Strategic
Leadership in a VUCA World
Pat Akem-Vingir PhD
Introduction
Leadership
matters. Leadership matters because it makes significant differences in
people’s lives, within nations and organizations. Leadership is a mystical thing, to many,
esoteric and ungraspable. To some scholars, leadership is a rather hazy,
distant and even confusing abstraction. Thinking and defining leadership is
thus an intellectual challenge in itself. But leadership matters – everything
depends on it, family units, communities, organizations and nation states
depend on leadership the way we need oxygen – everything rises or falls on
leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2016). The whole subject is riddled with
paradoxes. The paradox of leadership is very stark when viewed against the
backdrop of the fact that Churchill, Washington, Martin Luther King Jr were
leaders and so were Hitler, Mussolini, Jim Jones and Foday Sanko – this illusive
concept can be attached to the exceptional, the good, the bad and ugly of this
world (Kellerman, 2004). In other words, leadership can be exercised in the
service of noble, liberating, enriching ends, but it can also serve to
manipulate, mislead and repress.
The 21st
Century world faces very novel and indeed an array of ever-evolving challenges
that have continued to task the imaginations of strategic leaders. The world
grapples with the challenge of poverty that is at epidemic levels, growing inequalities,
new forms of diseases, conflicts, and the increasing influence of unsavoury
non-state actors – terrorist organizations that are exploiting ungoverned
spaces, poor governance, and negative use of technological inventions and
outbreaks of pandemic diseases like COVID-19 among others. Nations and
organizations equally face challenges occasioned by climatic change, migration
of peoples across continents and cultures, competition for scarce resources
some of which are non-renewable. Correlated to the aforementioned challenges
are others like economic hardships, ever-increasing youthful populations that are
unemployed and restive, and poor governance. The quest for leadership has
increased because challenging events like COVID-19 can occur without notice, in
some part of the world with impact on other nations, across continents.
Conceptual Definition
To
underpin this discourse, I will explore and situate the key concepts of
leadership, strategy, strategic leadership and VUCA. Because of space
constraints, I will not be undertaking expansive conceptual definitions. The
aim is to throw up a number of definitions that may shed further light on this
illusive phenomenon.
Leadership
Leadership
as a concept has attracted such numerous striking definitions that trying to
settle on one is always challenging. In fact, in one conference whose main task
was to settle on a couple of acceptable definitions of the phenomenon, scholars
drew up about 4900 definitions. It is a fascinating concept. Bennis (2009)
underscores the challenge of crafting an acceptable definition of this concept
when he states that “leadership is like beauty: it’s hard to define, but you
know it when you see it” (p.xxx). Notable author, coach and expert on the
subject John Maxwell contends that leadership is influence, nothing more,
nothing less (2007). While leadership is indeed influence, the leadership
guru’s definitions fails to identify the kind of influence and the parties
involved, because leadership does not exist without followers. Bennis posits
that it is the capacity to translate vision into reality (2009). This
definition is difficult to argue with chiefly because great and exceptional
leaders are visionary. Northouse conceptualises leadership as a process whereby
an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal
(2019). In other words, leadership by its very nature involves an influencing
process that results in achieving a desired outcome. Without synthesising and
conceptualizing a working definition, I will contend that leadership is
interactive influence.
Strategic
Leadership
Strategy
and strategic leadership have become buzz words in the 21st Century.
Strategic leadership is broad in scope, impact and reach. In a general sense,
strategic leadership exits when a group of two or more people has created
common direction, alignment, and commitment (Hughes, Beatty & Dinwoodie,
2014). Strategic leadership has been defined as the ability to anticipate, be
visionary, while maintaining the flexibility to empower others to create
strategic changes (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskidson, 2007). Strategic leadership
requires leaders to initiate processes that ensure their organizations or
nations scan the environment to maintain an awareness of societal,
international, technological, demographic, and economic developments (Cousins,
2018; Elkington, Pearse, Moss, Van, & Martin, 2017; Tint, McWaters, &
Raymond, 2015). Failure to scan the horizon with a view to identifying and
signposting events capable of impacting nations and organizations negatively may
be catastrophic.
VUCA
VUCA is
an acronym for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (Cousins, 2018;
Elkington, Pearse, Moss, Van, & Martin, 2017; Tint, McWaters, &
Raymond, 2015). It is an apt description of the present world where an
unforeseen event like COVID-19 or the killing of an individual by a state or
its agents upends the immediate and long-term strategic plans of nations and
corporations. In the 1990s, the US Army War College (USAWC) coined the concept
VUCA to signify the end of the Old War and the commencement of a new NextGen
warfare epitomised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity
(Cousins, 2018; Elkington, Pearse, Moss, Van, & Martin, 2017; Fry, 2016;
Tint, McWaters, & Raymond, 2015).
Strategic
Leadership in this VUCA World
Strategic
leadership is broad in scope, impact and reach.
Strategic leadership perches on the highest point of the leadership
pyramid for a purpose. From that perch higher than others, strategic leaders
have a bird’s eye view of the external and internal environments – they look
across the horizon, spotting opportunities and signs of dangers. Strategic leaders
operate in a VUCA world. VUCA has become the general shorthand for conditions
leaders may continue to encounter in the very fluid 21st Century
World. Effective and outstanding
strategic leaders are therefore anticipatory and try to make sense of uncertain
internal and external environments. This, they do by generating competing
hypotheses that avoid the trap of getting stuck on a simple, single answer
(Rowe, 2001; Schoemaker & Krupp, 2015). They know how to operate in this
VUCA era, they know how to “eat the elephant”, one bite at a time - they tackle
developmental and national issues in a deliberate, proactive,
information-driven and strategic fashion. Strategic leaders solve very
challenging and novel problems.
