Leadership in Facing Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

An organization, especially with a multinational scope, faces a major structural reorganization that contains significant functional changes and leadership challenges.  Facing the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) are four leaders responsible for implementing a significant part of the organizational change without losing strategic momentum.

Finding VUCA Prime

Like most organizations, the act of bringing in a high profile external consulting firm eight months ago signaled to every executive in the business unit that significant change was possible.  Without question, they each had their own story of what that would or should entail.  Seated around the table were four corporate leaders who knew the nature and extent of the impending reorganization before it was announced.  Their task was to make it happen without losing focus, momentum, and direction – to change horses at a full gallop over rough terrain without falling off.

The conversation was at first intense, but not adversarial.  Dave, my client, led his colleagues in a lively dialogue that confirmed the key volatilities, uncertainties, complexities, and ambiguities – VUCA – that we had previously discussed.  Increasing destabilization in any one of the four VUCA elements could have a negative snowball effect, yet stability was neither possible nor helpful.

In VUCA situations, the destabilizing events impact different parts of the system differently.  Actions that amplify (increase) the positive and dampen (decrease) the negative help leaders harness the instability and act their way forward, learning as they go.  Identifying and applying these two types of interventions is a major challenge and opportunity for leaders in a VUCA world.  Enter VUCA Prime – Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility.  VUCA Prime is the contribution of Bob Johansen,[i] emerging from his work with corporate, military, non-profit, and government leaders as they navigated their VUCA challenges.  They suggest where and what to amplify and dampen within a VUCA situation.

The forces of VUCA and VUCA Prime exist in dynamic equilibrium, and leaders can balance the energy of either side with its complement.  The dynamic interplay of VUCA and VUCA Prime generates the energy that can drive organizations to adapt, change, and evolve with the conditions of their environment (the sum of the political, economic, social, technological, and government/regulatory background).  As the five of us pondered what to do next from a leadership development perspective, we began to see places within the current and new organization that needed less Volatility and others that needed more Volatility.  In both cases Vision was a complementing force that we could work with.  With the group’s input, Dave and I designed a leadership development plan for the executive team as part of the restructuring kick-off and the 2011 goal-setting and planning process.  The exercises we used set the conditions for the executive team to think and act in new ways.

Lessons for Leaders

Useful methods for weaving together the dynamic forces of VUCA and VUCA Prime (the weaving is represented by the infinity symbol) include:

Volatility ∞ Vision: Future Back

• An exercise that views today from the perspective of the desired future and creates milestones for getting there

Uncertainty ∞ Understanding: Adaptive Change Model[ii]

• This model of change weaves together the transactional/doing aspects of change and the transformational/relational aspects of change

Complexity ∞ Clarity: Sense making

• A method of tuning in to weak signals in the environment, searching for what might be possible in order to act with informed sensibility

Ambiguity ∞ Agility: Safe Fail and Ritual Dissent

• An exercise that combines rapid prototyping of ideas and action with the practice of listening to the creative criticism it generates

Source : http://managementhelp.org/blogs/leadership/

13 Explosive and Negative Characteristics of Team Members

Many teams and teamwork efforts fail due to the personal character of the members of the organization.  This does not have to take place.  If those leading a team of people could see diversity and personal differences as a positive resource to develop this could create a powerful resource of human talent.  There are certain personal behaviors that can destroy teamwork. It would help any leader to identify these personality traits. Negative characteristic can be handled and directed toward a positive creation of a team.  Getting to know these traits is the starting point.

1. Tendency to Criticize
It was once said, “A critic is a legless man who teaches running.”  Criticism can be a productive tool, however, those who have a tendency to criticize often are not productive team members. 

2. Unpredictable Mood Swings
This type of personality trait is very frustrating for any team leader.  It is hard to navigate any ship when you do not know which way the wind is going to blow.

3. Preoccupation with Self
People who are constantly thinking of themselves and themselves alone are not team players.  This type of person relates well with the Greek Narcissus.  This person can kill a team if they go unchecked.

4. Use of a Grading System for Others
Here is a person who has a tendency to grade others either from a 1 to 10 scoring system or from A,B,C,D,F grading system.  This gives them a sense of feeling good about themselves if they can place others in a lower or lesser category.  This connects well with the next characteristic.

5. Pleasure in the Failure of Others
There are some people who simply take great delight in the failure of others.  Somehow this failure makes them feel good.  This is not the type of person you want on your team.  In fact, a person who has this strong personality trait is extremely destructive for teamwork development.

6. Communication Style that Induces Guilt
There are some people that do not want others to feel good about themselves so they have become experts at inflicting guilt.  This person simply wants others to feel bad about themselves.  They talk a lot, a whole lot!  This person will make you tired because being positive is not in their nature.

