“We weren’t agile enough” thus Hugo de Jonge on the Dutch vaccination programme. But what do we mean with Agility? The dictionary says “easy to maneuver, to change or turn’. Management books speak of ‘agile organizations’ if they respond quickly and effectively to trends and developments. During the first lockdown in March we saw some good examples of agile companies. Snorkel masks reshaped to respiratory devices, beer turned to fodder, Michellin star dishes in your own kitchen and fresh strawberries for sale at the local drive thru.
An organization’s level of agility depends on multiple factors; the sector in which you operate, the economy, accessibility of materials and offcourse your employees.
Agilty linked to people is often described as ‘Learning Agility’. Basically, to which level a person is able to translate new experiences into effective behaviour is what is meant. Before you can define the best behaviour to reach your goals, first you need to be exposed to new situations. Leaving your comfort zone, often not without risk. How excited or scared you get faced with this perspective is tight to your Learning Agility.
Learning Agility describes behaviours and interests on five dimensions of agility. People with a high level of
- Change Agility, are always looking for new experiences, they are curious and love to experiment.
- Mental Agility, take all perspectives of a problem into account, have a constant hunger for knowledge and view complex problems as a puzzle that needs to be solved.
- People Agility, easily build relations, are empathetic and genuinely interested in others.
- Results Agility, have focus and continuously strive to achieve the best result possible, they get things done even against all odds.
- Self Awareness, know their own strenghts and weakenesses, are self-critical and ask for feedback to learn, grow and improve their performance.
Why you score good on certain area’s and not as much on others has to do with your personality, ambition and intelligence. Fortunality there are ways to boost your agility. Asking for feedback, reading a book and even filling out a sudoko can stimulate your eagerness to change. At least, if you do it frequently. Maybe it’s a good idea to add another dimension ‘Discipline Agility‘…..
Want to know more about your score on Learning Agility? Than please reach out!