VUCA Re-envisioned

Humans — A bunch of creatures, created to rationalize, emotionalize, and analyze things. With a varied judgmental frame of mindsets, all of us have different levels of concern to different topics. This results in distinct choices; these unique choices generate better understanding based on which either capable or a chaotic leader arises. The lack of techniques leads to the beginning of workplace issues, which generally is termed as VUCA.

VUCA — Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous.

Origins of VUCA

This term was coined in the 1990s by the U.S Army, it had a surprising shift from combat zones to the corporate world for leadership and strategic planning. Taking examples like the Global financial crisis of 2008, when the entire world faced a severe financial crisis. Some developing countries that experienced major economic growth also faced serious slowdowns. The growth forecasts in Cambodia fell from more than 10% in 2007 to close to zero in 2009, and Kenya was expected to realize just 3–4% growth in 2009, down from 7%. These situations were quite challenging and no less than a war! This is how the term VUCA slowly slid into the boardrooms from war zones. And the rest is history, VUCA is in the air!

VUCA — The eternal norm

Talking about the leadership pattern in the early 90s, it was more of an autocratic style and today’s leaders are democratic and individualistic. But, in recent years VUCA has gained momentum in daily life to describe the uncertain environment. Despite all the complications, it has managed to be mainstream.

Not forgetting, the ongoing condition has left us unreliable on every possible thing. Categorizing the situations into pre-covid and post-covid, there’s a world of difference between the two phases. The current pandemic is fueling VUCA, resulting in full-time employment disruptions and the navigation is also quite difficult. Apart from the above upsetting factors, the epidemic has led to smart remote work, which happens to be a great initiative in this dire strait. If at all, the world was all about VUCA before the pandemic, so, what about now? Who’s experiencing more VUCA?

It comes with questions — a stack of questions!

Redefining VUCA

Value-driven, Unity, Clarity, Assertiveness.

Value-driven

What does the word value mean to you?

Understanding that different people prioritize a varied set of values that guide them in different directions, the values of the heart like love, honesty, gratitude, kindness, and respect remain constant. These are the undeniable chunks for every human to inculcate. Cutting down your morals to fit in this year’s fashion is no less than a conspiracy against yourself. Following a set of standards that reflect your inner self is a must and one has to be a man of his words.

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” — Gordon A. Eadie

Unity

Each one of us must decide what can be done, individually and collectively, to drive the kind of change we need in the world.

Lack of unity is what halts growth in anything — your firm, your family, or our nation. There’s a need to unite for the community. We must work to stand unanimously for collective bearing and problem-solving approach.

Clarity

Clarity is delivering a specific message to know the difference between what exactly is happening vs what shouldn’t be happening.

Lack of clarity — Stems from the inefficiency to identify the real problem.

Do you have one single picture that your entire team could understand and help you make better and easier decisions? Having a strategic and crisp plan is a must.

According to the surveys, 90% of businesses fail within ten years. The only mantra in order to minimize this trial and error method is, to find your blue ocean. Wherein, you know your targets and the key to find your right team.

Assertiveness

Confidence, Clear, Controlled.

Everyone wants to feel empowered and acknowledged at the workplace. But, most of the time being misunderstood to be aggressive while trying to express positive or negative ideas or feelings openly is a frequent concept. Despite the chaos, sticking to the right thought and making the right decision is only the key to success.

“When we analyze how we make decisions, we witness the interplay of the heart and mind. We observe that the heart protests loudly when we choose something not so good for us, whereas when we make the right decision the same heart remains silent and at peace. That’s how the heart speaks; there are no loud signals when we do the right thing.” — Daaji.

The 7% rule

Prof. Mehrabian combined the statistical results of the two studies and came up with the rule that communication is only 7% verbal and 93% non-verbal. The non-verbal component was made up of body language (55%) and tone of voice (38%). This gives a clear picture of why the art of passive communication is so important.

Future of new VUCA

It’s time to free yourself from the old paradigm and march towards the new one. Because the brand new VUCA is here to stay. So, the next time you hear of VUCA it should no longer give you a sinking feeling. Instead, it’s a sign of progress, where you are in the middle of a transformation.