Talent Tectonics

CHAPTER 2The Employee Experience and Workforce Adaptability

Surviving a World of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity, and Ice

The term VUCA stands for “volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.” It was created to describe the sociopolitical situation in Russia and other eastern European nations during the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.¹ It is often used to describe the chaotic nature of the modern world as though this sort of environment is new, but there are many examples throughout history of people facing VUCA situations. For example, many people's ancestors migrated across oceans in the 19th century to start new lives on different continents. They crossed mountain ranges in wagons without roads and built homes in the wilderness with no electricity or other modern forms of technology. Imagine the VUCA they faced.

History demonstrates that people are good at adapting to the challenges of a VUCA environment provided certain conditions exist. These conditions are largely about how they mentally experience the situation they are in. An exceptional illustration is the story of Ernest Shackleton's expedition to cross Antarctica in 1914. After their ship became trapped and crushed by ice, they drifted for 15 months until the ice flow broke up. Part of the crew crossed 800 miles of stormy open ocean in a small open boat to seek aid. The members of Shackleton's expedition spent 20 months in a freezing, extremely hostile environment, yet all ...