1st Edition

Agility Shift Creating Agile and Effective Leaders, Teams, and Organizations

By Pamela Meyer Copyright 2015

    As contrary as it sounds, "planning" -- as we traditionally understand the term--can be the worst thing a company can do. Consider that volatile weather events disrupt trusted supply chains, markets, and promised delivery schedules. Ever-shifting geo-political tensions, as well as internal political upheaval within U.S. and global governments, derail long-planned new ventures. Technology failures block opportunities. Competitors suddenly change their product or release date; your team cannot meet the pace of innovations in your market niche, leaving you sidelined. There are myriad ways in the current business environment for a company's well-considered business plans to go awry.  Most business schools continue to prepare managers to be effective in stable and predictable environments, conditions that, if they ever existed at all, are long gone. The Agility Shift shows business leaders exactly how to make the radical mindset and strategy shift necessary to create an agile, entrepreneurial organization that can innovate and thrive in complex, ever-changing contexts. As author Pamela Meyer explains, there is much more involved than a reconfiguration of the org chart and job descriptions. It requires relinquishing the illusion of control at the very foundation of most management training and business practice. Despite most leaders' approaches, "Agility is not simply accelerated planning."  Unlike many agility books on the market, The Agility Shift provides specific, actionable strategies and tactics for leaders at all levels of the organization to put into practice immediately to improve agility and achieve results.

    Introduction, Part One. Understanding the Value and Dynamics of the Agility Shift, Chapter One. The Agility Shift: What and Why, Chapter Two. Weaving the Relational Web for Agility, Chapter Three. Discovering the Five Dynamics of the Agility Shift, Part Two. Making the Agility Shift at All Levels of the System, Chapter Four. Becoming an Agile Leader: Empowering Everyone to Be Agile, Chapter Five. Building the Agile Team, Chapter Six. Co?Creating the Agile Organization, Chapter Seven. Maximizing Agility Within the Ecosystem, Part Three. Putting Agility to Work, Chapter Eight Shifting to Agile Learning and Development, Chapter Nine. Recruiting, Reinforcing, Recognizing, and Retaining Your Agile Talent, Epilogue. Accepting the Invitation, Appendix A: The Agile Manifesto, Appendix B: Agility Exercises and Games, Notes, References, Index, Acknowledgments, About the Author

    Biography

    Meyer, Pamela