Paving the Way
Agility
"Speed, agility and responsiveness are the keys to future success"
- Anita Roddick -
Today, changes are coming in greater volume, with more complexity, and at a faster rate than ever before. Knowing how to lead through rapid changes will affect the very survival of today’s organizations.
The traditional way of leadership focusing on establishing visions and plans and then deploying these top-down is too slow. A different leadership narrative and mindset are needed.
Adaptive challenges can only be solved through engagement and empowerment of the same people who will have to change their way of working. To effectively support and lead today, leaders need to adapt from ‘giving the answers’ to framing the challenge and then encouraging employees to propose and act on their own solutions. This approach focuses on creating conditions that unleash the energy and ideas latent in the organization so that emergent, self-organizing processes serve the organization.
In a world of ambiguity and uncertainty, it is impossible to know in advance what will cause what. Instead, successful leaders encourage numerous small changes and experiments, learning as they go, in a more emergent process of change. Try many small, fail-safe experiments to see what, in this situation, really leads to what, and will do what you hope it will.
Leaders need to learn to not just survive but thrive in turbulent times.
These are a couple of steps that can help you doing that:
- Don't be afraid to change course and maintain a clear view on your vision for the future. Make sure that you continuously adjust your goals with your team members, making minor adjustments along the way. Do not wait until a big shift is necessary before discussing redirecting efforts. This allows them to navigate unsettled, unfamiliar situations, and react quickly. At the heart of being agile is the ability to change and adapt based on what’s happening around you – whether that’s the needs of your customer or consumer, changing technology, a rapidly evolving marketplace or workforce, fluctuating funding, industry trends, or breakthroughs.
- Be a great listener. Stay tuned to information available within and out with your organization, so that you do not fall behind. Listen to people, trends, markets, and then respond or strategize accordingly. If you’re not listening closely to what’s going on in your field or your industry, you won’t be able to change course and meet rapidly changing business needs.
- Review and evaluate your performance. Consider what you do well and what can be improved. When an organization creates a culture of agility, the focus shifts from input to output. There is little attention for the tasks and more on the deliverables and deadlines. You need to possess enough self-discipline to reach targeted goals even if your performance isn't being tracked at every step.
- Encourage your team to continuously challenge the current way of working and share ideas freely. Encourage debate, dissent, and participation from everyone. Bringing on-the-spot solutions to any challenges or roadblocks. Rather than get discouraged by problems that arise, immediately start strategizing and collaborating for quick workarounds that address the issue as soon as it arises.
- Promote flexibility, adaptability, and agility. Plan but build in contingency time and be prepared to alter your plans as events unfold. If your organization values agility in its employees, they will likely create a culture of agility that supports quick decision-making and fast thinking. This type of environment enables autonomy and empowers its employees to act quickly by removing unnecessary obstacles to progress and innovation. Be prepared to take advantage of that autonomy by being disciplined, self-motivated, and proactive.
- Communicate clearly with your people. In complex situations, clearly expressed communications help them to understand your team's or organization's direction. Being nimble at work requires an acute responsiveness and openness to optimize your strategy or approach based on several changing factors. To make this a successful approach, you should be able to communicate your strategies or approach quickly, accurately, and effectively.
- Collaborate. Develop teams and promote cross-functional collaboration. Build teams that can work effectively in a fast-paced, unpredictable environment. Being agile is all about sharing knowledge with your coworkers and industry colleagues and not needing to “own” every idea, project, or task. An agile work environment seeks to break down hierarchical power structures and unnecessary barriers so that everyone is free to explore, create, experiment, and drive positive outcomes.
Content contributed by Helen Morley, 2021