Leadership in the VUCA world

Last week, I was invited to be part of a panel discussion at BW People Virtual Summit and the topic was ‘New Expectations from Leaders in VUCA World”. Expanding on what I shared:

While VUCA environment has been around for a while now, the attention on this is much more due to speed at which it is increasingly manifesting itself.  As far as leadership in organisations is concerned, they understand what it means for their organisations, however, key question is how prepared they are to keep pace with this change. Are they largely guided by past success mantras or they have a more strategic, wholesome approach to navigate it.

The current Pandemic has created a classic VUCA situation and its handling may offer a potential test case for time to come.

While Covid took everyone by surprise, we have witnessed great stories of adaptation and resilience.  For example, how organisations switched to having employees work remotely and ensure continuity of business. Also, support provided to employees and care that was demonstrated even while making difficult decisions. However, there are others that left a lot to be desired.  In general, lot of organisations both profit and non-profit rose to the occasion for the larger cause.

However, this has been an unprecedented situation where it is Do or Perish. Change does not always arrive like that and we may not even realise before it causes irreversible damage.

As leaders, some operate from a short-term reactive space versus others who have a purpose and vision that is guiding them and the organisation. The former reflect behaviours of self-preservation versus latter who lead with a mindset of selfless transformation, driven by long term purpose and well-being all around. Which one of these will serve us better?  

The VUCA world is here to stay and will manifest in different shapes and forms.  What will help leaders is to stay calm, operate from a deeper, expanded awareness of our own inner selves and care & compassion for the world at large. Let that be the guiding light and the ‘phronesis’ (Aristotle) – practical wisdom enabling leaders to determine what is good in specific times. Can we do this on a sustained basis?

Further, as organisations, what will help is to build Systemic muscle and readiness – model scenarios and put to test your leadership team, business capabilities, customer portfolio and people engagement frameworks.

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