AGILITY
AGILITY APPLIED A gility can be difficult to grasp conceptually, but its application reveals tremendous value. My work at CREATE provided some concrete examples that might demonstrate how to lead with an agile mindset, as well as its many benefits. I learned quickly at CREATE that how my impact would unfold would not be completely in my control. I could not control the priorities or resources of our prospective clients, or even their interest in our service.
U p to this point in my career, I’ve leaned on more traditional, linear ways of working: think, plan, prepare, execute, evaluate, repeat. I led with a mindset that emphasized planning and process as my crutch – a rational, but sometimes unimaginative approach to manage the workload of today’s corporate demands. My approach: prudent and sensible. Simply put, process works.
What I could control were the small, regular action steps I took each day to communicate CREATE’s powerful message and advance our work forward, maximizing my impact in my short timeframe with the organization. As one example, I made a goal to meet one new stakeholder each week with whom I would share our message and gather feedback on our ideas. I met with former marketing colleagues, community leaders, business owners, and leaders of municipalities and
Simply put, process works. Until it doesn’t.
Until it doesn’t.
nonprofits. This was one simple system I could implement that would impact our broader, complex organizational system. I entered these conversations open-minded. As CREATE Executive Director Greg Wright has challenged me, don’t always enter a conversation with an end in mind. I focused on relationships and valuable, organic interactions within my dynamic network – including connections where the potential value or benefit wasn’t apparent. I learned to keep my mindset open to cultivating a different pathway – even after spending months preparing for another. I learned to resist the temptation to expend energy on formalizing. I strived to maintain a confident and solution-focused mindset, even when I didn’t know what the answer was. I embraced this as a season of growth. In due time and with commitment to an agile and creative culture, there will emerge new solutions, partnerships and opportunities – with clarity. As agility expert Pamela Meyer explains, “with a conscious, continuous commitment to interacting … you will be more effective than you ever imagined.”
Humor me: let’s put agility in the paradoxical bucket of planning and process to explore this. I’ve learned key pieces of agility include leveraging our network to foster intraorganizational connections, resisting the urge to formalize, and expanding collaboration during strategic decision making. This includes blurring the lines between planning and action. What can feel like lack of structure – or even a bit chaotic – to someone who comes from a more traditional, linear, plan and process-oriented world, includes the work of shifting from “information to interaction” according to agility expert Pamela Meyer. The action-oriented nature of work can feel uncomfortable and, at times, like there’s lack of plan or tie to broader strategy within which we comfortably modulate.
This discomfort is the work of agility!
I had the opportunity at CREATE to embrace the discomfort that can accompany the nonlinear nature of work. As I got more comfortable, it started to feel valuable going out of order – there was value stemming from our nimbleness that informed our work.
Chris Klesmith, Greg Wright, Leah Knights, Amanda Elsen
I focused on relationships and valuable, organic interactions within my dynamic network – including connections where the potential value or benefit wasn’t apparent.
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