Wellbeing in a VUCA World

What does VUCA mean?

We are living in a world of high volatility, uncertainty, change and ambiguity - or in short: a VUCA world.

While the acronym has been around since the 1980’s, it has received more attention in the business world during the pandemic. It has become a buzzword that describes the fast-paced and unpredictable nature of work in an age of rapid digital transformation.

A world in constant change and flux unavoidably impacts every workplace, every job, every role, every person within the workforce. Turbulences, high demands and urgency are all characteristics of a VUCA world. This translates to high pressure, stress and potentially burnout for the individual working and living in a VUCA world.

An antidote has been offered, labelled with yet another buzzword: Agile.

How Agile connects in a VUCA world

The idea behind applying an agile framework in an organisation is to manage all things VUCA with more flexibility and a quicker response time in order to keep on top of industry changes, and ahead of the competition.

However, even with the agile antidote in place, the individual employee still carries the burden of managing the pressure, staying up-to-date with industry trends, having to balance ad-hoc (agile) requests with standard day-to-day tasks, while also being a person with a family, with friends, with a private life and dreams.

Living in a complex world of work

Living and working in a VUCA world is demanding. It is easy to get absorbed in it and forget to disconnect for a while to recharge and regroup internally.

Organisational and societal changes are increasing the job demands on employees, making it harder to maintain a healthy balance between these constant demands and the mental, physical and organisational resources available to them. In psychological terms: the job-demand-resource-scale is off balance!

As a consequence, stress and burnout are on the rise. As a potential defence mechanism, our emotional investment declines. Most of my clients feel a disconnect with their jobs, with themselves and the bigger picture in life.

This imbalance between demand and resources requires our urgent attention! It is more important than ever to build our psychological capital and to do whatever we can to maintain our mental health and to reconnect with ourselves and other humans around us.

Finding balance in a VUCA world

We need to make space to disconnect from the VUCA world, and instead make time to connect with the old familiarity of the natural world. Humans have a long-standing connection with the natural world, which we sometimes ignore in our modern digital-first lives. The natural world provides us with a reliable stability, and a strong element of understanding and knowing, which can work as a buffer against the stresses of modern work and life.

I encourage you to switch off your screen and take your body and mind outside. This can be your balcony, your front porch or if you have time a park or the beach.

Break the cycle.

Not everything is urgent.

Not everything is priority number one.

Check in with yourself.

Connect with your own priorities.

Take a moment to invite stillness.

Reassess.

What is most important for you as a person?