The Complexity of Organizational Life: VUCA Within VUCA
Organizational life is becoming increasingly difficult as we navigate today’s complex challenges. One of my clients recently mentioned that she is seeing so much volatility and reaction in the people around her. I see it too. I think we are all seeing it to varying degrees.
These times of rapid change, disruption and breakdown are wreaking havoc on our nervous systems. When we look out there, we see VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). And when we look within, we are also experiencing a type of VUCA. I think of it as “VUCA nested within VUCA”.
It’s increasingly difficult to leave our “personal selves” at the door when we show up to work (either in person or virtually). And, why would we want to? Organizations who will thrive through this time of systemic transition recognize the value of emotional intelligence and the ability to show up as wholly human in our work environments. Yet, many leaders still face the challenge of how to manage this shifting landscape. A place to begin is to create a culture that supports self-leadership and the integration of internal skills and external power-with structures.
Terry Patton, author of The New Republic of the Heart, stresses that inner and outer transformation are entirely interdependent and necessary to successfully move through the crises humanity is facing. The disruption and breakdown we are experiencing in the world is pushing us to make these necessary internal shifts, and yet there seems to be a resistance to the inner work needed to become conscious of how the internal affects the external. It’s so much easier to point out there instead of doing the often uncomfortable work of looking within.
Outer and Inner VUCA
As organizations move toward healthy non-oppressive systems, collective intelligence within teams begins to increase, allowing access to innovative solutions for the problems they are facing. But the elephant in the room is the “VUCA within VUCA factor” which is ever-present in individuals, teams, and organizations. We are each a whole internal system within larger external systems. This makes working together, navigating decisions together and being in relationships with each other downright messy! And at the core of this mess is the question of inner power.
If I’m being tossed about by my internal VUCA, no structure of distributed power will be effective unless I am capable of navigating my inner state.
Reactivity, Self-awareness and Conscious Self-Leadership
As we become more aware of the VUCA conditions within and around us, we can begin to develop the skills to navigate these choppy waters, and move from unconsciously reacting to these conditions into responding in ways that are more effective. Otto Scharmer talks about the importance of our inner condition, saying, “there is a blind spot in leadership theory, in the social sciences, as well as in our everyday social experience. The blind spot concerns the (inner) source from which we operate when we do what we do—the quality of attention that we use to relate to and bring forth in the world”. In other words, how we show up matters.
“The quality of results achieved by any system is a function of the quality of awareness that people in these systems operate from. In three words: form follows consciousness.”
Otto Scharmer, Theory U
So where do we begin finding our way through this seemingly impossible labyrinth of self-awareness? A highly effective place to begin is becoming aware of our own reactivity. In his book, “A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix”, Friedman describes society as “chronically anxious”, with five distinguishing characteristics, the first one being reactivity - “the vicious cycle of intense reactions of each member to events and to one another”.
When we slip into reactivity, a type of “forgetting” occurs, which then flips us into a disempowered state. This can happen at any moment during a given day - during meetings, conversations, collaborations, or exposure to disturbing events. In Sociocracy, for example, we talk about the importance of “every voice matters”. And yes, this is vital! However, if our voice is coming from a reactive state and we are unaware of it, we can spread a type of distortion throughout the collective system, potentially causing more harm than good.
In our shifting societal and organizational context, conscious self-leadership is replacing traditional leadership as we become more aware of the power we have to influence those around us (both positively and negatively).
Conscious self-leadership is the practice of developing our muscles of self-awareness, moving from “unconscious habits” to conscious, effective action.
You can begin this shift by reflecting on the following questions:
Where am I reacting to something in my life (or in this meeting, this relationship, etc.) and what story am I telling myself about this?
What emotion do I feel when I think about this situation?
Where do I feel this reaction in my body?
What does this remind me of (a theme or pattern in my life)?
What else would be possible for me or this situation if I were able to genuinely find a different response?
This practice is a starting point for moving through the cycle of clearing the patterns at the root of our reactions (and actually transform them), and into an empowered state within, which then allows us to engage in true power-with relationships:
It's in our hands to begin the shift towards a world of conscious, empowered people who respond to challenges rather than reacting to them. Together we can begin to shift our internal state and break the perpetual cycles of unconscious internal programming that have held us back in the past. We can move from a state of "downloading from habitual patterns" (Otto Scharmer) to creating generative systems within us and around us.
Here is a quick-tip summary of Otto Scharmer’s 7 ways of attending to and co-shaping the world which will help your organization and teams begin to co-create from an emerging potential future (vs from past habits).
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Deep gratitude to:
Laureen Golden: Inspiration, Coherence and Relevant Resources
Juna Wesley: Images
Maxine Wesley: Editing