Take five steps to ensure flexible, adaptive leadership and teams to manage change with agility.
Want a competitive edge in a tough market? Then become a FALO—a “Flexible, Adaptive, Learning Organization.” This encourages leaders to focus on issues within their area of control instead of wasting time chasing issues they can’t substantially impact. A FALO organization has a willingness to change or compromise, the ability to use flexibility to accommodate new conditions, and the capability to quickly learn new skills and information necessary to meet demands.
You can create a FALO with five steps:
1. Change your mind-set. Solve people problems first, instead of focusing on solving problems via processes and technologies. Not even the best processes or most cutting-edge technology will work if people don’t use them. Look at why problems are happening and what people need/want to solve them.
2. Create a personal development mind-set. Realize that even natural leaders need personal growth development. Encourage and enable people to identify and pursue the skills, talents, and competencies they need to be leaders. Realize that people are generally more productive, collaborative, and positive when they work on their personal development.
3. Develop a culture that supports ongoing personal development. Don’t leave personal development to chance. Start with a clear mission/vision statement that motivates employees and encourage them to pursue self-improvement. Make sure that your culture gives everyone a voice and every employee a clear path to self-development.
4. Starting with leadership, take an honest inventory of weaknesses. By weakness, we mean any habitual behavior that impairs your effectiveness and keeps you from growing and learning. We are generally taught to hide weaknesses and focus on strengths. However, to identify the right path to self-development and leadership, everyone must be able to honestly acknowledge and address their weaknesses.
5. Commit to ongoing improvement. Developing new habits doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a commitment over time to maintain new habits, strengthen and use new skills, and continue to pursue personal development. Ensure a culture of constructive feedback that keeps people on track and prevents them from slipping into old habits and ways of doing things.
With regulatory and other challenges coming at your organization from all directions, you need a way to manage change effectively without increasing burdens and stress on management and workers alike. Being a FALO can enable you to take a mannered, agile, and efficient approach to both personal and organizational change management.
