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Organizational Dynamics (2019) xxx, xxx—xxx

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Managing VUCA:
The human dynamics of agility
Benjamin E. Baran, Haley M. Woznyj

Almost three decades ago, social scientists at the U.S. Army know what constitutes that VUCA and, perhaps even more
War College coined the acronym “VUCA” in an attempt to importantly, how executives can deal with it. In other words,
characterize the environment in which their students would it is important to explore what management practices lea-
need to operate in the future. VUCA–—standing for volatility, ders find to be useful ways to build the agility of their
uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity–—has since become a organizations in face of VUCA. In this article, we aim to
bit of a generalized term used across both geopolitical and provide such a resource.
business contexts to describe turbulence. And in the past Namely, we provide three sets of interrelated actions that
decade or so, authors from both industry and academia have executives and key decision-makers can use to guide their
produced an increasing number of articles, books, blog organizations through turbulence: identify your VUCA,
posts, and YouTube videos discussing VUCA and its implica- define obstacles to agility, and implement agility-enhancing
tions for leaders and organizations. practices. These three sets of actions, we argue, are central
Alongside these discussions of VUCA are various ideas to the ongoing success of any team or organization amid
about how executives should guide their organizations in turbulence (see Fig. 1). In the sections that follow, we
dealing with turbulence and attempts to characterize how unpack each of those areas. Specifically, we report synthe-
employees of all levels can best deal with increasingly sized findings from a study of diverse group of 1152 leaders
frequent change or uncertainty. A prevailing idea that has and provide tools for leaders who seek to manage the VUCA
emerged is that agility–—at the person, team, and organiza- in their environments through building agility around them
tional levels–—is necessary for effective management of through others. We also integrate our own findings with
VUCA. At the level of the individual person, agility involves relevant research in management and organizational beha-
what Elaine Pulakos and her colleagues introduced some vior to provide practices based upon evidence and science.
20 years ago as “adaptive performance,” which includes Although we discuss each of these three sets of actions in a
competencies such as handling emergencies or crises, learn- sequential fashion, we are not necessarily suggesting a
ing new tools or technologies, coping effectively with stress, specific order in which these activities should occur. Rather,
among others. For teams and groups, agility often involves a all three sets of actions should occur in parallel, with
combination of rapidly making sense of new situations along frequent interplay among them to promote the rapid sense-
with the norms that support robust interaction and dissent to making that is characteristic of agility itself. In so doing, we
elevate decision-making quality. For organizations, agility attempt in this article overall to provide an evidence-based
involves ongoing sensing and monitoring of the environment way for leaders to manage VUCA, with an explicit focus on
and of the organization’s stakeholders to detect and respond the human dynamics of such an endeavor.
rapidly to weak signals of threats or opportunities.
Yet despite the modest proliferation of ideas on these
topics, executives and other leaders have few evidence- IDENTIFY YOUR VUCA
based resources to draw from with regard to using agility
to deal with the VUCA they face. If it is true that many The famed military strategist Carl von Clausewitz once
organizations are operating in a realm of increased wrote, “ . . . geography and the character of the ground
VUCA–—which seems to be the case–—then it is helpful to bear a close and ever-present relation to warfare.” The

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100787
0090-2616/© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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2 B.E. Baran, H.M. Woznyj

(3) environmental and societal concerns, (4) geopolitics,

regulations, and security issues, and (5) workforce dynamics.
The data collection occurred between June 2015 and
June 2018 and occurred in collaboration with a management
consulting firm, which disseminated the survey through its
client network. The respondents represented more than
280 different organizations across a wide range of business
functions and industries, with largest representations from
manufacturing (23.44%), professional, scientific, and tech-
nical services (23.44%); and health care and social assistance
(15.36%). Many (49.39%) represented organizations with up
to 1000 employees, while others represented larger organi-
zations (24.05%) and smaller organizations (26.56%). In addi-
tion, these leaders represented organizations from diverse
locations; 47.66% of the leaders were from organizations
with headquarters in the United States. Our sample was
relatively senior, with 266 at the general manager/vice
Figure 1 Managing VUCA through three interrelated sets of
president level or senior (23.09%), 481 directors or managers
actions. VUCA = volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity
(41.75%), and 229 team leaders or individual contributors
(19.88%). Tenure in the organization ranged from 2 years or
fewer (21.27%) to 2—10 years (40.97%) to 11 or more years
(22.31%).
VUCA faced by any leader constitutes elements of his or her
Of the 35 disruptive trends, the three trends rated as
“geography,” and those who ignore those elements risk
most disruptive were tools for helping people collaborate
obsolescence. Managing VUCA requires leaders at all levels
across dispersed locations, economic cycles/recession, and
in an organization to sense what is going on internally and
the influence of government on business. The three trends
externally, early and often. Identifying the VUCA present in
rated as the least disruptive were wearable technology, the
one’s environment is important because doing so gives lea-
sharing economy, and potential alternative currencies. It is
ders a shared sense of what threats and opportunities they
interesting to note that these top trends remain highly
face, which should then give rise to appropriate actions they
applicable today, despite the economic and social upheaval
should take.
precipitated by the novel coronavirus that began in late
2019 and took hold in the United States in 2020 (well after
Common Disruptive Trends our data collection concluded). Fig. 2 lists the top 10 dis-
ruptive trends as rated by leaders in our study.
One way to think about your VUCA includes considering what Our study encompassed a wider range of topics (including
other leaders are facing. To further explore the types of five categories of trends instead of focusing upon one, for
disruptive trends that business leaders face as part of the example, technology) than many other studies or reports.
VUCA landscape, we asked the 1000-plus business leaders in Despite this different focus, our workforce trends align with
our survey to rate the degree to which 35 trends–—which we many of those highlighted in annual lists published by the
determined based upon a review of the popular press and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Addi-
scholarly literatures plus interviews with experienced man- tionally, the 2020 CEO Challenge survey conducted by The
agement consultants–—will affect their organization in the Conference Board lists the following among its top 10 con-
next three years. These trends, which contribute to VUCA, cerns for CEOs: recession risk, uncertainty about global
were grouped into five categories: (1) technological trade, more intense competition, global political instability,
advances and innovations, (2) economic and financial issues, tight labor market, more demanding customers, cybersecur-

