Episode 1 - Introduction to why Leadership is Changing, The VUCA World & 6 Disrupters
Feb 06, 2024Season 1Episode 1
Mel Wombwell
In this podcast, executive coaches, Kylie Roberts and Mel Wombwell discuss the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world we live in and how leadership needs to adapt to this new normal.
They highlight six disruptors affecting the world and organisations including competition, transparency, globalisation, uncertainty, complexity, and speed.
The pair also explains how coaching and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) are key to fostering modern, progressive leadership.
Tune into this week's episode to understand how the world is changing rapidly and leaders like us need to adapt, using practices such as coaching and NLP.
In this podcast, executive coaches, Kylie Roberts and Mel Wombwell discuss the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world we live in and how leadership needs to adapt to this new normal.
They highlight six disruptors affecting the world and organisations including competition, transparency, globalisation, uncertainty, complexity, and speed.
The pair also explains how coaching and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) are key to fostering modern, progressive leadership.
Tune into this week's episode to understand how the world is changing rapidly and leaders like us need to adapt, using practices such as coaching and NLP.
07:40 The Shift from Traditional to Modern Leadership
12:25 The Role of Coaching and Mentoring in Modern Leadership
16:19 Introduction to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
18:58 Summary and Conclusion
Please find all images mentioned in this episode available HERE
Hi, I'm Kylie Roberts and I'm Mel Womwell, and we are Shift Unlimited. We are both qualified executive coaches, coach supervisors, and trainers of NLP and coaching. The world is a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous place. Every day we wake up to a new surprise. Uncertainty is chronic. Instability is permanent. And disruption is common. This is the new normal. The game has changed. It's time to rip up the old rulebook. It's time to define success differently. A shift is happening. The shift is unlimited. We need leaders to live more purposeful lives and to lead more impactful businesses. In this podcast series, we will be doing a deeper dive into many facets of living and leading in this modern world from founder to scale up right through to leaders of global established organizations. We will explore how we can be more holistic and authentic as we connect more deeply with ourselves, our relationships with others, and the wider world. In this podcast series, we'll engage in conversation together on topics that support the modern leader. We have one wild, precious life to make change for good. And whilst change is daunting, so is staying the same. Let's begin.
Track 1:
In this podcast, we will be exploring the world we live in today. Its disruptors and how leadership and coaching fit as key enablers to being more successful. We've brainstormed the questions we usually asked as we work with leaders around the world. Here's the first question we're normally asked. We've heard the term vuca, can you explain more about what this means?
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
So we've been using the term VUCA for a few years now. The world has become more and more vuca. it's used in many circles around the world and it's certainly not something that we've invented. The V stands for volatile the U for uncertain, the C for complex and the A for ambiguous. There are lots of variations and adaptions of this that you'll hear from time to time.
Track 1:
And alongside vuca, we're seeing lots of things disrupting the world that we live in today. What are the big disruptors that are affecting the world and organizations and leaders?
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
Yeah, we've done a lot of personal research into this and we've stress tested this particular question that we've been asked, there seem to be six big themes that play out. So one of them being competition, the second one being transparency, the third one being globalization. The fourth one being uncertainty. The fifth one, complexity and the sixth one, speed. They interconnected as well, of course. So maybe Kylie, you can share a bit more about speed and how that one is disrupting.
Track 1:
We can see speed disrupting our world all the time. At the moment. The amount of data in the world is doubling every two years. Because of that, we can't rely on the solutions that we had yesterday to be the solutions that we had to. So we need to be able to pause sense. And then respond to the challenges and the opportunities that are arising faster than ever before, and also at the same time, keep our lives in balance.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
And if I take the next one, which is uncertainty, uncertainty. I think we can all recognize that the world is uncertain today and that stability is probably an illusion. we experienced
Track 1:
I.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
attacks, natural disasters like drought and fire and hurricanes. There's been major political disruption, wars. We literally do not want know what we're gonna wake up to when we wake up in the morning and switch on the news. So the challenge for leaders is with all of this uncertainty. do we lead? How do we live? How do we give certainty to the people who work with us?
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Complexity is another one of the six disruptors. As an example, in the UK alone, Britain's donate hundreds of thousands of tons of secondhand clothing to charity stores every year. Yet these charity stores rarely sell on these clothes. I. What really is happening is this is just another part of the modern human waste system. So donating isn't a salvation for the most part. It's a simple case of making our problem, of having too much stuff, somebody else's problem. So the chain of events is now much more complex than it used to be. And in leadership today, leaders have to grapple with the complexity of all of these chains of events, whilst may remaining really clear on the greater impact of their actions and their organization's actions.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
And when we combine this with transparency, the world is a lot more transparent today than it's ever been with people posting information sites like glass doors. What used to be contained in organizations no longer is so as we're living and leading. We need to assume that the decisions we make, the communications that we send could be out in the public domain as soon as tomorrow. And this is something that, again, is changing the way that we, that we lead and the way that we live, the way that we think about what we do.
