Leading in 2021 means carving a new path through an epic commotion triggered by the pandemic, which has become a global shared adversity. These unprecedented times have spawned health, economic, and social crises that have rendered the best-laid plans useless. With no road map for the appearing long haul ahead, navigating through these times is a test of agility. Together, the organisation will have to experiment, execute, and learn from successes and failures to invent its future.

An Evolving future, Embracing the change

While specific future developments are increasingly difficult to foresee with certainty, we can be sure about two deep trends: the pace of change will continue to increase, and the level of complexity and interdependence will continue to grow. Leadership matters now more than ever – it is about leveraging, not reacting to, the turbulence around.

How can you as a leader empower your team to solve problems deftly and resourcefully when circumstances are in constant flux? How can you create the conditions for your organisation to work effectively and steer well out of this world over chaos? How do you create new ways of engaging with team members when they are all under pressure and resources are scarce? And how do you cultivate your capacity to cope with the imponderables that lie ahead?

Did you know?

The idea of self-leadership goes all the way back to ancient philosophy, especially through Lao Tzu, who focused on the importance of mastering oneself?

Role of Agility in Leadership

To develop teams and organisations with the level of agility demanded by today’s turbulent business environment, companies need leaders who embody a corresponding level of agility. It is no wonder, then, that senior executives say that agility is one of the most critical leadership capacities needed in their companies today.

Meaning of Leading with Agility

In essence, leading with agility is the ability to lead effectively under conditions of rapid change and high complexity. Because change and complexity now affect managers at all organisational levels, this is a competency that is increasingly needed not just in the executive suite but throughout the company. Let us together explore what it takes to develop this agility to lead through the constant flux.

What is Self-Leadership?

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” – Lao Tzu. All human beings are self-leaders; however, not all self-leaders are effective at self-leading (Manz, 1983). That is the bad news. The good news is that self-leaders can become better at leading themselves. Self-leadership is about constantly developing the ‘inner game’ of intention, self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-efficacy to achieve personal mastery. When our inner game is good, our game becomes more efficient and effective through influence and impact.

Did you know?

Such a reflective action in leadership gives one the opportunity to discover hidden opportunities and solutions, usually masked by the rush of daily activities.

How to Develop Reflective Action?

In leading with agility, one needs to step back from their current focus or procrastination in a way that allows them to make wiser decisions and then fully engage in what needs to be done next instead of procrastinating. Reflective action is both the essence of leading with agility and the best way to develop it. The easy way to develop reflective action is to scan your environment and determine what issues (problems or opportunities) need your attention.

How to Cultivate Single-Pointed Attention?

 Reflection is a mental process that allows you to recall and think about previous thoughts, feelings, and behaviours after they have occurred. At any level of leadership development, reflection can be a powerful ally. Its key limitation is that it always takes place after the fact. As a leader, you can act or you can reflect, but you cannot do both at the same time. The drawback of reflection can be mitigated by cultivating single-pointed attention.

Did you know?

Single-pointed attention can, like mindfulness practice, lead to greater calm and clarity amidst high-pressure situations.

Interested in Learning more about the topics, here are a few links to relevant researches and studies conducted:

Learning agility and the changing nature of leadership: Implications for theory, research, and practice.

The impact of agility: How to shape your organization to compete

The organisational impact of agility: a systematic literature review

Conclusion

The journey to leading with agility is an ongoing process of self-mastery, reflective action, and cultivating attention. By developing these skills, leaders can navigate through the complexities and rapid changes of today’s business environment, empowering their teams and organisations to thrive amid uncertainty. As Albert Einstein wisely said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Embracing this mindset of continuous inquiry and adaptation is the key to successful agile leadership.

Key Learnings

Adaptability is crucial: 

Successful leadership in the present environment requires high flexibility to ply through all changes and uncertainties.

Importance of Self-Leadership: 

Basically, self-leadership would encompass self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy, which would further become very significant in the development of an individual at both personal and professional fronts.

Reflective Action:

 Leaders must exercise reflective action through situation analysis, causality understanding, and the implementation of reflective solutions.

Single-Pointed Attention:

 Leaders cultivate single-pointed attention and thus remain focused and present. This could help to bring improvement in decision-making and resilience.

Continuous learning and experimentation:

 A firm should experiment and learn from the successes and failures in order to invent its future.