Leading in Chaos
For the past three years, most of us have felt like we are leading in uncertainty, and it's a collective experience that we have because of the global pandemic that hit in March of 2020 and the change and transition in marketplaces ever since then. Currently, we're wrapping up the year of 2022 and we're seeing a lot more change on the horizon.
So when I'm working with leaders and talking about uncertainty, our main focus is minimizing the uncertainty around you and leaning into the things that you do know for certain.
Leadership is about taking what you know to make incremental changes going forward to create confidence and movement through transition points. Learn more on this episode of Coffee on Leadership!
On this episode you’ll hear…
The two questions to ask yourself when you’re leading in the midst of chaos in order to feel more in control
Knowing the things that can be learned from a crisis and how to look at it as an opportunity
What VUCA environments are, how to best lead within them, and the importance of focusing on certainty
The reminder that as a leader, you’re constantly modeling how to show up in every situation (even when they’re chaotic)
Ready for more?
Listen in:
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** This is a raw, unedited transcript
Chaili Trentham 00:01
For the past three years, most of us have felt that we are leaving in uncertainty. And it's it's a collective experience that we have because of the global pandemic that hit in March of 2020. And then the change and transition in marketplaces ever since then. And currently we're wrapping up the year of 2022. And we're seeing a lot more change on the horizon. And so when I'm working with leaders talking about uncertainty, the biggest thing that I like to focus on is minimizing the uncertain around you. And oftentimes, it's taking a moment to step back and realize, or ask ourselves, what do I know for certain in this moment, because it can feel like the world is swirling and like everything is chaotic around us. And we are leading in utter chaos. However, you are competent and capable and leading in the role you are currently in. And so you must know something's right. And so to give yourself space to begin to break down what you do know, in the midst of the chaos, creates an opportunity for you to unpack the details of the environment you're in, and the chaos that is swirling around you to move forward with certainty in your leadership. Brene Brown has a great quote that I love. She says this, a crisis highlights all of our fault lines, we can pretend that we have nothing to learn. Or we can take this opportunity to own the truth and make a better future for ourselves and others. Now, when we're looking at chaotic situations, when we're looking at uncertainty because of environmental pressures, or things going on around us, when we're looking at a crisis that we're responding to, as a leader, as an organization, we know that leading in high stress environments is complicated is messy is difficult is hard, because everyone's looking to you for the answers, and you may not have them, right. But when we're leading in high stress, conflict driven environments, it means we have to ask smart ask ourselves two questions. One of those is, how much can you predict the results of your actions? And how much do you know about the situation. Because in determining the actual challenges you're facing, and putting language to the actual challenge at hand, and giving language to the chaos, you can choose how to respond, right, that's the only thing you control is your response. And, like Brene says, We can pretend that we have nothing to learn. Or we can take the opportunity to own the truth and make a better future for ourselves and for others. And that is with every action and behavior that we take from that moment forward as a leader. And so when we look at high stress environments, you'll sometimes hear these called VUCA environments. And VUCA is a term. It's an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. And it was rooted in some of the leadership development work that came out of the military field, actually, and then was borrowed over by business in that industry. And then has made its way more publicly, especially in light of COVID. And so we hear a lot more right now about Luca environments, or even some are calling them super VUCA environments given the past few years. But why I love what we know and how we break down VUCA environments is because you may or may not be in business, but you are likely working in a space where change and transition are happening no matter what because we all are. It's a collective experience right now. And when we look at VUCA environments, the reason why I love it is it gives language to the different types of uncertainty that we may be facing. Because so many of the organizations I gave a talk called leading and uncertainty virtually in COVID, and then it was one that I ended up going into a lot of organizations and giving because I basically broke down that word uncertainty, because we were hearing so much in the news from our bosses in messages swirling all over in marketing and media. And it became I don't know about you but overwhelming to where I when I heard uncertainty. I'm like then who knows anything right now it feels like nobody knows anything. And it's complicated, and I wish there was some certainty in my life. And then I began to realize that so much of when we were saying things are uncertain the was a lot of certainty that we didn't know in other spaces. And when we began to lean on that certain emotion, we could overcome all of the negative emotions that we were feeling inside of our body when we heard the word uncertainty. And so I begin to kind of peel back the layers of uncertainty and using VUCA language and research to talk about uncertainty, so that leaders can begin to see. Now regardless of the challenges, I still have some ability to give language to what's happening to me, and to ground my experience in something true and real. Beyond the word uncertainty, and I can respond and not just be reacting to everything, especially as I'm leading teams. So that was the goal. So when we look at the VUCA framework, it kind of lines up in a grid, the four four types of environments. And those two questions that I asked a little bit ago, how much can we predict the results of our actions? And how much do we know about the situation kind of lines up and gives you an understanding of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in the way of how many details do I have? Or not have? And how much do I know about the results of my actions? And what will happen if I take a step? Right? So in VUCA, moments, when we look at what we're experiencing, I want to break down those four areas, okay. And I want you to begin to think about something that's changing in your context currently. So think about a scenario that you are in where you are having either conflict, or quote, unquote, uncertainty, or pressure, or there's a big change happening that you are responsible for. And I want you to think about that scenario, as I give you these definitions, and think about the ways that it might change how you think about that scenario. So volatility. This is when change is rapid and unpredictable. It's explosive situations, which this one often resonates with people. And it's like constant fire drills in your organization. So when it's it's that explosive Ness, it's it's picture, high conflict, high stress, high emotions in