FOBO, BANI and CARE - Takeaways from the HR Dynamics Forum

As a comms director, your partners-in-crime usually reside in Human Resources.

They often help you coordinate comms coaching and media training, and are on the front lines of some of the issues that you are having to communicate in the market: Work-life balance, talent acquisition and retention, executive moves, and so on.

Attending the HR Dynamics Forum 2024 at the Dusit Thani Laguna last week, it was very clear just how weighty these subjects are, and why we in comms need to keep those channels of communications with HRO's open.

In case you're not up to speed, here are three quick snippets of trends you need to know about (thanks to Khim Tan, former Group Chief Human Resource Officer Alliance Bank Malaysia):

1. Out with FOMO, here comes FOBO
The Fear Of Missing Out is fast, giving way to the Fear Of Becoming Obsolete.
AI has become a morale killer. In addition to questions about how automation, machine learning and AI are going to lead to job losses The new frontier is the mental health and morale issues that arise from FOBO.

2. Out with VUCA, here comes BANI
Of course the world is still Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous, but people are increasingly Brittle (our systems and processes look strong, but might crumble) and Anxious in a world that is Non-Linear (that is, current events are no longer a cohesive extension of past events) and Incomprehensible (worse than ambiguous).

3. We need to tread with CARE
Specifically, the way to survive in a FOBO BANI world is by being Creative, Agile, Resilient and Empathetic.

That goes as much for the comms team as it does for the rest of the organisation, whose public perceptions you are stewarding.