Many of us have known VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) for many years now, at the latest by now everyone knows it … That certainly sounds frightening to some, constant movement, everything uncertain, complicated and not even clear… Nevertheless, it can every individual and we as entrepreneurs live stability. I’ve been living it very successfully for years, I’d like to share it with you here…
Source: 123rf.com
The picture is a good symbol for what I would like to give you… It is winter, there is hardly any food for birds, but the bird knows exactly which berries it can eat even when frozen and where it can find them. The delicious berries are only surrounded by thin branches, the bird finds its branch that carries it…
First, let’s deal with volatility and uncertainty…
Most of the “surprises” are not on closer inspection, because there were indications… Anyone who recognizes them early on can prepare for them. As in the example with the bird, winter does not come as a surprise, it gets cooler and cooler, then at some point snow and ice. It is important to act with open eyes, to observe the effects of actions, instead of assuming that the same reaction will always occur to a certain action. If the reaction is unexpected, or if you notice changes in the environment, you should consider whether an adjustment is necessary or whether you keep an eye on it…
Of course, things can also happen surprisingly, so you have to react, but not rashly. The first step is to take a deep breath, to think about what exactly is going on and what could be an action that brings a first (partial) solution with as little effort as possible, so-called quick wins.
We especially notice complexity where we are dealing with something new…
Complexity has also arisen over many years, we should rather say decades. In topics that we deal with permanently, we often do not notice it, because we have got used to it and have found our way to deal with it. When we deal with something new or when there is a major change in our environment, then we notice it. The aim here is to gain a rough overview. It’s usually not difficult. Then you have to choose which part is relevant for you in the current situation or in general. Dealing with it in detail may be complicated, but it is much easier to work on because it is a delimited, smaller part.
In the end there is ambivalence or ambiguity…
This is also easy to deal with. Where does this ambiguity come from? It comes from the fact that different environments have developed different basic rules, processes, etc. If you explore this, it quickly becomes clear what the meaning is in this context.
The article is of course only a very small excerpt from a huge topic. But it should give you food for thought, how one can find and live stability, even if we live in a VUCA world.