It’s a no brainer that an abnormally Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world needs a sound talent strategy which encourages everyone to embrace AGILITY. Let me try to demystify this concept a bit. For last few years, many prominent thought leaders have been stressing the need for organizations and leadership teams to be agile in order to operate effectively in a multilateral global landscape. The degree of agility can be defined by the ability to swiftly change directions and move quickly with a solution oriented mind set, collaborating with teams and relying on the collective intelligence from various insights. As many of you know, VUCA is a concept which leadership thinkers inherited from the adversities and subsequent learnings of military establishments in the Western world.
When we deep dive into the talent complexities in the current scenario, it’s not very different from the challenges faced by military in combating virtual adversaries, non-state militias and other terror groups. The war for talent intensifies with each passing day as all organizations (start-ups to established MNCs) passionately invest time and money on strategic workforce planning. Talent assessment in all possible granularity to ensure sharp alignment to business priorities and corporate aspirations makes the leaders burn the midnight oil to firm up strategies to win this war in VUCA land.
Now, what is the solution here? Highly successful and sustainable organizations believe in developing agile leaders with a unique skillset of leading and managing change. This is the key mantra for success in VUCA land. It’s a no brainer that VUCA world requires citizens who can communicate and collaborate effectively across boundaries, drive innovation and take wise decisions rapidly. Many organizations are building a successful mitigation strategy what is widely called VUCA prime. If we wear the lenses of VUCA prime and assess the talent strategy, it calls for:
- An empowering Vision which mentions the intent and direction where the organization is headed. The talent strategy should clearly align to the business priorities and should carefully assess the capability gaps, talent implications and key development actions.
- Attaining a sound Understanding of the situation by gathering fresh perspectives, gaining confidence to walk the unbeaten path and remain flexible. It involves an in-depth study of the talent challenges and insights from the talent acquisition teams and business partners.
- Preserving Clarity in mind, collaborating with cross functional teams to make out some sense of the chaos and map the unique trending patterns. As more and more organizations embrace and master the science and strategy of disruption, these trends are bound to be there.
And you know, what A stands for! Stay Agile!!
