Navigating VUCA: What Leaders Need Now
2025 has brought economic slowdowns, regulatory flux, and heightened societal polarization—factors creating immense challenges for credit union leaders. But as Heather McKissick explains, credit unions are uniquely positioned to thrive in this environment thanks to their longstanding commitment to both operational excellence and mission-driven service.
Still, even the most value-centered leaders can feel shaken in the face of uncertainty. Heather introduces the VUCA framework—Volatility, Uncertainty, Chaos, Ambiguity—and walks us through tangible ways leaders can regain clarity, cultivate trust, and foster a positive workplace culture.
1. Monitor the Emotional Climate
The first leadership tool? Pay close attention to how your people are really doing.
This isn’t just about morale—Heather highlights how unchecked emotional strain can manifest as increased absenteeism, disengagement from team-building events, or rising workplace conflict. And according to SHRM’s Civility Index, incivility alone can cost organizations over $1.2 billion in daily productivity losses. Leaders must develop mechanisms to regularly check in with staff. Whether through pulse surveys, informal conversations, or facilitated discussions, it’s critical to surface how external stresses are impacting internal dynamics. As Heather puts it, “People want to be asked direct questions”—and that requires leaders to embrace difficult, high-stakes conversations.
2. Reinforce What Already Works
In times of chaos, instinct might be to create new policies or solutions. But Heather encourages leaders to first revisit what’s already in place. Most credit unions already offer mental health resources, wellness programs, and grievance policies. Leaders don’t always need to reinvent the wheel—they need to remind teams what’s available and model how to access those tools. This not only saves time but reinforces the foundation of care and support the organization has already built.
3. Lead by Example
This tool may be the most powerful: model the behavior you want to see.
Heather stresses the importance of regular self-reflection—asking leaders to examine how their own stress responses, communication habits, and leadership styles are showing up under pressure. Authentic leadership means acknowledging your own growth areas and, crucially, being open about them. “When you talk about what you’re working on,” Heather says, “you invite trust. That’s leadership.” Vulnerability, in this context, becomes a form of strength—and an essential driver of workplace culture.
4. Create Safe, Trust-Based Dialogue Spaces
All of this culminates in the need for respectful discourse within the organization. From daily team huddles to monthly all-staff meetings, the way leaders structure and facilitate conversations directly impacts employee trust and engagement. Heather shares a simple but impactful example: show up on time, come prepared, include emotional check-ins, and avoid diving immediately into deliverables. A small shift in meeting design can signal enormous respect and care, creating a culture where employees feel heard and valued. She emphasizes, “Trust leads to empowerment. Withholding trust leads to fear.” And fear, in a VUCA world, only compounds the chaos.
Stream This Episode to Learn More
- Understand the VUCA framework
Learn what Volatility, Uncertainty, Chaos, and Ambiguity mean in a credit union context—and how to respond rather than react. - Discover the 4-part leadership toolkit
Heather unpacks each of the four tools leaders can use today to stabilize and strengthen their teams. - Get real-world examples of application
From staff meetings to policy audits, hear how leaders can translate insight into action without overhauling their systems.
Heather McKissick is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACT Advisors, LLC.
Episode Links
Heather McKissick, I-CUDE | LinkedIn
Membership | Conferences & Events | Talent Development | CUES
Audio Transcription (pulled from the podcast)
Doug English: Heather McKissick from CUES, welcome back to CU On The Show. We are delighted to have you, uh, return with, uh, additional thoughts on leadership.
Heather McKissick: Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be back.
Doug English: Yeah. So, uh, it has been an interesting year, 2025. The, uh, economy is slowing down. Uh, there’s new rules being made and unmade, and if there’s ever a time of uncertainty, this is a, a very significant one. So
tell me a bit about, uh, your thoughts on uncertainty and, and leadership in, in difficult times like these.
Heather McKissick: Well, thanks for asking. I think you know, the answer to that question is, is changing daily for us, all of us, no matter who we are and where we’re leading or how we’re leading in the system. You know, across credit unions, uh, as you well know, and I know most of your listeners know, we are so [00:01:00] fortunate to have so many leaders who put people first.
And this whole mantra of people helping people and being both operationally excellent and mission or purpose focused is something that is really natural to many leaders in the credit union system. And I think that’s the good news for us because right now that tension, I think between. Operations and mission is showing up across many different industries in the United States and elsewhere, and for credit unions and for credit union leadership.
