The Importance of Leadership Agility
What is VUCA?
Today’s world is characterized as being VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Because of this new and unpredictable environment, it is almost impossible to predict threats or opportunities – at the same time, the potential for disruption is very high.
When military planners first came up with the VUCA model, they were reacting to the end of the Cold War, which is ironic considering the current conflicts around the world, the model addressed a world suddenly devoid of certainty in which events were Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous – hence the acronym. And here we are again – VUCA is now describing what seems to be the default state of our world.
We’ve all had to adapt to change and whilst we may not like some of the changes forced upon us. We’ve had little or no choice but to deal with a world where change could be even greater and more devastating, where the future is much less predictable, and where our options may
increase or decrease exponentially. Therefore, the way we think about these options must change.
VUCA is not a problem to be solved. It is a shift in our perspective of the world. The VUCA environment means that we must focus on what is possible (because anything can happen) rather than on what is likely to occur (which is determined more by what happened before).
The “V” in the VUCA acronym stands for volatility. It means the nature, speed, volume, and magnitude of change that is not in a predictable pattern. Volatility is turbulence; turbulence that is becoming more frequent than ever in the past.
The “U” in the acronym stands for uncertainty, or the lack of predictability in issues and events. These volatile times make it difficult for leaders to use past issues and events as predictors of future outcomes, making forecasting extremely difficult and decision-making challenging.
The “C” in VUCA stands for complexity. There are often numerous and difficult to understand causes and mitigating factors (both inside and outside of an organisation) involved in a problem. This layer of complexity, added to the turbulence of change and the absence of past predictors, adds to the difficulty of decision making.
It also leads to confusion, which can cause ambiguity, the last letter in the acronym.
Ambiguity is the lack of clarity about the meaning of an event, or the “causes and the ‘who, what, where, how, and why’ behind the things that are happening that are unclear and hard to ascertain. Ambiguity in the VUCA model is the “inability to accurately conceptualize threats and opportunities before they become lethal.” A symptom of organisational ambiguity is the frustration that occurs when individual achievements fail to add up to a comprehensive or enduring success.
How can leaders respond to a VUCA environment?
The VUCA model vividly identifies the internal and external conditions affecting organisations today and also points to how leaders can embrace the model in their response to these conditions.
For example, volatility can be countered with vision because vision is even more vital in turbulent times. Leaders with a clear vision of where they want their organisations to be can better weather volatile changes, for example by making business decisions to counter the turbulence while keeping the organisation’s vision in mind.
Uncertainty can be countered with understanding, the ability of a leader to stop, look, and listen. To be effective in a VUCA environment, leaders must learn to look and listen beyond their functional areas of expertise to make sense of the volatility and to lead with vision. This requires leaders to communicate with all levels of employees in their organisation, and to develop and demonstrate teamwork and collaboration skills.
Complexity can be countered with clarity, the deliberative process to make sense of the chaos. In a VUCA world, chaos comes swift and hard. Leaders, who can quickly and clearly tune into all of the factors associated with the chaos, can make better, more informed business decisions.
Finally, ambiguity can be countered with agility, the ability to communicate across the organisation and to move quickly to apply solutions. Vision, understanding, clarity, and agility are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are intertwined elements that help managers become stronger VUCA leaders. VUCA leaders must have foresight to see where they are going but must also remain flexible about how they get there. They must be self-aware, adaptable, open to change and knowledgeable about their organisation beyond their function. Finally, they must be excellent communicators and work collaboratively to thrive in this complex environment. Above all, VUCA leaders must be able to learn fast because change is constant.
Leadership agility – an imperative for a VUCA world
This new VUCA environment is taxing even the most able of leaders who may find their skills growing obsolete as quickly as their organisations change. Leadership agility and adaptability are now required if organisations are to succeed in this strange new world. Leaders must make continuous shifts in people, process, technology, and structure. This requires flexibility and quickness in decision making. Organisations today must shift their business models- and their leadership skills- to become “adaptive’. Adaptive organisations can adjust and learn better, faster, and more economically than their peers, giving them an “adaptive advantage.”
The term ‘adaptive advantage’ maybe new to business but it’s not new to the military. There are few who would argue that modern warfare is unpredictable and that VUCA is the reality. However, this does not mean that the military, and in particular the Special Forces who often operate at the height of VUCA, are incapable of action, rather they embrace it.
