Julians Business Tips: VUCA – Very Useful Change Acronym
Last month I talked about the biases that can creep into our behaviours when we live in firefighting mode.
Photographer Mel Yeneralski Media Studio CUH hospitals
This month I want to talk a bit more about ‘recovery’ – the moving of your business from survival to, well, wherever you want to move it to!
I recently came across an acronym that I want to share with you: VUCA. It was being used in the context of recovering, and there are two definitions to remember.
The first is the ‘where we are now’ definition: Volatility, Uncertainty, Change and Ambiguity. These are all the things that we have had to overcome in the last few years
The second VUCA definition refers to how we should approach recovery: Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility.
Just focussing on the last one, agility or ‘being agile’ is about being able to think, understand and move quickly, always guided by a focus on better outcomes – a worthy aim, I’m sure you will agree.
Agility itself shouldn’t be confused with ‘Agile’ project management methodology, a much more involved subject.
I will make one reference to ‘Agile’ methodology though, and that is to share the five stages of business culture development with you. These are; surviving, stabilising, secure, thriving and transformational.
Where does your business sit on that scale? Are you surviving and hoping to stabilise, or maybe secure and hoping to thrive?
As a benchmark, let me give you a few definitions of a ‘thriving’ business within the Agile framework
• Leaders take responsibility for their actions and know their limitations
• People feel valued and content with work-life balance
• Cross-functional collaboration is the norm
• It’s safe for staff to challenge and question
Something to strive for perhaps?
