To carry out a successful business strategy in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, leaders must embrace what they are not aware of and accept changes. This has become a huge part of strategic planning in the VUCA environment. The more complex and volatile industries are becoming, the harder it is to predict changes thus the more uncertain it will be. What varies mainly is how much you know about the situation and how accurately you can be able to predict the possible outcomes which are to deal with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the business world. The strategy and implementation of any work plan must be flexible enough to adapt and manoeuvre. Most Corporations are aware of VUCA but still have challenges when it comes to dealing with it. Other corporations have already turned the tide upside down through innovation and quickly adapted to changes through the inverted VUCA which has the following meanings:
Vision (or planned insight and excellent leadership).
Understanding (thanks to data analysis, devising, compassion maps, and market research).
Clarity (the ability to simplify and communicate with others to solve complex problems).
Agility (the capacity to adjust and take action to change swiftly).
We can help our businesses to strive in this environment by knowing how to deal with human resources. Therefore, moving along with all your staff. The main aim of this article is to help you ensure that the employees will be part of the overall strategy of dealing with this VUCA environment.
According to McKinsey “An organization is made up of not only teams but of a network of teams within a people-centred culture guided by a common purpose to co-create value, then teams need to be empowered as a team is empowered, it is able to make its own decisions, fail quickly with lower risk, and learn fast”.
The question arises now how do you empower your employees to thrive, and promote flexibility, adaptability, and agility in this environment?
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Plan in advance, build in contingency time and also be prepared to alter your plans as events unfold.
Recruit, develop and promote people who thrive in VUCA environments. These people are likely cooperative, comfortable with uncertainty and shift and have multifaceted thinking skills.
Encourage your people to think and work outside of their usual functional areas, so as to increase their knowledge and experience. Job rotation and cross-training can be excellent ways to improve team agility.
Lead your team members without dictating or controlling them. Develop a cooperative environment and work hard to develop consensus.
Encourage debate, dissent, and participation from everyone. Provide leadership that enables the business to survive in tough times moving away from the dependency syndrome where you can only thrive under a strong economy only. Embrace an "ideas culture."
Kevin Roberts, of advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi, coined this alternative VUCA definition: "Vibrant, unreal, crazy and astounding." This illustrates the type of dynamic culture that can give teams and organizations an edge in uncertain times.
An ideas culture is vital so I will expand on how to achieve this. The following things can be done by leaders to create an idea-generating culture:
Lead by example
The best and only way to create the culture you want is by being a role model. Your intention is to inspire others to copy your behaviour, thus to guide others through your behaviour instead of your words.
Be a paranoid optimist
Always learn to see the worst-case scenario possibilities and by doing so you naturally begin to think about how to prevent them from happening. As you think about ways to decrease a negative outcome, you can identify and implement ways which can make it easier to tilt your way to success.
Think in alternatives
Thinking about changes is not just about recognizing existing options but about continuously imagining and even providing different scenarios, then also recognizing the actions associated with each alternative.
This is not just about a list of realistic scenarios and formulating the related action plans. You can also develop activities that will make an unrealistic positive situation feasible.
Every decision to be made always must consider what are the alternatives as this will minimize the chances of overlooking some issues in your decisions.
Build Trust
Thinking in options is only truly feasible in an atmosphere where individuals trust each other with no fear of being cut out of action or disapproved. Trust both lubricates the gears and is the glue that holds the whole thing all together. Always assume the best of intentions from others. When someone has a suggestion that you are not interested in or delivers news you'd rather not receive, better ask for clarification other than lashing out. Work openly, frankly and directly and anticipate others to do the same equally. If you can follow that rule it will change how you all behave in a lot of situations.
Encourage accountability
Let everyone in the team feel the ownership of their own roles as well as for the company and when everyone feels accountable, there is an unstoppable force towards exploring new ways to think about and do things. Also, people will begin to come up with various alternatives to deal with issues and challenges.
In closing, the following are key:
Reward staff who establish vision, knowledge, precision, and agility. Let your people see what kind of behaviour you value by highlighting innovations and calculated risk-taking moves in this environment. It’s equally important to reward your employees as well as understand how they wish to be rewarded. Some people would not opt for a pay raise or bonus but just a sincere appreciation for a job well done or even a day off.
Chris Munodawafa is studying towards being a Chartered Accountant (Zimbabwe) through BDO as well as CAA where he also works as a lecturer. He holds the Chartered Institute of Governance (now CGI Zimbabwe) qualification and a Bachelor of Commerce Special Honours in Accounting with Great Zimbabwe University
