A company’s core values, traditions, and culture are more important than ever in a constantly changing work environment. It involves taking a good look at the foundation of your company’s culture.
Do you operate in favor of your employees? What processes are in place to achieve success in your business? How are you bringing your employees along with this success? Do you know what matters to workers at every level? Do you listen to them to hear their ideas?
These are big questions to consider and deal with in the workplace. One way to attain success throughout your company is to embrace flexibility. An agile organization is a forward-thinking organization that will not break with the inevitable changes in the market. XQ Innovation has the answer to being successful in today’s business world.
What Constitutes An Agile Workplace?
It is all about handling change. People who feel anchored in tradition are less reluctant to change. Resiliency is key to surviving the vicissitudes of the market. You must have the vision to see what is coming before it overtakes you. You and your employees must be able to adapt to change quickly. It means adapting smoothly and rapidly to new job roles and requirements.
An agile workplace forces you to keep up with all the changes the market throws at you at a rapid pace. You, as a busy leader of your company, cannot do this alone. You need an outside expert in this field to guide you through this without losing perspective on your core business.
Many companies have learned that adapting to change is paramount to success. Home-based workers and a mix of remote and on-site workers are probably the future of the workplace. Businesses need to be aware of this and manage their employees in this new world of work.
Employee Performance In The Agile Workplace
Assessment consultants know that to improve agility, you must pay attention to the concept of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage emotions in relationships. It is about self-regulation and understanding the motives of others so reactions will be appropriate to the situation. It is about resiliency in any given case.
People often make decisions based on emotion. They are apt to be defensive when their work is criticized, making them think that any feedback or mention of alternatives to their ideas targets them as having poor judgment and diminishes them personally.
The emotionally intelligent are aware of this. Leaders should know that self-awareness (recognition of understanding their moods, emotional makeup, and motivations) and self-regulation (being able to regulate or redirect inappropriate feelings and attitudes) can empower employees to make strategic decisions in the workplace.
Being able to rapidly sort through different perspectives and direct their minds to the right actions improves communication and resolves conflict more quickly.
How To Make The Workplace More Agile
Emotional intelligence is paramount to achieving workplace agility, but you can do more to maintain a flexible and adaptable workplace.
You need to instill a growth mindset throughout your workforce. The growth mindset allows you to continuously learn self-improvement methods and use that knowledge to better yourself. It is in opposition to the fixed mindset, which is one of the major roadblocks to success. A person with a fixed mindset refuses to change or learn new things because they fear the unknown.
Do not be afraid to make mistakes. If you do not expand your knowledge and skills and stick to what you know and what you are good at, you stagnate. Stagnation will limit you severely. With continued learning, experimenting, and seizing new opportunities, you will find yourself in an agile workplace – one that grows in the right direction.
The agile workplace also depends on adapting to others. You must be aware of your behavior and the behavior of everyone surrounding you to avoid or diffuse conflict, overcome obstacles, and find a win-win solution.
This process can be overwhelming at first, but experts in the field can guide you through this organizational imperative. The method includes personality-based assessments, so your team enjoys a community of sharing, understanding, and common language. These new perspectives will allow them to recognize and adjust to each other’s behavioral quirks positively.
Tips On Creating Agility In The Workplace
You can start immediately to reach your goal by following six steps already part of your organization. Your task is to build on them.
- Be intentional
- Be innovative with company culture
- Be sure to use employee assessments
- Be willing to put training at the top of the to-do list
- Be open to offering ongoing feedback
- Be aware that it must start at the top of the organizational chart.
Company Culture Does Not Happen By Itself
Company culture does not arise organically over the years. It must be carefully created and maintained to have an impact on the organization’s culture and behavior.
Your company must emphasize the ability to accept change, engage openly in communication, and welcome new ideas from everyone in the workplace. Reward innovation, celebrate diversity, and constantly make sure your team knows that always looking for that next big idea is essential to the organization’s growth. Encourage them to speak out and that all ideas are welcome and will be listened to constructively.
Agility Is A Top-Down Strategy
Success will only come with executive buy-in. When considering these intentional changes in your organization, you must insist that your top management and supervisors actively demonstrate agility within their demeanors and work methods.
Top management, like everyone else, tends to get comfortable with the status quo – that is at the heart of the stagnated company culture. Do not let that happen in your organization. Experts in the field like XQ Innovation will get your company out of the comfortable but inflexible rut it is in, be more competitive and successful, and stay that way. Request an assessment today!
