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| Quote of the Quarter |
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
Charles Darwin |
| 5 Great Questions |
1. Would your followers consider you an agile manager?
2. What do you say that improves employee flexibility?
3. How relevent are your departmental plans?
4. What questions should you ask your manager?
5. On what one thing should you focus today? |
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Hello!
Lisa Haneberg, here. Welcome to this quarter's edition of Lead Well. In this edition, we are focusing on the topic of ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY. I welcome feedback, so please drop me a line with your thoughts. And if you think the newsletter offers value, please pass it along. |
| An Introduction to Organizational Agility |
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Our organizations face unprecedented levels of change and the rate and frequency of changes will likely continue to rise. The models, practices, and tools we have used in the past to enable and manage change (for example, action research, Kaizen, lean, process improvement efforts) are valuable tools but they are not enough to help organizations keep pace with internal and external changes. To become agile, organizations will need to make fundamental changes in how they work - their systems, practices, and their culture. Organizational adaptability is created through continual efforts to build nimbleness into systemic elements of the organization.
Another challenge organizations face is how to go from having a change resistant organization to an agile one. This requires leapfrogging over - or moving quickly through - the intermediate steps of becoming change tolerant and pro-change.
What is Organizational Agility?
Organizational Agility (OA) is your enterprise's capacity to be consistently adaptable without having to change. It is the efficiency with which your organization can respond to nonstop change.
Let's break this definition down a bit.
- What does it mean to be consistently adaptable?
- What does "without having to change" look like? What would this look like in the world of sports or the arts?
- What does the phrase "efficiency with which your organization can respond to nonstop change" mean and how does this contrast with more traditional change management techniques and methods?
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| A Model of Organization Agility |
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Three types of agility are summarized in the below model of the Elements of an Agile Organization. To be optimally adaptable and nimble, an organization should endeavor to strengthen the agility of each type and the supporting systems and practices that support them.
To see a detailed description of the three sub-types of agility, click here... |
| Assessment: How agile is your organization? |
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In the previous two articles I offered a succinct definition of Organizational Agility (OA) and a model for OA. These articles, we hope, provided you with a good understanding of what OA is and how it differs from your other organizational capabilities like change implementation. It is also helpful to get into the nitty-gritty and determine what aspects of your systems are more or less agile.
We have created a survey assessment that covers the three sub-types of Organizational Agility (FOCUS, RESOURCES, and PERFORMANCE).
Request: Take 10 minutes to complete the Organizational Agility Assessment by clicking here. All survey participants will receive a copy of the combined results by email. I will close out the survey and pull and email the results on Monday, March 29th, so click on in!
Offer: If you would like your leadership team to take the Organizational Agility Assessment, send me an email and I will send you information about two options we offer. With either plan, your team will receive their survey results, basic information about Organizational Agility, and a narrative interpretation with a list of focused recommendations for ways you can improve your organization's agility. |
| OD TEAM UPDATES - COMINGS AND GOINGS |
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Spring is in the air! Yippee!
From Lisa Haneberg: I will be representing the OD Team at several upcoming events includng:
In mid April, I will be in Singapore to present two two-day workshops to regional leaders ( through Agile Avant). One of the two-day courses is called Building Organizational Agility. The other is titled, Middle Management Excellence.
I will serve on a panel discussion at this year's SOBCON2010 Conference April 30-May 2 in Chicago. This is a very cool event and you should attend! Let me know if you will be there and let's connect. I will be presenting two sessions at this year's ASTD International Conference in Chicago May 16-19. ASTD ICE is always a great event for trainers, HR professionals and managers. Let me know if you will be there. I will be presenting on the topic of middle management excellence and how to use training salons for employee development.
During the March-May timeframe, I will also be doing private events in Miami, Seattle, Columbus, Cleveland, and Washington D.C. Let me know if you'd like me to stop by and speak at your company or professional organization. |
| The High Impact Middle Manager |
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We are pleased to announce that the new versions of our middle management book is out and available. We offer both a private sector version of the book and a new version for public sector managers.
The High-Impact Middle Manager: Powerful Strategies to Thrive in the Middle can be picked up at Amazon.com here.
High-Impact Middle Management Solutions for Today's Busy Public-Sector Managers can be picked up at Amazon.com here. | |
| Senior Leadership Team Survey - Free! |
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| As I mentioned in the last newsletter, we are writing a book about how leadership teams can and should excel together. As part of our research for the book, we have been conducting a leadership team assessment. In exchange for allowing us to use the data from your team in our book (we will not divulge your name or your company's name), we are offering the assessment and a report detailing your results at no cost. At this time, we have ten openings for the free assessment left. If you are interested (you need a team of five or more leaders to take the assessment), send me an email. |
Thanks for reading Lead Well. If you have questions or would like to learn more about our products and services, please contact me at 513-721-6611 or lhaneberg@managementperformance.com.
Sincerely,
Lisa Haneberg
Vice President and OD Practice Lead, MPI Consulting |
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