3 Keys to Strategic Agility and Change
There are 3 keys to leading with strategic agility and change.
Know Your Business
System Improvement
Trusting Relationship
As I’m typing this, I am practicing agility and quick change at home. The day has not gone according to plan. Has that ever happened to you? Juggling personal life and work life at the same time? We are having our pastor and his family over for an early dinner. The plan was to smoke and grill chicken thighs and legs. That is an easy 1–2-hour, mess free meal, that tastes incredible. A member of my home, whom I love, brought home 2 whole chickens. Luckily, I left the reserve at lunch, fired up the smoker and now we are having smoked beer can BBQ chicken. Yes, the meal will be incredible, but it is a bit more work. The switch was frustrating, but easy because I know how to make the change without thinking twice. Honestly – the hardest part was practicing Relationship Intelligence!
Know Your Business
A few weeks ago, I was driving home and google maps had multiple route options displayed. Without knowing the roads or the area very well I had to slow down, pull over, and review the information before making the best decision to get home.
I did not know the area so I could not make the right decision on where to go.
Your ability to be agile is directly connected to how well you know your business. Your experiences matter--where you’ve been, where you are, and where you are going. If you don’t know your business, you can’t practice agility when a need to change arises. Great leaders can be strategic on the fly. We are shifting goals we are shifting how to accomplish the goal. (i.e. – Great dinner is still the goal. It's just what we are having that changed). Your business does not always have time for you to pull reports, have meeting after meeting, form a committee and meet a quorum before a vote. Business moves too quickly to crawl. Know your business so you can practice agility without losing yourself.
Keep tabs on your roadblocks, goals, and metrics. Know what your people are working on and their progress so you can quickly and accurately speak to their bandwidth.
Having this knowledge will help you remain strategic and agile.
System Improvement
Twenty years ago, I could run circles (or at least hold my own) around most anyone on the pitch. My body (systems) were agile enough to shift directions, pick up speed and remain in position to compete. Fast-forward to now … I’m in the backyard with my boys and I cannot keep up. They shift directions every two seconds, and my kneecaps feel like they are going to pop. My system does not work, and I am no longer as agile!
If you have been in business for long you know some systems work better than others. This could be a computer system, program, or internal process you are leveraging to get work done. Some systems bog down the ability to be agile and implement quick change.
Great leaders recognize when something is not working and instead of practicing insanity, they implement wisdom. They change what is not working to improve efficiency, opportunity, and to accomplish goals. Systems exist to support the business, not slow it down. If you have systems (mindsets, programs, processes) that are keeping you from being agile – fix your systems.
Trusting Relationships
When a leader is driving for quick change and asking team members to be agile, the health of the relationship will influence the cultural health of the organization.
If the leader does not have the trust of the team, they will lead forward reluctantly and the culture, as well as results, will create an “us” vs. “them” mentality.
If the leader practices Relationship Intelligence and has the trust of the team, they might be a bit anxious, but they will not cultivate an “us vs “them” because they are bought in. Leaders – if you need your organization to be more agile to drive for results the first thing you need to do is take a temperature check of your relationships and lean in. I promise that if you lead forward without trust, you will not enjoy where your leadership takes you.
Leaders – Know your Business. Improve Your Systems. Build Trusting Relationships and you will be set up to be agile and lead through change.
If you need coaching or training to help you and/or your leaders with agility and change, set up a call and let’s talk through options that work for you and your business.
