124: Leading with Agility | Steve Krupp

Steve Krupp is an academic, author, entrepreneur and Partner at Heidrick & Struggles based in the US offices. Steve has a PhD in organisational behaviour and has always been fascinated with what distinguishes the best performers. Much of Steve’s research has shown that Agility is the single biggest differentiator for high performers in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous) world. 

Many organisations are still tackling the challenge of shifting from slow to fast, bureaucratic to nimble, hindsight to foresight, rigid to adaptive and knowing to learning. 

Covid with all the disruption and need to rethink ways of working and customer relationships put the Agility emphasis on steroids. Steve’s research showed that 93% of leaders said Agility is the key to success. 

Steve describes Agility as the ability to pivot in order to adapt to changing circumstances. He also explains that Agility has four key components 

1.     Foresight: The ability to anticipate where the future might be going or at least have thoughts of the different possible options and scenario plan accordingly. Leaders must be able to test their own assumptions and be ready to admit when they are wrong, and Steve’s research suggests that this area is the biggest agility gap for most leaders as they are used to being successful and knowing the answers. Foresight failure comes from arrogance and not challenging self or having a culture whereby the leaders can be constructively challenged. 

2.     Adapt: Being Devil’s Advocate and seeking out the contrarians. It is uncomfortable for leaders to change what has worked previously. Adapt is the ability to flex and shift direction by embracing the skill set of challenge. Leader’s embarking on a plan, must make sure they have someone to take on the counterpoint and pressure test the alternatives. This in turn allows a leader to embrace diversity of thought and generate better decision making. Getting curious and searching out a different point of view will enrich thinking. 

3.     Learn: A leader’s ability to learn may be their single biggest competitive advantage in a VUCA environment. We all need to move from know it all to learn it all. In a world that changes constantly, what we know becomes irrelevant almost immediately and so a learning culture is an absolute necessity. We have to learn from success and failure and know how to leverage the wisdom going forward. The military has understood for many years the power of an After-Action Review. 

4.     Resilience: This starts with having a sense of purpose that can carry a leader forward during tough times and bounce back from adversity. We all face sets backs and future ready leaders will utilise the power of their purpose to bind their people through the challenge. 

Steve talks about the importance of a strong sense of purpose contributing to A World Better Led with more inclusion, more humanity with increased agility. 

Don’t miss this great episode. 

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