What Does VUCA Mean?
In his Forbes article, “What does VUCA Really Mean?” Jeroen Kraaijenbrink provides clear explanations for the four elements of VUCA paraphrased below:
Volatility is the speed or velocity of change in an industry, market or the world in general. It is often associated with fluctuations in demand, turbulence and speed to market. When the world is volatile, things change faster and more often.
Uncertainty is the extent to which we can predict the future with confidence. Uncertainty is often associated with perception and people’s struggle with understanding what is happening. When an environment is uncertain, it is more difficult to make predictions and to forecast outcomes.
Complexity involves the number of factors that need to be considered, their variety and the relationship between them. An environment becomes more complex when there are more factors or there is greater variety between factors and/or interconnections between factors. When complexity is high, it can be impossible to fully analyze the situation and reach logical conclusions.
Ambiguity refers to a lack of clarity about how to interpret something. When information is incomplete, contradicting, or too inaccurate to draw conclusions, it is ambiguous. When something i ambiguous, it is difficult to interpret or explain.
When you have several or all of these factors present in a situation, you are facing VUCA. It feels like VUCA is everywhere these days with the speed of technology change, the social-political environment and the global pandemic. VUCA is here to stay so we need to be well-equipped to deal with it. We can’t put our heads in the sand and wait for it to go away, because it won’t. VUCA is here to stay. You can choose to see VUCA as a threat or to view it as a great opportunity. Your mindset about this will determine how you cope and whether or not you have the ability, desire and drive to excel in this state.
In our upcoming book, you will learn more about how to recognize VUCA, how to cope with it, and to prepare yourself and others to thrive in these situations. Our book also includes an assessment to help you determine which elements of VUCA are most present in your situation so you can more effectively address them.