Read the views and opinions of our CEO, Tony Gale on all thing’s agility and capability in our latest blog!

Moore’s Law is dead – even Moore says so – i.e., the ability to double the power of computing roughly every two years will be surpassed by 2025.

Where does agility fit in?  Well, how do you become even more omnipotent when faced with a constantly changing tide of challenges and opportunities?

Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report detailed how organisations could win the battle for talent by largely becoming more agile and focusing on both team dynamics and capability development.  In the Covid and post-Covid world we are all having to adapt and overcome so that we can become hybrid in nature. Flexibility in outlook is also key if we are to not only survive but thrive!

We have all likely reviewed our drivers, desires and taken a good hard look at career development as part of that, whether proactively or as a response to an unexpected change.  Jacob Morgan (thefutureorganisation.com) posted on LinkedIn recently that in order to work with and lead multiple generations of employees we should ‘focus on the life stage’ – helping to understand people as individuals, rather than stereotyping by generation.  Due to today’s mix of people, we are likely to encounter at work our organisations and we, ourselves, would do well to focus on the capabilities and talents of individuals and their life stages (influences, drivers and motivations). 

By using psychometric tools such as MBTI (others are available!), alongside objectivity-supporting analytical methodologies such as competency frameworks and 360 feedback, we can start to peel away the obscuring and restricting personal bias. We can then introduce the basis for qualitative and output-focused sourcing, team building and career development.

If we, ourselves, are made up of one set of DNA, likes and dislikes, how are we to judge the true capability and potential of the myriad of potential colleagues otherwise?

Even as learners we display distinct styles and approaches to growth. So, to remain agile and open to opportunity, as individuals and organisations, we need to be able to harness our best team for the task every time. We need to get better acquainted, certainly better informed and tool up.

What is agility? To be agile is to move quickly and easily; to be mentally quick; to be iterative in the management of projects or development; to not be fixed and inflexible.  If we, as people and organisations, can display characteristics like these we can adapt and overcome, again and again, remaining relevant and contributing.  If we can demonstrate our value repeatedly in an agile way then there can be sustainably healthy organisations full of valued, engaged and motivated individuals.  We can maximise our outputs, revenues and profits, shareholder value and reputations by consciously and surgically improving our inputs with ourselves and, as organisations, our people.  So, let your teams know about new tools, skills and capability developing learning opportunities.  Shorten learning investment cycles and optimise the right tools (by learning style) to iteratively generate changes so that agile inputs then become agile outputs.

A repeated theme of engagement surveys is ‘My Career’.  Developing an active listening and responsive agile way to learn demonstrates a tangible investment in both engagement and capability.  A focus on grouping interventions and development opportunities by analytically optimised skillsets and interest groups allows for bringing the best and most energised set of resources to bear. This can then be used ahead of or at the crest of each wave of challenges the organisation is facing.  Or in other words a capability-orientated manifestation of ‘right tools, right time, right place’.

Agility is in a way, remaining relevant and at optimal strength.  According to Deloitte, and in parallel with Moore’s Law, skills become obsolete in a constantly changing world, so rapid learning, constant build and rebuild of appropriately skilled teams around a common challenge is needed. Recruiting and retaining around a set of culturally aligned, engaged and adaptable people also keeps the bottom line taut… 

In a world where competition is fierce, resources are sought after and shareholder value is of prime concern, the ability to change direction and articulate at speed like ‘murmuration’ or a tightly co-ordinated flash of a silver shoal is a distinct asset. Being able to do more with the same or less and have that set of resources motivated, happy and energised for the long, changeable and challenging haul has a lot of attraction for both organisation and employee.  Success is a sourcing aphrodisiac after all. Add in a fun and engaging growth environment and you have career Valhalla!

A layer of complexity throws up another opportunity driver.  Hybrid home and office working surely means we have to find ways of quickly assimilating and repurposing teams round a set of objectives.  Enabling infrastructure and culture encourages the unfettering of skill and/or capability which could otherwise be challenged by location, demographic and format of engagement.  If we can efficiently and cohesively achieve an end goal within commercially and culturally aligned parameters, then we should throw both arms around such an opportunity and hit that yes button hard!

Competency Frameworks and Capability Evidence Management tools allow us to drive consistency of standards and galvanise goals in order for us to focus on what else remains for us to source, optimise and retain people – that lightning rod of passion and attitude – engagement.  It is well known that engaged people achieve better and produce more. So, if we build a culture of encouraging the right attitudes and behaviours around a commonly understood set of values and goals we will achieve more with less, be confident in being able to reward our teams and, in turn, they will radiate confidence in our brand / employer brand.  Simple!

This is not simple, however.  Leadership is required. Managers must rally, believe and enthuse and be consistent in their application. The groundwork must be put in around processes, frameworks and modern engaging, enabling technology.  Diligent and committed application pays off.  People twig what matters, they map their own careers, seek out self and other development opportunities. The thrust becomes ‘How do I as a manager retain and develop you for our organisation?’, not just my own current and near horizon aims?  Ultimately people buy people, they stay during the hard times for their teams and a manager they believe in and respect.  So, we need to dig deep, tool up and have a joined up believable plan to take our people and our organisations forward in health.

Then no matter what changes every 18 months to two years, it won’t be through attrition, and we will overcome!

Would you like to know more about how OPL can help your organisation? If so, please do make contact. We’d love to hear from you!

Email us at info@onlineprofiling.com