a workmatters summary guide to organizational agility...organizational agility is commonly quoted as...

2018 WorkMatters Consulting Ireland. All rights reserved.

Kevin Empey

Managing Director, WorkMatters

[email protected]

A WorkMatters Summary Guide to Organizational Agility

mailto:[email protected]


WorkMatters Summary Guide to Organizational Agility – Outline Contents

Section Page Number

1. Introduction to WorkMatters 3

2. Executive Summary 4

3. Forces impacting on organizations and work today 5

4. The Agility Proposition & Challenge

• Strategic Agility

• Organizational Agility

• Team Agility

• Leadership Agility

• Individual Agility

• Agile HR

11

2


“People & Leadership Solutions for the Changing World of Work”

Future of Work

consulting and

training

Organizational

Agility

Consulting

Culture ChangeLeadership

Consulting &

Coaching

People Strategy

& Solutions

3

www.workmatters.ie

Introduction to WorkMatters


Executive Summary

• Performance at pace. Business models, customer expectations, technology and the world of work

are changing at an ever increasing pace. Organizational Agility is commonly quoted as critical to

successfully adapting to this rapidly changing business and work environment – and to future-

proofing the organization for future challenges and opportunities.

• If business leaders can improve an organization’s agility and build it into the organizational culture,

structure and processes, they will have gone a long way in preparing that organization for the

business challenges and opportunities of the future.

• Agile principles and practices have developed in areas like software design and product

development in recent years. However, as a deliberate organization wide strategy and competency,

agility is often inconsistently defined and unevenly executed.

• As specialists in organizational, leadership and individual agility, we work with clients to address the

people and leadership challenges of being ‘an agile organization’. We help clients advance the

debate regarding organizational agility from an aspired value and concept to being an operational,

cultural and consistently applied reality.

• The following slide presentation provides a graphical summary of our perspective on the business

case for and key elements of Organizational Agility

For further information on Organizational, Leadership, Individual or HR Agility,

contact us at [email protected]

“the concept of the

agile organization

is the most

predominant

solution to the

problem of dealing

with unpredictable,

dynamic and

constantly

changing

environments”

(A. Muduli)

4



A number of Forces transforming the world of work

Globalization and

customer expectations

Resources

Society and workforce

Technology &

ConnectivityChanging

Demographics

Pace of Change

Talent Scarcity

and changing

skills 5


Issue: pace of business model change is too fast for traditional approaches…

▪ New, technology enabled

business models

▪ Rapid customer solutions

and product Innovation

▪ Partnerships & alliances

▪ Leadership &

engagement

approach

▪ Culture and ways of

working

▪ New people

practices, careers &

work arrangements

▪ Adaptable work processes &

technology

▪ Workforce strategy

▪ Alternative models for getting

work done

Strategy

&

Structure

Processes &

TechnologyPeople

organization

of the Future

Future of

People @

work

Business

of the

Future

FROM TO

6


There is now a more dynamic approach to strategy, organizational design

and mobilization of talent…..

1. Continuous re-configuration

2. Healthy disengagement

3. Optimizing resource allocation to promote deftness

4. Building innovation proficiency

5. Leadership & mind-set

The End of Competitive Advantage (Rita McGrath)

7


Underlying Fact: Moving into more complex and fast moving times…..

8

Zimmerman & Stacey


A clear shift in how organizations are being perceived and organized

9


This context presents a number of organizational and business challenges…

Business strategy and delivery model options

including partnerships, alliances, outsourcing, rapid mobilisation etc.

Changing workforces and expectations

(demographics, diversity, older workers, generational differences)

Increasing pace of change requiring multiple

responses to how to manage change

Increasing recognition of

culture as a competitive

advantage and imperative in an open and social media savvy world

Increasing influence of digital strategy requiring new capabilities and mindsets

The HR Challenge including declining engagement,

people strategy, HR delivery

model and capabilities

Organization and Work

Design to maximise

operational effectiveness as

well as resourcing flexibility at

the optimum cost

New Leadership

capabilities and

styles required ?

10


What is the implication of this increased complexity for organizations,

leaders and individuals ?

Our Proposition…..

The concept and associated principles of Agility provide a useful basis for

developing practical strategies in preparing organizations, leaders and individuals for the future of work….

11


“The concept of the

agile organization is the

most predominant and

popular of the

proposals regarding the

problem of dealing with

unpredictable, dynamic

and constantly

changing

environments”

(A. Muduli)

“Agility, along with

resilience, at

organization, team

and individual level is

a key adaptive quality

required to deal with

increasing and

turbulent change”

(McCann and Selsky)

“Business leaders and

individuals will need to

adopt agile practices

and mindsets in order

to thrive in this new

landscape”

(Linda Holbeche)

What does the research say about the role of agility and the future of

work ? - An observable quality at the organization, leadership, team and

individual level….