The Special Forces train their teams to face VUCA and understand the implications, and not to use it as an excuse. They place even greater importance on planning because of the very uncertain nature of the environment. Their planning is not about creating a perfect critical path, it is about how to react and respond to changes. The Special Forces train their people to expect things to go wrong and then use such scenarios to practice what they should do. They test all their ideas ‘to destruction’ before they implement them because they know that a failure, that could have been foreseen is wholly unacceptable.
The Special Forces are masters at coping with environments that are volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous because they go to great lengths to select and recruit people who have learning agility.
So, what is learning agility? We refer to those individuals who open to change and who thrive on new experiences, as ‘learning agile’. Because demands on us are changing every day, the behaviours that carried us through yesterday are not necessarily those that will help us tomorrow. This means that those individuals who are quick to learn from experience and move forward with new ideas will be better prepared to succeed in tomorrow’s world. This is especially true of business leaders.
Learning agility is made up of a number of key behaviour patterns. They include:
- Flexibility – Willingness to try new things;
- Speed – Rapidly grasping new ideas;
- Experimenting – Testing out new ideas;
- Performance Risk Taking – Taking on challenges;
- Interpersonal Risk Taking – Asking others for help;
- Collaborating – Leveraging the skills of others;
- Information Gathering – Increasing our knowledge;
- Feedback Seeking – Asking for feedback; and
- Reflecting – Taking time to reflect on our effectiveness.
In a VUCA world individuals who have strong learning agility are better equipped to be successful. They are open to learning from experience. They can quickly recognise better ways to get things done. If we hold on to the way we always do things – stay in our comfort zones – we cease to grow intellectually and behaviourally. The higher up individuals go within an organisation, the more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous the job becomes. To develop the potential for our next role in an organisation, especially a leadership role, we must apply learning agility in our approach to challenges.
Developing learning agility
It is important to realise that learning agility can be taught. Learning agility is best defined in terms of behaviours or behavioural patterns. Unlike personality traits that are more engrained by the time you reach adulthood, learning agility is a combination of base line cognitive skills but, more importantly, the motivation to think outside the box, try new things and learn from them. By giving people feedback regarding how they deal with behaviours that make up learning agility, for example, a willingness and ability to switch between different tasks or jobs as needed, you can get them to practice these behaviours and add them to their natural way of doing things.
In their book, ‘The Leadership Machine’, Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger’s discuss ways to build leaders and develop leadership competencies (skills) in any organisation. This identifies a “high potential” person, meaning someone who has an open willingness and ability to learn what is required for first-time, challenging conditions.
This also fits with our own research here at PRISM and our understanding of how the brain works, put simply because our brains are wired for survival reasons – to pay attention to the negative and setbacks – it becomes a fertile ground for self-criticism and failure. Learning agility is about adopting a different mindset – a learning mindset – to help you shift from focusing on the negative to recognising how setbacks can be catalysts for growth. People who have strong learning agility attempt to gain more experiences and more solutions which they can draw on when faced with new challenges.
Learning-agile people exhibit four common traits which correlate to the PRISM behavioural quadrants:
They are critical thinkers who examine problems carefully and make fresh connections with relative ease – correlates to PRISM Gold.
They know themselves well, leverage their strengths effectively and know how to compensate for their weaknesses – correlates to PRISM Blue.
They like to experiment and are comfortable with the discomfort that comes from change – correlates to PRISM Green.
They deliver results in first-time situations through personal drive and co-operating with others – correlates to PRISM Red.
Learning agility manifests itself in several ways. Learning-agile people have more ‘tools in their toolkit’ for problem-solving. They can use the analytical-systemic side of the brain as easily as the creative-emotional side. They can sort out what needs immediate action from the more visionary and strategic issues. In addition, they have results agility. They can build teams, as well as exhibit personal drive and presence. It is from this team-building skill they derive their people agility. They are comfortable with themselves as well as with diverse populations. Most are open-minded and non-judgmental about people. They project a peer attitude toward most, and their ability to deal with change allows them to know which battles to fight and when to embrace consensus. Finally, they are conflict agile, knowing when to avoid, accommodate, compete, compromise and collaborate.
Applying the VUCA model as a framework may enable organisations to identify and foster the leaders their organisations need now and in the future.
Conclusion
Finally, the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity inherent in today’s world may be the “new norm”, and it will profoundly change not only how organisations do business, but how business leaders must lead. The skills and abilities leaders once needed to help their organisations thrive are no longer sufficient. Today, more strategic, complex critical-thinking skills are required. HR and talent management professionals can help their organisations succeed in today’s environment by developing leaders who can counter volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity with vision, understanding, clarity, and agility.
