The VUCA-Plus Challenges

In addition to the positive outputs of temporary systems, Miles identified several of their central problems and dysfunctions. First, he observes that these systems often produce input overload. Too much is happening in a short period of time. Dwellers in a temporary system can be overwhelmed with the challenge introduced in this system, without experiencing the support or marshalling the resources that should accompany this challenge. Participants in executive development programs, for instance, must fight for privacy and have a great deal to sort out, but no time, ironically, for reflection on their reflection. As a result, learning often is incomplete.

Second, goal setting is often unrealistic. The ad hoc character of these systems often produces a feeling of infinite possibility and an unrealistic sense that the sky’s the limit. Failure and disenchantment frequently are associated with a lack of realistic goal setting in any temporary system unless the process of designing and offering this system includes not only re-examination of context and strategy but also the regular re-examination of goals. Another frequent problem of temporary systems concerns the complex interpersonal and task related skills that are needed to run such a system. The skills needed to create new settings are not widely found or nurtured in our society—as Goleman has noted in his widely-read assessments of emotional and interpersonal intelligence.

Thus, it seems that we must enter the challenging world of VUCA-Plus with several critical skills. First, is the ability to think in a careful, systemic manner about the world swirling about us. It is easy to think quickly with nothing but a desire to make the anxiety go away. We are fleeing the lions—but to little avail. Second, we must acknowledge the stress associated with the VUCA-Plus challenges. As we have noted, a freeze response does great damage to our health—we must be mindful of the stress and find ways to reduce it while being proactive in our response to the VUCA-Plus challenges—often through entering and making full use of temporary systems.

Finally, if we are going to “fight” rather than “freeze” or engage in “flight”, this must be done in collaboration with other people. We are not strong enough to fight about the VUCA-Plus challenges alone. Furthermore, we need other people to assist us in discerning what are “real” lions and what are lions that we are only imagining. There are plenty of real lions for us to confront, so we need not invent additional ones. It is in collaborative dialogue with other important people in our life that we find the courage, clarity and strength to not just make sense of our mid-21^st Century world, but also learn from the VUCA-Plus challenges, and find nourishment and sense of self-purpose in successfully confronting these challenges.