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Chaos is a Gift? Leading Oneself in Uncertain and Complex Environments

26 August 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath | Photo Supplied

A VUCA environment reflects a state of the external world, or external to the leader, community, or nation, as much as it seems to reflect an internal frame of mind. The constant pressure to lead, while being uncertain about the outcomes of your decisions and even fearful of not being in control all the time, are some of the hallmarks of a VUCA world. A good way of thinking about this concept is to view it as the ‘new narrative’ – the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity inherent in today’s world.

Leaders in the 21st century need to steer a country securely through unparalleled, challenging, and stormy circumstances such as food insecurity, political unrest, migration and refugee issues, unemployment, divided societies and prejudice, global warming, and others. Against this introduction, it unfortunately appears as if there is an increase in VUCA problems in the 21st century, and leaders often fail in their attempts to provide solutions to these demanding circumstances. Indeed, it appears as if leaders in the 21st century are actually contributing to VUCA environments. So-called ‘state capture’ and the ‘gangster state’ in South Africa, ‘make America great again’ and ‘America first’ , the Brexit no-deal option, ‘trade wars’, and ‘the deadly coronavirus’ are examples of when leaders did not appear to solve challenges, but rather to intensify them.

This is the backdrop against which the book, Chaos is a Gift? Leading Oneself in Uncertain and Complex Environments, has been conceptualised – indeed to debate the opportunities that exist amid this chaos.

Three UFS women academics contributed to this book.

Dr Martha Harunavamwe (Department of Industrial Psychology) has written a chapter on resilience and agility in Zimbabwean higher education.Dr Mareve Biljohn (Department of Public Administration and Management) has written a chapter on leading the self in South Africa’s VUCA local government environments. Prof Liezel Lues (Department of Public Administration and Management) has written a chapter on South Africa’s surviving VUCA environment. She is also one of the editors of the book.

The endorsement written by Prof Petersen, reads: There are various books on leadership, but this book, in navigating today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, presents chaos as both an opportunity and possibility in developing ‘selfcare practices’ in leading oneself. Leaders must have the cognitive flexibility to adapt to the unknown in the midst of chaos (and a crisis). Through making sense of leadership approaches in different environments, including the business, private, academic and public sectors, as well as in conflict/post-conflict situations, the book provides a deep insight into leading oneself effectively with innovation and empathy in a VUCA environment – an excellent contribution to self-leadership. (Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor: Top Management, University of the Free State)

The book, published by KR Publishers, will be launched on 27 August 2020. Prof Ebben van Zyl, together with Prof Lues, are the editors of this book: Van Zyl, E, Campbell, A and Lues, L. ed. Chaos is a Gift? Leading Oneself in Uncertain and Complex Environments. Randburg: KR Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-86922-860-6

News Archive

Another boost for sport at the UFS

2005-10-13

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has officially appointed Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd, which has former Springbok rugby captain Morné du Plessis as managing director, to manage its Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Services (CESSS) on the Bloemfontein campus.

According to Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations, the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is another step in the implementation of the UFS’s wide-ranging sport strategy to improve sport facilities and elevate formerly marginalized sports such as soccer, hockey, netball, tennis etc.

Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is the manager of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and coordinates and manages the national basketball high-performance programme of SA Basketball, as well as the Boxing Academy on behalf of Boxing South Africa.

“It is also actively involved with the sports plans of several tertiary institutions like that of the University of Johannesburg and the University of Stellenbosch,” said Prof Verschoor.

“Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was also appointed by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation to manage the allocation of sports codes to high-performance centres and to oversee the allocation of monies received from the National Lottery to these centres – this includes the CESSS at the UFS,” Prof Verschoor added.

In unfolding its national sports plan, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation has already identified the UFS-based CESSS as the high-performance testing centre for the national basketball teams whilst the national boxing teams are also earmarked to be trained at the UFS.

“We are glad to be associated with a company of this stature and look forward to work with them in the further development of sports at the UFS,” said Prof Verschoor.

According to Prof Verschoor, the CESSS will act as a centralised body that is responsible for the coordination and management of joint initiatives between professional service providers, research projects and KovsieSport.

“The centre will also coordinate and manage joint initiatives between various academic programmes in different academic subject fields such as sports medicine, bio kinetics, physiotherapy, dietetics, etc. ,” said Prof Verschoor.

These initiatives will help the UFS to become a centre and catalyst of sports development, to become internationally recognised in the field of exercise and sports science research and to become a centre for high quality sports performance enhancement.

Some of the objectives of the CESSS are:

To provide sports science services like to athletes, students, the general public and other stakeholders including certain national sport teams.
To provide the necessary teaching and training facilities and internship opportunities for UFS students in sports related fields of study will also be provided by the centre like human movement science.
To present skills-transfer programmes directed at the broader community like development of skills in various sporting codes.
To continue and extend the current chronic risk reversal programmes presented by the Department of Human Movement Science such as obesity management, cardiac rehabilitation and other lifestyle related conditions.

The centre was founded in 2003 and was until now managed by Dr Louis Holtzhausen, from Kovsie Health and a consultant, Dr Gary Vorster.

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed today by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The manager of the centre appointed by Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is Mr Charles Store, an alumnus of the UFS, previously employed at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town and by the SANDF at 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
072-207-8334
12 October 2005

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