Figure 2 The top 10 disruptive trends as rated by business leaders. Numbers displayed are the averages of ratings from 1 (not at all)
to 5 (to a very great degree) regarding the degree to which respondents thought each trend will affect their organization during the
next three years

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Managing VUCA: The human dynamics of agility 3

ity, less trust in political/policy institutions, impact of cli- Table 1 The VUCA audit
mate change on business, and tougher regulatory environ-
Ask yourself, others, or your team/organization:
ment. These findings provide corroboration of many of the
top 10 disruptive trends as rated by respondents in our To get a sense of anticipated volatility, uncertainty,
survey. complexity, and ambiguity overall . . .
1. What might change quickly about the organization or
Sensing, Assessing, and Monitoring VUCA industry? What is “trending”?
2. What aspects of the organization or industry are
While readers may empathize with the top trends we unpredictable?
described above, what is even more important is that execu- 3. How is our work interconnected with or dependent upon
tives and other organizational leaders continually sense, other stakeholders?
assess, and monitor the VUCA in their environments. Namely, 4. What about our organization or industry lacks clarity or
effective leadership requires the recognition of and naviga- has multiple implications?
tion amid a specific context. For example, leading a group of To get a sense of one’s own sensing and monitoring
nuclear engineers who are conducting their routine daily behaviors . . .
work is much different from leading a group of entry-level 1. How might I stay in touch with trends in my organization,
analysts who are attempting to work together for the first industry, or function?
time on a project. In the former, the leader’s job is primarily 2. How often am I surprised by decisions or events, and
to remove obstacles to high performance and build a sup- why?
portive environment. In the latter, the leader’s job centers 3. What resources or relationships do I have or need to keep
upon providing clarity, direction, and ongoing feedback due abreast of ongoing changes?
to the novelty of the situation and inexperience of the 4. How much time do I spend listening to others, inside and
participants. outside of my organization?
Similarly, the context within which an organization oper- To get a sense of trends inside the organization . . .
ates should drive its strategy. Leadership at the strategic 1. What do people talk about the most in meetings?
level necessarily involves a consideration of the external . What are the most common topics “in the grapevine”
environment, which includes but is not limited to one’s among coworkers?
industry, competitors, customers, and government regula- 3. What are the key focal areas of our strategy documents
tions. Therefore, the types of VUCA, or turbulence, that and policies?
leaders face should be a factor when executives think about 4. What do key leaders–—both formal and informal–—talk
and develop organizational strategies. Without such con- about the most?
text, leadership becomes a one-sized-fits-all activity that To get a sense of trends outside the organization . . .
may only be effective by coincidence. 1. What regulations or laws influence what we do and how
We suggest that leaders “turn up the volume” on the likely are they to change?
sensing, assessing, and monitoring activities in their teams 2. What aspects of our clients or customers are changing
to identify the disruptive trends in their environments. To with regard to what we do?
help leaders in this endeavor, we developed “The VUCA 3. What are our competitors doing that we are not doing,
Audit” displayed in Table 1 to better identify the VUCA they and why?
face. Leaders could consider using the audit in several ways. 4. What aspects of the industry could fundamentally
First, they could use the questions posed in the audit as a influence our success?
means for self-reflection, answering the items for them-
selves. For any items that leaders find difficult to answer,
they could develop action plans to address those gaps.
Second, leaders could use the audit as a way to guide  What aspects of our clients or customers are changing
discussion within their teams. For example, a leader could with regard to what we do?
provide the audit to his or her team well in advance of a team  What are our competitors doing that we are not doing,
meeting or short retreat. Then, as a team, the members and why?
could discuss each of the items and use the learning that  What aspects of the industry could fundamentally influ-
results as a way to make sense of the VUCA they face and how ence our success?
they can deal with it both individually and together. Third,
leaders could adapt some items for use in periodic surveys In addition to helping leaders anticipate potential
(either organization-wide or targeted as appropriate) or changes, these activities also may help with creating
focus groups to gather insights from across the organization. the conditions for rapid adaptation. Research on orga-
Specifically, the following open-ended items could yield nizations that deal with risky technologies–—for example,
insightful data: nuclear power plants, the fire service, and the military,
to name a few–—suggests that achieving a high level of
 What are the most important trends in our industry? reliability is less about being error free than it is about
 What are the most important trends within our organiza- noticing the weak signals of errors or change quickly.
tion or workforce? Conducting The VUCA Audit may help leaders become
 What regulations or laws influence what we do and how aware of such weak signals early, when enough time may
likely are they to change? still exist to respond.