Track 1:
Competition is another one of the six disruptors and competition has taken on new meanings for leadership today. Businesses are now much more collaborative as they collaborate together to create a better product or a better service for the whole of their industry or their market, but also, businesses that are in completely different fields who may be located side by side, compete for top talent. So competition isn't just in your local market or your industry. Competition is much broader than that now. So leaders are redefining what competition is both locally and across the whole globe for their businesses.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
Yeah, and we had a, a really good example of that, didn't we, Kylie, where we were working with one client and when we started to work with them and we asked the question, who's your competition? They were citing similar businesses to them. And then when we were talking about it a few months later, they had realized it was a much more complex thing than that because a big organization beginning with a, had moved into their particular town and suddenly their top talent was being. to move out of the industry and into a new organization. And so they realize that competition is not just necessarily the organizations that sell similar products and services. Another one, is globalization. if we think about it, we always used to think about our competitors as being in the same country as us. And now with the advent of social media and the internet and how quickly we can get products and services from one country to another, competition has become a global thing. So competition, we are competing for talent across countries products and services and for. It's, it's a much more expansive world than it's ever been, and definitely.
Track 1:
So all of these six disruptors create this VUCA world that we're living in this volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world, and we are living in it and we're leading businesses in this VUCA world. One of the other big shifts that Mel and I have noticed is that there used to be the paradigm of what I do. Drives who I am. So for instance, like 20 years ago when I first arrived in the uk, the first question people used to ask me was, what do you do? And however I answered that question, gave an impression of my worth or my value was I worth continuing to have a conversation with but now the paradigm has really turned on its head to who I am, drives what I do as we become a lot more conscious about how we show up and how we are living in this very VUCA world.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
And another example that really brought it home for me, we've talked about this quite a bit, Kylie, is. In the past, we've been working with senior leaders who have been in role for a number of years and have expected to stay in that role, have felt very secure in that role. In fact, a couple that we were working with, it was such a surprise when they were no longer in role that they had a real identity crisis. Like, who am I if I'm no longer this? And that can make us quite fragile and, and not particularly resilient. So, because roles change so quickly and we can't be, we can't guarantee that just because we've taken a role, we'll have it for as long as we choose. It's become important to become clear about who am I, what's important to me, what do I stand for? So that as things change, as roles change, as organizations restructure, we can hang onto who we are and keep our strength from that and adapt. As things adapt around us. what really brought it home for me. Maybe we should talk Kylie about how that has changed how we lead. All of those disruptors have changed how leadership is expected to lead today. Maybe you can share a bit more about that.
Track 1:
Many of us. Grew up in organizations where we were promoted because we. Built more expertise or more knowledge in a particular subject area. And what that meant was that we had organizations where leaders were considered the experts in their field. So if you had a question that couldn't be answered, the leader would definitely know how to answer that question. So we created a very traditional leadership environment that meant that leaders were. Subject matter experts, they were afraid to fail because it would be seen as I'm, I'm not good at what I do. That created a lack of desire to consult with others or to receive feedback. And so these changes that we're talking about in terms of the six disruptors in the VUCA world that we're living in. And who we are driving. What we do also means that the platform for leadership is really shifting to be very modern now, where leaders are liberating people to think for themselves, where they're pushing responsibility for solutions through the organization rather than it. Being reliant on the leader to have the solution. So there's lots of different ways that we can share with you around the shift from traditional to modern leadership. What else would you add, Mel?
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
I think what I would add is. If we consider these disruptors, like speed, for example, picking up on your point, Kylie, around being an expert in our field. If data and information is changing and evolving every two years, we can't possibly know everything anymore. this expectation that leaders will have all the answers and don't need to consult it can make us very vulnerable as leaders. So it's really important that we are prepared to say. I need to consult and seek feedback. Many voices and many brains will come up with a better solution than a single one, but psychologically. That's quite a big shift for leadership to take from being perfect and knowing all the answers to showing vulnerability, saying, I, I've got an idea. It may not be the best one. Let's talk about it. Let's consult. So it's. That we are seeing and yet the impact of people when they do that, given the talent that's available today, is making a much more inclusive, much more connected within the organization, certainly that we are working in. I.
Track 1:
And so Mel, can you talk perhaps a little bit about where coaching and mentoring fit into this picture of modern leadership?
