Organisations need employees who adapt to unexpected changes, as well as recognise opportunities and capitalise on them for the good of the business. They also need people who will foster change and who are innovators, visionaries, trendsetters, initiators and implementers. Personal agility means adopting a flexible mindset that promotes not only the generation but also the implementation of original, valuable ideas.
Agile individuals create agile organisations, which in turn move quickly to spot and exploit opportunities in today’s fast-changing environments.
Research tells us that approximately 80% of agility is learned and acquired. However our minds are anchored by our cognitive biases, many of which are subconscious, but learned throughout our lives. By bringing awareness of these learned biases to the forefront, we can actually learn to reduce or even eliminate them.
Developing our Potential for Change
What is important to recognise is that while people have the potential to cause positive change, they are often held back by their mindset. We have all developed automatic, entrenched ways of thinking and perceiving the world.vi While these mental habits are helpful in some ways, such as in making routine choices, they impede innovative thinking. One longitudinal study conducted on young children showed that 98% of them score at genius level in their ability to generate many solutions to problems. But, over the course of time, this capacity dwindled such that, by age 10, only 30% scored at genius level and by adulthood, only 2% score at genius level. As we age, our experiences strengthen particular neural pathways, we develop recurrent thought patterns and beliefs, and lose mental flexibility.
The IDEA Model
Investigate – Looking for opportunities to improve current services, work processes, or products.
Openness – is the willingness to consider new ideas and opportunities.
Proactivity – is anticipating the future and taking initiative to bring about change.
Design – Generating concepts that lead to improvement.
Idea Generation – is developing many possible ideas or solutions to problems.
Focus – is concentrating on what’s important.
Collaboration – is interacting effectively with others to develop ideas.
Self-Belief – is the belief in oneself to be innovative.
Energize – is the ability to influence others, building coalitions, and mobilizing support for new ideas.
Apply – is showing boldness and risking mistakes; putting an idea into a practical plan, testing and modifying the plan, and making new ideas a regular part of the work process.
INVESTIGATE Openness is the willingness to consider new ideas and opportunities.
Those who are high in this dimension show interest in many different topics and go out of their way to learn new things or gain new experiences. Openness to new experiences helps people become more agile by exposing them to ideas that can spark insights they wouldn’t otherwise have. Proactivity is anticipating the future and taking initiative to bring about change.
Those who are high in proactivity actively look for ways to improve processes or products. They identify things that can be changed at work for the organization’s benefit and take initiative to propose their ideas to management and/or colleagues.
DESIGN Idea Generation is developing many possible ideas or solutions to problems.
Those who are high in idea generation are skilled at viewing problems from many different angles and generating a lot of different ideas. This is a key strength, since developing multiple ideas is a cornerstone for innovation and agility. Focus is concentrating on what’s important.
Those who are high in focus maintain attention when working through new ideas. They understand their priorities and screen out distractions so that they can work toward them. This is admirable in today’s world since it is often challenging to stay focused due to constant interruptions. Collaboration is interacting effectively with others to develop ideas.
Those who are high in collaboration seek others’ input when developing ideas. They use debate and discourse to innovate and continually involve others in the process so that they can test and refine their concepts. This skill is very important since very few great ideas come from any single person; most innovative plans are the result of multiple ideas combined into even better ideas. Self-Belief is the belief in oneself to be innovative.
Those who are high in self-belief feel they have the capacity to come up with original ideas that will benefit their organization. They perceive themselves as innovative people. This sense of self-assurance is enormously helpful during the innovation process — it serves as a motivator, helps people persist in challenging work and learn from failure.
ENERGIZE Energize is the ability to influence others, build coalitions, and mobilize support for new ideas.
Those who are high in this dimension are skilled at influencing key people and gaining support for their ideas. This is partially because they are seen as highly credible. Many people do not feel comfortable persuading others and enlisting them to support new causes, but it is a critical step toward implementing new ideas.
APPLY Apply is showing boldness and risking making mistakes; putting an idea into a practical plan, testing and modifying the plan, and making new ideas a regular part of the work process.
Those who are high in this dimension are willing to take bold risks to make their ideas happen. While many people will only do this when they feel assured of success, those who are high in this dimension are willing to take chances on new ideas and ventures. And they are prepared to make mistakes. This is helpful for enhancing agility since new breakthroughs rarely occur without some risk.
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