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DEFINE OBSTACLES TO AGILITY Time and Organizational Design Barriers

Alongside identifying the VUCA within and outside one’s In our data, this category of obstacles to agility refers to
organization, leaders should continually evaluate key obsta- structural or policy issues in the organization such as barriers
cles to agility, which research increasingly proposes as a way or “silos” among departments that create uncertainty or
to deal with turbulence. In addition to asking about VUCA strain time and resources. Silos prevent cross-team and
and disruptive trends in our survey, therefore, we asked cross-departmental knowledge sharing, which creates a
respondents to discuss, “What is the biggest OBSTACLE breakdown in communication. Furthermore, in such situa-
keeping your organization from becoming more agile?” Given tions it is difficult to create alignment while formulating or
the quantity of responses, we used a computer-aided process executing strategies and goals. This obstacle, similar to
to help sort the responses into themes. clinging to the status quo, is common in many organizations.
Our respondents described six obstacles that might pre- Yet these types of barriers are particularly apparent and
vent them from dealing effectively with the forces of change challenging in a VUCA context because those situations are
in their environments. We describe these obstacles along precisely ones that need robust collaboration and sensemak-
with potential ways to deal with them below. ing. Trying to figure out “what’s going on” amid VUCA is a
team sport. As the organizational theorist Karl Weick has
Inertia of the Status Quo written extensively, gaining a shared sense of a situation
requires “heedful interaction.” Plainly speaking, without
robust communication and teamwork that bring together
This obstacle involves allowing the persistence of and
diverse perspectives, teams and organizations will fail to
commitment to current practices simply because they
respond adequately to VUCA.
are familiar and resisting that which is new. This resistance,
One creative example of breaking down structural bar-
according to our data, gets in the way of the disruption that
riers between departments, also documented in the i4cp
organizations may need to occur for new, more agile prac-
report mentioned above, comes from Igloo Products Corp., a
tices to take hold. Inertia or operating “because we’ve
U.S.-based manufacturer of cooler products. When he was
always done it that way” is not in and of itself surprising.
CEO, Mark Parrish would lead his executive teams in con-
Humans generally like routines because routines can reduce
versations in which they would imagine creating a company
the amount of cognitive effort one needs to expend while
that would put Igloo out of business. These conversations led
going through a set of tasks. Yet our data and additional
to ideas and practices that created fertile ground for cross-
research in the organizational sciences suggest that in a
functional work.
VUCA context–—an environment characterized by turbu-
lence and change–—inertia is likely to occur because of
several additional potential reasons. Unresponsiveness to Customer Needs
First, if a VUCA context is particularly threatening to the
way an organization is functioning or to the way a person This category captures the difficulty in managing the uncer-
does his or her job, clinging to the status quo provides tainty regarding what products or services the organization
immediate comfort. It allows people to discount the poten- should be providing to meet customer needs and the manner
tial magnitude of the change they face, and it shields them in which it should be providing them. Perhaps one of the most
from the vulnerability required to admit the necessity for frequently cited examples of unresponsiveness to customer
change. Second, people may particularly like the status quo needs and changing trends is Blockbuster, which rented
in the face of VUCA because leaders have failed to facilitate movies in its thousands of retail locations throughout the
the sensemaking that is required for everyone to understand 1990s and early 2000s. Customers, however, began to prefer
why change is imperative and why the chosen course of the experience of using video providers Redbox and Netflix,
action is the best one for them and the organization. Third, leading to the company filing for bankruptcy protection in
adherence to the status quo in a VUCA context may stem 2010. As of the writing of this article, only one Blockbuster
from leaders not providing the resources or direction neces- video store remains in the entire world.
sary to help people change; furthermore, leaders may have
not provided enough evidence of the probability of success Growing Pains
to bolster people’s sense that change is possible.
One example of dealing with the inertia of the status quo Growing pains refers to the difficulties that organizations
comes from T-Mobile, which, under the leadership of a new experience as they develop from small firms to larger ones or
CEO recognized the need for internal disruption. Namely, in as they mature their functions and how deliver their pro-
order to turn the company into one that embraced a custo- ducts or services. For example, respondents to our survey
mer-centric posture, leaders realized that the employees described the obstacles associated with effectively evolving
needed to embrace change first. Specifically, according to a an organization’s culture as well as its resources and capa-
case study from the Institute for Corporate Productivity city as it grows. In addition, focusing on growing the orga-
(i4cp), T-Mobile leaders used customer feedback to create nization takes time, money, and resources, which may
an overarching manifesto for company operations. That create the perception that agility is “something we will
guiding set of ideas, coupled with changes to policies and do later.” This obstacle points to the importance of mindset
procedures designed to enhance customer interactions and and organizational culture in creating an agile organization.
satisfaction, helped the company break free from the inertia A report from the management consultancy McKinsey & Co.
of how it had been operating. titled, “The Journey to an Agile Organization,” highlights