At least that is a, a natural coupling. You know, the idea of balanced [00:02:00] leadership between what it means to, uh, hold and grow the bottom line and also to serve and lean in to our purpose is, is not foreign to us. So I think that’s the good news. The challenge, of course, is that we are surrounded by, as you say, um, this, you know, crazy prolonged uncertainty and a whole lot of volatility.
Mm-hmm. That is. Shifting the sands underneath us. And so even the most grounded of leaders are still finding themselves challenged on a day-to-day basis just managing the, the polarities of the times.
Doug English: Yeah. The, uh, the volatility in the economy, uh, I think has caused a, a lot of. [00:03:00] People to just seem stop to just slow, uh, economic decision making to, uh, you will see that, see that in the DGDP number.
I think you’re gonna see that in loan volume if you haven’t already. Uh, and, uh, you, you mentioned in the, um, sort of pre-work that we did to today’s conversation about the acronym, uh, VUCA, uh, and its, uh, antidote. So I know you, you, you’ve written on that. I, I if you would sort of unpack that whole, uh, uh, concept for us.
Heather McKissick: Absolutely. I mean, I, I did not invent, uh, VUCA. Um, I know that, uh, the term VUCA has been used in a wide array of, of leadership circles for a long time, including, but not limited to military leadership. Right. But the, the acronym VUCA, uh, I’ve also seen it represent different things, but the way I’m interpreting it today is about volatility, which we’ve talked about volatility, uncertainty.
Chaos [00:04:00] and ambiguity. So volatility, uncertainty, chaos, ambiguity. These are far more familiar words I think for a lot of us recently, especially those of us in leadership roles, and not just individually, but the combination of those things happening all at once and at speed is a real challenge for leaders.
Again, no matter how grounded or seasoned you know, that they may be. So we recently put together a piece. Um, about leadership in polarized times, which is really just intended to represent that kind of state of VUCA because for us at CUES, we are about leadership development, talent development, and it’s, it’s a huge part of our mission to make sure that leaders [00:05:00] of credit unions at whatever level, at the level of the board, at the level of the executive team or elsewhere within the organization, also system leaders, right.
Have the, the tools that they need to put their strategies into action. And it’s, it’s what we call put wheels on it. Mm-hmm. And so strategically in this VUCA environment, it’s one thing to have strategies to manage. Environment in place as an organization or as a leader in your leadership practice, it’s another thing to sort of, uh, know what to do, when to do it, and which tools to use under which circumstances.
And so this leadership and polarized Times piece, I, I, I’m not sure I can say it’s the antidote to vuca, but there’s certainly tools that [00:06:00] can be used, um, to help us as we find ourselves in these situations.
Doug English: Yeah, well, you’re feeling, you’re feeling pressured in your economics, right? With, with potentially decreased loan volume and, uh, and interest rate spread.
Uh, and then you, you may maybe you’re, you’re questioning the, uh, the plan. So in, in times, uh, with, uh, extreme volatility and unknown, what are the, what are the tools? Get our, get your tools toolbox out and share it.
Heather McKissick: Yeah, no, you’re right. You know, it’s, there are so many operational challenges, um, and there are so many mission-focused challenges as well.
Mm-hmm. Uh, you know, with the reduction in federal aid of a variety of different sources. Yeah. Um, and being able to lean into our communities the way that many credit unions have been accustomed to leaning in on them. Um, but in this particular case, I’ll talk about the tools sort of for internal leadership, uh, if that makes [00:07:00] sense.
So if you’re a, the leader of a, of a credit union or a credit union serving organization, and you’re facing this. Volatility and uncertainty and chaos and ambiguity. There are really four things that we, uh, like to focus on when it comes to doing our job as strategic leaders and making sure that the workforce is humming along and that to the degree possible, these external forces are not creating unnecessary disruptions because there’s enough disruption right.
Coming from the outside. So sometimes we find that our, our, our workforce is also polarized. Hmm. These times are really putting a magnifying glass on differences of opinions.
Doug English: Oh, yes.
Heather McKissick: And so how do we as leaders make sure that internally within our organizations, we’re helping to manage that and keep the discourse, uh, [00:08:00] civil and productive?