12


Business leaders seem to agree on the importance of agility for future

business success and survival …

• Organizational Agility is a top priority or within top-

three priorities for three-quarter of the respondents

• 81% of respondents in agile units reported a significant

or moderate increase in performance since their

transformation began

• Agile units are 1.5 times more likely to outperform their

peers in financial performance

2017 McKinsey Global Survey, Organizational Agilityhttps://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-

insights/how-to-create-an-agile-organization

• 94% of the surveyed companies believe agility and

collaboration are critical to organization’s success

Deloitte 2017 The organization of the future reporthttps://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-

trends/2017/organization-of-the-future.html

• 90% of CEOs and CIOs surveyed said agility was

critical for their business success

Economist Intelligent UnitGlenn, M. Organizational agility: How business can survive and thrive in turbulent

times. Economist Intelligent Unit (2009).

• Agile firms grow revenue 37 percent faster and

generate 30 percent higher profits than non-agile

companies

Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyWeill, P. MIT CIO Summit. MIT Sloan School of Management’s Center for

Information Systems Research (2006).

• 89% of CEOs believe agility is critical to their company’s

future success

• 96% said they will need to be more agile in the future to

be successful

IESE / Oliver WymanReport on organizational Agility, 2018

13

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/how-to-create-an-agile-organization

https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2017/organization-of-the-future.html


“Organizational Agility is the strategic and

operational ability to sense environmental

change and to quickly respond by flexibly

assembling resources, processes, knowledge

and capabilities” (Yang and Liu)

“flexibility with purpose”

Better clarity and agreement required for Agility to be successful- Many definitions of Organizational Agility highlighting the importance of having a

clear vision for what Agility means for you and your organization….

14


What is clear from both practice and research is the need to look at Agility

holistically from a number of perspectives……

1. Strategic Agility

6. HR Agility

5. Personal/ Individual Agility

2. Organizational Agility

3. Agile Teams

4. Leadership Agility

15


1. Strategic Agility- Maintaining and exploiting current business, while exploring and sensing new

growth and value in a rapidly changing environment

McKinsey’s Three Horizons of Growth

16


2. Components of Organizational Agility – all levels needed for success

Organizational Agility

Team Agility

Leadership & Personal Agility

Organizational Agility• Strategy & Culture

• Structure & Processes

• Technology

• Workforces & HR Practices

• Learning & Customer Mindset

Team Agility• Shared Goals & Alignment

• Agile Processes, Problem Solving &

Decision Making

• Supportive Relationships

• Accountability

Leadership/ Personal Agility• Leadership Agility

• Personal/ Individual Agility Factors

17


2. Testing for Organizational Agility

– The WorkMatters SCOPE ‘Heath Check’ tool

Health Check

Category

Description

Strategy ▪ Agility contextualized and evaluated for own sector and business model

▪ Strategy explicitly calls out organization appropriate agile principles & approach

Culture ▪ Culture of setting up, executing and learning from experimentation

▪ Agile values with safe environment for innovation, learning and disruption

▪ Agile leadership practices and behaviours

Organization ▪ Structures, systems and technology enabling agility

▪ Operational and decision making processes have capacity to implement changes (both

incremental and discontinuous) and to convert these changes and resources to

performance

▪ Agile team structures and processes

People ▪ Agile talent strategy and practices

▪ Agile HR capability and business support model

External Focus ▪ External partnerships, linkages and relationships

▪ Capacity for scanning environment to identify opportunities and risks

18


3. Agile Team Working: The way work gets done is also changing

- Emphasizes collaboration, focus on outcomes, team self management, customer

interaction, experimentation, continuous improvement and the flexibility to adapt

to emerging realities

19


A common theme – “Business leaders and individuals will need to adopt agile

practices and mindsets in order to thrive in this new landscape” Linda Holbeche, 2015

Implications for Leaders:

▪ Open, change-able, agile

▪ Continuous learning

▪ Delegated / distributed authority

▪ Leadership style for an

increasing complex, non-linear,

transparent and fast moving

environment

▪ Digital leadership

▪ Leadership of culture and

diversity agendas

▪ Resilience and focus

Implications for Individuals:

▪ Continuous skills upgrade and

development

▪ Greater accountability for work and

own career management

▪ “Never been a better time, never

been a more concerning time for

employees” (Andrew McAfee)

