Friday 7 November 2014

What is VUCA??

 
Is it another HR Jargon?
What does it really mean?
                                                  Will this affect me too?
 
 
This is what I thought when I first came across the term VUCA!!
Isn’t the term itself is quite intriguing.I wanted to know more about it than just its meaning, Volatile – Uncertain -Complex –Ambiguous. Though I am sure it explains now what it means. To me it sounds like ,”Don’t mess, I can be really crazy”. So as I became more interested about exploring  VUCA, happened to come across NHRD Mumbai conference which had organized a Panel discussion on the said topic with dignitaries like Dr. Gopal Mahapatra , CLO – RPG Enterprises , Ms. Rani Desai, Chief People Officer – Deloitte India, Mr. Lakshmanan MT – Head Talent Mgmt – L&T Ltd.
Must say the insights really made me feel the VUCA is a reality of everyday. I realized that VUCA has been there since the humanity existed , though we might have not called it by that name. Doesn’t our life gets us in situations which we never predicted, which have been beyond our control. It’s an environment which can be confusing and complicated, an event which can turn things topsy turvy and we with our best laid plans can’t even resist the change.
So though I felt more than debating about whether VUCA is a myth of reality , we should rather try to figure out the way to deal with it. For even if we deny the existence the change would still happen, so why fret rather deal with a grace. Adding to the thoughts shared by the panel where one of them quoted that India specifically has been one of the most adapted countries in terms of changes, after all those invasions and attacks from the historical times Indian are attuned to handle VUCA environment . Possibly that could be a reason why many Indians don’t feel that it even exists for its so much part of our normal lives. Morever it’s not a challenge but an opportunity to stand out and carve your own way. Now relating it closely to my subject, Human Resources Management here are some workspace events quoted by the brilliant panel to make it more relevant to us.
Layoffs and Pink slips are one of the most terrible times of conflict in a Human Resource professional’s life cycle. It takes me back to 2008 and 2009 when people dreaded to come office as it could be there last working day.
Talent Acquisition not matter how fancy the term sounds ask the pain of ‘back outs’ from a Hiring Manager who is uncertain even after the prospective candidates joins the organization.
What happens during the Mergers and Acquisitions? How to deal with people issues when the situation itself is not clear? Imagine the confused state scenario where the HR manager still has to be grounded and take it in the best stride.
How to handle the staff when a major project has been lost? Will you retain them or not? The dynamics changes overnight. One deal lost affects many around. Isn’t that a VUCA environment to deal with?
Summing up this, today when we are better equipped and much more aware, the solution lies in the word itself. Handle Volatile with Vision, Uncertainty with Understanding, Complex with Clarity and Ambiguous with Agility. It’s an age of unlearning and relearning and every change demands us to do that, world now has been different than it was a decade back .We have to get into vertical development , where every individual and organization finds the solutions and adapts the best practice to win over VUCA times.
 
 
 

Labels: , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home