Natacha Wilson joins the Cambridge Marketing podcast and shares how marketers can navigate innovation and change in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. She discusses the need for agility, shorter planning cycles, emotional intelligence and inclusive cultures to turn disruption into opportunities for innovation. Throughout, Natacha highlights collaboration and networks, illustrated by examples like rapid vaccine development and service innovations such as Amazon Prime, as critical drivers of value for customers and wider stakeholders.

Key Points:

  • Understand and plan for VUCA: accept volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity as the normal operating environment and build agility and adaptability into marketing strategies.
  • Shorten planning horizons: move from traditional 5–10 year plans to visions of 3–5 years supported by operational and strategic plans on roughly one‑year cycles, updated every 3–6 months based on market data.
  • Make collaboration and networks central to innovation: use cross‑functional and cross‑organisational collaboration to fast‑track innovation in products, services and processes, as seen with vaccine development and convenience services like Amazon Prime.
  • Balance freedom to innovate with alignment and process: avoid “just do it” chaos by prioritising where innovation is focused, aligning efforts to strategy, and ensuring changes don’t confuse customers or fragment energy.
  • Invest in inclusion, emotional intelligence and purpose: create inclusive cultures and supportive processes so ideas can emerge from any level, help teams manage the emotional side of change, and connect marketing and innovation to a wider social, environmental or economic purpose that attracts and motivates talent.

 

Podcast Transcript

Transcripts are auto-generated.

Announcer (00:01):
The Cambridge Marketing Podcast with Kiran Kapur, brought to you by Cambridge Marketing College. See their range of courses and apprenticeships at marketingcollege.com.

Kiran Kapur, Host (00:13):
Hello and welcome. Today we are going to be talking about innovation and change in a VUCA world. And my guest is Natasha Wilson, development consultant and marketer who has a passion for innovation. Natasha, welcome. I have to start with a basic question, what on earth is VUCA?

Natacha Wilson (00:33):
Oh, thank you, Kiran, I'm so happy to be here. So VUCA is a really interesting acronym that was initially used probably during the Cold War in the States and it's to define a volatile, uncertain, ambiguous and complex landscape in which we live and operate. So you can imagine with the pandemic and other challenges that we face with in our businesses and our jobs, I think we definitely are living in a VUCA world. Would you agree, Kiran?

Kiran Kapur, Host (01:05):
I agree with you. I first came across this term about five or six years ago and at that stage we were in sort of 2016, 2017. It seemed quite uncertain then. And yeah, a pandemic since then has really made it uncertain. Okay. So it's volatile, it's uncertain, it's complex, it's ambiguous. What effect does that have on us?

Natacha Wilson (01:27):
Well, huge because it's very difficult for us to plan. So whether we are leading organisations or working in our specific roles, we have to be very agile, very good at adapting and anticipating change and embracing change. So we've had for many years the chance to be able to work in quite environments that were not changing so much, and this is so different now. So in a way, in marketing and other roles that we are taking on, we have to deal with this. And there are different ways how we can react. We can just survive. We can manage to adapt, which to a certain extent we've done with a pandemic when we had to work from home or use hybrid ways of working and we still try to navigate this change and businesses are trying to find the right way to do that. We've had the chance to have vaccines and have a bit more freedom of movement, but also we can seize the opportunity and think about how we can innovate.

(02:38):
So I'd like to talk about even the way the vaccine has been developed so quickly. There was definitely a shift in terms of the process of innovation where people, amazing amount of people, talented researchers and different organisations got together and managed to fast track the clinical trials, the regulatory processes to achieve in less than 12 months a vaccine that originally would have taken years. So I think in a way the pandemic has forced us to work differently and to think about what innovation means in our workplaces, but also in ways how we deal with further challenges like global pandemic.

Kiran Kapur, Host (03:28):
Yes. The vaccine's a very interesting example, isn't it? Because when you hear back how the Oxford academic started, they actually pretty much knew at the beginning what they wanted to do. It was a question of then getting the traffic. And they talk about it was almost a weekend, the first weekend that they came up with it. But then you need all this collaboration. So is collaboration going to be key in VUCA?

