Turbulent times paralyze the majority. The remaining few see strife as an opportunity to claim what many are not able to see just yet. We see this playing out today in the business world, a few months into the world-shaking effects of COVID-19. While countless companies have folded, others have embraced the realities of VUCA and steered their strategy toward rebuilding their teams through strengthening their employment culture and maximizing relevant technology. What exactly are these companies doing to thrive in the New Normal?

Today’s guest answers that question. We have interviewed Ira Wolfe, workplace futurist, recruitment marketing strategist, employee selection expert, author, TEDx speaker, and President of Success Performance Solutions since the company’s inception in 1996.

1) What is VUCA and how does this idea give us a peek at the future of work?

VUCA originated in the early 90s following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The U.S. military realized that the world was changing fast and that our enemies would no longer be countries or sovereign states. Instead, we would be facing terrorism which knows no boundaries. So the war colleges came up with a war strategy for the future which determined that the environment was going to be Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Over the years, VUCA has become popular with business strategy, mostly at the C-level. The question is, “How do you manage a business in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world?

2) What was your worst experience as an HR futurist and how did you overcome it?

I’ve been through many tough times, and at the moment, they felt terrible. People always tell me that I’m a skeptic, and I’d add that I’m a realist, but I always see opportunity in the crisis. I’ve been in this business for 25 years. I started out as a dentist. If you watched my TED Talk where I talk about change, very early on I say that I love everything about dentistry but dentistry. I loved running the business. I loved working with people. I loved building my team. I loved helping people become healthier. I loved educating people. I just didn’t love doing the work.

I started my practice in 1980 on credit. There was a shortage of silver at a time when dentists used silver fillings and X-rays. I was also in a town of 5000 people with 11 dentists. Finally, the first case of HIV in America is of a person who died in a dental office. So, that was certainly a challenging time, but I adapted to every situation and made things work for my business regardless.

My philosophy to overcome personal and professional challenges like this is Bob Johansen’s VUCA Prime, a response to VUCA which stands for Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility. This requires shifting from a fixed to a growth mindset: being open to all the different ways I can turn setbacks into opportunity.

3) What is today’s primary challenge faced by organizations that are looking to grow or expand?

If you asked me this six months ago, I’d have said that organizations struggled to find good people. All of a sudden, as of Monday this week, we had 45 million unemployed. So, the challenge now is three-fold: skill shortage, cultural fit, and automation. The economy will continue to struggle for up to a year, and so companies need to be prepared with fielding the countless candidates that are looking for work. You need to have the right technology to go through the numbers and make sure that you hire not just for skill but for the integrity of your employment brand.

4) What are the steps that a company should take when evaluating applicants while staying true to their employment brand?

The first step is to get the word out about the opening. In my book Recruiting in the Age of Googlization, I came up with the acronym REACH.

How do you reach people? That means asking, “Where would the people that you’d like to hire hang out?” (HINT: Top talent doesn’t hang out at Indeed.com. They...