A Day Leading in my VUCA World
Inclusive Leadership Helps Manage the Challenge of our VUCA world
What a week we had in Colorado Springs! If there was ever an encyclopedia example of the VUCA world that we live in (and the importance to have good inclusive leadership skills), last week was the “poster-child” week for my Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous world that Bob Johansen refers to in his writing[1]. In one single week, we were hit by death and an “explosive winter cyclone” that handicapped logistics and communication while implementing a new program with limited access to the architects of the program. As I reflect on the learning from that week, I noticed that without the practice of inclusive leadership and understanding on how to lead in a VUCA world, success would not have been possible.
As I may have previously mentioned, in addition to my work at the university, I facilitate different executive leadership workshops at the Center for Creative Leadership. This particular week of March, we had the honor to host a group of global leaders from Europe and USA at our Colorado Springs campus. The weeks prior to this training, we had many calls and meetings to align our new and improved program. Two of us were facilitating this new and improved program. The other facilitators was the expert on the new changes, activities and language, and I was training to help transfer the new learnings to the following June session. And we were ready and excited to implement this marvelous program. Monday morning, with 45 minutes till the arrival of the participants, my program coordinator and I got the bad news — our colleague, the expert of the new features of the program, had a unexpected death in the family and she had to recluse herself from the program to deal with the situation, decision which we supported and encouraged. Since this program was newly redesigned, we scrambled to find another facilitator. Twenty minutes before the start, we found another able facilitator, someone that I had been looking to work with, hoping for better circumstances. We quickly reassigned the different modules to reflect our knowledge of the material and we kicked off the program on time and seamlessly. We tackled the new activities supporting each other with bits of information and the participants ate up the new material with great curiosity, questions and enthusiasm. What a great crowd!
Two-thirds of the participants were Europeans, the majority from France and Spain. We also had several Americans, an Australian, a German, a Dutch and a Russian among the executives, representing different functions within their organizations. If you are familiar with the work from Erin Meyer, you would know that communication preferences greatly vary by cultural background[1]. In addition to spoken language in the classroom (only five native speakers in the workshop out of 17 participants), different cross-cultural communications styles became obviously needed shortly after the first couple of hours. On Tuesday, for example, we noticed that some of the forms used in the activities required a more detailed explanation of expectations, with clear examples to illustrate expectations and a closer follow up during group activities. We learned this by asking the participants and having both facilitators and our program coordinator watch for non-verbal language as well. We quickly adjusted our timetable and engaged one more colleague to ensure that the groups got the necessary support. Then, we started to pay attention to the weather forecast for Wednesday.
On Wednesday, we were planning to give them an experiential activity, synthesizing most of the learnings, taking advantage of the marvelous Colorado Springs outdoors. The activity was meant to occur at a beautiful retreat area named Glen Eyrie, a 723-acre property in Queen’s Canyon on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, next to the Garden of the Gods, for those of you that are familiar with the beautiful Colorado Springs. Weather called for rain early in the day, snow starting late morning (with various predictions on the potential accumulation ranging from inches to feet) but with a common agreement on the wind gusts of up to 90 mph (about 145 kph). In the almost twenty years this program has been running, this was the first time that it appeared we would have to postpone or cancel the outdoor activity. We collected opinions from local weather experts and other facilitators on potential alternatives. We consulted with other programs running on campus. We maintained the participants involved in the decision, listening to their willingness to weather a “bit of snow” as part of the adventure. We postponed the decision until Wednesday morning to have as much relevant information as possible. Keeping in mind our clear determination to provide a safe environment to learn and prioritizing the wellbeing of the participants, we cancelled the outdoor activity and, by engaging other experts in the campus, we developed a new program for that day, encapsulating the learning objectives for the day with indoor activities. Then the “explosive winter cyclone” arrived, with blizzard conditions, white-out conditions and wind gusts reaching 100 mph in certain areas… soon after lunch, we received news that highway I-25 between Colorado Springs and Denver was shutting down and the El Paso county sheriff department was urging everyone to stay indoors. We transported the participants to their hotel and started readjusting our program… again.
At that point, I heard from my wife and kids that our area had lost power, meaning that the furnace stopped working and temperature were expected to deep into the 10F (-12ºC). I was trapped in the south of the city with no possible way to drive up north because of the collapsed infrastructure and the responsibility to provide a good learning experience to our global participants. At home, we had small amounts of burning wood for the chimney, but the fire-starting expertise was me, caught in the hotel with the participants and then, cellular service crashed. Communicating intermittently via short message, I monitored the wellbeing of my family, while readjusting our plan for the participants. How do you keep the two complexities from work and personal lives from mixing? You do not. You deal with both complexities at once.
