Leaders are frequently faced with challenges that impact or influence their potential and performance. Some of these challenges or attributions can be external in nature and can have an impact in both insolation and integration.

The term V.U.C.A. was originally coined in the military (circa 1980's), though has been subsequently adopted in a leadership and management context, to help articulate and explain many of the environmental conditions that a leader might be required to navigate.

The letters of the acronym stand for: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. This short video briefly explains the concept and terms of the V.U.C.A. acronym and highlights their influence and impact on those within leadership roles.

• Volatility – Represents a rapid speed of a challenge and/or a large volume of it. When a challenge is volatile it may need to be done quickly or it may involve a large amount of work. In some instances, both speed and volume can be combined. As a leader, we can feel overloaded or pressured when dealing with volatility.

• Uncertainty – Pieces of information required to make informed decisions no longer exist, or are no longer available to us. When dealing with uncertainty, we must make decisions and choices without all the ‘pieces of the puzzle’. As a leader, we can feel unsure or frustrated when dealing with uncertainty.

• Complexity – Complexity signifies challenges with many interconnected or linked parts. These connections may exist within a system or situation that a leader is faced with, though the links may, or may not, work together and influence or impact one another. As a leader, we can feel overwhelmed or confused when dealing with complexity.

• Ambiguity – With ambiguity the cause and effect relationships are simply unknown. This means we don’t know what the actual outcomes will be from the decisions or choices that we make. As a leader, we can feel lost or helpless when dealing with ambiguity.

PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you able to effectively diagnose the challenges that you are currently faced with in your job role? What is the inherent nature of the projects, tasks or key deliverables that you are currently working on? Do you have effective strategies to help manage the V.U.C.A. elements? Note that last question will be answered in part 2 of this BESPOKE LEADERSHIP Bite series focusing on the V.U.C.A. Prime model

ADDITIONAL VIDEO

To see how the V.U.C.A. Model aligns to the Covid-19 pandemic watch this bonus video.

For more information on the BESPOKE LEADERSHIP development program or to have an informal discussion regarding your development goals, please contact: philip@bespokeleaders.com