Agile Leaders Adapt and Do Not Fear Change

by | Jun 2, 2022 | Leadership, Mindset

man on unicycle on tight rope balancing between risk and control

How are you adapting to change?

Today (and forever), change is the only certainty….and it is not just a constant but is accelerating. Look back to the past three years and the demands for you to adapt to change has been substantial.  

Being able to successfully handle the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) of a global pandemic, social change, digitization, globalization, a possible recession and other forces is challenging you and every leader at every company. Think about what has changed at your company in the past two years. The changes have not been trivial and have required and will require agility from leaders and team members. This new way of being came hard and fast.

Agility is your willingness to change, your ability to change, and the nimbleness you exhibit as you adapt to change. And agility – more than ever – is key to your career and leadership success. An agile leader has the capacity to create trust and psychological safety on a team that enables employees to experiment, take risks, discover and fail without judgement or repercussion.

Wiley, a publisher of business tools, surveyed 2,500 professionals, and found that in 2020:

  • 95% of managers, directors and executives identified that the ability to adapt quickly and easily (agility) is more important to success now than five years ago
  • 90% of those who responded, (whose positions varied from individual contributor to top tier executive), said agility was more integral to their personal success than it was five years ago
  • 97% of supervisors, managers, directors, and executives said that emotional intelligence is crucial to an agile workforce

Most everyone can adapt to some situations, but there are other situations that fall outside your comfort zone. If you can learn to stretch and rise to meet those uncomfortable challenges, you’ll have more choices you can make — which will make you more valuable to your company and more comfortable in new circumstances. In my next email, I will share ideas on how you can become more emotionally intelligent and agile. 

Some questions to think about…

  • What will you need to change or improve to become an agile leader?
  • How will agility help you reach your career objectives?
  • How might agility help you in your home life?