We Live in a VUCA World

I had the chance to do some research today and by accident came across a new thought; to me anyway. It is the idea that we live in a VUCA world. For those that don’t know, VUCA is term that comes from military vocabulary, appearing in the 1990s it has since been introduced into the realm of strategic leadership and adopted by corporations worldwide.

A VUCA world is one defined by:

• Volatility: change is guaranteed, our world is fast paced, dynamic, catalytic
• Uncertainty: a lack of predictability, the potential for surprise, and a sense of awareness
• Complexity: describes the innumerable ideas, confounding issues, chaos and confusion
• Ambiguity: reflects the haziness of truth or reality, the mixed meanings, the potential for misreading

These elements present a worldview from which organisations build their management, vision, purpose and strategy. But you would have to agree that whilst it may be realistic it is also pretty discouraging. If that is the world leaders see and respond to, it is no wonder that leadership is often defensive, controlling, manipulative and reactionary.

Kevin Roberts, (CEO of Saachi & Saachi) envisions a different superVUCA world. He redefines the elements and suggests what I think is a much more positive, exciting and empowering worldview, and one that challenges leaders to be creative. (His labels, my definitions.)

• Vibrant: an exciting mosaic of energetic, animated, multi-cultural and multi-sensory overload
• Unreal: ‘real’ is contextually defined, it is informed (only in part) by instant information and imagination, it is incredible and weird
• Crazy: unstructured, flexi-bounded, messy, chaotic, fun, foolish and wild
• Astounding: surprising, joyful, amazing and wonderful

Our job as leaders is to expand and celebrate the impossible with truth, joy and inclusion. Robert’s suggests that to be a superVUCA leader requires that we forget about the NEW and we embrace the NOW. “Welcome to the Age of NOW” he says, “the time of power to the people, of 6.8 billion “screenagers” who are always-on, instantly-demanding, immediately-sharing, if we feel loved!”

The superVUCA world demands leaders understand that the age of the Modern, the NEW, is gone. NOW is the era that must inform our leadership. (The following table (adapted from Roberts) contrasts the characteristics that define the different leaders.) We need NOW leaders – please. 

 

ERA OF NEW	AGE OF NOW
Attention	Participation
Inform	Inspire
Interruption	Interaction
Return on Investment	Return on Involvement
Local	Global
Counting Numbers	Creating Movements

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – 

is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause.” 

(Vince Lombardi: ESPN Coach of the Century) 

Encouraging, Empowering, Equipping Leadership

There go the people: 

I must follow them for I am their Leader. 

(Alexandre Ledru-Rollin)

I watched an example of (what I thought was) excellent leadership in action this morning, and found myself wishing that I had always experienced leadership like it.

It was in the context of a tough session where a new strategy and operating model was being announced. People knew it was coming and they had their own ideas, and fears of what it meant for them: would they have a job tomorrow, how was what they knew, what they had become comfortable with, going to change.

Into this anxious crowd walked the boss; a white haired, friendly looking, extroverted Yank. He started by making fun of himself and in moments had most laughing (except the one severe looking guy whose look would have curdled milk at a thousand paces), and that's not always easy to do when you are working across cultures. I watched the people in the room (the changes don't directly impact on me) as the Yank sold a tough new operating model and a more focused strategy - and he took the people with him. Two hours later as he finished his concluding remarks they stood and applauded him as he bowed and curtsied.

I have been trying to identify some of what he did and I have come up with the following list which is by no means exhaustive, but I think they are all characteristics of a person I will follow, even when it might hurt.

• Trust - There is no doubt he's the boss. He's been around a while and during that time has built a relationship of trust. His people trust him because they have seen a man of integrity
• Integrity - He does what he says, and says what he does. He has not given people any reason to doubt that he is honest in all his dealings, he has earned the teams respect
• Respect - people respect him, they have not always liked his decisions, but because they know they can trust him and see his heart, they respect him, and they follow him, because they know he is their advocate
• Advocate - His boss is the international leader, but today in his words, and by his actions he made it clear that his job was to fight for this team, these people: that meant giving them all the details he had so that they were as fully informed as they possibly could be. "After all", he said, "its your country, your office, your futures, not his, and I am trusting you to keep the information to those that need to know". He left no secrets
• No Secrets - one, if not the most destructive elements in a team, is secrets. If information is power then secrets are 'smart bombs'. (Every one accepts that there is information that cannot, or is not ready to be shared with everybody, but when it has the power to impact others then surely it is their right to know.) Today people felt that they had been told the truth.
• Truth - The boss outlined why things were changing, he spoke about things that were working and things that weren't - he pulled no punches - he told us how the new was going to affect us and he apologised for leadership decisions that had not worked
• Humility - He did not pretend that he had always got it right, and he was willing to say sorry, and all of this happened with moments of laughter, with fun - yet no one denied the seriousness of the message
• Fun - you don't have to be an extrovert, (I should know) but you do have to be able to step outside yourself and laugh; at yourself, at your mistakes, and with others as they follow you
• Leader - the last of my observations, (there's more but this rant will do), was that people were following him, willingly - even though they know this is going to be tough they all signed  up to follow.

I think that what I saw today was a man that is really in leadership to serve. He is here to give himself for his team so that together they might just transform the lives of children and communities in Afghanistan.

People are governed only by serving them;

the rule is without exception.

(V. Cousin)