The VUCA storm

20 November 2025
he  storm
In other words: we’re sailing in a VUCA storm – and too many businesses are drifting.
As Blazing Moon, this is exactly where we partner with leaders and their teams:

👉 to create clarity,

👉 sharpen decision-making, and

👉 build skills that keep people aligned when everything around them is shifting.

Read the following article for practical shifts you and your teams can make to stay on course:

1. Get Your Bearings – Fast

Don’t rush to “more activity.”
Pause and ask:

  • What do we actually know right now?
  • What’s unclear?
  • Where are the bottlenecks and disconnects?
Involve people from different levels and functions – they see risks and opportunities you don’t.

2. Define Your “Nearest Safe Haven”

If the storm worsens:

  • What absolutely must be protected? (clients, contracts, cash flow, reputation)
  • What can be paused to create bandwidth for what matters most?
Give your team permission to stop low-impact work so they can focus on stabilising the business.

3. Re-clarify Success in the Short Term

Your 3-year strategy may still be right – but you need near-term markers:

  • “For the next 90 days, success looks like…”
  • “These are the 3 priorities we will protect, even when things get noisy.”
Clarity reduces anxiety. It also stops “random acts of effort” and gives people an aligned direction.

4. Tighten Decision-Making & Empower People

Slow decisions are costly in a volatile environment.
Make it explicit:

  • Who decides what?
  • By when?
  • Based on which data?
Then push decisions down to the lowest practical level. Equip your people and trust them to move – don’t make them wait for endless approvals.

5. Use Simple, Real-Time Data – Not Beautiful Reports

You don’t need more dashboards – you need the right ones:

  • A few key performance indicators everyone understands
  • Clear visibility of progress on current priorities
  • Short, frequent check-ins to review and adjust
Agility is not chaos. It’s a disciplined rhythm of act → review → adjust.

At Blazing Moon, we help organisations do exactly this by:
  • Upskilling leaders to communicate with clarity and confidence in turbulent times
  • Equipping teams with practical decision-making and problem-solving tools
  • Designing customised learning experiences that turn strategy into day-to-day behaviours
If your organisation is feeling the storm and you suspect you’re “drifting” more than navigating, let’s talk.

 

🌙 Blazing Moon Corporate Training
Igniting minds. Strengthening leaders. Keeping your people on course when the waters get rough.

 

Acknowledgement - Source inspiration:

This post was inspired by Maartje van Krieken’s article “Drifting Isn’t a Strategy: 8 Steps to Stay on Course in Turbulent Times” in Training Magazine, which outlines a “Chaos Compass” for leaders navigating today’s volatile environment.


Email us: bookings@blazingmoon.co.za
Call us: 2711 728 7720

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