A Special Issue: The World of VUCA
“What VUCA Really Means For You”
James Lemoine & Nathan Bennet (2014)
What is VUCA?
Strategic business leaders are increasingly using the catch-all term VUCA which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. An acronym that is used to describe the ever-changing business world. A VUCA world will require organizations and their HR management team to be versatile in re-pivoting business objectives when responding to disruptions to their company.
A common example used in relation to VUCA is the 2008 financial crisis. Rendering many business models, as the world tries to maintain their stance in one of the most turbulent environments an economy has seen. Naturally, we turn to the pandemic that has crippled the normal practices of how organizations usually run. If you haven’t already, We highly recommend the Deloitte 2021 Global Human Capital Trends report; which dives into the important facets of adapting your company in a pandemic-era.
End work/life balance
Beyond re-skilling
Super-teams
Governing workforce
Re-archecting work
The COVID-19 pandemic had and is still having a devastating impact on businesses. To list a few, the pandemic brought health & wellbeing to the forefront – people's physical and mental health as well as their livelihoods are at the focus, complete shift to remote work and the emergence of agile working; the growing prevalence of workforce resilience, to go beyond re-skilling employees and allowing employees to thrive in their workspace; of course, the technology revolution – we see companies re-architecting work and coupling tech with humans to produce effective solutions; lastly, a higher emphasis on effective leadership practices, with the appearance of authentic leadership and psychological safety.
VUCA in detail
Below, we have adapted a graphic from Harvard business review to define the specific tenants of VUCA and also provided an example to aid in the application of VUCA to the pandemic-era we live in now.
References
Bennett, N., & Lemoine, J. (2014). What VUCA really means for you. Harvard business review, 92(1/2).