A new (to me) acronym - VUCA



I ran across this article a few days ago about a new acronym - VUCA. This stands for:

V - volatility
U - uncertainty
C - complexity
A - ambiguity

According to the article, we should expect to see more focus on VUCA as a set of considerations when dealing with business challenges or setting strategic goals.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the term - SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) - a tool used to assess where an organization is in relation to the environment (however that may be defined). The VUCA framework reminds me of SWOT, but at a slightly lower level when we are considering specific goals or strategies.

One of the things I like that came from the article is the set of tools we can start to deploy or use once we identify where an issue may fall in the VUCA framework.These include things like communication plans or listening skills or collaboration to review possible responses.


Using VUCA to Process Organizational Change - hr bartender

During this year's WorkHuman Conference, hosted by Globoforce, I learned a new acronym - VUCA. It stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Wikipedia says it was introduced by the U.S. Army in the 1990s. In recent years, it's been used in strategic leadership conversations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book review - A Whack on the Side of the Head

Image
As I start some work to bring some life back to this blog site, it seems appropriate that I start with a review of A Whack on the Side ofthe Head . From what I’ve gathered, A Whack on the Side of the Head is a bit of a classic in self improvement although I had never run across it before adding it to my 2017 reading list. And yes, as you may have guessed from the date of this entry, I am running behind on completing that list. I attribute part of that to not keeping up with the discipline needed to keep moving forward with the list, although some delay was introduced by the need to read some other materials and books during the year. Anyway, I’m back and ready to get some creative with some new entries. A Whack on the Side of the Head covers ways to help the reader tap into their creative juices and remove those mental blocks that keep them stuck in a rut. Author Roger von Oech sets forth several examples to open the book demonstrating creative thinking and how people have so
Read more

Spreading the Load

Image
Last week I shared an article about some potential problems that can crop up if collaboration efforts are not managed effectively. One of the issues that may surface is the stress and burnout for top performers when they are continually sought out by others in the organization. Likewise, as managers we likely have certain employees who are considered stars and it can be tempting to turn to them on a frequent basis to get the work done in an organization. However, it is important that we proactively manage the work that is being delegated so as to avoid overloading some employees and at the same time taking steps to help raise up lower performing employees. Although management may be as much art as it is science, we can still bring some structure to this delegation process as discussed in the article Make Sure Your Team's Workload Is Divided Fairly . The article brings up several steps and actions that managers can take when delegating assignments and projects. The main th
Read more

The Perils of Collaboration

Image
I was recently reading an article on collaboration ( Collaborative Overload ) and some of the problems that it can create for an organization. Wait, what? Collaboration is a problem? That may seem like an odd claim in this day and age when we seek ever increasing levels of collaboration and teamwork in our workforces. As the article points out though, there are potential problems out there if the effects of collaboration are not managed effectively. The basic problem with collaboration that is identified by the authors is that demands for collaborative activities - like attending meetings - pulls people away from being able to work on the actual tasks that they have been hired to work on. This creates a cycle requiring them to do things like take work home, which in turn increases stress, which then leads to burnout and turnover.
Read more