The
phrase “strategic leadership” emerged from works on strategic management and
involves the following: (1) determining strategic direction; (2) exploring and
maintaining unique core competencies; (3) developing human capital; (4)
sustaining an effective organisational/national culture; (5) emphasising
ethical practices; and (6) establishing balanced organisational controls (Hitt
et al., 2001; Jooste & Fourie, 2009). Sosik et al (2005) insist that
outstanding strategic leaders are those executives who display key behaviors
that enable their organisations or nations to execute its strategy effectively.
This has been easily applied by leaders involved in crisis management. COVID-19,
its aftermath, the near collapse of national economies, the creation of a new
normal for the world underscore the imperativeness of smart, adaptive and
knowledgeable strategic leadership. In essence, strategic leaders are
“strategy-focused leaders”. Strategic leadership has the capacity to
anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically, and work with
others to initiate changes (Gakenia, Katuse, & Kiriri, 2017; Meuser et al,
2016). Strategic leadership has the potential to be a solution to recurrent
leadership problems as it is as an amalgamation of various leadership styles,
and about 20 leadership theories according to Meuser et al (2016). While
formulating strategy is a critical part of a strategic leader’s role, it has
been the focus of important studies that look at how leaders formulate strategy
and whether or not they make sound strategic decisions (Sosik et al., 2005).
Strategic
leadership explicitly identifies a vision that guides an inclusive process to
set strategies. It thrives on the flexibility to switch between styles based on
the existing conditions and environment (Fletcher, 2012). One-dimensional
leaders fail in this environment. Strategic leaders are keenly aware of the
complexities of the national and international security and economic
environments. Leadership at the strategic level, is widely known as one of the
key drivers of efficient strategy execution, an element critical to crisis
management (Gakenia, Katuse, & Kiriri, 2017). In essence, strategic leaders
are ‘‘strategy-focused leaders’’ (Sosik et al., 2005). They process and assimilate huge piles of
data, gleaning critical information to ground decisions after assessing
alternatives. Leaders that are averse to consuming and making sense of huge
data will fail in this era. Effective
strategic leaders come on board with the ability to anticipate, envision, and
maintain flexibility and to empower others to create strategic changes in line
with national development goals (Davies & Davies, 2006; Singleton et al,
2011). Strategic leadership is
versatile. But at the national and organizational levels, it involves managing
through subordinates, distributing resources, creating alignment and focusing
teams while helping the nation or organization to cope with changes that appear
to be increasing significantly in today’s globalised environment (Huey 1994).
To
succeed at the strategic level, leaders must: (1) understand the breadth,
scope, and complexity of the environment in which they operate; (2) appreciate
the magnitude of the potential costs of their decisions; (3) leverage senior
leadership teams, and (4) operate as stewards and managers of professional and
accountable bureaucratic arms (Cousins, 2018; Elkington, Pearse, Moss, Van,
& Martin, 2017). Strategic leadership demands the ability to integrate both
the internal and external environments, and engage in multifaceted information
processing to arrive at workable options that translate into achieving the
desired end-state. The strategic leader is in fact, a champion, able to
demonstrate an unusual commitment and exceptional enthusiasm to implement his vision
and every serious nation needs such a leader. A strategic leader must
anticipate, create a vision, empower others and exercise flexibility, to
generate a strategic and viable future (Gakenia, Katuse, & Kiriri, 2017). COVID-19
for instance has shone a bright light on leaders and the skills they operate
with while equally exposing, in some cases, ineptitude and lack of capacity to
deal with the inherent threats in this VUCA world. Interestingly, the most
effective leaders in this COVID-19 crisis have been women – Germany, Iceland
and New Zealand are a few examples.
Strategic
leadership largely entails strategic, long-range projecting but increasingly,
it has become clear that it is not just about having the vision but also
achieving the desired future. This is important in a VUCA environment. To succeed,
a strategic leader acknowledges the presence of uncertainty of the expected
future and accordingly develops strategies to tackle the unknown that if left
unattended, may inhibit the execution of vision (Gakenia, Katuse, & Kiriri,
2017). It must be stressed that nations and organizations now operate in
technology-driven contexts, rife with rapidly changing, highly volatile
environments with disruptive and destructive changes. On the whole, several
identifiable actions and features qualify strategic leadership as postulated by
many scholars. These qualities
contribute positively to effective strategy execution, identifying the
strategic direction to follow, setting and establishing standard organisational
controls, managing national resources effectively, maintaining an effective
national culture and emphasising ethical practices (Sosik et al., 2005).
Strategic leaders need to understand organizational, national, and world
politics – they must know how the present world works. They operate in
intricate networks of overlapping and sometimes competing constituencies and
must possess the presence of mind to multitask and navigate through them. This
has become increasingly necessary in the light of COVID-19 and its associated
challenges.
Conclusion
In a
very complex and challenging world, strategic leadership engineers and manages
strategic sudden changes in line with the internal and external environment
currents to fit into the design for crisis management in an emergent world.
There is enough empirical and anecdotal evidence to support the proposition
that strategic leadership will succeed in a VUCA world if it is adaptive,
knowledgeable, nimble and capable of building consensus with multicultural and
diverse teams. Strategic leaders generate strategic visions for an expected
future state, communicate such visions, model the visions, and ensure the
required buy-ins towards their attainments. Strategic leadership is needed for
this VUCA world because of its nature, character and contours – the ability to
anticipate, envision and maintain flexibility while empowering others to create
a strategic change and a viable future.
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