The complexities of this world require individuals to deal with different levels of complexity, where the connection between cause and effect is not always apparent. David Snowden developed the Cynefin Framework, a model that helps leaders deal with the known and unknown elements of complexity[2]. Snowden argued that leaders must determine what type of context they are dealing with, identifying five possible scenarios. The obvious scenario is one where the knowns are known, and best practices can guide leaders to reach the right decision. In the complicated scenario, leaders can only wish for the best option, tapping into the knowledge of experts, and relying on a collection of opinions from experts and non-experts to choose among the many different and potentially “right decisions”. The leader would need to sense the different options to the problem or opportunity, analyze the possibilities and respond with the best option. Those two scenarios, Obvious and Complicated, happen in the Predictable world. In the Unpredictable world, we have two alternatives — the Complex scenario, where the leader does not know what he does not know, and cause and effect is not clear until hindsight; and the Chaotic alternative where the cause and effect will never be known for certain. In the Chaotic scenario, action is needed, then the leader must sense if that action is helping to address the unknown nature of the issue affecting the organization, reassessing and responding again with more action. The Complex option will demand that the leader is not afraid to scanning the organization for experimental responses, implementing the perceived best option and reassessing and adjusting. As leaders, we need to first determine what type of complexity we are dealing with. According to Snowden, complexity involves a large number of interacting elements, developing into a dynamic system with a prior past that is affecting the current present and with constant and quickly changing contextual conditions.
Most people are familiar with Johansen’s VUCA world. A world which is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. VUCA Prime[3], the VUCA counterweight, recommends four specific actions to move from that complex and fragile world into a more agile world. Now, let’s be clear — there is no one single solution within the VUCA world. The purpose of VUCA prime is to help you implement the best possible solution at the time, but tweaking in constantly necessary. Just as we saw in Snowden’s Cynefin framework, a complex world forces the leaders to scan their environment and context, experiment with solutions and learn from the results. The VUCA Prime provides leaders with certain guidance. First of all, vision is the counterpart of volatile — have a clear vision on what you are trying to accomplish, your ultimate goal. It used to be that vision was a 25-year statement that got little attention after it was created. It is no longer the case. Vision statements provide guidance to employees, customers, collaborators, and other stakeholders. For example, in the case of our program at the Center for Creative Leadership, we emphasize developing a psychologically and physically safe environment where learning would flourish, and participants will feel safe to try the different techniques to pursue their vertical development. And that also requires, Understanding, the countermeasure to Uncertainty. We need to understand how to best tailor the experience to the different needs of each participant. This may translate into challenging their assumptions, pushing them into an uncomfortable position during the activities that would create the heat experience needed to learn and develop as a leader and person, or simply, allowing them time to reflect on the lessons and feedback.
Clarity helps with the complexity of the VUCA world. By clarity, Bob Johansen spoke about the Commander’s Intent, the set of instructions that clearly communicate a goal needed to move forward towards the vision but without specific or concrete instructions. We seek to provide the participants with an individualized destination and the journey to get there would be their own journey to take — we show them the hill to conquer, and they choose how to take it. Finally, Agility is at the heart of surviving the Ambiguous VUCA world. Agility requires the leader to ask for other opinions and feedback, challenge assumptions and remain willing to adapt the approach to accomplishing the goal. No one leader will have the One answer, since in the VUCA world, there is not just one right answer but many best answers. The participants need to adjust to the conditions of their journey — in our case, for example, the winter cyclone that created havoc in our learning journey.
As long-time learners, we sometimes want to separate what we learned from what we experienced. We need to realize that the VUCA world is our reality, regardless of what we do for a living or the details of our personal live. When I go teach to the university or facilitate a workshop, I like to wear a tie — it is a symbolic gesture that I make to get into the new context and environment. I put on my tie and I get into professional mode. But I am also clear that regardless of that gesture, I am also carrying with me the baggage of my personal live, for example, thinking about the wellbeing of my own family, home without power, when I am in the safe warm environment of the classroom. Still, I understand that at that moment, that’s the best solution to that challenge — letting worry taint my facilitation would only create more challenges, complicating an already complex situation and would definitely not help my family. The tie helps me prioritize but does not eliminate the other pressures. The tie helps me understand that I can control or influence at that time, but as importantly, what I have no control or influence over. You have to choose what the best solution is for the situation you face and as leaders, that means having as much information as possible from as many players as possible.
[1] Johansen, B., & Euchner, J. (2013). Navigating the VUCA world. Research-Technology Management, 56(1), 10–15.
[1] Meyer, E. (2014). The culture map: Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business. Public Affairs.
[2] Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007). A leader’s framework for decision making. Harvard business review, 85(11), 68.
[3] Kinsinger, P., & Walch, K. (2012). Living and leading in a VUCA world. Thunderbird University.