Natacha Wilson (03:50):
Absolutely. Collaboration and developing networks at all levels of the organisation to help you get the right skill set and the right ideas and thinking outside the box, not thinking about, "Oh, this is what we've done for years so we get to keep continuing doing that or fixing what is broken." It's really trying to think outside the box and innovating to bring benefits to people working in the organisation, but also to your different stakeholders. So the vaccine is obviously the ultimate example, but many organisations have been successful at doing that and bringing increased convenience. I mean, the other thing I'm thinking about of course is if you think about Amazon Prime or other ways where you could get access to goods and services when we had lockdowns, it was incredible in how it helped us to carry on. I am guilty I think of being a bit too happy to use this particular method.

(04:54):
And I'm slowly going back to shops in the main streets, but it has been extremely convenient. So the innovation doesn't have to be only about the product itself. It could be about the processes we use. It could be about making things easier for customers or anyone to connect or to access goods and services for instance.

Kiran Kapur, Host (05:17):
Okay. So we're looking at ways of adapting and you said you either survive or you adapt. Is it really one or the other? I mean, what did you mean by an organisation just

Natacha Wilson (05:31):
Surviving?That's an interesting question. I think sometimes it's about our attitude to change Kiran. I don't know if at a human level how we are honest in how we're dealing with change. So there's been a lot of work around this and about the different emotions that are connected to change. And most of us will resist because unless we have a vision of what the future will look like and you were talking about the vaccine and what they had in mind, it's very difficult to take people on board and to encourage them to change. There's a leap of faith and often we're more comfortable as human beings to deal with things that are not quite right and difficulties because we're so fearful of what else could happen. So I think it's really a mindset. It's not just about having the ideas and the skill set. It's also a mindset and a vision.

(06:26):
So I'm very lucky I work with people who have huge amount of drive and vision in different environments, but including research. And this is what is also empowering others to go along with it and to find new solutions. So maybe that's where the change is between the survival versus innovating is also our ability to agree that it might be a little bit uncomfortable that we will have to go through a phase where we are looking for different solutions and we might not get there straight away. But there is this vision and this drive to actually look at what we do in a very different way and open up possibilities. So if you think about it, we all are relying so heavily on technology and mobile phones. And imagine what was the life like beforehand? Do you remember going back to fax machines or to Telex or whatever it was, the technology that we use?

(07:29):
The power we have with that technology being connected now and having the chance to do this podcast when we all remote in our own offices is incredible. But if you had asked people where they would have wanted that, they would have probably said no because they couldn't imagine what it would help them with. So that forward thinking and that ability to have a mindset that talks and think about the future and the benefits really critical I think to organisational growth and to the way we develop as well in our own professions.

Kiran Kapur, Host (08:07):
So where do you think that mindset and vision comes from? Is it only ever have to come from the top or can it come from anybody at any stage in their

Natacha Wilson (08:15):
Career?This is a really good question, Kiran. And in my experience, I think it comes from very different places, but it has to be at one point synchronicity. So leadership and vision is really important to empower others, to listen to others and to make it possible for people to come up with ideas and solutions. And at the same time, recruiting the right people and allowing them to thrive in their environment. So there's a lot of work being done about equality and diversity, but there's also something that is more important or as important. It's about inclusion. So you may have the right people, but if they aren't the processes or the trust or the space for your employees to come up with new ideas and solutions and that can be at a very technical level as well. I was looking back at some of the tools that we can use, for instance, in communication and I was just amazed at the thousands of software and tools that are available for us to see how we connect with our different stakeholders and how we measure the results of our communication for instance.

(09:27):
And this has changed quite drastically. But again, this can only be used in a positive way if you have the space for people to be able to take initiatives and to come up with new solutions and suggestions on how they might want to do their job in a more effective way. So I'm really interested to se what you think, Kiran, but in my view, it's combined, a combined approach. You need a good balance where innovation is welcome at the top and leaders are embracing it, but also there are areas of expertise and there is space within the organisation for people to come up with the solutions and embed them in their practises.

