Have you heard of VUCA? – this is an acronym used by the US Army War College to describe an environment as Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. This is how leaders we work with have been describing the current challenges they are facing. We have found this model useful to assess challenging situations from a leadership perspective. Whilst we have become better at recognising, or more used to VUCA-type situations, leaders are still asking themselves what kind of leadership is required to be most effective at times like these…
In conjunction with a desire to know what to do, we have heard from our clients that they also cannot handle more information, so complex models are not what today’s leaders are looking for. As Newfield Network founder, Julio Ollala often says – leaders need more wisdom not more knowledge. We have found this table by Jon Mertz from 2014 a useful starting place for leadership based on VUCA challenges. This offers helpful direction on what to do and when.
Written by Kairos Associate: Jo Heeson
