$321 billion in global banking fines, £137 billion to bailout the UK banking industry, over 8 million jobs gone, £8 trillion wiped out from the stock markets! These are but only some statistics post the financial credit crisis of 2007 – 2008. Another significant corollary of this fiscal ordeal was the rekindling of a lesser used term – the new normal. This term came to label the conditions following the financial crisis and the global recession of 2008 – 2012. Since then, the new normal has been used in many other spheres to imply that something which was previously abnormal has become routine or normal. The business world is also in the throng of such a new normal! Consider. Rate of technology advancement has exponentially increased during the last couple of years. More and more products and essential services are moving to a cloud environment.Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are changing business models left, right and centre.A single company can now expect to enter new markets and leave existing ones routinely. Big data has rewritten the old playbook for good. Large corporations are regularly finding out about competitors that didn’t exist five years ago. A 15-minute news cycle has the capability of making or breaking a business. Social media can tear down a decades-old corporate empire in a matter of minutes. With so much carnage at hand, and without even a chance of anticipating known risks, businesses now exist in a highly unpredictable and rapid velocity state which the U.S. Army calls VUCA. In this paradigm VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. In simple terms, it means “it’s a jungle out there”! This, thus, is the new normal for global business. All the changes expressed by VUCA can be underpinned by one word – constant; i.e. VUCA is now a constant and permanent fixture of the business world! A new normal that has the potential of wreaking havoc across the globe deserves a stern policy response. Policy has been previously defined as an inspiring vision to promote, execute and achieve national or corporate ends or goals. Policy response to VUCA in the business world is no different. If one phrase could epitomise this policy, it would be ‘unswerving agility’! And could be defined thusly – ensure superior shareholder value and consistent economic profit through adaptability. The objectives of this policy shall be three-fold. One, amicably manage the pressures of VUCA. Two, eliminate non-adaptability at a variety of organisational layers. Three, put resilience at the heart of the work force. Any policy aiming to be successful needs underlying strategies that execute the policy objectives. To reiterate, strategy is defined as alignment of ways, means and ends to reach the objectives stated by the policy A 2016 report entitled ‘Accelerating the pace and impact of digital transformation’ by Harvard Business School also puts agility and adaptability at the centre of the organisation. The underlying survey divided companies into three groups – leaders, followers, and laggards. The focus was to highlight the skills needed to survive and flourish in an environment similar to VUCA. And what was the most sought-after skill? The ability to adapt to change!This was rated even higher than customer-focused problem solving,collaboration & communication skills and technical knowledge & capabilities with specific technologies. Therefore, confirming that a policy of unswerving agility is the most appropriate response to the dynamic VUCA business world of today. However, the story doesn’t end there. Any policy aiming to be successful needs underlying strategies that execute the policy objectives. To reiterate, strategy is defined as alignment of ways, means and ends to reach the objectives stated by the policy. In order to execute the policy of unswerving agility, at-least three grand strategies must be borne in mind. One, build resilience into the DNA of the organisation. Note that resilience is not a personality trait as such and can be taught. This will allow even individuals within the organisation to benefit, not only in their business lives but also in their personal lives. Two, focus on the agile organisation as proposed by McKinsey. It suggests that agile organisations have a 70% chance of being in the top quartile of organizational health, the best indicator of long-term performance. In-fact McKinsey have a catchy phrase for this – Agility: It rhymes with stability! Three, corporate values – if defined well previously – should be kept consistent and unchanged. More often than not, organisations tend to change their belief systems when confronted with turmoil. This should not be done! Simply because good values are indeed what get businesses through tough times! Max McKeown – a specialist in leadership and innovation strategy – writes this in his book Adaptability: The Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty, “adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win”. If businesses want to survive and succeed in the new normal where changes are based on volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity then they must fully render the policy of unswerving agility! A policy response that will separate the winners from the losers! The writer is Director Programmes for an international ICT organization based in the UK