Kiran Kapur, Host (10:11):
I thought your comment about inclusion and having the processes in place to allow that is really important. Very early on in my career, I was working in an organisation where we need, very dynamic CEO who made loads of changes, but one of the things he came up with was a just do it strategy. Well, a just do it strategy. You've got a bright idea, just do it. Fantastic. I mean, for those of us that were early stage career and wanted to make changes, it was wonderful. The trouble was we all went off and made different changes in different directions and sometimes we crossed over each other and we ended up with some very, very confused customers. And I think that was the danger. There wasn't the processes in place to allow you to do that in a logical way.

Natacha Wilson (10:52):
Yes. And it's interesting, that goes back to this alignment. I was reading a book recently about this and I just can't remember the name of the author unfortunately, but it was about how we align all the efforts. So that has to be linked to a strategy to saying we'll use innovation maybe in certain areas, whether it's product processes, internal communication, whatever it is, new product development. But there has to be I think a way to prioritise and so people work in the same direction. So I get absolutely what you're saying, Kiran. And I've been in an organisation like that as well where there was a lot of power and a lot of ideas and excitement, especially if you work for startups for instance as well. But unless you combine that energy together, it can be quite detrimental because it's patchy. And I think people get a bit of, I think, out of breath as well.

(11:41):
You need to make sure that there are results that you can measure and see how it's affecting your business or your organisation positively. Otherwise, I think I always compare it between the marathon and the sprint. It's like work is more like a marathon. You have to keep having the right energy to finish and to carry on and see the results. And so there's a balance between that. Yeah, absolutely.

Kiran Kapur, Host (12:08):
So I was interested, you talked about emotions around change. And I don't know what you're noticing, but I'm certainly noticing there's an awful lot of emotion around at the moment. I think it's been two years of a pandemic. We're all exhausted and there's lots of things we're still not certain about. So are there models and things that we can do to look at emotions around change?

Natacha Wilson (12:29):
Yes. So there are a lot of different frameworks that you can have a look at. Initially the work was carried out from a psychologist who was looking at grief and specifically how people manage grief. So there's been a lot of similarities between experience of grief and then change within organisations or in our life in general. And this has been very helpful, but I think with every framework you might look at, it's like people not going through the same, in a way, the same types of emotions at the same time. So it's a very personal matter. And I think sometimes we tend to judge where we feel like, oh, well, we've given time for people to deal with a change. Whether it's a restructure for instance, or a merger, or people may have to be made redundant because of the economy climate or there are other ways that force people to change.

(13:29):
The typical thing as well is like changing building and people's desks having to decide where they should be. And that can be extremely stressful for employees, for all of us working from home versus hybrid or being asked to go back to the office. All these changes may impact us very differently. So what I would say is that we have to allow for people to react and the pace of their reaction may be different and we have to allow for that. There isn't this kind of like perfect formula which says it will take three weeks for people to deal with change. So I would say it's having a process that makes a big difference so that there's constant communication and there's also very supportive managers or supportive teams where people have the chance to air some of their concerns and they feel listened to. And for some people, they react much quicker.

(14:26):
They get from maybe like a shock or denial to more of appreciating the change and understanding the benefit of that position. And the work I do with some of the leaders or people who are running large groups, the way they are handling that is that they are becoming more aware of their own emotions. So we go into the emotional intelligence where you understand how you are switching state of emotions. So I think there's a big parallel between innovation and change and innovation and a kind of like whirlpool of emotions. And we have to get better at dealing with this because as you say, we still have a lot of uncertainty. We're still in a VUCA world. So maybe that's what we need to do. Embrace change and embrace the emotional upheaval that goes with it and get better at managing it.

Kiran Kapur, Host (15:25):
So what else can companies do in this VUCA world? I mean I've encouraged you to talk about the emotional side and I think it's really interesting, but what other frameworks and structures should we companies been putting in, in this very difficult environment?

Natacha Wilson (15:42):
So do you remember, Kiran, many years ago and when we look at strategic plans, we had plans that were five, 10 years plans. I don't know if you remember that. Oh, that

Kiran Kapur, Host (15:50):
Was a long time ago, wasn't it? Yes.