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Managing VUCA: The human dynamics of agility 5

this perspective. The report cites the global healthcare Communication and Transparency
company Roche, which included in its agile transformation
a four-day intensive leadership program focused on both One of the most prevalent recurring themes in our data was
individual and organizational transformation. Over time, the importance of ongoing, effective communication and
more than 4000 leaders went through the program, which transparency about both internal operations and relevant
contributed to the company’s efforts in changing how people external factors. In addition, our respondents pointed to
talked about and thought about agility. maintaining bottom-up lines of communication in facilitat-
ing organizational agility. This is particularly important
Slow Communication and Bureaucracy because organizations often struggle with bottom-up com-
munication; employees do not feel comfortable relaying
Respondents mentioned how slow communication and information to their leaders or those higher up in the
bureaucracy can hinder organizational agility. This is not organization. Yet, frontline employees can provide unique
surprising, given that in many cases a central component of information that can be helpful in sensing VUCA. Middle
agility is speed. When formal rules and guidelines are in managers, as a result, play a critical role in helping
place that hinder communication and prevent quick deci- the organization make sense of emerging events and
sion-making, agility becomes difficult. In our own experience situations, highlighting the importance of such multi-level
with multiple companies, we have found that leaders often communication.
express a desire for agility, yet they want to focus on one part The U.S. military has two common sets of practices that
of the organization (e.g., product development, engineer- highlight the use of communication and transparency to
ing, etc.). This approach is not altogether wrongheaded. The drive agility. First, leaders of large operations create and
problem occurs, however, when that one part of the orga- publish what is known as the “commander’s intent.” This
nization starts moving faster, falls in love with new processes document describes the overall situation and the desired
and communication flows, but then runs into stringent rules outcomes, and it serves as a way to promote widespread
elsewhere in the organization or a lack of required informa- understanding and enable subordinate leaders and teams to
tion. If the top leaders do not address communication and adjust their actions, if necessary, to accomplish the mission.
bureaucracy issues for the entire organization, the “more Second, leaders often seek and require ongoing input from
agile” part of the organization oftentimes gets frustrated those who are closest to “the fight”–—be they infantry pla-
and may cease to perform optimally. toons, aircraft pilots, ship operators, or any others who are
executing missions–—regarding what they are experiencing
Outdated Processes and lessons learned. These bottom-up reports then fuel
appropriate changes in tactics or operations, which are
Outdated processes that that do not align with the environ- important to the ability to be agile and to respond effec-
ment or current trends in the market can inhibit agility. This tively to VUCA.
could occur simply because people in the organization may
not know about better and faster ways to work. In addition, Knowledge Sharing and Teamwork
the environment is evolving so quickly that it is difficult to
keep up. Alternatively, as the first obstacle suggests, Related to communication, this category of practices to
change, particularly away from the status quo, is challen- promote agility refers particularly to the sharing of informa-
ging. Thus, some may find it more comfortable continuing tion across people, teams, and departments for the purpose
with practices that can quickly become outdated. Not to of knowledge generation and education. Our survey respon-
overuse the Blockbuster punching bag, but the video-rental dents focused in particular on the use of teams and high-
company simply did not keep up with new processes for quality meetings to achieve this end. Teams provide the
delivering video content to customers, be it via a kiosk or opportunity for organizations members to interact and share
through web streaming services, which ultimately led to the information to help make decisions. Sharing knowledge and
company’s demise. teamwork in general is important to promote agility for a few
reasons. For instance, sharing knowledge can help to identify
IMPLEMENT AGILITY-ENHANCING PRACTICES VUCA trends internal and external to the organization.
Further, sharing such information and talking through it as
One proposed way to deal with VUCA is through building a team can help to make sense of such trends and the
agility, which again is the capability of a person, team, or implications for the organization. As a final example, teams
organization to sense and respond rapidly to change. To can also brainstorm unique and innovative ways to respond
unpack this side of the equation, we went back to the same to such trends. Drawing from the literature on team effec-
survey and analyzed respondents’ answers to two open- tiveness, the most successful teams have members that
ended questions: (1) “What is the most important practice share positive norms for behavior, such as communication,
that your organization is CURRENTLY doing that is helping and a common purpose and understanding of how to achieve
you become more agile?”, and (2) “What is the most impor- goals.
tant practice that your organization SHOULD DO in the future Two good examples of using knowledge sharing and team-
to help you become more agile?” Like our analysis of common work to drive agility come from the global, Sweden-based
obstacles to agility, we used a computer-aided method to technology company Ericsson and the streaming audio plat-
sort responses. Our analysis resulted in the seven categories form Spotify. At Ericsson, more than 100 small teams are now
that we describe below. devoted to addressing customer needs, using agile principles

