Must-Ingredient 3
Creating a culture that requires sense of urgency and speed is more people-driven than technology-driven. Hence, it heavily relies on people’s decision to scale up and stretch themselves. Stretching means going beyond what you currently have – competencies, skill-sets, knowledge, ways of thinking – which requires full ownership that, unfortunately, cannot be imposed upon people. The directive approach and telling style, therefore, do not work if you want people to go beyond their limits. Helping people think, find solutions and strategies on their own allows people to stretch their talents and capabilities. How can this be done? Leaders must change the nature of their conversations with their people from being directive to non-directive. Dialogues in the workplace must shift from one-way to an engaging two-way communication. Leaders must, therefore, learn the art and science of coaching as it is a powerful tool that draws out the innermost potential of people through non-directive conversations.

Must-Ingredient 4
Just like in any organizational initiative, leadership at all levels is key. Leaders must drive the whole process. Leaders must model agility. Leaders must enable, support, inspire, challenge and rally the people. It only means that leaders must be equipped with the necessary tools and skill-sets in coaching, training, mentoring and other essential enablers critical to the change process. On top of these, they must be able to demonstrate passion and do-what-it-takes, plus the consistency and flexibility in achieving the desired outcomes.

Must-Ingredient 5
Lack of trust and openness slows down work, decisions, and output. Therefore, genuine teamwork and collaboration is a must in building a culture of agility. This is when people openly and objectively discuss issues that get in the way...when they put aside their personal agenda to promote the common good. This is a culture where people affirm outstanding performance and call each other’s attention on non-performance. It is where people turn diversity into competence.

Must-Ingredient 6
Measure progress and celebrate accomplishments. Identify who is in and who is out. Affirm and acknowledge those making leaps and bounds. Do not tolerate mediocrity. Excite and challenge those lagging behind. If the misaligned choose not to align themselves, they must be eased out.

These must-ingredients are carefully woven to form a step-by-step process or roadmap which my team uses to build an agile culture. This roadmap is always a combination of training and non-training initiatives and the implementation lasts up to 6 months or more depending on the size of the organization.

Should you need help in creating a culture of agility in your organization, please feel free to get in touch with us.