Coaching in VUCA World
Initially coined by US Army, VUCA’s an acronym for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA), with specific emphasis on the leadership required to navigate the prevailing environment. Businesses and individuals alike face these challenges on a daily basis. A sudden market crash, rapid product obsolescence, political and policy uncertainty, the rapid growth of technology, etc are endemic and expected. Human beings, over a millennium, had adopted a Stable, Certain, Simple and Clear (SCSC) environment. We learned to deal with such changes from family, history, schools, friends, mentors, etc. However, the change occurs at lightning speed these days and the environment is VUCA! What was true in the morning, is irrelevant by evening. Situations such as 9/11, pandemics, outbreaks of wars, Brexit, etc have taught us to expect the world to remain VUCA. So, how does one respond to these changes?
Below is the best breakdown of the VUCA concept I have found: Volatility:?A brutal increase in four dimensions of the changes that we face today: the type, speed, volume, and scale; Uncertainty:?As a result of the Volatility, we are unable to predict future events; Complexity:?Widespread confusion, with no clear connection between cause and effect, affects all organizations nowadays; Ambiguity:?There is a lack of precision and the existence of multiple meanings within the conditions surrounding us.
I model my coaching style to VUCA Prime [Robert Johansen] ie. Help client develop a Vision of a compelling future, create a deeper Understanding of external factors, Arrive at a Clarity by simplifying for execution and help develop Agility by the practice of collaboration, delivery, reflection, and improving agreed metrics. It is extremely important to orient the coaching sessions towards creating awareness and understanding of VUCA Prime.
Clarifying Vision to overcome Volatility
Generate more Understanding to deal with Uncertainty
1.?????On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your understanding of your business EPISTLE? What about your team?
2.?????What can you do to create a better understanding of yourself and the overall business about the vision you have created?
3.?????What are the potential areas of the gap, which you could foresee and would like to plan for to create a better understanding of the current business circumstances?
4.?????Where would you focus in the next 1 week, 1 month, 1 year? What are the pitfalls you would watch out for?
5.?????Which areas are the most vulnerable? Which areas are the strongest?
?Help Clarify to deal with Complexity
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1.?????What are your priorities today? How does it change in a week, a month, a year and beyond?
2.?????What are the essential NVAs; What are your plans for those? By when do you plan to get rid of these?
3.?????Have you carried out an org survey of the complexity or confusion of processes? What could be the ways in which you could simplify and clarify processes?
4.?????Have you analyzed your organizations' information flow? How does it compare to your speed and quantity requirement? What can you realistically do to influence these?
Help create Agility to deal with Ambiguity
1.?????How do you plan for contingency in your organization? Who all are involved and how does each critical stakeholder contribute to this?
2.?????Can you share when your team / your organization displayed agility and saved the day? What were the circumstances?
3.?????How and if agility/flexibility is part of your business planning process?
4.?????When was the last time you involved in your agility/contingency planning process? What were the outcomes?
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