▪ Open, change-able and agile

▪ Technological and digital literacy

▪ Resilience

Leadership and individual implications of an agile work environment…

20


4. Agile Leadership progression – from ‘expert’ to ‘agile’ leader

Agile

Leadership

Level

Key features

Expert ▪ Subject matter / domain expertise, positional authority

▪ Success through incremental improvements to existing strategy

▪ Largely tactical, supervisory

Achiever ▪ Motivated to achieve outcomes of value to the organization

▪ Motivating others recognized as important, strategic

▪ Successful where episodic shifts in strategy and change exist

▪ Strategic, managerial

Catalyst ▪ Facilitative, visionary, sees beyond current strategy and sets out to

create a participative culture. Longer term, open, change oriented,

able to think beyond basic assumptions

▪ Successful in a high change, volatile environment

Leadership agility is

probably the most

important

competency for

leaders to have in

today’s rapidly

changing world”

- Marshall Goldsmith, author

of What Got You Here Won’t

Get You There

Joiner & Joseph

21


5. Personal Agility

- What are the qualities most associated with personal agility ?

Purposefulness

Learning mindset

Change orientation

Autonomous/ empowered

Relationship management

Collaborative

Empey, 2017

22


Empey, 2017

Collaborative▪ Team oriented▪ Collaborative▪ Committed to

knowledge sharing

Relationship Management▪ Builds trust▪ External and internal network▪ Demonstrates impact and

influence▪ Comfortable with handling conflict

Autonomy & Empowerment▪ Psychologically

empowered ▪ Enabled /Supported

Purposefulness▪ Purposeful, self-knowing▪ Self-starting, action oriented▪ Committed, positive▪ Personal / organizational Alignment

Learning Mindset▪ Systems thinking, integrative▪ Openness▪ Personal Mastery / commitment

to learning ▪ Creative and resourceful▪ Quick acquisition of new skills

Change Oriented▪ Adaptiveness, responsive and

proactive towards change▪ Resilient

23

5. Personal Agility

- What are the qualities most associated with personal agility ?


Work Architect & Strategist

Culture and Employee Experience Shaper

Talent Planner and HR Builder

Facilitator, Leader & Coach

24

6. HR’s Role in shaping this new ‘future of work’ ?

- Future of work environment both an opportunity and a challenge for HR

2018 WorkMatters Consulting Ireland. All rights reserved.25

6. Emerging HR- Next practices being underpinned by agile practices and principles

Traditional (from) The AgileHR Way (to)

Hierarchical structures and centralized Collaborative networks and distributed responsibility

Secrecy Transparency

Prescriptiveness and control Adaptability (e.g. menu approach v fixed) and facilitative

Jobs and roles Work and skills (machine, human, external / internal)

Policies, rules and standards Supporting flexibility, speed and collaboration, trust

Deliver programs and processes to customers Co-create with customers in design and delivery

Specialist HR roles T-shaped people professionals, value stream based HR

One size fits all No size fits all

Project management, implementation Continuous change management capability

Technical precision Experimentation and iteration

Adapted from Agile People, Thoren


For example: Learning and Growth – emerging practices and principles in an AgileHR environment, signalling shift

towards continuous learning and optimisation of technology

LESS OF / TRADITIONAL MORE OF / FUTURE

Structured and planned training and development

programmes

Continuous, on-demand, on the go, lifelong learning approach, digital skills

registry

Company led More employee influence, self led, enabled

Few days per year A few hours per week/month

Static and individual learning (consumers) Online and peer / community learning (serial learners)

Class, instruction and materials led Online, micro-learning, VR, MOOCs/SPOCs, mentor / group follow up

Functions outsourcing learning to HR / externals

following training needs analysis

Co-created design and content, partnership, HR facilitated but not led,

optimum internal / external / technology mix

Learning professionals focused on content,

delivery and procurement

New learning roles, network managers, marketing and communications

techniques etc. Consumer mindset

Transactional / functional experience Transformational, technology enabled, self-led and community learning

experience. Consumer grade experience for retention as well as growth

and productivity

26


Aligning and adapting HR programmes and structures to the new work

models will be required

Design Thinking

principles

needed to

challenge,

transform and

‘future proof’

traditional HR

processes and

approaches

Planning

Sourcing

Selecting

DeployingDeveloping

Rewarding

Separating A new

‘consumer

grade’

experience

AgileHR

principles and

mindset

27


View from the top: e.g. Guardian Life Insurance

https://www.mckinsey.com/Videos/video?vid=5754385367001&plyrid=HkOJqC

PWdb&aid=87D79F7B-DFEA-4C5A-A5D2-BFD4610C4BEB

Deanna M. Mulligan,

CEO of Guardian Life

28

https://www.mckinsey.com/Videos/video?vid=5754385367001&plyrid=HkOJqCPWdb&aid=87D79F7B-DFEA-4C5A-A5D2-BFD4610C4BEB


Kevin Empey

Managing Director, WorkMatters

[email protected]

Thank You


a workmatters summary guide to organizational agility...organizational agility is commonly quoted as...

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