On 11 September 2001 I was 20 years old, I was in Santiago de Compostela, I had spent the morning at the library studying one of those easy subjects (I'd say it was botany..) I always used to leave one over to keep me busy in summer (procrastination is my thing, see procrastination but that's another matter...). It was about 2:00 p.m. and I went home to wolf down a plate of spaghetti. When I turned on the television to entertain myself (my friends were all very good students and I was completely on my own), I remember Matías Prats was on the news, he's always been my favourite, when suddenly he started narrating live how a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in NY. There I was, eyes like saucers, hooked on that man's narration, not knowing if it was true or a joke or a product of my dazed imagination after so many hours of botany study, when suddenly Matías said "Ricardo, the other tower!" and then we saw live something we could never have imagined: a second plane crashing into the other Tower, and what we learned afterwards was even more astonishing; after that the world changed, oh how it changed...
On 11 September 2001 the whole world turned VUCA!
On 11 September 2001 the whole world turned VUCA
What does VUCA mean?
VUCA is an acronym used to describe or reflect the volatility, uncertainty (uncertainty in English), complexity and ambiguity of conditions and situations. The notion of VUCA was created by the U.S. Army War College to describe the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the world that emerged after the end of the Cold War.
wikipedia.org
the term VUCA began to be applied across all business sectors.
According to Luis Vives, PhD in Business, associate dean and director of the Full-time MBA at ESADE, the shift to VUCA can be summarised as moving:
from stability to instability
from certainty to uncertainty
from simplicity to complexity
from clarity to ambiguity
in short, from the comfortable to the uncomfortable
Luis Vives. Phd in Business ESADE Business school
Millennials and Baby boomers in a VUCA environment
If to this equation we add the heterogeneity of the different profiles we work with: from a baby boomer to a millennial, the result can be explosive or brilliant, depending on our capacity for leadership, integration and, above all, our skill at bringing out the best in each person and "getting things done".
One of my favourite films, "The Intern" with Robert de Niro and Anne Hathaway, a 100% e-commerce fashion company created and run by a female, millennial CEO (no big deal...), where HR decides to launch a senior trainees programme: they look for retired senior profiles who can contribute their knowledge of classic management. In fact, the very concept of "senior intern" is quite a joke. The message is clear; it's hugely important for companies to manage to integrate such heterogeneous profiles. Millennials were born with technology, their minds work differently, they are far more expert than the Generation X or the Baby Boomer generation; today being older or younger does not correspond to knowing or not knowing, the goal of companies is to launch strategies that bring out the best in each person, and above all work environments focused on common objectives.
The Intern, "experience never gets old", a comedy that describes very well the situations we face when managing such disparate profiles
The 5 keys to effective leadership in VUCA
1.- Lead with emotional intelligence
Managing teams in the VUCA world, and with millennials in the mix, could be defined as something like "herding cats". I read the expression in Norbert Monfort's book "Próxima Parada" , I loved it, I found it frankly spot on, I couldn't have found a better definition!
Millennials work to live, and not the other way around as baby boomers did; this means we must find the emotional connection that binds them to the organisation. These profiles' tenure at companies is much shorter than before, around 24 months. So then? Are we condemned to running recruitment processes in eternum? The answer is that we must embrace the VUCA environment, and change is here to stay; my recommendation is the following:
Identify talent and try to retain it, extend those 2 years on average that they tend to stay at companies, but don't drive yourself crazy... people have to appreciate what you offer; sometimes there are very restless millennials who have to take a couple of knocks before valuing what they have.
How do I retain the "good ones"? By identifying their career anchors; nowadays it's usually flexible working hours that millennials value most, and as far as possible it's worth putting it into practice. You'll quickly see whether or not that person is capable of having freedom; at the end of the day, what matters, as I always say, are the "deliverables" and teamwork. Wherever you are, keep working as a team, they cannot lose the cross-functional view and the sense of belonging to an organisation with a global MISSION.
This is how we'd like the team to listen to us...
