Organisations need it, relationships need it and individuals need it. The world is a different place – moving with great speed. So what you did last year may not work this year and certainly not into the future years.
Relationships are under increasing pressure as people demand more in less time and with less resources. Think even of how much is required of parents – helping children with an ever increasing load of homework, managing the use of Social Media and possibilities of cyber bullying and influences that may be considered undesirable, communities still wanting and needing volunteers to make things work for children – like sports coaching and reading. So the list continues – everyone wanting more and with greater speed.
Individuals feel the pressure as more change is imposed on them – and the survival mechanism is “agility” if only they can see it as such.
So if I’m declaring organisations, relationships and individuals need agility – we need to get on the same page with what agility is!
Agility is defined simply as the power of moving quickly and easily – nimbleness; and as the ability to think and draw conclusions quickly – intellectual acuity. In sport it is defined as the ability to change the body’s position efficiently, and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. In other words it is the ability to change the direction of the body in an efficient and effective manner and to achieve this requires a combination of balance – the ability to maintain equilibrium when stationary or moving (i.e. not to fall over) through the coordinated actions of our sensory functions (eyes, ears and the proprioceptive organs in our joints).
It’s not that different for an organisation.
Business agility is defined as organisations able to approach their operations and resources in a flexible and responsive manner – and like it was defined for sports – in organisations we need coordination. Only it is the coordination of technology, processes and people. The agile organisation strives to make change a routine part of organizational life to reduce or eliminate the organizational trauma that paralyses many businesses attempting to adapt to new markets and environments. By making change perpetual, the agile organisation is able to nimbly adjust to and take advantage of emerging opportunities.
So if we are encouraging organisations to develop agility it follows then that individuals need the same attribute and obviously this then impacts on relationships – they will need to be fluid, adaptable and judgement will get in the way so it needs to go!
Agility to learn, to change, to make decisions – agility is brought alive everywhere in business by individuals and especially by leaders within business. It is critical for leaders to role model agility and this will mean letting go of ego – and replacing it with curiosity. Being prepared to let go, admit failure, seek new ways and let go of the old with great speed!
