Written by IE Business School’s Human Resource Professor Cristina Simon
& illustrated by Miguel Panadero
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]any readers will already be familiar with the concept of VUCA— Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity—to describe the times we live in. The term seems to be military in origin, describing situations where strategy, planning, and decision making are very difficult given the lack of any clear parameters. It was then applied to the financial markets, and has now come to be used to describe the world of work. From now on, we all need to be VUCA professionals, as well having as many of them as possible in our teams.
From a people management perspective, we might usefully ask how we can create a VUCA culture. Perhaps the first thing we need to understand is the magnitude of the challenge we face: the New Deal, warning us we could no longer count on job security, was first announced in the late 1990s. But it seems that too few of us have fully taken on board this new reality.
This is particularly the case in cultures like Spain’s where we still tend to see our careers as trees: we invest years in planting the seed, watering it, looking after the sapling, and pruning the young tree as it matures, until such time as we have a leafy arbor offering us shade and protection in our later years. We still haven’t got our head round the idea of having to reinvent ourselves constantly, right up to the end of our careers, walking the high wire well into our sixties when, if we’re lucky, we can retire.
In contrast, my Australian and American students tend to see their careers as a surfing safari: each day is a new adventure, they never know what the sea is going to toss at them, and so, despite their knowledge and ability, falling off their boards and having to clamber back on is all part of the experience. In short, they understand VUCA, theirs is a different mentality, a different approach: they have different expectations about their working lives in the long term.
So, what are the characteristics we’re looking for in the VUCA professional? I believe that curiosity is fundamental. Inquisitiveness, a hankering to learn new things, leads us to see the world of work as an opportunity we can take part in. Reinventing oneself is about personal development as much as anything, it’s not a necessary evil we have to undertake in order to survive. Being inquisitive makes it easier to adapt, and adaptability is essential in the times we live.
Sadly, there are still too many companies out there not doing anything to encourage inquisitiveness in their workforces, and are instead focused solely on results, leaving no time for exploration. They could do worse than look to the technology sector for inspiration, one that is subject to permanent experimentation and intense competition, if they hope to survive in today’s VUCA environment.
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