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
So if you think about organizations in the past, we used to define them with a triangle. They were this with a few people at the top. And the way information and approval would work is you'd have to push. Up to get approval in order to take action, and this has made traditional organizations very slow and so we almost need to. Organizations and make them very agile. And this requires us to empower our people, and we can only do that if we're coaching and mentoring and sharing information and encouraging people to think for themselves. coaching and mentoring is absolutely at the heart of that. We can talk a bit more about the definitions of coaching and mentoring at their heart of us telling people what the solution is. Really, like you said, them,
Track 1:
When Mel and I talked together about the things that have really changed, the practices that have really changed our lives and impacted hugely on our lives, we both agree that coaching NLP and Yoga, three practices that have transformed our lives, and we get the opportunity to talk to you, our listeners, about all three of these. In this podcast series. So when we refer to the word coaching, what do we mean? As you know, Mel and I are executive coaches and we coach one-to-one with. Leaders and also leadership teams. We also talk about coaching as a style and approach to leadership. As Mel was saying just then a, style and approach that is led with asking more questions than telling answers. And because of that it can be one of the greatest transformational practices for leadership today. Just the simple act of asking more questions. Rather than telling answers. Coaching as an approach to leadership transforms your people's beliefs, their attitudes, their behaviors, and it will inevitably change their lives inside their work and outside their work for the better. And we can say this with our hands on our heart because we have experienced it firsthand ourselves, and also we experience it. Every day in our profession as we're coaching, coaching other people.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
I would say this sounds very easy in
Track 1:
I.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
In practice, it's much easier said than done because of us has grown up organizations we are rewarded for fixing and solving problems. So when people come to us, we fix and solve. We fix, and this is turning. That kind of leadership on its head from fixing and solving to asking questions to help people fix and solve for themselves. So it requires discipline and practice make this more of the style that we use in everyday leadership. Which is why we would encourage people to become much more inquiry led as leaders, as people seek first to understand and only then to be understood is a great motto, which picked up, I think, wasn't it?
Track 1:
That's right. So I mentioned NLP as well being one of the practices that has transformed my life and Mel's life. So we can share a little bit more about NLP with you now, just the high level introduction. So for those of you that. Haven't heard of the term or the acronym? NLP before? NLP stands for neurolinguistic programming, and it's the study of our brain and other people's brains and how we process information, how we make decisions, how we build patterns of routines and habits and behaviors. It's also the study of language. When you practice neurolinguistic programming, you actually become quite exquisite in your communication. It's a study of language, both the language that we talk to ourselves inside our head with, and also the language we externalize and say out loud. So the neuro. The linguistic and then the programming is the habits and routines. So the, the programs that we embed in our system, the day-to-Day, that create good habits and healthy habits for our life and for leadership. So we'll talk a lot about the practices of neurolinguistic programming in this podcast series with you.
mel-wombwell_1_01-17-2024_142538:
And, it's interesting when we talk to people about NLP Neuro Linguistic programming, some people are really enthusiastic and positive about it, and other people have looked it up on Wikipedia and are a little bit hesitant and maybe a bit nervous about it because it definitely has a mixed reputation. I would say that when it comes to something like NLP, which is how we use our brain. How we use our language, how we shift our programming. We can use those things to make the world a better place, or we can use those things in a less positive way. It's much the same as money. We can use that for the greater good or we can use that, in destructive practices. So what we would encourage you to do as you go through this series is just to keep an open mind and a willingness to explore it. Rather than being influenced by what's out in social media, take the time to understand it, research it, and make your mind up for yourself about what you think and feel about it once you've done some experiments and given it a go. And maybe search for your intention in why do I wanna be a better leader? Why do I want to communicate more effectively? Why do I want to shift my programming? So maybe it's more conscious less on autopilot, which is how many of live and need our lives. We have such busy ones.
Track 1:
So let's summarize what we've covered today in this podcast. The world is changing. It's changing rapidly. It is volatile, it's uncertain, it's complex, it's ambiguous, and that is the VUCA world that we live in today. We can't approach the world we live in today with the same way we approached it yesterday. You know that saying, if you always do what you've always done. You'll always get what you've always got. Well, Mel, and I think that even that saying is well and truly out of date now.'cause it's more like if you always do what you've always done, you're gonna be very, very, very lucky to get what you've always got in this very VUCA world that we live in. So the world is changing, and that means that leadership itself is changing, and therefore, the way we practice leadership, the way we lead our organizations and the way we live our lives is flipping on its head. Practices like coaching and NLP can really support this shift to modern progressive leadership.