Leaders who have the ability to adapt and respond effectively to the ever-increasing complexity of the workplace are described as agile.
Leadership agility is often viewed as the critical link that allows leaders to navigate risk and drive innovation important to success.
Agile leaders are fast learners, open-minded, and continuously seek a better way. They shine in unpredictable moments and landscapes because they embrace change and relish new problems. This requires that they become highly decisive. A leader can’t be considered agile if they aren’t making fast decisions. Often.
Developing rapid decision-making skills requires leaders to get better at gathering information, considering alternate viewpoints, weighing options, and then taking action — all under time pressure. Agile leaders gain an edge in this process by building a diverse network of experts from a host of disciplines, industries, and backgrounds. To become more nimble in their decision-making, agile leaders tap this network to learn how others think about the issue or problem. This helps to inform a quick and accurate initial view.
The foundation of tapping an ever-expanding network of experts launches learning in a way nothing else can. Having expert viewpoints at their fingertips, agile leaders save themselves time and form early opinions from a solid footing.
The confidence to weigh options objectively is enhanced when leaders ask experts in their network to wrestle with the same choices they confront. No wonder agile leaders are seemingly more decisive than others. They get to conclusions faster because of their networks.
How many experts who understand the issues you encounter are accessible to you? Are you expanding your network of relationships to improve your decision-making? Your leadership agility depends heavily on how you gather information and form an initial view. A network of experts at your disposal makes you faster out of the gate.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
