Agile Leadership in the age of disruption - how to flex not fracture
Managing Change requires resilience and agility - how to do this and preserve yourself in the meantime
The pace of change in organisations is at an all time high. Regardless of sector and role everyone is feeling the need to adapt, adopt and reconsider their understanding on how to thrive in today, and tomorrow's workplaces.
Tree Hall CEO of Charity IT Leaders and Founder of Neuronique summed up her feelings on this very clearly when we were talking for the latest episode of The Unlikely Executive Podcast.
“Life throws odd stuff at you all the time. You either flex with it or it breaks you.”
In today’s climate, disruption isn’t a one-off it is constant. If you have a family or friends it is happening there. Change is everywhere. We have choices as to how we handle it.
The leaders who thrive from what I see are not the ones who have rigid plans 'My way or the highway' types, but the ones who flex, find humour, take people with them. Forgive themselves for mistakes they may make.
The issue is rigid plans don't work - as shown by the 44% of UK leaders that say their change programmes did not met performance goals and the 12% who said that they were able to sustain gains from change for more than three years.
If we think that 1 in 3 UK employees have left jobs due to poor management and toxic culture, when you add the layer of change and complexity on top this figure is likely to rise!
Being Flexibility Doesn't mean you are flaxy it means you are strategic
Adaptable leaders:
- Make better decisions under pressure
- Retain top talent by modelling resilience
- Create cultures that can pivot and grow
- Avoid the trap of “perpetual crisis mode”
- Share their thought processes with others around them to gain buy in
- Show vulnerability
Steps to embracing flexibility
- Pause before reacting: Flexibility starts with reflection. It is often not your first thought that matters but your second. Give yourself time to think
- Ask for help: You don’t have to lead alone. Sharing the need for a solution helps the team pull together - and innovate together - It is not all down to you
- Build range: Emotional agility, strategic adaptability, and relational depth are key. Mental toughness can help you navigate and maintain a balance during times of significant change
- Invest in support: Coaching helps you lead yourself, to talk, to debate, to rationalise what is flexible, what is forced and what is authentically you.
- Reflect on how being flexible makes you feel - note it in a journal and celebrate the small wins of being agile and flexible!
If you’re feeling the pinch and need space to think, recalibrate, or lead differently—coaching and training can help.
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Let’s explore what that could look like: barbra@gleecoaching.co.uk
🌐 www.gleecoaching.co.uk
