The agile leader

Fortunately, my particular trains were unaffected which, if you’ve ever travelled with me you will realise, is a mini miracle in itself - I couldn’t quite believe it. All around me a plethora of emotions were being displayed as people dealt with the disruption and tried to make new arrangements.  

What I observed (without trying to sound too smug) was that some people were far more adaptable and agile than others when it came to having to change their plans. I’m not sure how adaptable I’d have been - I may well have had a bit of a meltdown, to be honest.  

The skills of adaptability (being willing and able to change) and agility (moving and thinking quickly and easily to manage and drive change) are ones that really do position you well in life.  

Agility is the ability to quickly identify the present stressors, embrace whatever change is necessary and develop your organisation into something better. Having agility means having a ‘hope-filled’ as opposed to a hopeless approach.  

Today, with the ongoing developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the landscape we find ourselves in is an ever-shifting one. When it comes to leadership, the leaders who have cultivated the skill of agility are likely to fare better. AI is increasing productivity and efficiency by refashioning the workplace, which presents new problems and challenges and a faster pace of change. Leaders need to move with this and manage this accordingly.  

Agility in leadership can be demonstrated in many different ways. Perhaps some of the most obvious ones concern: 

• Operations - adapting everyday processes, procedures and technology is vital for productivity and staying ahead; AI is presenting the need to be operationally agile. 

• Strategy - depending on what is happening in market conditions, a leader may have to show strategic agility to be ready at times to adapt the long-term strategy to accommodate changes that are occurring. 

• Learning - a leader who is not learning will struggle to be fully effective in their leadership and business; new knowledge and new skills are essential to stay relevant. 

• Emotions - emotional intelligence sets excellent leaders apart from the rest. An emotionally agile leader will be aware of their own thoughts, feelings, values and goals but will be able to be flexible with these and respond to different situations as they arise. They will see things in perspective and take time to consider the bigger picture. 

How can we develop the skill of agility for ourselves and our people?  

A few simple ways might involve:  

• Knowing all your different options in response to a situation, so you can choose wisely. 

• Working collaboratively with your team to find and implement the best solutions and actively encouraging collaboration and sharing of knowledge at all levels. 

• Building strong relationships with your team and external partners to ensure diverse perspectives. 

• Keeping ahead - keep learning and developing your own skills. 

• Allowing mistakes to be made. If we don’t foster a work environment of experimentation and failure then employees will be hesitant to try new approaches and share new ideas. 

• Prioritising feedback - keep talking, communicating and learning from your employees  

• Encouraging creativity. 

• Empowering employees by getting rid of unnecessary bureaucracy and speeding up decision-making processes. 

AI is and will continue to bring change, challenge and potential problems. To ensure that we can navigate our way through all of this, we must learn the art of agility.