And the reality in VUCA is quite different: herding cats!
Closing on emotional intelligence, it's true that we women innately, by pure genetics, have more empathy, and with that our soft skills help us cope better with this environment. I loved how the ESADE professor Andrés Raya categorically states that to lead in VUCA you need female leadership. TAKE THAT!
http://andresraya.com/el-liderazgo-femenino-es-la-clave-del-mundo-vuca/
2.- Being a boss is out of fashion: Integrate!
By this I mean the classic hierarchy, as we understand it as such, the business units, the boss and the little bosses in between.... NOT ANY MORE.
Can you work without a boss?
There have already been several attempts by large companies, for example in the US, or even "La Caixa" in Spain is trying to put this into practice; there's still a long way to go, but on a small scale we should grasp the message as soon as possible... make yourself indispensable, because control for control's sake no longer needs a physical person. Nowadays, with crm systems, we can have absolutely everything under control from an office 2000 km away from any sales team; it usually happens that the crm data smells off against the sales data. Do you remember that film called The Matrix, in which everyone was controlled and watched? Well, it's more or less like that; no matter how much autonomy and flexibility we have, we must never lose sight of the fact that we belong to an organisation with a mission, a vision and values, which we must convey.
The organisations that will attract the most talent are the cross-functional ones, not the vertical ones, not only because of VUCA but because of the profiles that are coming.... the ones that get the employee to have autonomy, and the team to have decision-making power; the people who have the most information about the company are the ones in contact with the customer; customer service and the sales team.
3.- Eagle vision
If you want to be a good leader, you must have the ability of "eagle vision", that is, let's not lose our bearings over incidents, over some element that distorts the harmony of the team or the company; there's nothing more dangerous for a leader/boss than "getting stuck in a loop", because you lose something very valuable: "the capacity to see beyond" or, as the English say, seeing the big picture.
Saying it is very easy, but doing it not so much...a good technique for breaking the EMOTION <--> MIND "loop" is to add the BODY into the equation; for example, I always break the loop with sport, I usually go for a run, it's my escape route, I come back a new person... since I can't always do that because the "loop moment" can catch me in the office, I go down for a coffee, or if it's already late I usually find a friend willing to have a little beer before dinner (it has a double effect... body and mind :)).
4.- Stop and think
A friend of mine used to say that "we go around like headless chickens", that we get off the high-speed train at top speed, running, and it's true... before it even arrives the passengers are already on their feet waiting for who knows what... because, come on, it'll arrive at the same time no matter what! My friend was absolutely right; we don't think, we don't stop... I live day by day; the night before I look at my agenda and think "let's see what's on for tomorrow..." mostly because it's already happened to me a few times that I had two dinners or two business lunches at the same time...
Someone invented the fantastic Mindfulness, which is nothing other than stopping and thinking...focusing on what we're doing at that moment.
The coach Thais Alonso taught it to me; I recommend her if you live in Madrid, she's excellent, she teaches you some exercises to become consciously aware of what you're doing.
The kiss: in the mornings I give each of my children a quick kiss (if they let me...); since I'm always in a rush I sometimes blow them in the air, so imagine for a moment that it's the last kiss, not to be dramatic... but what if one day it is? Wouldn't you have concentrated more on that kiss? Stop and think.
The same in the company: dedicate time to things, set aside one hour a week in your agenda to think, I do it on planes or on the high-speed train, that's where my mind flows most, I make diagrams, strategies... it's my Mindfulness moment; I'm sure you can find your own and you'll be much more productive, so when you get home you'll do Mindfulness with your family, who also need it, and so do you... :)
5.- Relax, Take it easy
Companies are companies, whatever happens, if it doesn't affect your health it's not serious, there's surely a solution; if you don't find it today you'll find it tomorrow! Music is a fantastic relaxant and stimulates creative thinking.
For effective leadership in the VUCA world:
Use emotional intelligence, integrate your team, don't lose your eagle vision, stop and think... and above all break out of the loop with Mindfulness. :)
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