Workforce agility

What is workforce agility?

Workforce agility can be defined as, “the capacity of employees to adapt dynamically to unpredictable and continually changing work demands to ensure organisational success.” Changing circumstances could include emerging customer requirements, new technologies, competitor activity and broader social, political and economic trends.

Developing workforce agility is a primary concern for many organisations because we are now in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterised by an accelerating rate of digital adoption and transformation. As an example, it took 14 years for computers to reach 50 million users, 7 years for the Internet, 3 years for Facebook, and then only 19 days for Pokemon Go. This technological revolution is drastically changing how individuals, organisations, governments and societies operate. Beyond this, the Covid-19 pandemic has also rapidly changed the nature of work, with many organisations and roles expected to switch permanently to a hybrid or remote working model. All of this requires organisations, teams and individuals to adopt an agile mindset that enables them to be nimble, adjusting and changing direction quickly to respond to emerging demands, technologies and opportunities.

What does an agile workforce look like?

Employees with an agile mindset:

• Embrace change and are comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Have good external awareness, in terms of market trends and emerging customer requirements.
• Are curious and proactive in exploring new approaches and technology.
• Feel empowered to challenge the status quo and are not afraid to try things and fail if it enables future improvement.
• Make quick decisions based on available information and iterate rapidly based on feedback.
• Build relationships quickly and are effective at working collaboratively as part of cross-functional teams.
• Readily learn new skills and approaches to meet emerging demands, so they can be deployed to solve different organisational issues and challenges over time.

Agile teams are characterised by having high levels of psychological safety, trust, open communication, inclusive practices and a continuous desire to learn and improve.

How do I create an agile workforce?

To create an agility within a workforce, organisations must embed this philosophy across their talent management practices. The structures, processes and reward systems within the organisation should encourage empowerment of teams and individuals at all levels. Organisations should focus on providing flat structures and decentralising rules to empower employees to operate flexibly, work autonomously and make quick decisions within an appropriate remit. Leaders should encourage and reward agile thinking and behaviour within their teams and facilitate cross-functional working that promotes sharing of ideas and working practices. Performance management should focus on the continuous learning and development of employees.

Talent acquisition at all levels should consider competencies that signify an agile mindset within external selection processes. Relevant attributes include positive change orientation, critical thinking, learning agility, digital dexterity, building relationships, embracing diversity and resilience. These are transferable attributes which will enable individuals to readily adjust to change and navigate a disruptive work context. Similarly, learning and development opportunities and workforce agility initiatives should be provided to support existing employees to improve in these attributes. This could include provision of e-learning, development workshops and coaching focused on developing an agile mindset. Team-level development interventions should focus on cultivating openness, trust, psychological safety, collaboration and nimble decision-making.