Swim Schools in Changing Times

BY RAFAELE MADORMO

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

ALVIN TOFFLER

The complexity of planning and managing organizations, of any model, in this contemporary world, which is at a crossroads, reorganizing its vision, its basic values, its social and political structure for this new model of society that has emerged in the so-called fourth industrial revolution, has only increased. Alvin Toffler, writer and futurist in the 1980’s coined the lapidary phrase: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Fact.

New practices replace old ones and require new behaviors and responses. We need to unlearn and thus abandon what no longer serves us in order to adopt new knowledge. Today it is crucial to understand and practice the concept of lifelong learning, both formal and informal, because it makes it possible to keep pace with the evolution of society.

On the other hand, the Zeitgeist, a German word meaning the spirit of the times, guides what people want and seek at a given moment in civilization. In the early 20s of the 21st century, it can be expressed by technology, environment, agility, inclusion, continuous learning, sustainability, social responsibility, volatility, etc.

VUCA AND BANI WORLDS

There are two theories turned into acronyms, created at different times, that try to guide the reflections to face, at least reasonably, the circumstances of today’s reality: the VUCA world and the BANI world.

VUCA is an acronym created in the late 1980s by the US Army War College to illustrate the world that emerged from a post-Cold War scenario and, in the early 2000s, began to be cited in business books, being incorporated into the strategic analyses of companies.

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity became common concepts for people working with strategy and planning.

Volatility means that changes cause very large variations, quickly and constantly. Uncertainty caused by rapid change blurs the vision of the future, making planning difficult. Complexity means that everything is interconnected, people and technologies, complicating decisions. And Ambiguity no longer allows us to be clear about what is right or wrong, making it difficult to read the scenario. However, for a large group of people, the VUCA world no longer makes sense, as current conditions are different from when the theory was created, so a new way of interpreting it has emerged; the BANI World.

The concept was developed by American anthropologist, author, and futurist Jamais Cascio and presented in an article called Facing the Age of Chaos, published on the Medium website on April 29, 2020.

BANI is an acronym for Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible.

Brittle – Disastrous situations can suddenly arise. The pandemic is one example. Anxious – Reflecting this fragile world, anxiety disorders have become a hallmark of our time. Non-linear – Cause and effect are supposed to be unconnected or even divergent, which generate disproportionate reactions. Incomprehensible – We have no knowledge of how things work, and the phenomenal amount of data and information makes it no easier to find answers. Nothing is certain anymore.

In the view of the theory’s author Jamais Cascio, how to adapt to the reality shaped by the BANI world “...fragility can be addressed by resilience and empowerment; anxiety can be relieved by empathy and mindfulness; non-linearity would need context and flexibility; incomprehension calls for transparency and intuition. These may be reactions rather than solutions, but they suggest the possibility of finding answers”.

Making good decisions in this world where the paradigm is constant change at increasing speed, brought about by complex, mostly dissonant and disorganized elements, is not simple. Understanding the importance of analyzing the macro-environment, be it through the VUCA World or BANI World approach, I consider it essential to focus on two points in particular: technology and the human factor.

“Technology creates the setting and human beings are the performers who star in the play.”

TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN FACTOR

Technology is one of the mainsprings of mankind’s development and plays a major role in the changes and the speed with which they occur, so it is important to stress that companies, especially those in the water sector, need a change of mindset to achieve the crucial digital transformation. Many imagine that acquiring software and transferring processes from the analog world to the digital world, without changing the logic of how things are done, is enough to transform their business digitally, when in reality, they have taken only the first step, the so-called digitalization. Important, but insufficient to achieve the necessary transformation.

Digital transformation means a change in strategic mindset. Processes are built for a reality where the barriers between the physical world and the virtual world are increasingly blurred. And this is key to offering customers a fluid and integrated experience at any time they have contact with the brand, whether online or in person. Therefore, digital transformation is an imperative condition to be in tune with the context of the world in the 21st century. Based on the integrative vision of the physical and virtual worlds, the manager must pay particular attention to the implementation of tools made available by technology to collect and organize data, as they are vital for customer-centric management.

The concept of customer centricity is directly linked to organizational culture and reflects how the company thinks and acts with its customers. Most swimming schools have in their culture the proximity to the customer, which facilitates this quest to understand and deliver the positive sensations through water that they expect. The addition of the use of customer experience management programs complements the information detected in the personal relationship and enhances the delivery of results.

