Responding to Covid-19 challenges with VUCA action

24 Mar
2021

Responding to Covid-19 challenges with VUCA action

By Staff Writer

Responding to Covid-19 challenges with VUCA action

VUCA in UK HE

The task set for the group was to populate a VUCA matrix from an institutional perspective and then map onto that the leadership and governance traits considered most appropriate in the context of our sector. The results would then be benchmarked against a theoretical corporate response to VUCA identified in 2014 by N. Bennett & G. J. Lemoine, researchers at Harvard Business School. Participants were pushed to think about those characteristics that would define a meaningful VUCA world for their own institution. Each VUCA component was summarised, as below, to provide a common perspective with the group then tasked to develop their own, unique response.

To begin with it was hard work. Most discussion, perhaps understandably, was focused on immediate, short term risks to mitigate relatively benign (in the face of Covid-19) challenges, including falls in student numbers industrial action, negative REF/TEF/KEF outcomes and over-zealous regulation. But none of these things really hit the spot. The exchange opened up only when the group were challenged to respond to real-life examples of crisis management and business continuity in HE, drawn in part from successful UCEA crisis communications conferences I have chaired on this very topic where unforeseen events had put infrastructure and lives at risk.

Reaping the results

Groups were asked to come up with words they felt best described their institutions’ response to each VUCA. These were then analysed for frequency and weight to develop word clouds and the most frequent word per VUCA category identified:

The response was then mapped onto a 2 x 2 matrix with axes defining “what you know” versus the “outcomes/forecasts of your actions”. The most frequent word per category is displayed in italics in Figure 2. For UK HE, read: Volatility = Resilient, Uncertainty = Understanding, Complexity = Informed, Ambiguity = Risk-taking.

The two VUCA challenges that capture best our response to Covid-19 are Complexity and Volatility. Our crisis management response has been driven by the realisation that the situation has many interconnected parts, and while some information is always available or can be predicted, it is at times overwhelming (Complexity). However, while the challenge is unexpected and of unknown duration, it is not beyond comprehension, even though decisions will need to be made before all the facts are evident (Volatility). Our Network of Teams model is optimised to deliver the most effective management response as a function of available resources and time. From a VUCA perspective, three Action Teams deal with Complexity and the Response Leadership teams manages Volatility:

The Covid-19 pandemic will come to an end, so it’s important that the future is not crowded out by focusing exclusively on the present. This forward gaze is maintained through the University Management Team with input from the University Board. Of course, what works for us at Northampton may not be appropriate elsewhere. But in the end, universities will be judged by staff, students and stakeholders by how they acted, not what they said. Despite the pandemic, much that is new and positive will come from this experience, including what to do even better next time round.

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