In Agility: How to Navigate the Unknown and Seize Opportunity in A World of Disruption (2019), Leo M. Tilman and General Charles Jacoby (Ret.) focused on the organization and defined agility as “The organizational capacity to effectively detect, assess and respond to environmental changes in ways that are purposeful, decisive and grounded in the will to win.” In Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life (2016), Susan David broadened the definition of agility to include emotions and wrote "Emotional agility-being flexible with your thoughts and feelings so that you can respond optimally to everyday situations-is a key to well-being and success.” In The Agility Shift: Creating AGILE and Effective leaders, Teams, and Organizations (2015), Pamela Meyer focused on what she labeled the agility shift and described it as “the intentional development of the competence, capacity, and confidence to learn, adapt, and innovation in changing contexts for sustainable success.” In Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change (2006), Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs define agility as “the ability to take wise and effective action amid complex, rapidly changing conditions.” They use the words leader and manager interchangeably and believe there are five levels to the agile leader: expert, achiever, catalyst, co-creator, and synergist and three functional areas of pivotal conversations, team leadership, and organizational leadership. Each examination into agility provides important points to consider in the ongoing dialogue. As organizations look to achieve and sustain growth in today’s ever-changing landscape, the value of agility will only increase.

Questions to consider:

How often does your organization detect, assess, and respond to environmental changes?

How often does your organization demonstrate the ability to learn and adapt?

How often does your organization take wise and effective action amid complex conditions?