Aray of hope swept through South Africa when StatsSA announced that the country had risen out of a technical recession, with 2.5% growth in the second quarter of this year.
The fact that we have been able to climb out of recession amid all the uncertainty and instability in the local environment and the global economy offers a much-needed glimmer of optimism. We should be taking a moment to celebrate this, especially given how hard it would have been to predict it a while ago.
It is a sign that our collective efforts have been significant enough to have a tremendous impact at a national level. This would be hard to achieve in a divided society and is due to both the private and public sector playing their parts.
When good news comes after a period of hardship, we tend to be slow in giving it the credit and positivity it deserves. Instead, we question its meaning, validity and sustainability.
If anything, we would rather wait, often with scepticism, to see how much longer the economy will keep improving before we make any major decisions about aligning our growth plans with the positive outlook.
When times are dark and gloomy, though, we are quick to change everything. We start planning for worst-case scenarios and start adjusting our outlook accordingly.
We set up project teams and "war-room"-type structures — all designed to help everyone figure out what the bad news could mean.
Often, you will get what you plan for.
This is why many of us have struggled for years to change our organisations, especially the ones led through the legacy of the past, because we act from the old-habit patterns of the mind.
We become resistant to changing our long-standing behaviour of giving more attention to bad news than good news.
It is the state of being that we are more comfortable with.
Organisations are crippled by this because no one wants to put their hand up and share growth-oriented ideas. The fear of what happens should they fail is enough to discourage even the most eager ones out there.
So even when there are rays of hope that some innovation might improve the organisation's growth in the post-recessionary phase, no one wants to put this forward, and, when they do, no one wants to be the manager who gave the go-ahead, should the innovation fail.
Then we remain stuck in the same environment that led to the bad economic times that we are aspiring to fight our way out of.
We need to start shifting our behavioural patterns. We must limit the over-exaggerated responses during times of difficulty. We must stop understating and questioning the good that comes with positive news.
Of course, the growth outlook for the next few years remains low — let us not be naive about the facts.
But the numbers are improving, however slightly, and this is what we must build on. There is a better chance of these numbers improving if we all invest ourselves in figuring out how to make it all sustainable.
It starts with changing those growth plans to align with a positive growth mentality, not a mentality that is sceptical of positive growth.
Many organisations right now are resuming their planning and budgeting processes for the years ahead. These need to be informed by a positive outlook.
I hope it is no coincidence that the news of our exit from a technical recession came just as we enter spring.
Let us redeploy that positive mentality and energy towards what matters most: building a collectively positive growth story for the country.
zipho@ziphosikhakhane.com
• Sikhakhane is a global speaker and business strategist specialising in leadership, entrepreneurship and change management, with an MBA from Stanford University
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.