In today’s VUCA world(Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous ), leaders depend on colleagues and followers to get information and expertise. We have seen how the Pandemic hit the entire world by surprise and now the war cry in Ukraine is hitting the business stability and peaceful operations. This is evidence that we are all connected across the globe and what happens in some corner sure does affect the results of another.
There was a time when a single hero could salvage the team results; however today unified skills and mindset can be the only way out. The leadership of the 21st century is a contact sport where we are impacted due to the decision-making of another organization, market, political system, team members, or country.
Keeping professionally distant relationships with reportees was a norm of yesteryears, however, today dissolving hierarchical boundaries and keeping an agile team may be more suitable to times. Avoiding any form of nepotism and favoritism can be achieved with regular team engagements, one on ones, discussions. etc
Low trust and insufficient communication across hierarchical levels can result in low quality, serious accidents, and scandals. Leaders who can operate higher team bonding and trust sure created better results. Rather than an authoritative style if one opts for democratic measures of understanding, one can go a long way in dealing with VUCA. Building personal connections and safe operative methods can breed long-term trust; thereby keeping the team together in times of contingency.
A VUCA environment can be dangerously disruptive. 3 BEST Hacks to deal with VUCA:
- Address Volatility with Vision: Creating a compelling vision for the organization is the first step to deal with regular volatility in the industry and the ecosystem.
- Clarity Revisits in Uncertainty and Complexity: Making clarity a top priority with resources -challenges -roadblocks into a new opportunity is the way to thrive in VUCA situations.
- Fight ambiguity with agility: Staying nimble and agile at all times allows you to flex in accordance with times. Make learning -creativity, and dialogue a way of your agile stance to come out of ambiguous instances.
The Covid Pandemic has given us the biggest flavor of VUCA times and the Ukraine disaster is preparing us for more to come. Operating in the flat world would sure necessitate us to be more adaptive to the VUCA realities. Also keeping the teams together with personal touch and adaptability to all adversities will be the new order of the professional and political arena of leadership.
Are you a leadership athlete to deal with the VUCA world? Are you an autocrat or democrat leveraging your team’s intellectual quotient? What’s your game plan for VUCA times?
drsonaliduttabaanerjee 