It is well known that technological evolution directly reflects on the way generations relate to and absorb it, impacting on the transformation of society’s behavior over time. The generations born as of the 90s of the 20th century, onwards, relate to the internet in a similar way as the pre-commercial internet generations related to electric power, that is, something natural and essential in their way of interacting with the world. They barely notice its presence, except when it is missing. Thus, a large part of current customers and in the near future, the majority, demand a relationship guided by agility and availability, with the fewest barriers to get the service or product in the desired time. The paradox of technological evolution and its importance for human beings lies in the fact that the more virtual the world is, the greater the need to intensify human relationships. Technology in excess activates the “Human Mode” as defined by Rohit Bhargava, Professor of Marketing at Georgetown University: “people seek and value more physical, authentic, and ‘imperfect’ experiences, empathetically designed and delivered by humans.” This is reflected in consumption, as Professor Bhargava adds “Consumers want authentic connection and compelling stories behind their brand choices.” Within Barghava’s Human Way perspective, swimming schools and aquatic activity centers in general are, by vocation, centers of human relationships, which offer the desired real-world experiences. Moreover, as a

universal characteristic, swim schools are local businesses and owned by people known to their customers and regulars, with life stories that create real connections, becoming a positive factor of relevance in the market competition to have their brand chosen, in a world where large organizations proliferate.

Besides the human factor, the manager must also pay attention to the use of technological tools in an appropriate way, to collect and organize data, seeking the balance between the abundant availability of information with the real capacity to transform it into applicable knowledge, so as not to spend energy and time on information that does not add value and even complicates the decision-making process. In management it is essential to choose the appropriate and assertive performance indicators for decision making.

The symbiosis between technology and human beings becomes more and more noticeable, and as it could not be otherwise, in the management of any aquatic organization, the use of technological resources is necessary to facilitate the processes, whatever they may be (administrative, commercial, financial, etc.), but in the relationship in the water with customers / students / patients / athletes, technology should serve as a support for the relationship between people. As I often state “Technology creates the setting and human beings are the performers who star in the play.”

ESG

As a conclusion to this text, I bring the issue of sustainability to the field of swimming schools and aquatic activity centers. This theme gained strength in 2004 in a publication called Who Cares Wins, an initiative of the World Bank in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and financial institutions. The publication created the acronym ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) that seeks to combine economic, sustainable, and social development practices. This action took sustainability to another level, showing companies that investment in sustainable actions, as a broader understanding generated by ESG, is the way to keep them relevant in the market.

Proving that this is a trend that will be absorbed by the aquatic sector, there is already the first swim school in the world to receive a B certification – which attests that the companies that have it respect the highest standards of social and environ- mental performance, transparency, and legal responsibility – achieved in September 2022 by Ocaquatics of Miami (Indoor Warm Water Swim Lessons | Miami | OcaquaticsSwimSchool).

To be aligned with ESG behavior, swimming schools and aquatic activity centers have the task of following the behavior of customers, who are increasingly vigilant and concerned about giving back, in the form of consumption, to those who

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are committed to causes that are relevant according to the spirit of our time. Following the ESG vision, in the aspect of environmental awareness, companies and aquatic entities should, as an example, be concerned with the conscious consumption of water, invest in reuse, seek clean energy sources, etc. In the social issue, they must be attentive to the behavioral changes that are occurring and, as a result, offer adequate locker room spaces, be prepared for the inclusion of people with disabilities (physical, hearing, visual or intellectual), support important causes in the community such as aquatic safety, etc. And in the governance vision, to be attentive to ethical practices by investing in processes for the security of customer information, to act with transparency in the relationship with customers and employees, etc.

In conclusion; there are many factors that interfere in the management of any business, and in this text I have described only a few, which cannot be disregarded in the strategic plan that every swimming school or aquatic activity center must have. Planning in the VUCA and/or BANI World is difficult, but not planning makes the trip happen on a bumpy road, without lighting, without signs, with many dangerous curves on a dark and rainy night. Thank you for your time and I hope the text can help you improve your trip.

Bibliographic references:

Barghava, R. (2021). Livro não óbvio – Como antecipar tendências e dominar o futuro. Buzz Editora. Cascio, J. (2020, Abril 29). Facing the Age of Chaos. https://medium.com/@cascio/facing-theage-of-chaos-b00687b1f51d Tofler, A. (1992). A terceira onda. Editora Record.

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