So really four things. First one is about just monitoring the emotional climate, and sometimes people wanna interpret that as a, a soft skill. Um, but the truth is that we all know managing difficult conversations at work, um, is one of the biggest jobs that there is. And making sure that either we as leaders or the leaders that report to us have mechanisms that genuinely check in with the workforce about how people are feeling, not just about day-to-day operations or their usual workload.
But how if these external forces are affecting them negatively and to what degree that is affecting them at work. ’cause there’s a lot of data right now that is suggesting that it is a huge disruptor. Stress [00:09:00] levels on the job are on the rise, which obviously affects productivity. It affects retention.
And it affects effective leadership. So monitoring the emotional climate, looking for those cues, but not making too many assumptions. People want to be asked direct questions, which means, as leaders, we need to not be afraid of having those difficult conversations or being able to at least be comfortable convening and facilitating a discussion where there may be no clear conclusion.
When differing opinions, uh, clash, you know, the, the definition of a crucial conversation that, uh, VitalSmarts, um, promotes is a crucial conversation is what happens when opinions differ. Emotions are present and [00:10:00] stakes are high. Mm-hmm. So I feel like those three things kind of describe every conversation that’s happening right now.
Doug English: Everything recently, right? So, uh, uh,
Heather McKissick: and monitoring that climate is the first thing. And being able to appropriately engage in the, uh, necessary discussions as a result.
So Strategic Human Resource Management. I’m pretty sure that is shrm. Yeah, shrm. So SHM, strategic Human Resource Management. Um, they have a thing called the civility index, which is interesting. And that index tells us, and I’m gonna look at my notes here real quick, that US organizations collectively use more than US organizations collectively lose more than $1.2 billion in reduced productivity per day.
Due to workplace [00:11:00] incivility. Mm-hmm. So the whole idea is that stress on workplace dynamics that can lead to unproductive behavior and also can lead to increased absenteeism, decreased collaboration, et cetera, et cetera. These things are really the drivers of why monitoring that climate makes sense. Yes, it’s about taking care of people and yes, it’s about doing the right thing because we care about our employees and it’s also operationally important that we monitor that climate for all of these other reasons as well.
Doug English: You, you said, uh, cues, which is something you say a lot, uh, but you said that there are cues to watch for. Did, can you cite any of what those cues are?
Heather McKissick: In terms of monitoring the emotional climate?
Doug English: Yes.
Heather McKissick: Yeah. These kind of indicators that I’m talking right now are great indicators. [00:12:00] So is there increased absenteeism?
Right? Is there decreased productivity, especially in, um, job sets that are high stress, um, often frontline positions or telephone contact center positions? Right. Those are two indicators to monitor, not just individually, but collectively as well. There’s also, um, decreased attendance in what would normally have been considered a team building or culture focused event.
Sometimes when we see fallout. At those things. It means that the emotional climate between the people that we’re usually excited and happy to get together under those circumstances has declined. Not always, but often not seeing the same kind of attendance at the types of things that we’ve done in the past to galvanize the team, uh, [00:13:00] can be an indicator that the team may not be where they were.
And of course, workplace conflict, you know? Yeah. The HR process, the escalation of day-to-day differences, the increase in grievances or filed complaints against coworkers or leaders are also always just good indicators of what that emotional climate might look like.
Doug English: Yeah. Some, some just subtle differences between leaning in and perhaps neutral or even.
Leaning out
Heather McKissick: a hundred percent. And a lot of credit unions do engagement surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, they can watch that data, but a lot of times those happen annually. Mm-hmm. And so monitoring the emotional climate might also look like a quick pulse survey or some other way to gauge the environment using an existing tool.
[00:14:00] Um, because that also helps you, uh, compare the data of where you have been to where you are right now.
Doug English: Yeah. Unless you’re just starting and then you, you don’t have the data to compare to yet. I mean, is that, but you gotta start sometime and have some baseline data. That’s right. So first, first tool is to, is to look for the cues, uh, and, and to track the, uh, the sentiment data, right?
Is that, that is the first tool of leadership in polarized times.
Heather McKissick: I think that is an important one when you are leading within a credit union, um, or an institution of, uh, some kind. You know,
Doug English: well, let’s hear about the second tool.
Heather McKissick: Well, um, one of the things that I like to remind people of is that, uh, existing policies or procedures or practices can sometimes be forgotten or left to the wayside when we are in these kind of VUCA conditions.
