Agility Requires Resilience, Social Intelligence and Empowerment, Study Finds

Resilience, social intelligence, empowerment and a customer-centered purpose are the key factors in developing an agile organization, according to research by Mark Marone, PhD., Director of Research and Thought Leadership for Dale Carnegie and Associates.

The study’s author defines agility as the ability to collect information, make quick decisions and adapt to changing customer requirements and business conditions.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back and learn from adversity. Leaders can foster resilience in their employees by modeling genuine positivity and building self-confidence.

Managers with social intelligence create a psychologically safe environment that encourages appropriate risk-taking and problem-solving by all team members. Social intelligence enables people to connect with others, build trust and handle complicated social situations.

Agile organizations should be willing to accept a certain level of risk. In order to respond quickly to customer needs, employees should be empowered to act without waiting for approval.

When an organization has a customer-centered purpose, employees understand their mission, even under unfamiliar circumstances. This focus encourages employees to innovate in ways that benefit customers.

“Agile organizations free people to experiment, adapt and innovate. As the pace of change accelerates and AI gains momentum, these imperatives have become higher profile, but in reality, they’ve always been part of the attributes that put people and companies ahead,” the study’s author says.

You can read the entire white paper here.