Systems of agility represent an approach or framework designed to foster flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness in both work and life. It encompasses various elements, including flexible structures, malleable, diverse, and redeployable talent, and a culture that values clarity and compassion. These elements work together to create an environment where individuals and teams can quickly respond to changes and challenges in stride.
Systems of agility enable organizations to navigate uncertainties and seize opportunities as they arise. For example, my boss, Erika, fosters a flexible structure for how, when, and by whom work gets done by allowing our team to work in ways that balance individual needs and circumstances the our collective goals. She values diverse talent, enabling her team members to shift roles and take on new responsibilities as needed. Erika also combines clarity and compassion, ensuring that her team members know where they stand and feel safe and comfortable asking for help. From mitigating burnout to solving sticky problems with diversity of thought, the systems of agility brought to bear in our organization, while messy from time to time, drive a great balance of high performance and caring connection.
Examples of Systems of Agility
Flexible Structures
How flexible and properly prioritized is your calendar? And how easy is it to sync up or match with your colleagues’?
My calendar is generally open (except for private events), which makes it easier for colleagues to book time with me. I am clear about when I’m in transit and dropping off or picking up kids, who I’m meeting with, and when I won’t be logging on or checking various channels because I’m focusing – when my calendar is open and accessible folks can poke around and learn more about who I’m meeting with and, perhaps, join along.
Being disciplined and structured with meetings enables flexibility pretty much everywhere else in my work life. Spending an hour or two early in the morning to consume research or strategy documents and tackle a few hard things enables me to manage morning routines with way less stress – my family and my colleagues get the best (or at least very good) version of myself because of such flexibility.
By mitigating the risks of illness, travel, and meetings, I can maintain a work-life balance while being responsive to the needs of our team (and my family).
Flexible Talent
Developing agile humans means finding and enabling people with diverse skillsets who are comfortable with change. Such individuals can shift roles and take on new or different important work as it arises. For instance, having team members who can seamlessly transition from one project to another helps ensure continuity and adaptability, even when unexpected challenges or opportunities emerge.
BC Pension Corporation’s learning team is incredibly flexible. I’m awed, but not surprised, how they shift from massive technical projects to behaviour or values-based training programs to hacking cool stuff from the M365 stack of technology. As the world of work continues to build things from, as Heather McGowan calls it, “the exhaust left over from learning”, folks with systems that enable continuous learning will be well positioned for work that will only change faster and more complexly.
Compassionate Community
A compassionate community is pretty essential for cultivating systems of agility. When we are members of a trusted and trusting community of people who are willing to help each other, flexibility is built into the cake so to speak. When team members trust and rely on one another, it fosters an environment of support and flexibility. This is particularly important when travel, meetings, or life events occur. Knowing that there is a network of supportive colleagues and friends can make all the difference in maintaining productivity and morale during times of change.
My neighbourhood is a pretty great example of this system of agility – just yesterday and today no fewer than 10 families got to school, basketball games, strings and soccer practices, and an aunt’s birthday because folks offered to help each other.
When we trust each other enough to ask for help agility is unlocked.
Create your systems of agility
One straightforward way to create and invest in systems of agility is to embrace Agile Learning, which enables learning created by the person who can best respond to any given need (a student, employee, professor, mechanic, forester, or robot could all be teachers in this scenario).
From my perspective, ranking your priorities will create the most concrete and impactful systems of agility for your work and life. Whether you are using a calendar to schedule your week or you are asking a neighbor for help because you need to make an important health appointment, having a clear list of your priorities enables agile decision-making. By knowing what is most important, you can quickly adapt to changes and make informed decisions that align with your goals and values.
Systems of agility are essential for navigating the complexities of modern work and life. By implementing flexible structures, developing agile humans who can roll with all sorts of changes, and by cultivating a compassionate community, you can create an environment that empowers adaptability and responsiveness. Start by ranking your priorities, and you’ll be well on your way to building your own System of Agility.