How to deal with an organizational environment that is uncertain and fickle?

We are face-to-face with a work environment that is uncertain and fickle almost on a daily basis.
And that's a good news. I will tell you how.

Uncertain and fickle nature of your organization is a result of it being in sync with the external business environment, which in itself is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA). And that synchronization is the key to sustenance of the organization, and hence the sustenance of your job & career.

There is a particular medical condition called congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) where a person loses his/her ability to sense physical pain. That's dangerous. For example, with this condition the person would not be able to realize when his/her limb is being cut while asleep. Because of the absence of visual evidence.

All of us can recall a few organizations that existed in full glory, and now they are cut and are extinct. It's highly possible that they had lost their ability to sense and respond to the pain of VUCA world long before they perished.

So when there is unpredictability, inconsistency, and frequent change of priorities in the climate of the organization, you should know that you are in an organization that has the ability to feel the pain of VUCA world, and that it has the capacity to adapt itself, heal, and sustain.

And that's why the uncertainty, and fickle nature of your organization is a good news! But, how do you deal with such an environment? How could you possibly equip yourself for such an environment?

In a managerial development program that I delivered recently, I was facilitating an activity to enable learners to understand what it takes to speak-up and why speaking-up is important. After about 60 minutes of investment on this, just when I thought we had a great experience and that we had learnt a great deal, one of my dear learners spoke-up and said, “Look Naveen, speaking up will not work in this organizational culture. What works here is shutting up, especially with the boss, where most of our conversations happen. Now you shut up!” (Assume a bit of exaggeration here).

The point is that my dear learner spoke up! His skill of speaking up was made evident at that moment. There is no doubt that he is skilled. The point also is that many other manager-learners, though belonged to the same organizational reality, did not speak up.

So I told them the following: It is not about whether speaking up is relevant or not. It is about whether you have the capacity to speak up or not, in the first place. If you have the capacity to speak up and chose not to speak up because it is not relevant in the current organization context, that’s fine. That’s a lot of credit to your discretion. But if you hide behind the organization culture and say you don’t speak up because that’s how your organization wants you to be, then it’s a concern. Because sooner or later organization changes, or your role changes, or you choose to move out, where you are expected to speak up, and not shut up.

So how to deal with uncertainty and frequent changes?

Don’t deal with it. Rather deal with yourself. Build on your repertoire of skills. Be a master of polar extremes and mid-point of multiple skill continuums. Do you have the ability to speak-up, shut-up and talk selectively at the same time? Can you be Aggressive, Passive and Assertive? How about competitive, submissive and collaborative? You could think of many other skills that have two poles and a mid-point.

The key is to create as many number of points in your personality map that will give you enough options to navigate through, depending on how the winds of your role expectations push you. Then you will know that you are equipped to handle an organizational environment that is uncertain and ever changing, because that’s the way things should be.

Some polarities and mid-points that you can master

1. Detach – Belong, or Just be

2. Be an expert – Be ignorant, or Be half-cooked

3. Lead – follow, or collaborate

4. Be aggressive - be passive, or be assertive

5. Create – destroy, or maintain

6. Crunch numbers – hate numbers, or date with numbers

7. Coach – counsel, or observe

8. Laugh – cry, or be numb

9. Embrace - refrain, or watch

10. Talk – listen, or stay away

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Naveen, Principal Consultant

I can be reached at naveen@bisykle.com