VUCA Uncertainty and Coping with our anxiety-management system
- bernard chanliau
- Feb 16, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 4
Great video from Dare on Change (Ad for Clothing Brand Saga - "Dare" (Take it Easy Films) and facing our demons, our inner shadows, competing commitments that stop us from doing what we want to achieve in the first place.
Most of the times, the reason why we are not achieving our improvement goal, whatever that may be, is that doing what it would take to achieve this goal, would be too uncomfortable.
From experience, engaging this uncomfortable, hidden unconscious place through reflection is where coaching can be highly effective. Reflection is an ongoing practice that takes time to cultivate. We always recommend our clients to really take their time for this process in this ever 'doing' working life.
*A mental process “by which an individual rationally examines their assumptions” with the outcome of clarity, reflection can occur simultaneously with action, or in arrears after an action has taken place.
In the field of coaching, awareness and self-awareness have been shown to be both an outcome of and a process for enhancing outcomes in coaching.
Identifying the worries/fears (beliefs & needs) that may be preventing you from achieving your goal helps to see your change-prevention system (how your competing commitments systematically generate the very behaviours that prevent progress on your goal) and your anxiety-management system (how generating these behaviours helps you ward off some of your worst fears).
During these unprecedented times of uncertainty and ambiguity, dancing between the new and the old, between a hard rock and a place, managing complexity as well as ambiguity facing your demons as we all strive in simplicity and clarity, will have the single biggest impact on the way we work over the next years.
This requires an adaptable brain that can respond with flexibility and creativity, while still being thoughtful and applying logic.
Coaching helps people identify limiting beliefs and move into more open and responsive mindsets.
Think of several commitments that are currently competing in your own (or client) organisation.
How are people in your organisation currently dealing with the situation?
What are the consequences, positive and negative, of this way of coping?
In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) leadership landscape, executives often find themselves constrained by these unseen barriers - hidden limiting beliefs that shape decisions, reactions, and growth potential.
Executive leadership coaching acts as a strategic catalyst, helping leaders explore hidden beliefs. Through structured reflection, it provides a framework to examine assumptions, identify hesitation causes, and enhance clarity.
This process is both transformative and iterative. By cultivating awareness and self-awareness, coaching helps leaders recognize how their internal "change-prevention" and "anxiety-management" systems operate—often protecting them from perceived risks but also holding them back.
The result? A profound psychological shift: leaders move beyond reactive patterns, identify and dismantle limiting beliefs, and adopt more open, adaptive, and responsive mindsets.
In VUCA environments, coaching helps executives unlock potential by addressing the unseen, resulting in leadership that is resilient and intentionally agile, turning challenges into growth opportunities.
Ready to break through your leadership barriers?
Please leave a comment below or contact us for more information on working with your inner-self or your team in order to achieve a deep level of psychological reflection and understanding.
Hullinger, A. M., DiGirolamo, J. A., & Tkach, J. T. (2019). Reflective Practice for Coaches and Clients: An Integrated Model for Learning. Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal, 4(2), 5-34.
Comments