Three Practical Business Leadership Tools to Lead Business Agility

One of the many buzz words that has been bandied about by academic and leadership gurus over the past few years is the concept of “Agility.”  A quick search of Google returns more than 58 million hits in less than half a second.  While there are many great definitions, tools, applications, and usages of the tool called agility, too many business leaders have found them to be “soft” and note very practical in a volatile and complex business environment.  For example, one of the executives I work with shared with me a concept one of her HR Business Partners brought forward for some sort of workshop called the “Waterfall” approach to business agility.  The Waterfall Agility approach is based on the idea that the development and delivery of a company’s products and services are built exclusively around a process where you hire only well-trained and mature “experts” for critical jobs and these experts hand their work “over the wall” to the other experts that are moving very quickly to fulfill the promise to customers. This entire framework is built on the notion that experts are very good workers and never have to look back; but, if they make a mistake they can adjust quickly and keep moving forward.

It sounds like a wonderful academic and interesting approach that unfortunately has no relevance in the real world of business.  Just ask Samsung, Volkswagen, and Toyota how that sort of agility is working out for them.

Based on our research, work with large organizations, and insight of executives we work with every day, I am pleased to share three practical business leadership tools that help create an environment of business agility that can be leveraged to achieve real business goals and objectives.

Make sure your company / team knows your strategy

If your people don’t know where they are going, it is by definition impossible to get there by being agile.  The first and most critical step in terms of creating an agile organization is communicating and re-enforcing what is your strategy and value proposition is to customers.  It should be the primary driver of culture and helps to set the guidelines for how to be agile.

Provide clear goals and objectives at team and individual level that encourage collaboration

After everyone knows the overall strategy, the next most important element in the process of creating a culture of agility is to set good and strong team and individual goals.  These goals identify the expectation of the organization and how to measure success.  It also establishes the boundaries for being agile by providing a clear path to success through communication and collaboration.

Encourage and reward proactive behaviors

The third tool is the hardest one to execute and the one that frustrates leaders the most.  In order to be agile, leaders must encourage and reward proactive behaviors.  Nothing in the business world upsets leaders more than colleagues who refuse to change or are only reactive. Agility is based on the ability to try new things, stretch goals and assumptions, and learn from mistakes in a positive way.  It is essential to reward proactivity, experimentation, and the ability to create sustainability by proactively challenging assumptions and moving forward. If you truly want an agile company and team, there is nothing more important than this.