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to deliver solutions in three-week cycles. Relevant research learning, open communication and knowledge sharing, and
from the organizational sciences suggests that these tactics the skills, mindset, and knowledge necessary for change.
work because the teams are small (teams that are too big Continuous development is advantageous because it allows
suffer from people not doing their share of the work, and it organizations to address immediate issues daily, which likely
takes more time to coordinate work across many people) and builds dynamic capabilities and readiness for more radical
because the work has a specific cadence. Using a three-week changes in the future. This is important in order for organi-
period to drive meaningful progress draws upon the basics of zations to deal with the volatility of the business environ-
goal-setting theory; namely, that having difficult, specific ment and make it a little more manageable.
goals can increase motivation. Microsoft provides a good example of integrating users
At Spotify, which both popular case studies and some into ongoing improvement efforts. Recovering from its
emerging management research have cited for its agility and release of Windows Vista in 2007 and previous releases that
agile practices, employees share knowledge across organi- provided limited opportunities for user feedback, the com-
zational boundaries through what insiders call “guilds.” pany in 2014 shifted its tactics to create user groups. These
These groups are communities of practice, which allow user groups, which have more than 7 million members, allow
people to learn from each other about both technical mat- for rapid feedback and delivery of product updates. Com-
ters (e.g., software coding techniques) and broader organi- panies of all types are well-served by the notion of using
zational matters. Two types of guilds exist at Spotify: organic feedback on an ongoing basis to learn as an organization and
and structured. Regardless of type, both serve as a to iterate its products and services.
way to open the flow and creation of knowledge within
the organization. Deep Customer Focus

Fostering Agile Behavior Another category that emerged from our participants’
responses was planning and anticipating customer needs
Many respondents also discussed the value of using training and changes in trends to promote organizational agility. In
and development to foster agile behavior intentionally. order to adapt and be agile, respondents suggested that
Specifically, our data suggest the importance of using train- organizations must attempt to predict trends and changes in
ing to develop both skills and knowledge among employees the environment, including customers’ needs. If organiza-
and leaders that can promote or enable change, and as a tions are able to predict these changes, they can develop
result, organizational agility. For example, one such beha- strategic plans for the future to address those needs accord-
vior that respondents suggested would promote agility is fast ingly. That is, they can be ahead of the change.
communication and decision-making. The ability to commu- Netflix is an example of using deep customer focus to
nicate and make decisions quickly is important to respond to drive agility. In contrast to Blockbuster, Netflix had a much
and adapting to rapidly changing environments. Slow com- better sense of what customers wanted and how to address
munication and decision making inhibit agility and adapta- their needs. Although it is now a major streaming service for
tion because as senior leaders are deliberating how to video content, the company started by simply mailing DVDs
respond to one change in the environment, other changes to its subscribers. Over time, the company evolved alongside
are likely occurring. In addition, communication is key in technological advancements to where it is today.
times of change. Deep customer focus can also include continually under-
Ericsson provides a good example within this set of prac- standing the organization’s internal customers. For exam-
tices as well, with a focus on the agile transformation of its ple, human resources departments often maintain, modify,
research and development processes. Fostering agile beha- or create processes for employees. Doing so in an agile way
vior during this transformation occurred in phases, beginning involves treating employees as customers and involving them
with corporate strategy and then proceeding through the in creating or improving processes. For example, if a com-
creation of cross-functional teams, holding workshops to pany wanted to improve its onboarding process, an agile
promote collaboration and knowledge sharing across those approach would absolutely require spending time with and
teams, and then taking additional steps to drive integration understanding the stories of new and recent hires to the
and continuous delivery of solutions. Like Ericsson, other company. Then, human resources leaders could develop
organizations seeking to become more agile need to recog- basic ideas to improve the process and gain feedback on
nize that it takes time, deliberate effort, training, and those ideas, again using new and recent hires for that feed-
structural changes to help teams work in an agile way. back. The same approach, of course, could apply to other
internal process improvement efforts.
Iterative Improvement and Learning
Leadership and Role Modeling
Respondents also mentioned that organizations should
engage in systematic, continual development. This category This category refers to top management providing direction,
captures activities in which organizations seek continual motivation, and communication regarding business deci-
improvement in areas such as making decisions, learning, sions, policies, and practices, as well as the need to be
and communicating. This agile orientation views change as agile. Many of the practices described above are the result of
an ongoing process, not as an event on the path toward strong leadership. This can take on a few different forms. For
equilibrium. It builds on the aforementioned categories in example, agile leaders create an organizational culture and
that continuous, evolutionary change requires consistent capabilities based on agility, in which agile behaviors are the