a meeting, that's volatility, it's when that change is rapid, and you don't know what's happening. Change style. Number two is uncertainty, the EU in VUCA, the present is unclear. And the future is uncertain, more driven by the fear of the unknown. And so this is like true uncertainty and certainty, right. And obviously, we were using this word for the past few years, because a lot of it feels true. The present is unclear, and the future is uncertain. We're driven by the fear of the unknown, it feels wild and crazy out there. And we don't know how to respond, right? Because everything is so uncertain. However, there is kind of an end, like we knew in a global pandemic, that there was steps, research teams were taking, we knew there was an end in sight. But the fear piece, and component is a big part of it. Now, number three, see for complexity. So this has changed when many factors and variables are at play, causing confusion and overwhelm, and too many interconnected details. And so complexity is when I actually see a lot right now, because when change starts happening so fast in an organization, or between roles, or even turnover in the people holding the information, there's so many variables. And everyone feels confused, but maybe everyone is holding some important pieces of information, right? So it's overwhelming, because there's too many details. It's too complex. But we know stuff about the situation amongst people, right? So it's complex, but not necessarily unknown. And the number for the A for ambiguity. This is when there's a lack of clarity or awareness about the situations at all. This is like a step up from uncertainty or step down, guess it's in a negative way. So no precedent exists. There's no end in sight. So you don't even know what the end goal or marker is. And that lack of clarity, awareness is scary, right? So it's a step up from uncertainty in you don't know a lot about the situation, you also don't know what the results of your actions would be because there is no precedent. So then I want you to consider that situation. Right? I just said, think about a situation that you're going to and I want you to consider how would you actually tangibly describe the environment that you're in? Is it 100% uncertain, or is it actually more volatile or more complex? Do you know a little bit more about the situation than you think you do when you begin to look at the actual information and details? Or is volatility a big part of it? because things are explosive, it's constantly changing too quickly. Right? And so that's where giving language to the uncertainty helps you to pinpoint how you can change your response. And that's where I like to introduce VUCA reframes. And this is where you begin to think about it differently of, okay, what's the flip side of uncertainty? And what can I do to minimize? Confusion, minimize uncertainty for the people around me by responding more proactively? So the the reframe for volatility is vision, how can you cast better vision for the future with your team, volatility means change is rapid. And so that's going to be happening. But if you can look further into the future and say, okay, but we have a plan, we have a trajectory, we have a map, or we have a total direction that we're following. That gives vision to your team so that they know in the end, this change all leads to the same place. Right? The reframe for uncertainty is understanding. So under uncertainty is where we're driven by fear of the unknown. I've said that a couple times. And so how can you take the knowledge that you do have to ground someone's experimentation moving forward, right. Oftentimes, when you're experimenting with theory, or in a lab, you're taking what you know, and tweaking tiny little variables to move forward, to experiment to see if it works, if it sticks. And so it's no different leadership of take what you know, and figure out how to make tiny incremental changes moving forward, so that you can check things off the list, and ground down in certainty for the things that work the things that you do know the knowledge that you do have any information that you do have. All right, so complexity, this is one of my favorites, because oftentimes, complexity is the issue. Complexity is the lack of communication, because there are too many variables swirling. And so the flip side of it would be to create clarity. How can you increase communication, invite others into the process, collaborate towards the primary goal, collaborate towards that vision, it's all the C's, right? Clarity, communication, and collaboration, all of those things contribute another C, to demystifying complexity. How many times have you been in a scenario where you were like, I don't have all the details. And then somebody raises their hand and is like, Oh, actually, I do know that right? Like, oh, actually, I do have that piece of information, or I do have that process set in place, or my department does have that thing you've been looking for. But we just weren't sharing the information. Complexity is one that I think can be greatly minimized when we're looking at VUCA environments. Because when we start to put together the knowledge and information and begin sharing it and minimizing the EU uncertainty, we also are collaborating in a way that minimizes the feeling. And the emotion associated with complexity of this is too much. This is overwhelming. And instead saying like, No, we just need to put the pieces together the right way. Okay, and then the final piece, how can we change our response to ambiguity? And this is where agility comes in? How can you be more flexible in the ways you adapt to the challenge? How can you be flexible in the ways that you respond to anything really how you respond to the situation, how you behave, how you act, how your attitude shows up in that moment, because remember, ambiguity is the one where the future is unknown. There's no precedent like walking into all of the land of uncertainty, all of it. And so you have to be the most flexible, the most agile in the way that you respond and the way that you show up as a leader. And so when you're adapting to that, and putting that at the forefront of your daily leadership, you are modeling to others. We're in this together, we're going to be agile together, we are going to be motivated together, we're going to figure out details together. And even not with that unknown, all around you. You're an utter chaos. You're modeling what it looks like to walk forward with learning posture with a leadership posture with growth in mind with an acceptance of failure, essentially, knowing that that can be a big part of it. All of this requires an acceptance of failure. But you're looking at the entire process is something that we are experiencing this and we can change our response. And that as a leader is so important to show up in that way when you're showing up in a crisis or high stress environment. So my hope is that this gives you some grounding language to figure out okay, how do I respond to uncertainty different? How do I look at chaos as an opportunity? Like Brene says, How do I look at this as an opera tunity to choose how I respond instead of reacting to the situation. That was a lot to fit into a little bit of time. Thank you for listening but we are at the 15 minute mark and so here's what I want you to do. I want you to re listen if this resonated with you or if you are feeling like you are in the chaos and let me know if you have questions about VUCA environments. Have a great day. Cheers.