Many leaders know the way to go, but their organizations are not healthy enough to make the necessary changes.
A few years ago, to avoid an unexpected negative business situation, one of my partners suggested we hire 90 people within three months in one of the countries where we serve. The senior leadership agreed, so on we went. This was a huge task for us as our entire company was about 250 people at the time. Our leaders on the ground executed flawlessly, successfully bringing on 90 exceptional people and on-boarding them all within a three-month period. For our size, this was an impressive feat of being nimble.
For companies to be nimble, they must not only have leadership who recognize when big and sudden movements are required, they must also have the ability mitigate change without breaking. Any time we change direction, we go through the stress of managing change. This stress is minimized when the organization and teams involved are healthy.
Many organizations miss the mark. Leaders may recognize that significant change is needed, but because the organization is not genuinely healthy, those in charge just point the way and holler at everyone, “This way! This way! This way!” When this happens, some in the organization will not come along at all because they are weary of the dysfunction. Others may come, but slowly. As a result, there is not a mass alignment in the new direction, thus there is a huge risk of breaking.
If we want to avoid the way of the many companies who go bust, if we want to lead companies who soar to the stratosphere—our organizations must be nimble. To achieve this level of health in our organizations, we must sharpen our skills in both of these areas:
- Recognize when a new direction must be taken.
- Build healthy, trusting, communicative organizations where people are not only willing to change, but they will go to the ends of the earth for us.
Let us aspire to be healthy. Let us aspire to be nimble.
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