VUCA-PLUS POLARITIES
Volatility
Description: Volatility refers to the dynamics of change: its accelerating rate, intensity and speed as well as its unexpected catalysts.
Left Column: Commitment in the midst of volatility (being faithful by taking action in a consistent and sustained manner that other people can understand and predict)
Right Column: Contingency in the midst of volatility (being flexible by keeping options open and allowing learning to occur in order to modify the actions taken)
Uncertainty
Description: Uncertainty refers to the lack of predictability, the increasing prospects for surprising, “disruptive” changes that often overwhelm our awareness, understanding and ability to cope with events.
Left Column: Assimilation of changes into existing framework (making sense of and finding meaning in what is occurring)
Right Column: Accommodation to changes by adjusting or reworking existing framework (learning from and adapting to what is occurring)
Complexity
Description: Complexity entails the multiplex of forces, the apparently contradictory information flow, the sensitive interdependence of everything we touch, leading to the sense of confusion in which it’s hard to make smart decisions, steeped as we are in the moving dance of reality.
Left Column: Clear-minded in the midst of confusion (sorting out what is most relevant and most easily confirmed while we are dancing)
Right Column: Open-minded in the midst of confusion (recognizing and holding on to the multiple realities residing in the dance we are forced to or have chosen to engage)
Ambiguity
Description: Ambiguity is the ‘haziness’ in which cause-and-effect are hard to attribute, relativity seems to trump established rules, weighing heavily on our ability to take in and make sense of complex data from many sources and still function and make choices.
Left Column: Engaging the haziness (establishing a viable “truth” and “reality” upon which we can base and guide our actions)
Right Column: Tolerating the haziness (being patient and willing to remain in a state of “limbo” until such time as the haze clears and actions can be taken).
Turbulence
Description: Turbulence exists in the “white water” world where four conditions of change intermingle—rapid change, cyclical change, non-change (stagnation) and chaotic change.
Left Column: Centering in the midst of multiple conditions of change (finding the core, orienting place that provides balance and direction)
Right Column: Agility in the midst of multiple conditions of change (allowing for, finding and following multiple points of balance and direction)
Contradiction
Description: Contradiction exists when we are presented with two or more perspectives or sets of practices that are of equal validity and are equally useful—yet differ in significant ways from one another and are not readily reconciled.
Left Column: Discerning the value of each perspective or practice in order to choose the best (determining where the greatest truth is to be found and which perspective or practice is most aligned with fundamental human welfare)
Right Column: Integrating the diverse perspective and practices (recognizing that there is only one unified reality which can be viewed from multiple, complementary perspectives and lead to complementary practices).