In other words, it’s easy to want to [00:15:00] say, Hey, we need a new rule, or We need a new policy, or we need a new practice, um, in response to what is happening. And, um, sometimes that’s absolutely true. And other times that’s a symptom of the fact that we haven’t just stepped back to reexamine what our existing policies are.
So in the case of things like, um, workplace incivility, I. Right, or in the case of increased, uh, absenteeism or mental health challenges, sometimes it’s important to remind employees and reinforce what’s already there. So many credit unions have stress management resources or counseling programs or wellness programs.
Uh, reinventing something new may or may not be appropriate. Pointing them in the direction of what has always been there or is a resource that they’re [00:16:00] familiar with or have heard about but never utilized, can also not only offer a solution in that moment, but it reminds them that the organization has that foundation already underneath it.
This has already been there. You know, same is true for policy discussions and for the kind of the idea of escalation practices or grievance practices. Sometimes those policies and practices are already in place through our organizational development teams, our learning and development teams through human resources.
And instead of creating a whole new process, picking up the phone as a leader and asking for help and asking for advice, how can I navigate this difficult conversation with this group? What’s the right way for me to proactively inquire with my people? There are often solutions [00:17:00] already in place that can help the leader and can also save time, and frankly, just be more efficient if we don’t think we have to reinvent those wheels just because of the circumstances of the moment.
Doug English: Very good. So don’t o overreact and recreate. There you go. And you may already have the system. Yeah. Very nice. Yeah. Well, uh, so you, uh, you identified the queues. You, you measured them and paid attention to them. Mm-hmm. And then you, uh, you use perhaps your existing systems. So the, the first two steps, what’s the third?
Heather McKissick: I’m gonna, I’m gonna say that the third you could argue is the first, um, which is to make sure that we’re leading by example. Uh, you know, looking in the mirror on a regular basis, um, metaphorically is such an important leadership practice. It’s a huge part of emotional [00:18:00] intelligence. Um, it’s a huge part of leading with empathy and heart.
Um, people talk a lot about authentic leadership and unless we’re really undergoing sort of self-examination on a routine basis, uh, sometimes there’s an authenticity gap. So it may be that we as leaders need to self-identify certain practices or responses or knee-jerk reactions that we have to certain things, and that we are modeling the behavior that we expect to see in the others within our organization.
And most of us, especially in a, in a senior leadership role, are excellent at that. And when you are talking about all of these compounding variables, when stress levels can be so high and people are running so fast and that magnifying glass has the sun shining through it, [00:19:00] we can all, uh, fall victim to not showing up as our best selves.
And that’s okay, but making sure we’re reexamining our own habits, practices, and reactions, I think is a really important step for a leader if we are working to create a harmonious, uh, work environment. I also also think that it’s really important, um, to the degree that we feel comfortable and can, given our environment that we talk about, that it’s one thing for me to look in the mirror.
It’s one thing for me to recognize something that I may be doing that is counterproductive or that I need to improve upon. Stop there and do that work on my own silently. It’s another thing to be vulnerable and to talk about what I’ve noticed and how I am working on it and what [00:20:00] I want to change and ask for support and accountability from the people within my organization that is not just self-examination, that’s leadership.
And so leading by example I think is a really important tool in that toolkit.
Doug English: I would like to, to name that as my favorite one so far.
Heather McKissick: Hey. Okay. Well we could just stop, stop there.
Doug English: No, but we can’t. ’cause there’s one more and it could be even better.
Heather McKissick: Well, I, I think all of this really kind of culminates, um, into what’s the, what’s the end result, what’s the outcome, right?
The outcome that we’re going for in pretty much every situation is, um. Maintaining an excellent culture in our workplace, or improving that culture in our workplace. And under these circumstances, what I’m really talking about is just encouraging respectful dialogue. And that can’t always happen [00:21:00] under our watch, right?
So we have to make sure that the organizational practices also support and reinforce this, you know, making sure that there are safe places for employees to disclose. And that might just include your staff meetings, you know, and, and the way that you conduct them on a routine basis. Uh, in addition to that, this whole idea of trusting others and talking about trust, because trust leads to empowerment.
As opposed to withholding trust, leading to fear. And when you’re in an environment that is fear-based and trust is withheld, you only compound that fear. So really,
Doug English: Hey, can you, can you unpack the meeting? Uh, I’m wondering if [00:22:00] you could, can you do an example of the meetings, uh, like you said about the making sure your meetings were safe spaces for the, the right sort of conversation.
