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How to become an effective leader in a VUCA World

Veron Mosalakatane

The VUCA world has engulfed the business environment and any organisation that is going to ignore it, will be eliminated by harsh environmental forces.

Every organisation now faces the difficulty of operating in a very challenging environment characterised by pandemics, sudden market changes, paradigm shifts in technology, increasing operational costs, rapidly changing stakeholder expectations and supply chain disruptions.

This environment is called VUCA world because it is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. It is volatile because change is rapid and unpredictable leading to unanticipated business problems.

It is uncertain because it is no longer advisable to use past historical performance data to predict the future. Furthermore, it is complex because even when leaders look at multi decision factors in a systematic manner before making any decision they can never be certain about these decisions, and it is ambiguous because it is confusing, and it is difficult to establish causal relationship between environmental events within a reasonable period.

This environment requires leaders to adjust and adapt to this new normal. As they adjust, they must unlearn and forego certain habits and practices and learn new practices and habits.

For instance, it is no longer relevant to lead with a traditional mindset of command and control where a leader emphasises power and respect. Rather, VUCA environment requires leaders with progressive mindset of partnership.

They should benefit from their talented employees and foster collective intelligence, they should act as catalyst, they should believe in intra and inter- departmental collaboration.

The purpose of this article is to discuss how leaders can become effective, by transforming their styles and reframing their thinking to survive and thrive in a VUCA world.

VUCA world requires leaders to stop leading their organisations and teams without a vision. To inspire and influence people, leaders should have a vision of the future that can keep people motivated and resilient.

Do not get twisted that a vision that appears in strategic plans is owned by management and employees, unless you continuously communicate and market the vision. More often it is a statement that does not have meaning and that is not owned by anyone.

To check and validate this, ask any random employee to state the vision of the organisation and what it means to her or him. Tactical actions that leaders should do is to inculcate it in meetings, market and communicate and talk about the organisational vision with the team.

For example, you can have a vision meeting where the team can be asked what it is that they can do to contribute their value in achieving this vision. To inspire more robust discussions and innovative ideas, managers are advised to speak last by summarising the ideas of their teams in a vision roadmap.

Subsequent vision meetings should be based on performance review of the vision road map or annual performance plans.

This will avoid a current situation where talented employees are frustrated because there is no strategic direction and where fifty percent of employees are just coming to the organisation to pass time ( presentism).

That is how you adjust the mindset of the team to ride on VUCA waves and achieve the north star.

Furthermore, a real leader assumes the role of a coach and mentor, that means he or she should have empathy towards others and take time to listen, understand and provide them with the support they need in the organisation to improve their experience.

That happens when managers shift from being a controller ( a person who gives instructions all the time) to become a team player who can provide strategic/ technical advice and take advice from others.

In the current complex and uncertain environment every organisation needs a cadre of employees with progressive mindset that can quickly adapt and innovate.

Moreover, leaders should learn to embrace both top and bottom- up approach communication. More often management tend to know problems when they are already at a fatal stage because they are detached from the ground where things are happening.

Do not become a fix it unless it is broken leader, constantly listen to the voice of employees ( ideas) to continually improve the organisation.

At an operational level, leaders should become more practical in their leadership and focus on processes, tools and methods used by employees when doing their work ( operational excellence).

These are some of the elements that can create a very adaptive and resilient performance- oriented organisation. However, this seems to be ignored because four out of five leaders cannot tell what tools and methods are used by their teams and how often they reviewed and adopted modern tools and methods.

Covid 19 revealed that tools and methods used by organisations are outdated and need to be changed immediately. One of the emerging methods used by highly adaptable organisations is self- directed teams and hybrid working model.

The Author is a member of African Excellence Forum, holds Master of Science Degree in Strategic Management and is a Certified Manager of Quality and Organisational Excellence from America Society for Quality. Six Sigma Greenbelt, ISO 9001: 2015 Certified. Contact: 72211182, Website: www. iqm. co. bw Email: veronmosalakatane@ gmail. com LinkedIn: Veron Mosalakatane

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2023-06-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://enews.mmegi.bw/article/281724093947893

Dikgang Publishing