younger executives couldn’t name friends at work.
Prompt: How strong are your social connections at work? Do you think strengthening them could boost resilience during future disruptions? How might you start building that?

6. The Value of “Messy” Conversations
Margaret notes that real progress often comes from unpolished, time-consuming dialogue rather than streamlined efficiency.
Prompt: What helps you feel safe enough to speak openly in a “messy” discussion, and what shuts you down? How can we, as a team, protect space for these conversations?

7. Courage to Be Wrong
Humility and bravery are central to her message, yet these require an environment where it’s acceptable to fail or be wrong.
Prompt: When have you felt able to admit a mistake or uncertainty at work without fear? What behaviours from leaders or colleagues made that possible?

8. Experimentation Over Perfection
Margaret shared examples (rugby retreat, “Love Week”) of how experiments build resilience even if they look inefficient.
Prompt: How might we create a culture where small experiments are celebrated, even if they don’t succeed right away?

9. Speaking Up Against Technology’s Pull
Margaret worries that outsourcing human judgment to technology could weaken our human skills. Raising such concerns takes courage.
Prompt: How can we make it easier for people on this team to challenge tools, systems, or “the way things are done” without fear of being dismissed?

10. Friendship and Trust as Resilience
Margaret found that senior leaders survived crises thanks to their strong human bonds, not just systems.
Prompt: What practices could we adopt that build trust and connection, so that when disruption comes, we feel we can rely on each other?