Strategic Agility: The Leadership Survival Skill of the Year
Chaos might have defined the year that was 2020, but that turmoil helped business
leaders learn a new skill that will serve them well in the years to come.
The world has always been unpredictable, but the pandemic has made this reality even
more apparent. When the crisis began, fear and uncertainty spread like wildfire. Old business
models crumbled overnight, and organizations scrambled to create new policies while
transitioning to remote work.
The leaders who thrived during the pandemic were the ones who chose the best possible
course of action while remaining flexible. Those leaders demonstrated strategic agility, which
will be the defining leadership skill of this era.
Leaders who demonstrate strategic agility have a clear vision. They use data to predict
how situations might unfold, finding opportunities amid crises. They embrace decisiveness and
improvisation to take full advantage of new developments.
Strategic agility is a habit — not an annual retreat. It’s a type of intuition that leaders
develop and then deploy in the face of changing market conditions. Great leaders encourage
this agility in others and understand that an organization is only as agile as the people who
power it. Strategically agile organizations are ready to pivot and innovate, and they’re able to
define clear strategies based on future trends.
Operational Agility Works, But Only for a While
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, operational agility was king. It allowed companies
to accommodate lockdown orders and navigate customer fears. These adaptations included
shifting to a remote workforce, developing an online presence, and offering curbside pickup
and contactless delivery.
But as the pandemic drags on, operational agility is no longer enough. Every organization
made operational changes, which meant they no longer offered a competitive advantage. Many
businesses found they simply couldn’t survive long term if they couldn’t conduct business as
usual.
Companies that outperformed their peers last year were those that saw beyond the crisis.
They didn’t just consider which measures would get them through Q2 and Q3 of 2020. Instead,
these strategically agile organizations chose a course of action that would serve them well in
the long run and allow them to capitalize on market changes.
One surprising standout was Peloton. Although sales of home-fitness equipment surged
during the pandemic, one might have expected the maker of luxury spin bikes to struggle
during a recession. Instead, Peloton capitalized on the shift in people working out from home —
with or without a spin bike.
The company offered a 90-day free trial of its online fitness classes, including yoga, high-
intensity interval training, and more. Once their free trials ended, some users inevitably kept
their memberships (and their new workout habits). Peloton chose a forward-thinking course of
action that provided plenty of flexibility.
Why Strategically Agile Companies Succeed
Being decisive and innovative is useful for leaders in any industry. Here are the three ways
you can lead with strategic agility:
1. Communicate strategic priorities.
For your company to thrive in an uncertain environment, every team member must
understand your organization’s strategic priorities. This might seem obvious, but one CEO who
surveyed her senior leadership team found that only a quarter could name three of the
company’s five strategic priorities.
The reason so few teams achieve alignment is that communicating priorities is a three-
part conversation. First, you must explain what a priority actually means. Otherwise, concepts
like “invest in infrastructure” become meaningless corporate jargon. Second, explain why those
priorities are important and how they impact the bottom line. Finally, offer explicit instructions
for how employees can uphold those priorities in their current roles.
As a leader, your behavior must also reflect the organization’s strategic priorities. That
includes how you spend your time. To manage this, I like to look at my calendar periodically and
evaluate whether my daily activities reflect my priorities.
2. Focus on practices that build resilience.
While alignment on strategic priorities will help your organization move closer to its goals,
resilience will help your team cope with stress and recover from any setbacks. Research has
identified a clear link between resilience and mental health. Unfortunately, pandemic-related
stress has taken a toll on many adults’ mental well-being. In 2020, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found that anxiety among adults had tripled while cases of depression
had quadrupled.
The good news? Resilience interventions like coaching can reduce mental distress
symptoms by an average of 30%. In addition to keeping your workers healthy, improving
resilience will help them adjust to small-scale stressors such as workplace challenges.
Presence and focus are two of the largest factors that contribute to resilience. You can
help your employees cultivate these attributes through mindfulness practices like meditation.
Goal-setting can also help bring things into focus, but be careful to make sure those goals are
attainable.
3. Upskill your workforce to prepare for change.
Leaders who have mastered strategic agility have a clear view of where things are headed.
They know what their customers will need a year from now, and they have innovation plans.
However, upskilling is also crucial to a company’s survival. You might have delayed professional
development during the pandemic, but your workforce could lose its competitive edge if you
don’t invest in employee education.
Many leaders had to make cuts last year, and professional development funds may have
taken a hit. If that’s the case, audit your workforce to determine which skills are the most
pressing. Hard skills in data analysis, blockchain, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence
are already in high demand — but so are soft skills like emotional intelligence and critical
thinking. Focus your efforts on developing one or two skills that would make the most
significant impact.
Even without a budget for professional development, you can still help employees grow
and learn. I know of one leader who selects a topic each week and sends out an informational
video for employees to watch. These topics are part of an ongoing curriculum, and a different
employee leads a discussion on that topic each week.
Strategic agility helps leaders thrive by providing a framework for decisive action and
innovation even when — or especially when — the future is uncertain. By communicating
priorities, building a resilient workforce, and developing skills, you can implement strategic
agility in your organization.
