Focus Magazine - Fall 2017 - 32

FEATURESTORY

Change Agility: A Winning
Capability at All Levels
■ By Wendy Heckelman, PhD and Sheryl Unger, MILR

I

n athletic pursuits, agility is
defined as the ability to move with
balance, speed, strength and
coordination. Agility is developed
through extensive training, frequent
practice and ongoing coaching.
During competition, the hope is that
all of these capabilities eﬀectively
come together and lead to victory.
Today's life sciences companies
require a capacity to change and adapt
quickly to win in the marketplace and
achieve competitive advantage.
Unlike sports where the rules of the
game are defined, the healthcare
marketplace playing field continues to
change rapidly, creating much
uncertainty. Applying the sports
metaphor, leaders and learning
organizations can build
organizational, team and individual
agility and capacity to thrive during
times of uncertainty and instability.

Defining Change Agility
on Three Levels:
Organizational, Team
and Individual
Organizational agility, as defined by
BusinessDictionary.com, is the
capability of a company to rapidly
change or adapt in response to
changes in the market. A high degree
of organizational agility can help a
company react and adapt successfully
to the emergence of new competitors,
the development of new industrychanging technologies, or sudden
shis in overall market conditions.
Healthcare stakeholders are facing
a confluence of factors, such as

32

political uncertainty around the
Aﬀordable Care Act, changing
consumer demographics and pressure
to reduce costs while increasing
quality and healthcare outcomes.
Most life sciences companies are
responding to external marketplace
conditions with strategies that include
large-scale organizational
restructuring, mergers and
acquisitions and other enterprise-wide
transformation initiatives. e net
eﬀect is the accelerating pace of
change amplifies the need for
organizations to build stronger change
management capacity and capability.
Teams must also remain agile to
embrace large-scale changes, adapt
quickly and move forward with
direction and purpose. Team leaders
need to create a culture where
creativity and challenging the status
quo is accepted and encouraged.
erefore, it is important to provide
leadership training and tools that
support eﬀective teamwork and
collaboration.
As organizations and teams are
comprised of individuals, it is
important that an overarching
philosophy and commitment to
develop individual change agility
exists. Senior leadership and learning
organizations must be committed to
work together to embed practices that
equip individuals with appropriate
skills. ese skills will ensure
employees at all levels of the
organization can respond and adapt
positively to change. Below are a few
basic principles and best practices that

Balance
can be incorporated into leadership
and training eﬀorts.

Balance
For athletes, balance is the ability to
maintain equilibrium when stationary
or during movement. ink for a
moment about a quarterback who is
forced to stay on his feet when
attempting to throw a pass, even when
the defensive line is charging ahead.
is is how many leaders feel when
asked to execute a change in strategic
direction. It is not unusual for them
to be "oﬀ-balance" when changes are
coming one aer another. Over time,
change fatigue sets in and resistance
can increase. To counter the potential
cycle of disengagement and
frustration, leadership and learning
organizations must dedicate resources
that help prepare leaders to execute
change, build leadership resilience and
flexibility.
A leader who can manage change
in a deliberate, well-planned manner

FOCUS | Fall 2017 | www.L-TEN.org
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