Natacha Wilson (15:52):
Yes, yes. So now when you discuss this with organisations and it could be functional plans or more strategic plans, let's say that the timeframe has narrowed quite a lot. So maybe that's about that. It's having systems to make sure that you have additional information, the right data at the right time. So there's a lot more around having scenario planning options that are shorter timescales. You can still have a vision and ambition that might be still three to five years, but I suppose operational or the shorter strategic plan is probably one year now. I would say one year probably maximum with a lot of alterations on a three months to six months basis, depending on the type of market in which you operate or the type of organisation you are. It's different if you're, for instance, maybe a charity or if you have funding from the public sector or other types of funding because then the cycles are slightly different.

(16:57):
But that ability to being really aware of what is going on in the marketplace and also what's happening in your organisation. We also know that as new employees are coming into or new people are coming into the workforce, they have different expectations and there's a big need for purpose. We've been told that's the case and younger generation needs more purpose. They want to know why they're working and how their work and the organisation is linked to bigger impact. So it could be social impact, economical impact, could be environmental impact. It's including climate change of course. So maybe there's the two things that needs to happen. More agility, more access to data that is relevant that will help you update your plans and the ability to link what we do with a wider purpose to attract the right talent. That's what I see. But I'm sure Kiran, you have also a lot of other thoughts on that and maybe we should write a book.

Kiran Kapur, Host (18:08):
So coming back to structures and processes, which is I'm probably pushing because I know it's not really my strongest of areas. There's something around R&D and new product development. You talked about Amazon Prime getting it right and making things easy. We talked about collaboration and creating things like the vaccine. Where does that fit into this changing world?

Natacha Wilson (18:37):
I think it's about adapting to changing needs. We in the Western world mainly at this moment in time maybe have lost the idea of patients and we want to have access to data, access to people, access to goods and services in the most convenient manner. Interestingly enough, I think there might be a switch that needs to happen if we also look at the impact on the environment. So there's this idea of having more localised food production for instance now, and that may impact how we access food and how we connect with food. There's a lot of things around research and innovation in that area. But this ability to think about your stakeholders and try to add value as being driving innovation and sometimes probably for the benefit of all and in other times not so. I think in the food retail, I know that we've had a big encouragement to shop online and it was very handy and fantastic for many groups who could not leave their house due to the pandemic and being probably vulnerable to the virus.

(20:01):
But it also has had huge pressure on retail outlets on how they are delivering this food and making sure they do a good service. So now there's an impetus for some food retail outlets to encourage you and give you vouchers to go back shopping in the shops. So we're seeing a reverse impetus here. So innovation can be driven for very different reasons. When we looked at the vaccine, it was about global health and it was an amazing collaboration between very different types of organisations, including governments to try to make this work. In other areas such as in businesses is probably to drive increased revenue and potentially profit. As I mentioned before, this have to be connected with a wider purpose and encouraging your employees, your connected stakeholders to do something that will benefit their organisations and also a wider purpose. We can feel that and see that where corporate social responsibilities becoming higher on the agenda and maybe the big, what we call the GAFA, the big technology companies might drive innovation in our life, but they might also have a broader impact in some of the global challenges.

(21:30):
So I'm hoping and I'm a bit of a cautious optimist that it will play out for the better and it will improve both how we live, but also try to solve some bigger solutions, but the future will tell. So maybe that's why these podcasts are helpful. Maybe this is the way we can all try to make a difference in some way in whatever we do.

Kiran Kapur, Host (21:54):
I think that's a lovely call to action to end on, but your call to action very much seems to be collaboration and network and we all have a part to play.

Natacha Wilson (22:05):
Yes, Kiran, exactly. And I know it can be hard because we can feel overwhelmed, but this is something that we all need to work on, that there are ways we can influence what we do in organisations, in our roles. And sometimes we can do it outside our work as well, but there are definitely options. So keep an eye out and enjoy the journey.

Kiran Kapur, Host (22:31):
Natasha Wilson, thank you very much indeed for your time and for explaining innovation and change in a VUCA world.

Natacha Wilson (22:38):
Thank you, Kiran. Lovely to be here.

Announcer (22:40):
The Cambridge Marketing Podcast from Cambridge Marketing College, training marketing and PR professionals across the globe.