Leading & Growing In A VUCA World
The acronym VUCA was originally created in 1980s in the military.
VUCA stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.
VUCA describes perfectly what happens in the business world. Hence, VUCA has taken root in emerging ideas in strategic leadership that apply in a wide range of organizations.
How do you fit in this?
You are a high performing individual and leader trying to navigate through this ever-changing world we live in, with a drive to grow yourself, your business and team members. Being a VUCA leader means that you cannot always rely on the same strategies and tactics that worked in the past as they do not always yield favorable results.
Bill George, a professor at Harvard Business School, argues that VUCA calls for business leaders to respond with new ways of leading. Traditional management methods do not suffice to address the volume of change we are seeing.
Traditional business and management training focuses on what is called Horizontal Development. These are the traditional skills like, decision-making, communication, planning, and execution. Its learning new content and information. However, to become a VUCA leader you must also pay attention to your Vertical Development. This type of learning is not offered by business schools.
It is all about the mindset and a person’s thinking capability. The more you work on your vertical development, the more capacity you will have to think in more complex, systemic, strategic, and interdependent ways.
Now is the time for you to step forward and lead in a way that business schools don’t teach. Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that traditional skills like, decision-making, communication, planning, and execution are not important, they are crucial, however they are only one part of the whole picture. The other part is to do with growth mindset and transformation. Once you are able to leverage both then you see possibilities and opportunities that you would not have ever imagined before.
Together we will embark on your journey of transformation using my ‘Rewired To Grow’ Method that focuses on your Vertical Development through:
Increasing Your Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness has been cited as the most important capability for leaders to develop. By knowing your personality, needs, habits and emotions, and how they affect your behavior and the behavior of others, you will be able to better manage your stress, make better decisions, and lead others to do the same.
Values Alignment
Your personal values reflect what is important to you in your life. They play a big role in determining your mindset and behavior. As a leader these values also determine your leadership style and signals to others what is important to you which ends up influencing your team’s culture (positive or negative) and ultimately their level of productivity.
Your values are based on your personal experience, habits and even how you were raised. Hence, leaders will benefit from re-assessing their values and ensuring they are serving them and their true calling in life today – as a human and as a leader – a ‘values update’ if you will.
EQ Assessment Test & Development Plan (Using EQ-i 2.0 tools and model)
Daniel Goleman said of his original research, “When I compared star performers with average ones in senior leadership positions, nearly 90% of the difference in their profiles was attributable to Emotional Intelligence factors rather than cognitive abilities.”
You will go through your emotional quotient, or EQ, assessment which will give you increased understanding of your EQ level so you can best decide your next steps to develop these skills and becoming better and more effective at being in touch with your own emotions and those of others. Improving on your EQ level opens doors to having better conversations, better relationships. It opens doors to being a more effective leader, a stronger team player.
Personal Credibility & Growth Mindset
Leaders who have personal credibility develop and encourage earned mutual trust and respect. These authentic leaders create an organizational culture with increased morale, elevated staff performance, and effective relationships.
A ‘Growth Mindset’ in a leader is essential especially when handling complex and ambiguous situations or circumstances. Leaders with a growth mindset are always a step ahead looking at every problem as an opportunity for learning and growth. They have the capacity to lead their teams through crisis with grace and dignity.
It is important to know that we are all on our own development pace and path as leaders. We work together, no matter where you are in your leadership development stage, to help you along your journey to continue your growth towards being the leader you want to be.
