Week 10, 2019
Connecting the Dots: VUCA World, Strategic Design, and Organizational Paradigms
Each week: three ideas on how to make work better. This week: a reflection on the connection between the world, our work, and our organizations.
Let’s dig right in.
1. VUCA World
Longtime readers will be familiar with VUCA — the acronym used to describe the increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous world in which we live. I last referred to back in January (see w22019), writing that “a pendant for complex decision making is a future must-have.” When things get murky, it’s easy to fall into the analysis-paralysis trap. And so if we want to be successful, we need ways with which to deal with not knowing — what Donald Rumsfeld (former US Secretary of Defense) famously called the Unknown Unknowns. Like it or not, predictability is out the window. VUCA is here. And we need to deal with it.
2. Strategic Design
So how do we deal with it? What alternatives do we have if we want to replace the 5-year plan of old? My vote, you won’t be surprised to hear, is on design. Specifically, on “Strategic Design” — the kind of design I’ve written about in w512018 and w72019. Two reasons. First, the age of the lone genius has come and gone. In a world marred with complexity, we need to collaborate. And design has empathy and co-creation built-in. Design is also solution rather than problem-oriented, meaning it asks us to iterate towards the desired end goal. And in the VUCA world, that’s likely to be the only viable path forward.
3. Organizational Paradigms
Design-driven organizations — i.e., organizations that have the four tenants of Strategic Design built into its core: Analytical Leadership, Cross-Functional Teams, Continuous Improvement, and User Experience (again, see w512018) — look and function differently. In stark contrast to the old way of command and control, they’re built on the assumption that people are best left to their own devices. Effectiveness supersedes efficiency. And people supersedes profit. These organizations are built to be agile, responsive, evolutionary, holistic, and empathic. They are Teal, and they represent the next organizational paradigm (w422018).
In a world marred by complexity and uncertainty, we must collaborate and experiment. And we need to structure our organizations accordingly. One thing leads to another. We just have to connect the dots. And like Charles Eames said, “Eventually, everything connects”.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time, stay calm.
