Are you ready to come along on a journey to get “VUCA Ready”—and handle whatever curveballs come next in these Volatile, Unstable, Complex and Ambiguous times? Be sure to watch Bobbie LaPorte’s September 24 video, as she kicks off the VUCA Ready Series and discusses the first step: learning how to adjust your Initial Response so you can take action, make decisions, and see what is possible.
Mastering your first reaction to getting hit with a curveball
Hi, this is Bobbie LaPorte, back with another week of “Calling the Game,” where I share my own experience and insights while giving you valuable tools you can use to call your own game…and plan the best moves for you and your team.
This week we continue our VUCA Ready® Series, where I’ll provide practical guidance for today’s leaders on how to become “VUCA Ready®” – which means having a possibilities mindset in a world that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. This enables leaders to normalize the unexpected and tackle whatever curveballs are thrown at them.
In a VUCA World, there are five elements of building VUCA Readiness. The first—and foundational one — is “Initial Response,” i.e., what is your first reaction to getting hit with a curveball; do you automatically default to autopilot; how quickly can you move past any initial negative reactions — like fear, defeat, resignation — to find your next best move?
Mastering your “Initial Response” is the key to seeing what is possible, making decisions, developing a course of action for you and your team, and recognizing that you may be headed down a path you have never been before.
No doubt – this can be a frightening and anxious place from which to operate.
Example of a VUCA Ready® Leader’s Initial Response
Let’s look at a scenario one of my clients faced that is familiar to many leaders.
As the leader of a significant team in a growing technology company, she learned that significant organizational changes were coming that would impact her and her team. More often than not, this would mean a new structure, shifting priorities, different ways of operating, and new expectations. All of which—coming simultaneously—could have shaken her professional world to the core.
She definitely felt all of that for a short time. However, she quickly realized that she needed to continue making decisions and providing guidance and direction to her team. How could she do that when she literally didn’t know which end was up?
She decided to act. Doing something, even if she was not sure it was the right thing or where it would lead, was better than being paralyzed, sitting on the sidelines to see what would happen, waiting for someone else to make the first move.
She started by creating a reasonable expectation of what she needed to decide and when.
That included making the day-to-day executive decisions that would keep her team grounded and moving forward.
It is critical to create some degree of certainty in these situations by acknowledging what you can and can’t control, by taking action where you can, and sharing that plan with your team.
She also decided to take her team’s own destiny into her own hands by reaching out to senior executives in the company to “pitch” how her team might be a good fit in their organization. That definitely took courage, but in the end, her team landed in a place where they would be appreciated and valued, able to maximize their contribution to the company and create a positive path forward.
When you are hit by a curveball like this, your approach must move beyond being stuck (and hoping no one will notice) and leaping toward something that feels easy, known, and comfortable (and hoping it sticks).
It requires the discipline to get off autopilot—to stop and think about what you are facing and not to automatically respond based on what you think you know. Because what you know often doesn’t apply in these changing times.
Is this easy? Not at all. But you’ll never know if you don’t stop to consider the possibilities, the positive and generative options that could be available to you, as a result of your “Initial Response.”
OK, that’s it for this week’s “Calling the Game.” Hope this helps you gear up for a great week and navigate any curveballs that may come your way!
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