Why Leaders Struggle in a VUCA World
VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) leadership might be a necessary approach in a post-pandemic world. While VUCA is a concept that has existed for years, modern organisational leaders have discovered a resurgence in its importance. Rapid digitisation and the COVID pandemic have resulted in an increasingly VUCA climate that requires unshakeable leadership despite unforeseen and sudden challenges.
However, even before the pandemic, the Development Dimensions International and The Conference Board estimates only 18% of leaders to be successful in a VUCA world. The low numbers proved worrisome but expected since VUCA defies decision-making conventions and forces leaders to emerge from their comfort zones in record time.
Under a VUCA environment, leaders can no longer depend on precedent information as a reliable roadmap. Additionally, decision-makers require a certain level of skill and versatility to cope with overwhelming change. Traditional leaders may find themselves ill-equipped to handle a novel situation. The primary fear lies in a disrupted system.
Yet, VUCA leadership is challenging but learnable. Most national leaders did not assume their positions fully prepared for VUCA events such as wars and financial recessions. There are no standard leadership manuals that cover these issues in full detail with step-by-step instructions. It is the determination, grit, and willingness to adapt that separates influential world leaders from benchwarmers that the world soon forgets.
And it is from the former that organisational leaders can derive valuable lessons to succeed in a VUCA atmosphere — through the new normal, and beyond.
The Illusion of Control
VUCA forces organisational leaders to re-evaluate the meaning of control as routines and systems begin to fail. Leaders should allocate some time in the chaos to identify the things that don’t matter and those beyond control. Issues that fall under either category should disappear from the mind of an effective VUCA leader.
Organisational leaders can expect scarce resources during VUCA scenarios, and so it’s crucial to spend time and effort wisely. Similarly, leaders should inspire and encourage employees to invest their focus and energies in meaningful engagements and tasks. For example, rather than fretting over market uncertainties, leaders can provide workers with training opportunities that keep them relevant through industry changes.
VUCA leaders can prime their teams for success by engaging them in regular conversations that discuss the most effective ways to invest the time at work.
The Lack of Empathy
Decision-makers should never discount the vast impact of empathetic leadership. A VUCA world throws everything into disarray, and most employees will find themselves facing a highly stressful state of mind. Instead of hurrying employees through the process, leaders should create a positive workplace culture that offers technical and emotional support at all times.
Empathy relates to the ability to recognise and share the thoughts and feelings of others. As a VUCA leader, it’s vital to let employees feel like you’re with them every step of the way and never under the impression of being left in the lurch at any point. It’s also crucial to understand and provide the resources and support that employees need to function at their best in their respective roles.
Leaders can help “make lives easier” by putting themselves in employees’ shoes and recognising their immediate concerns. If necessary, decision-makers should consider introducing new workplace policies, employee benefits, and technologies to raise productivity and overall worker satisfaction.
Empathy is a vital component in VUCA leadership, yet studies show a decline among populations throughout recent years. And ironically, the interconnected cyber world might have a part to play in the expanding gap among people.
Psychologist Michele Borba notes, “It’s very hard to be empathetic and feel for another human being if you can’t read another person’s emotions. You don’t learn emotional literacy facing a screen. You don’t learn emotional literacy with emojis.”
As much as possible, VUCA leaders should aim to foster deep and meaningful connections with employees through face-to-face communication, which comprises significant verbal and non-verbal cues.
Reliance on Rigid Structures
A sense of order and categorisation places things into perspective at the workplace. Roles and SOPs exist to streamline processes with minimal disruption. However, times are changing, and true VUCA leaders understand that there will be many “overlaps” in various areas. It has become counter-productive to expect or rely on a standard flow of information and structure.
Chris Morgan, a business transformation expert at global management consulting firm ZS, shared, “Everything overlaps. Everything’s interdependent. The “typical change” today is more multi-variate and interwoven than the change of years ago. Fixing “one bit” of the organization increasingly isn’t an option.”
Hence, modern VUCA leaders need to keep an open mind, accepting that it is becoming increasingly common to encounter shifting problems where risk-taking is necessary against ambiguity. The influx of complexities and sudden/rapid changes in the market, society, and economy have further reduced the appeal of the sunk cost fallacy.
You might invest in a digital solution only to learn that a better system launches the following week. Your cybersecurity standards may be impregnable, but you catch wind of a novel online threat and find yourself scrambling for a software update. Workplace skills may become irrelevant with the blink of an eye, and the list goes on.
Leaders need to keep their ears to the ground and respond swiftly and effectively to the latest trends with minimal delays. In that regard, automated workplace solutions can help organisations run with optimal performance through real-time data.
As mentioned early in the article, VUCA isn’t a fresh concept. However, the availability, accessibility, and rapidity of modern technology have made VUCA more impactful now than in previous years. Stan Silverman, author, and CEO of Silverman Leadership, describes the current situation as a “time for resilience, perseverance, and innovation.”
While there is no such thing as a bulletproof organisational strategy, VUCA leadership can help decision-makers navigate violent change more confidently and, in some cases, with fewer missteps.
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