I have been mulling over how an acronym that was developed by the US Army post-cold war has become descriptive of the entire world including parts that are not at war in the space of a few weeks. VUCA, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Irrespective of the nature or size of the organisation, the landscape has changed. Profit, not-for-profit, faith based, community based, government, non-government, solo employee, thousands of employees, national, multinationals. Whatever, whoever, however many.
The meaning of the words agility, resilience and ambiguity shed light as to why they have gained currency in leadership.
Agility: The ability to move quickly and easily; to think and understand quickly; to make changes as they are needed; the power of moving quickly and easily; nimbleness; dexterity
Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity; the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation by compressive stress; an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
Ambiguity: Doubtfulness, uncertainty of meaning; not clear, the quality of being open to more than one interpretation.
So how on earth do you build an organisation that is agile, resilient and comfortable with ambiguity? The answer is surprisingly simple. Step by step, day by day and very purposefully keeping in mind the two most important people to your organisation. Ideally your organisation exists to solve a problem for others and there you have one of set of the most important people to your organisation. The other most important set of people are the ones who help you fulfil the reason for your organisations existence – your staff team.
That cleared, you will be successful at building your organisation’s agility, resilience and comfort with ambiguity only if you are working on your own. If not, you’ll be the one tripping everyone else. Leadership often puts the cap on what everyone else can and will do. The reality is post Covid-19, there will be even more disruption and at a faster more intense pace. Covid-19 has raised the premium on leaders who are agile, resilient and comfortable with ambiguity. The premium is even higher for those who keep cultivating it in themselves and do so in their teams too.
Some Tips for Developing Personal Agility, Resilience and Comfort with Ambiguity:
Check into the School of Hard Knocks
You are there already. Registration and admission for all was automatic. But now check in and engage with the lessons. The lessons you are learning in the vibrant school of hard knocks are priceless! Create pockets of time a few minutes daily and even a few more weekly for personal reflection and learning. You’ll be surprised.
Just Be & Brood
It is interesting the creativity that comes out of brooding over chaos. So yes, take time to brood, think things over, process. There’s a lot of news, webinars, social media happenings. It can get overwhelming. Shutting all this out and just being and brooding does a ton of good. And by the way, just being and brooding can be mutually exclusive but with the same impact.
Pride and Prejudice:
Situations like Covid-19 are really painfully humbling. Quickly get to terms with your limitations. The shaking of many things and the realisation that we are indeed limited. The truth is as leader, you are important but it is actually your leadership that is even more important.
Challenge the Status Quo … Especially Your Own
True, you may well find that there are some things you do not want to change and should not change. But, you will find there are things that should change for you to not only survive but thrive.
Enlist Some Fashion Police
Develop an ear for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Because we are limited in our perceptions and understanding and because leadership can get very lofty, build relationships with a couple of people who genuinely mean well for you and will tell you when you the king are naked.
Be Vulnerable
The pressure for leaders to be stoic, look put together all the time and be the fountain of al knowledge makes burn out a very real reality. Yes, as a leader you are not expected to be falling apart because everyone else will. But, it does not mean you should be robotic and unfeeling. Vulnerability will help you connect with your two most important sets of people and respond to them and their needs in a very impactful way. Vulnerability communicates authenticity to your staff teams and A lot of solutions for them and for you will come out of being vulnerable.
Grieve
Indeed, there are so many losses that come with the kind of disruption Covid-19 brings. Processing those losses is very important because it helps you to deal with the loss of things you held dear, let go, close some chapters which need to be closed, build happy memories of some things and begin to build a new future. Not processing your loss and grief can leave you stuck in the past as a leader. Or having a semblance of moving forward only to fall apart completely one day.
Enjoy Winging It!
True, it will be more enjoyable in retrospect when you are regaling people with tales of your exploits and narrow escapes. Coming to terms with the fact that you are not in control of life, making a conscious decision to enjoy and learn from the new, the never experienced before … yes from the ambiguous, will help you cope better.
End the Lockdown – The Meetings Lockdown
Important as meetings and brainstorming for solutions are during these times, locking staff down in endless online meetings with little time for anything else is counterproductive. Give your team time to do all the things you are doing to build your own agility, resilience and comfort with ambiguity. Allow them and yourself to live it out, tweak, change, modify and then touch base with more meaningful meetings.
Give
Share with others what you are learning in your own leadership journey. It could be through mentorship, peer mentorship or volunteering time to support charities and other organisations that would benefit from your journey but cannot afford to pay at a time like this. Giving of yourself is a very fulfilling experience. A bonus is that you will actually keep learning and building your own agility, resilience and comfort with ambiguity in the process of helping.
Change Leadership Chronicles ©
