leadership competencies for vuca world

Leadership Competencies��for a ��

VUCA World Tathagat Varma

VP, Strategic Process Innovations [24]7 Innovation Labs

Do you want to be in movies?

Good! Let’s go…

How about?

OK, how about all four?

Volatility ��The nature and dynamics of change, and

the nature and speed of change forces and change catalysts.

Volatility – Leadership Challenges

The pace of change is faster and more rapid than our ability to respond

The increased pace of change requires accelerated decision making

Change are large scale and occur suddenly and usually require an urgent response.

Leaders are left feel overwhelmed, stress, anxious and unprepared to lead effectively

The challenge for leaders is to learn to respond and manage change more effectively. To shift from reacting to change and move towards a more proactive response to change

Command and control structures fail in fast changing and disruptive environments.

h"p://www.georgeambler.com/vuca-‐leading-‐in-‐turbulent-‐8mes/

Uncertainty ��The lack of predictability, the prospects for surprise, and the sense of awareness and understanding of issues and events.

Uncertainty – Leadership Challenges

It’s difficult to get a handle on what’s actually happening

Leaders are required to act on incomplete or insufficient information

Leaders are are more likely to rely on what seemed to have worked in the past

Too much information noise, not enough signal

Difficulty in “connecting the dots” to understand the outcomes of an event


Complexity ��The multiplex of forces, the confounding of

issues and the chaos and confusion that surround an organization.

Complexity – Leadership Challenges

Difficulty in acting and drive the change required to address the web of interrelated issues and concerns

Increased complexity makes it difficult to know where to start to drive change

Temptation to act on and implement short-term solutions and over rely on quick wins

Leaders lack the time to reflect and think through the complexities and end up acting too quickly

Mitigating actions do not address the root cause only the symptoms

The danger of getting stuck in analysis paralysis and end up acting too late


Ambiguity ��The haziness of reality, the potential for

misreads, and the mixed meanings of conditions; cause-and-effect confusion.

Ambiguity – Leadership Challenges

Failure to understand the significance of an event

High risk of miss-interpreting events and responding inappropriately of in ineffective ways

Leaders are too far removed from the source and context of the events

Leaders act based on a limited understanding of events and their meaning


So, what’s this VUCA thingy?

•  US Military started using this term in late 90s for the post-Cold War world

•  “relates to how people view the conditions under which they make decisions, plan forward, manage risks, foster change and solve problems.”

•  Reflects a fast-paced, increasingly unstable and rapidly changing world

•  …The New Normal!

How does it impact?

Vola8lity

Causes fear, risk-‐aversion and ‘back-‐to-‐

basics’ reac8ons

Uncertainty

Causes paralysis through a tendency to

invest excessive – and fu8le – efforts on

data analysis

Complexity

Causes a desire to look for

scapegoats or black and

white solu8ons that are usually

erroneous

Ambiguity

Induces doubt,

distrust and hesitancy,

and impedes decision-‐

making and change

h"p://www.zeislerassociates.com/VUCA.html

The antidote – VUCA Prime

Leaders Make The Future – Bob Johansen

Leadership Lessons from US Military

Vola8lity

•  Translate data into informa8on

•  Communicate early

•  Ensure your intent is understood

Uncertainty

•  Get a fresh perspec8ve

•  Be flexible •  Glance back, look ahead

Complexity

•  Develop collabora8ve leaders

•  Stop seeking permanent solu8ons

•  Train tomorrow’s heroes now

Ambiguity

•  Listen well •  Think Divergently

•  Setup incremental dividends

h"p://hbr.org/special-‐collec8ons/spotlights/2010/november

Success factors from Industry

Retain a clear vision

Provide clear direc8on and consistent messaging

An8cipate risks but don’t invest too

much 8me in long-‐term strategic plans

Think big picture

Capitalize on complexity Be curious

Encourage networks rather than hierarchies

Leverage Diversity

Employee engagement

Get used to being uncomfortable!

h"p://www.impac8nterna8onal.com/blog/2012/01/leadership-‐vuca-‐world

“…Having spent forty years forecasting, I believe that the future world will be more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous, or so it will seem if you are in a seat of leadership.”

Ten Leadership Skills

Maker Ins8nct

Clarity

Dilemma Flipping

Immersive Learning Ability

Bio-‐empathy

Construc8ve Depolarizing

Quiet Transparency

Rapid Prototyping

Smart mob organizing

Commons Crea8ng

Recap

The new normal…and only gets be"er!

Needs different set of leadership skills

Key is to have Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility

Pic: h"p://managementhelp.org/blogs/leadership/2011/02/23/using-‐vuca-‐%E2%88%9E-‐vuca-‐prime/

References •  VUCA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity •  Understanding the VUCA World with Bob Johansen and David Small -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJqCPFzq6kU •  Living in a VUCA World - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg6x7JeNNsU •  Living in the VUCA World with Prof. Paul Kinsinger - http://vimeo.com/64649575 •  Leadership in a VUCA World with Marish Manwani -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA02Jvpo8LQ and http://www.hul.co.in/Images/Harish-AGM-Speech-2013-Leadership-in-a-VUCA-World_tcm114-365167.pdf

•  Leading change in the VUCA world - http://prezi.com/1s2xds8yngir/vuca-prime/ •  Leading in a VUCA Environment - http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/11/leading-in-a-vuca-environment/,

http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/11/leading-in-a-vuca-environment-1/, http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/12/leading-effectively-in-a-vuca/, http://blogs.hbr.org/2011/01/leading-effectively-in-a-vuca-1/

•  Developing Leaders in a VUC Environment - http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/~/media/Files/documents/executive-development/developing-leaders-in-a-vuca-environment.pdf

•  http://blog.jerasustainabledevelopment.com/2012/09/05/downside-up---managing-risks-part-1.aspx •  Winning a SuperVUCA World - http://www.saatchikevin.com/Winning_in_a_SuperVUCA_World/

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