Strategies for VUCA

“VUCA” is an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

It was coined by theorists in the US Army War College in the late 1980s to conceptualise the state of play as the Cold War drew to a close,

Today, VUCA is no longer just a concept for military strategists – it describes the situation for every one of us.

Change is sudden and dramatic. We can no longer expect the future to be a version of the past. Things have stopped making sense.

We need new thinking.

There is a saying in the military: “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. The enemy is VUCA.

The commander sets out the mission’s strategic intent. Get to the top of the hill by 06:00 and hold your position.

On the ground, the squadron works out how best to get there according to the situation they find and adjusting along the way. That’s what they are trained, equipped and paid to do.

What’s your situation, your strategic intent?

How should operating in a VUCA world affect your approach to running your business or project, and the way you treat your staff?

This is how VUCA shows up for people like us

We can feel overwhelmed and confused. There may be mental health issues as we battle to cope.

We’re swamped, including by too many choices.

We get 200 emails a day, and sit through endless meetings about everything because everything is priority.

We can’t get the “facts” or the “truth” from institutions, and we don’t know whom to trust anymore.

It’s not all bad. Sometimes people come together and there are happy surprises. The world’s scientists are all connected and there is progress towards a vaccine.

I think VUCA has always been with us, although the pace of change over the last fifty years is such that chaos is accelerated and is now manifest, for all to see.

There are no answers, only progress. Keep progressing. Gertrude Stein sums it up perfectly for me, when she says:

There is no answer

There never was an answer

There never will be an answer

That, is the answer

This might be useful

I’ve worried about stuff all my life, with a deep sense of not being in control. Now we have a term to describe part of the cause – VUCA, how the world is.

Having said that, I have got this far having developed strategies. And I am going to share some of them in a series of short videos called “Strategies for VUCA”.

The first five were recorded before the coronavirus lockdown in the UK, the virus being a perfect example of VUCA.

In the first, I introduce the concept of VUCA and explain what’s to come in the following nine videos.

The second is about “Keeping moving”, followed by: “Confidence”, “New Thinking” and “Delegation”.

Posted at weekly intervals, they will appear on my website and LinkedIn and via my weekly blog to my subscribers.

They are not super slick, but I’ve done my best.

You’ve come this far, too, so you have strategies

I think they’ll be useful for people like us who are running businesses, projects and leading teams.

I’ve come this far in life and so have you, so you also have your strategies.

Watching my Strategies for VUCA may bring to the surface and make you aware of your best strategies.

I’d love to hear about them from you.