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norm and the importance of being agile is widely understood. situations more quickly, and to better develop their employ-
In addition, agile leaders use the culture to set a vision that ees’ skills and behaviors for the future.
employees and teams embrace. Agile leaders also model In sum, based upon these categories, responses within our
agile behaviors themselves. data, and related research; we developed “A Leader’s
Executives at the companies included in the examples Checklist for Enhancing Agility,” which we display below
above–—Netflix, Microsoft, Ericsson, Spotify, and many in Table 2. In addition to The VUCA Audit, leaders could
others–—illustrate the effects that leadership and role mod- use this tool as a reminder of key actions they can take to
eling can have on agility. These leaders have intentionally enhance agility within their team or organization.
developed and implemented policies and practices that
promote agile behaviors, and which have helped to create LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES TO NAVIGATE VUCA
a culture of agility. Oftentimes, including the case of John
Legere at T-Mobile, leaders are hired purposefully to mix up
Above, we have presented (a) the common sources of VUCA
the status quo and to help the company adapt to the chan-
that leaders in our sample face followed by (b) a series of
ging environment.
obstacles to managing VUCA and (c) a series of practices for
managing VUCA. For executives and managers in the midst of
Strategic Alignment and Managing Talent VUCA, however, it is helpful to think about these obstacles
and recommended practices simultaneously. That is, when
Respondents recommended investing resources in talent dealing with turbulence and disruption, executives are likely
management. That is, organizations should spend time to face the obstacles we described. When they do, they
and resources to hire quality applicants and offer develop- should implement specific practices. Fig. 3 displays an inte-
mental opportunities that will allow employees and the grative illustration of how the disruptive trends, obstacles to
organization as a whole to be agile. Talent management is managing those trends, and recommended practices for
a key initiative to support other agile practices. For exam- overcoming those obstacles to manage VUCA fit together
ple, having a strong talent pool is an important first step in and inform each other.
optimizing training and education outcomes. Namely, the many disruptive trends present in the busi-
Companies like Adobe and GE have also targeted their ness environment present both challenges and opportunities
performance management systems to help them be more for leaders and organizations to respond and change. When
agile. Instead of the traditional annual performance apprai- considering such changes, however, many obstacles exist
sals, companies are opting for more informal and frequent that prevent leaders from responding effectively and effi-
performance appraisals. Traditional performance manage- ciently. Leveraging the recommended practices that leaders
ment systems doused managers in administrative paperwork identified in our survey, we map them on to the obstacles
and allowed managers to hold their employees accountable that our leaders also identified to provide actionable ways
only for past behavior. Replacing that system with real-time, that leaders can manage and respond to the biggest disrup-
informal feedback allows managers to address behavioral tions in their environment. We expand upon these manage-
issues more quickly, help employees adapt to changing ment strategies in the following section.

Table 2 A leader’s checklist for enhancing agility

Category Activities or sets of behavior to do with your team

Communication and transparency & Provide frequent updates regarding strategy and implications
& Listen actively to team members and follow up on their ideas
& Discuss why and how decisions are made; make plans visible
Knowledge sharing and teamwork & Hold frequent, focused meetings to align activities and information
& Engage and encourage others’ engagement in cross-functional work
& Use tools (high- and/or low-tech) to facilitate team communication
Fostering agile behavior & Learn and apply agile tools (e.g., Scrum, Kanban, etc.) as appropriate
& Assess meeting cadence and adjust to meet workflow requirements
& Continually groom the backlog of team tasks for proper prioritization
Iterative improvement and learning & Allow team members to take reasonable risks, fail, and learn
& Test new ideas when minimally viable, using feedback to improve
& Facilitate frequent, candid, and safe discussions about team effectiveness
Deep customer focus & Involve customers–—both internal and external–—in improvement efforts
& Conduct and encourage frequent “voice of the customer” interviews
& Investigate, assess, and follow-up on customer ideas and concerns
Leadership and role modeling & Talk about the need for agility and support ideas for becoming more agile
& Push decision-making authority to the lowest reasonable levels
& Show agility through openness to new ideas and willingness to change
Strategic alignment and managing talent & Update strategy and metrics frequently to align with customer needs
& Assess and transform roles and relationships to support agile workflow
& Carefully hire and develop high-quality employees who support agility

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8 B.E. Baran, H.M. Woznyj

Figure 3 VUCA, Managerial Obstacles, and Recommended Practices. VUCA = volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity

Managing Inertia of the Status Quo silos, it becomes increasing difficulty to make decisions
quickly, which is crucial to being agile.
In large-scale organizational transformations, executives Second, included in fostering agile behavior are the sets
who “lead from the top” are critical. Therefore, the practice of tools and resources that can allow for the better flow of
to promote organizational agility that most directly meets information and collaborative activity necessary to break
the challenge of inertia of the status quo is leadership and down unproductive organizational barriers. It is not only
role modeling. That is, leaders can open lines of commu- critical to keep lines of communication open, as described
nication by developing a supportive environment in which above, but to train employees on how to make decisions and
people feel comfortable sharing their opinions and commu- communicate them in real time. Practically speaking, this
nicating honestly. In addition, leaders can help mentor and may include considering aspects of Scrum, which is a set of
coach individuals and teams to develop growth mindsets and practices for teams to organize their work and systematically
agile behaviors and to clarify team roles. Leaders must also review their progress and reflect upon how they can
provide resources necessary to be agile. Finally, as men- improve. Additionally, the Cynefin framework proposed by
tioned previously, leaders can create an overall atmosphere David Snowden and Mary Boone is a useful framework for
and culture that is conducive to agility continuous change via leaders to analyze better what types of situations they face
role modeling and the implementation of policies and prac- and craft an approach that fits that situation. In that frame-
tices that support and reward agile behavior. Without such work, Snowden and Boone suggest that leaders should make
support, people will quickly regress to prior habits. Strong sense of their environments by thinking about them as one of
leadership is important not only to support agility at the four types: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. In
strategic level, but also to develop and support a workforce simple contexts, decision-making can follow best practices.
that is willing and able to continuously learn and change. Complicated contexts are the realm of emerging practice, in
which leaders should sense, analyze, and then respond.
Complex environments are more difficult to understand than
Managing Time and Organizational Design complicated ones; as such, the appropriate response is to
Barriers probe, sense, and respond. Chaos demands action first, from
which people can then sense and respond. Other important
First, strategic alignment and managing talent should skills and knowledge to train on to promote agile behaviors
involve leaders closely examining and address the structural could be enhance readiness for change and to develop a
issues of organizational design that might hinder agility. sense of openness to new experiences or change.
Organizations should hire employees with a strong openness Finally, knowledge sharing and teamwork includes prac-
to experience and willingness to learn. In addition, talent tices for embedding teamwork across functions and using
management is crucial in supporting agile practices regard- workplace meetings as a strategic advantage. For example,
ing teamwork and knowledge sharing. Organizations must team members should have a clear understanding of how
select team members who have the necessary and comple- other team members approach problems and what unique
mentary technical skills and knowledge–—combined with a types of knowledge or skill they each have. Many of our
willingness to work with others. Our participants also sug- respondents mentioned that meetings were an important
gested that there should be alignment between all levels, tool to encourage knowledge transfer and learning in teams.
functions, and systems in the organization. This is important Meetings, when conducted well, are advantageous because
to ensure that all appropriate systems are in place when they allow for real-time brainstorming, sensemaking, and
responding and adapting. When an organization operates in knowledge sharing and building.

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Managing VUCA: The human dynamics of agility 9

When teams and departments share knowledge, lea- agility. Without the ongoing collection of new information,
ders are better able to analyze the entire business envir- organizations cannot appropriately develop solutions that
onment, rather than a singular portion of it. As a result, align with the changing conditions they need to address.
leaders and their organizations can make sense of the Appropriate communication and transparency reduces
complex and ambiguous situations that they face and can uncertainty and ambiguity by providing leaders with infor-
develop capabilities to cope with changing conditions. mation and clarity about the business environment that is
Similar to open lines of communication, knowledge trans- useful for developing responses to changing conditions.
fer and teamwork reduces ambiguity by providing clarity Moreover, practices that enhance transparency inherently
about the business environment. In addition, cross-team will increase the speed of communication, while aligning
and cross-departmental knowledge sharing helps organi- structures and processes with strategy speaks to the hin-
zations to cope with complexity, as it can help organiza- drance of bureaucracy.
tions to “connect the dots” among various systems and
processes.
Managing Outdated Processes
Managing Unresponsiveness to Customer Needs
In dealing with processes that are simply outdated or are in
use simply due to habit, the practices described in fostering
Clearly, deep customer focus is the set of practices that
agile behavior should be helpful. Outdated processes may
most directly overcomes this obstacle. Anticipating change
also persist as a function of the inertia obstacle described
and trends, particularly in customer needs, is important to
above. In such instances, leadership and role modeling is
help reduce uncertainty and create value for customers. A
likely a major part of the solution. As mentioned above,
proactive customer orientation requires that organizations
leadership is important to support both agility from a stra-
focus on changes in the customers’ environments. Some
tegic perspective, as well as to lead and model a workforce
ways in which organizations can anticipate customer needs
that is willing and able to continuously learn and change.
and trends include conducting situational analyses,
Furthermore, leaders can help to foster agile behavior by
employing data mining techniques, and using qualitative
enhancing readiness for change and developing a culture
methods designed to provide market insights. Much of this
that is open to new experiences, change, and continual
can come about through robust efforts to engage with
learning.
customers on an ongoing basis, studying their patterns
and trends, and quickly disseminating those findings
throughout the rest of the organization to promote FINAL THOUGHTS
informed adaptation.
In this article, we have attempted to provide an evidence-
Managing Growing Pains based way for leaders to manage VUCA, with an explicit
focus on the human dynamics of such an endeavor through
The practices described in our data within the category three sets of interrelated actions: identifying your VUCA,
of iterative improvement and learning may allow the defining obstacles to agility, and implementing agility-
organization to both grow and become more agile enhancing practices. Our data suggest a number of useful
because change often presents the opportunity for trying insights. Practically, it appears highly relevant to know what
new processes and ideas. Organizations can develop an leaders rate as the most important disruptive trends. Know-
agile orientation in a number of ways. For example, ing this and similar information about trends is useful for
leaders and employees alike should develop what Carol executives because it helps them know more about the
Dweck and her colleagues have termed a “growth mind- future for which they and their organizations should be
set,” whereby they believe that people can change and planning. Additionally, we provided readers with two tools
improve their performance over time. It is also important (Table 1, The VUCA Audit; and Table 2, A Leader’s Checklist
that leaders build a culture that is based on continuous for Enhancing Agility) for asking questions to get a sense for
improvement, flexibility and a growth mindset, signaling the VUCA present within and outside their organizations and
to employees that agile behaviors are the norm and are for promoting agility within their own teams or organiza-
expected. Leadership behaviors are central to such a tions, respectively.
culture and includes approaches toward decision making, We then provided our findings regarding obstacles to
helping the organization overcome setbacks, and manage agility and recommended practices. Due to the open-ended
the tension between change and stability. nature of our questions, our approach allowed participants
to develop their own responses to the questions in accor-
Managing Slow Communication and Bureaucracy dance with their worldview. Communication was a common
theme throughout our data, suggesting that it is both an
From the practices to promote organizational agility in our advantage for promoting agility but also disadvantage if not
data, we see both communication and transparency and done well. Knowledge sharing also appears to be advanta-
strategic alignment and managing talent as important solu- geous, but organizational structures and rigid processes can
tions. It is important for leaders to be transparent about prevent it from happening efficiently and effectively. We see
decisions, business updates, and market changes to help our findings as a benchmark of sorts, but also as a guide.
their organizations to respond and adapt quickly to changing Given our large, diverse sample of leaders, we see consider-
conditions, which is a critical component of organizational able value in using our findings as suggested practices that

