Yogyakarta, October 1st 2021─The Student Family of Public Policy Management (GAMAPI) Fisipol UGM held a LeadershipTalk webinar with the title “Be A Great Leader in the VUCA Era” on (01/10). This event was held by presenting resource person Erfan Ariyaputra, an expert in the field of Training and Development. On this occasion, the event was held online with discussion guides Nita Harmisa Dean and Arkananta Buwana, students of Public Policy Management (MKP) Fisipol UGM. This morning’s discussion was attended by 50 participants with various interesting discussions about leadership, ranging from basic definitions to various skills that can be developed to become characters that are able to adapt to changing times.
The main discussion in this webinar opened with the basic topic of the different definitions between leaders and leaders. According to sources, leaders have a broader definition when compared to leaders. In general, leadership is only limited to a structural position while the leader is related to a person’s character that occurs spontaneously. Character itself is a long process that is formed in an individual. In this case, building a leader’s character can be done by doing new habits from an early age, until a pattern is formed that leads to good and ideal leadership traits.
Being a leader is not an easy thing. In the explanation of the sources, the world is currently entering an era of uncertainty or often referred to as the era of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (VUCA). Situations like this make the world move so fast, unstable, full of uncertainty, and more complex than the previous era, so that one’s experiences are no longer able to predict the future that may occur. Therefore, the demand for adaptability is an important key to continue to exist and survive in an era of uncertainty.
Although the VUCA era seems to lead to a pessimistic situation, giving up is not a wise thing. The world will continue to move, but humans will always be able to adjust. The key lies in the individual’s willingness to keep learning and trying. In this case, three things that need to be built are goals, processes, and support. The goal or goal itself is an orientation that needs to be the basis for action. Furthermore, Process leads to demands for ourselves to continue to make improvements and not easily feel satisfied or bored. To make the efforts perfect, one needs to get support, which leads to efforts to support and find relationships for self-development and internal organization. With these three things, the leader’s character can be shaped and patterned internally, so that adaptation of the VUCA era can be done easily.