Are you a leader that can adapt to the changing pace of business?

Leadership ‘agility’ is now recognised as one of the most important differentiators for individuals, teams and indeed whole organisations – but are you or your team falling short of the mark?

Adapting to change

The acceleration of change within the modern work place has meant many leaders are left struggling to keep up and adapt to new working environments and practices. Flexibility, agility and responsiveness are now key skills in determining a leader’s success and ultimately the success of the organisation.

The ability to think in a number of different ways and being able to operate and respond to the business’s needs from an infinite level of perspectives is what gives leaders their agility and will differentiate you and your team from the competition.

Mind the gap

Of course, we have always had to handle change but it is the extreme acceleration of change and the unpredictable nature of the world that now poses the biggest challenge for leaders and organisations.

Companies need to invest in and nurture their future leaders, ensuring that their level of organisational agility is matched to the speed and pace of the increasing level of complexity and change in their business environment.

And agility is not simply about speeding up in response to rapid change. Whether applied to organisations as a whole, teams or individual leaders, it is also about the ability to take sustained effective action in a world of accelerating change and mind boggling complexity.

So, why the gap?

Some of the most common culprits for reduced agility within companies are:

• traditional organisational structures;
• antiquated processes; and
• outdated IT systems.

But above all these, organisational and leadership culture stands out as the cause of the largest leadership agility gaps because traditionally they lack:

• speed of decision making and implementation;
• team/partnership working across boundaries;
• a climate conducive to experimentation and innovation; and
• flexibility.

Bridging the gap – what’s the benefit to business?

Studies have shown that companies whose leaders operate at higher levels of agility are also more flexible as organisations and deliver stronger business performance – leading their market and setting the pace, rather than struggling along in the wake of more responsive competitors. Agility results in faster time to market, improved operating efficiency and more satisfied customers and employees, as well as higher revenues.

Through a wide range of research, as well as our own first-hand working experience, we have identified 9 key ‘Success Drivers’ that leaders, wanting to be more agile, should develop and practice.

1. Vision
2. Clarity and Understanding (Clarity of purpose)
3. Collaboration and Partnering
4. Building Trust
5. Openness to people and ideas
6. A Commitment to Lifelong Learning
7. Creativity & Innovation
8. Personal Courage & Resilience
9. Leading at the Speed of Change

In the next few months, we will be looking more closely at each of the above Success Drivers, what they mean to you, how they affect leadership agility – both from an individual and team perspective – and give tips and techniques for developing skills and reducing the agility gap.

In the meantime…

Find out just how agile a leader you are by taking part in a short questionnaire that Greenbank have developed. Review your own leadership agility and identify your strengths and areas of weakness that you need to develop still further to be truly agile. At the end of the test you can download a free personal report with your own score, benchmarked against other leaders and some highly practical hints and tips for improvement.

Take the test

Want to know more?

If you would like to find out how Greenbank has helped clients improve their leadership agility or explore practical ways that Greenbank might support your own organisation, please contact Judith Hirst on +44 (0) 1252 820762 or email [email protected].