Can you, can you give an example of, of what that might look like?
Heather McKissick: Yeah, I think that’s a, a, a, a good way to talk about maybe in some combination, some of the things we’ve talked about already. So if you’re monitoring the emotional climate, you’re reinforcing existing policies and you’re leading by example, okay?
Then it can be your weekly staff huddle, or it can be your monthly meeting of all staff. Everywhere. But what, what does that meeting look like and feel like for those participants? In order for them to feel like they could really bring, uh, their authentic opinions and that it would be safe for them to express them.
So if [00:23:00] I, as a leader, race into the meeting five minutes late and dive immediately into the agenda and chastise people for not having hit their targets or objectives, and don’t ask questions about what’s happening with them or do anything to seek to understand how they are either feeling or doing in the current environment, um, all of this might mean I’m not looking in the mirror.
Mm-hmm. Or leading by the example, because if I had a leader that was conducting a staff meeting, I might prefer that leader to be respectful and on time to have a pre-planned agenda. That includes, even if it’s very brief, a check-in with the people in the room about how they are doing. Is there [00:24:00] anything that’s adversely influencing their work?
And that even if it can’t be fully unpacked or understood in that moment that you will create space, or that there is an existing policy or mechanism that will allow them to unpack that further at the appropriate time that we’re leaning in with trust by acknowledging accomplishments and constructively addressing a miss.
Right. And fostering an environment of trust between the colleagues themselves and between those colleagues and you as the leader. So it, it might sound Doug, like meeting management 1 0 1, and when we’re all running so fast under such difficult circumstances, no matter what’s driving those circumstances, this, this is a, a true [00:25:00] statement across the times.
Right. It’s easy to lose sight of how those little things make such a big difference.
Doug English: Mm-hmm. The little details that, uh, that go to the core of, uh, of, of the way you’re thinking, the way you’re leading the core values that are behind those little decisions that add up to big consequences.
Heather McKissick: That’s right. So, you know, you might argue that all times are polarized.
Um, and that these times that we are living in are not the only polarized times that have been or ever will be. Um, so if we think about these as kind of evergreen leadership skills, where really our objective is to promote respective, respective dialogue to maintain and improve our workplace culture, to keep operations humming smoothly and efficiently, you know, then all of these things apply across the board, right?
This [00:26:00] whole idea of monitoring the climate, making sure that we’re leveraging our existing policies or practices, making sure that we are leading by example, and really creating that safe environment for trust and respect. Those are the things that I know there are really excellent leaders across the credit union movement.
Doug English: They really are. Yep.
Heather McKissick: They are doing these things every day. And, um, I’m really grateful to witness it.
Doug English: Well, uh, the document, uh, that Heather was lightly referencing, uh, is on the, uh, CUES’ website. We’ll, uh, attempt to post it in the links for the, the, uh, the, the podcast. It’s called Leadership and Polarized Times For Practices for Success.
And, uh, the author is clearly an expert, uh, in, in this, uh, area. So, uh, Heather, thank you so much for writing that article, uh, for, uh, kind of [00:27:00] unpacking it for our listeners. Uh, and then I know you have, uh, you know, the, the Great CUES, um, uh, directors conference, uh, coming up in, in December, uh, and the, and the best weather conference in the, uh, credit union industry.
The, uh, the, uh, the January, uh, meeting in Hawaii. Any, any, uh, comments you wanna make on, uh, on what’s coming?
Heather McKissick: Well, we are as excited as ever to offer all of our programs for members and new members who are coming in. I would really encourage people to look at CUES.org for the calendar of events coming up. Um, even through, as early as this summer, we have a wonderful array of smaller workshops and seminars, many of which are targeted for our boards of directors.
And those events are really popular and a nice way to share stories and learn together with [00:28:00] a smaller, more intimate group in addition to some of the larger conferences coming, like our Governance Leadership Institute, like the director’s conference or like the CUES symposium that you’re talking about, which will be on Maui.
So, um. I’m grateful for the opportunity to tell people, please come and see us. Give us a call, send me an email. I’m the only Heather there. And, um, would be really happy, uh, to help match people with the right leadership development opportunity for themselves or for their teams.
Doug English: Heather, thank you for your leadership in the credit union movement, uh, and, and for your comments today.
Uh, we’ll look forward to our next episode, uh, and, uh, to accuse meeting soon.
That sounds great. Thank you, Doug.
