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VUCA and Portfolio Executives: Part Two – Volatile
In a VUCA world, we are faced with extraordinary uncertainty. If you are going to be the trusted advisor to the CEO and build the most powerful capability you can for the clients you serve, then uncertainty has to be part of your recognition of the world in which you operate.
Challenging Uncertainty with Understanding
For some of you, you’re familiar with the ideas of a lean startup. A lean startup seeks to deal with uncertainty by iteration. It responds to uncertainty by trying to get more, valuable, information to test the assumptions underpinning a proposed course of action.
The classic response to uncertainty within the VUCA framework is to gain more understanding. Understanding is a bit different from just getting more information—it involves engaging with the underlying system, seeing the system’s dynamics, understanding the opportunities around various scenarios, and building a richer sense of the broader trends within which the uncertainty sits.
Bringing Unity to Bear
The challenge for you as a Portfolio Executive is that you will rely on your tried and tested experience. But more than this is needed. A compelling dimension you can bring to address the issues of uncertainty is to build unity. Too often, different parts of organisations diverge in the face of uncertainty. If you are not collectively aligned with a shared purpose and a shared outcome, then in the face of uncertainty, you’re likely to fragment your resources rather than be unified in your engagement with uncertainty.
This does not deny the power of diversity of thought or the importance of multiple points of view. However, it recognises that to respond to uncertainty, you need to build a strong esprit de corps and unity within the senior leadership team and the rest of the organisation. Without this, uncertainty can paralyze or fragment activity. Building unity is not just a strategy; it’s a cultural commitment that no one is alone in the uncertainty we all face.
Understanding + Unity > Uncertainty
As a Portfolio Executive, yes, you bring more understanding—the understanding of 20 or 30 years of experience in the context in which you operate. Yes, it would be best to ensure that the information, data, and knowledge are available to help with decisions, but ultimately, understanding is about bringing wisdom to an uncertain world.
The most powerful thing you can contribute is to exercise your power through influence and convening others, encouraging and collaborating to build unity within the senior team and establish a unified effort across the organisation you seek to serve. As a Portfolio Executive, you hold a significant role in shaping the unity within your organisation, and this responsibility empowers you to make a difference in the face of uncertainty.
Additionally, at a personal level, it is vital to maintain the understanding of and unity with that group of friends and family supporting you on your Portfolio Executive journey. We have found that partnering with two other complementary professionals to establish a triplet of fellow Portfolio Executives builds understanding and unity across the continually evolving uncertainty of any 2nd Half Career.
Charles McLachlan is the founder of FuturePerfect and on a mission to transform the future of work and business. The Portfolio Executive programme is a new initiative to help executives build a sustainable and impactful second-half-career. Creating an alternative future takes imagination, design, organisation and many other thinking skills. Charles is happy to lend them to you.