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10 B.E. Baran, H.M. Woznyj

organizations might implement–—and obstacles to avoid–—to how they cope with them. As such, we hope to provide
become increasingly agile. both useful insights for current leaders and those who
Overall, our data and the interpretation provided here advise or study them, highlighting specific areas of con-
provides a unique window into the mindsets held by cern and managerial strategies regarding the human
leaders regarding the forces of change they face and dynamics of managing VUCA.

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Managing VUCA: The human dynamics of agility 11

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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(2016). What having a “growth mindset” actually means. Harvard B., Lassenius, C., & Hallikainen, M. (2018). Large-scale agile
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Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology McKinsey & Co (e.g., https://www.mckinsey.com/
publishes an annual list of top workplace trends (see business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-journey-
https://www.siop.org/Business-Resources/ to-an-agile-organization) and Harvard Business Review (e.g.,
Top-10-Workplace-Trends), which executives may find “Embracing Agile,” 2016 and “The Performance Management
useful for staying aware of ongoing changes regarding Revolution,” 2016) have published guides on organizational agi-
the human components of work. lity and agile behaviors that often contain evidence and best-
Much of agility, as described in this article, involves high- practices from companies.
quality communication, sensemaking, and decision-making.
For communication, workplace meetings are critical; see
Steven Rogelberg’s evidence-based book on the topic: Rogel-
berg, S. G. (2019). The surprising science of meetings: How
CREDIT AUTHORSHIP CONTRIBUTION
you can lead your team to peak performance. Oxford Uni-
versity Press. To learn more about the sensemaking frame- STATEMENT
work briefly that we briefly described, see: Snowden, D. J.,
& Boone, M. E. (2007). A leader’s framework for decision Benjamin E. Baran: Conceptualization, Methodology, Inves-
making. Harvard Business Review, 85(11), 69—76. Karl tigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing,
Weick’s and Kathleen Sutcliffe’s work on high-reliability Project administration. Haley M. Woznyj: Software, Formal
organizing is highly useful in terms of norms and behaviors analysis, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing -
necessary for mitigating turbulence. See: Weick, K. E., & review & editing.

Benjamin E. Baran is an associate professor of management in the Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland
State University, co-founder and principal of the management consulting firm Indigo Anchor, co-host of The Indigo
Podcast, and a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. His research on employee well-being, leadership, organizational
change, and high-reliability organizing has appeared in a number of scholarly journals, including Human
Relations, the Journal of Business and Psychology, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior, among others. He
consults on matters of leadership, teamwork, agility, and human resource management across a wide range of
sectors and industries. He earned his Ph.D. in organizational science from The University of North Carolina at
Charlotte. (Cleveland State University, Monte Ahuja College of Business, 2121 Euclid Avenue, BU 435, Cleveland,
OH 44115-2214, United States. Tel.: 216-687-4736; fax: 216-687-4708; email: b.e.baran@csuohio.edu (Corre-
sponding author)).

Haley M. Woznyj is an assistant professor of management in the College of Business and Economics at Longwood
University. Her research focuses on managing human resources to achieve strategic goals, how organizations can
support employees, and specialized methods to gather data. Her work has been published in scholarly journals
such as the Journal of Management, Personnel Psychology, and the Journal of Business and Psychology. She holds a
master's degree in industrial/organizational psychology and a Ph.D. in organizational science, both from The
University of North Carolina at Charlotte.(Longwood University, College of Business and Economics, 201 High
Street, Hiner 104.2, Farmville, VA 23909, United States. Tel.: 434-395-2216; fax: 434-395-2203; email:
woznyjhj@longwood.edu).

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