THE FUTURE HAS OTHER PLANS: EXPLORING THE DISRUPTIVE VORTEX OF ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT (OD) IN A VUCA WORLD

The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination (― John Schaar).

Organisations the world over are being sucked into a VUCA Vortex where the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, dynamism, impossibility and ever-changing nature are swirling around within their operating ecosystem at an unprecedented level. Indeed, the world we live in is brimming with chaos, turbulence and unpredictability. Everything around organisations seems to be in a state of discontinuous flux and in the process trapping them in the disruptive vortex of an unending tsunamic cyclones of change.

A VUCA-DICE world combines the two phenomenal concepts of VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) with DICE (Dynamic, Impossible, Complex, Ever-changing) to yield a   VOLATILE and DYNAMIC, UNCERTAIN and IMPOSSIBLE to Understand, COMPLEX, AMBIGUOUS and EVERCHANGING World of Organisation Development which we un-pack below. This world is changing dynamically and characterized by discontinuous and nonlinear change which is revolutionary rather than evolutionary. The present world is unclear and the future is impossible to understand. The Changing content and context evokes great uncertainty and subsequently plan failures. This complex state is being characterized by interconnected and interacting parts, exhibiting behavior that cannot be predicted based on the study of the individual parts alone. Many different and interconnected factors come into play with the potential to cause chaos and confusion. In the words of Toffler, “change is avalanching upon our heads and most people are grotesquely unprepared to cope with it”

The VUCA-DICE disruptive vortex require leaders who overcome the paradigm paralysis, which can be defined as. “the inability, or refusal to see beyond models of thinking” In a Vuca world organisation leaders need to stick to their core values, core purpose and Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) but continuously amend their strategies to match current realities. In times of discontinuous change and volatility, quickly changing and unpredictable environments, Organisation Leaders need to fully comprehend those changes and their impact on the organisation and formulate strategies to manage these changes. As organisations experience the strengthening pull of the VUCA Vortex, they find themselves vacillating violently between complicated and complex operating contexts. Overcoming this complexity chasm calls for communication with clarity and adaptive leadership systems. An “Adaptive Leadership System,” requires that leaders at every level engage disparate and diverse sets of people, systems, processes, and technologies in real-time to increase the likelihood of survival.  They need to transform from a find-it-out to a figure-it-out mindset.

Far from being a complex and ambiguous answer, the solution to a VUCA World is a deceptively simple one, because the equation is simple and straight forward. In a disruptive VUCA Vortex, the premier skill we need is LEADERSHIP.

Conclusion

Typically, like all other Vortices, the Disruptive vortex naturally pulls objects relentlessly toward its centre and as objects approach the centre of the vortex, their velocity increases   exponentially. Within the basic rule of movement toward the centre, disruptive vortices are highly chaotic. An object can be on the periphery of a vortex one moment, and then drawn directly into the centre the next. The objects do not travel a uniform or predictable path from the outside to the centre. They may break apart and recombine as they collide with one another and converge toward the centre.