7. Impatience with Shortcoming of Others
This is the “Perfect One!”  This person has no time for the weaknesses of others.  After all, they have no weakness and those with weaknesses need to get out of the way.

8. Brooding over Unpleasant Circumstances
Wow, how pleasant is this kind of individual?  This is the kind of person that always seems to have steam flowing off the top of their head.  The word “happiness” does not seem to be a part of their working vocabulary.

9. Holding Grudges and Keeping Score
Is it necessary to say much about this type of person?  These are the kind of people if you apologize to will say, “I will forgive you but I will not forget it!”

10. Tendency to Be Demanding
This person does not ask, “Would you please…..” or “Can I ask a favor of you?”  This is how they work: “Bob I need you to do it and I need you to do it right now!”  Don’t you just want to bend over backwards for this kind of person?

11. Forcefully Expressing Opinions
This person is the type that is firm, forceful, forcible, energetic, vigorous, direct, assertive, insistent; certain, definite, out-and-out, one hundred percent; decided, determined, categorical, unqualified, unconditional, unequivocal, absolute, explicit, downright, outright, clear!  Say no more!

12. Desire to Be in Control
Most teams will have to address this somewhere along the way.  There are some people who want absolute and total control and will kill teamwork in the beginning.  Having a team leader is not a bad idea but a good leader will embrace and encourage the skills of every person on the team.

13. Refusal to Be Humble
“Oh Lord, its hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way…”  This was a song that Mac Davis sang years ago (Click here for the song! When you go to the video give yourself time to get to the song).  This would be a great song to email to those who are having a hard time with humility.  Humility can stop a great deal of problems if it used by every team member.

Now these 13 characteristics could be depressing if your team had all 13.  Most teams do not have all of these characteristics in their team members but many of these will have to be addressed.  The best way to address these problems is to be direct and learn to laugh.  Admitting your own flaws before addressing the character flaws of others on the team can help create a strong teamwork environment. 

Source : www.likeateam.com

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Everything in Its Time

 This song reminds me to the wonder of 'The Grand Design' in His Sovereignty....

Sometimes I wonder what lies ahead
How long till my hunger is fed
They say it's hard to make it in this part of town
So many people on this merry-go-round

Some folks try astrology
Some turn to crystal balls
To find an answer,
To get through it all
I just fall on my knees and I try to pray
In the silence I can hear Him say

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time

I often feel like I'm two steps behind
Somebody must have moved that finish line
There are a thousand reasons
Why I should give up
But I'm stubborn in the things I believe

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign

'cause maybe there's another plan
One I still can't see
A little surprise, like your love in my life
Funny how time changes how we see

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time
Everything in its time

Decision By Objectives - How to Convinces Others That You Are Right

In this contemplation associated with a management process, I can say I have a lack of experience in executing decision especially  in Crucial Decision Area. I often feel there is something wrong or something not fit yet when I have to decided. As a result I usually feel comfortable to make many scenario with all of its detail but when I face off the compulsion to take a decision/judgment, I have an adversity in it. So I think it is my weakness that to be improved.

At first I have a slightly confused with the starting point to do it. I've known many popular decision making techniques tool both of quantitative and qualitative methods in management. But I think I need something more praticed related with it.

And this is some good tips from "Decision By Objectives - How to Convinces Others That You Are Right" by Ernest H Forman & Mary Ann Selly- 2001;  World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd that I think fit to my needs.

I got areas that I should to developed related to my needs according to this book are :

• Prioritize

• Evaluate alternatives

• Allocate resources

• Deliver powerful presentations

• Justify/defend recommendations

• Make meetings more effective

• Improve communications

• Achieve consensus

• Eliminate fifty percent of your business worries

And I've learned too there are common mistakes when making crucial decisions:

1. Gathering information and reaching conclusions without thinking about the crux of the issue or how decisions like this one shouldbe made
2. Setting out to solve the wrong problem because your framework causes you to overlook attractive options or lose sight of important objectives
3. Failing to define the problem in more ways than one, or being unduly influenced by the frames of others
4. Failing to collect key factual information because of overconfidence in your assumptions and opinions
5. Relying on 'rules of thumb' for crucial decisions, or on the most readily available information
6. Trying to keep straight in your head all the information relating to the decision rather than relying on a systematic procedure
7. Assuming that a group of smart people will automatically make a good decision even without a good decision process
8. Failing to leam from evidence of past outcomes either because you are protecting your ego or because you are tricked by hindsight
9. Assuming that experience will make lessons available automatically
10. Failing to create an organized approach to understanding your own decision process  

That's I got a hindsight to improve my lack in decision making....eventhough there are still many things to learn and do, at least I have a driven factor to do it.....