Congratulations!

Your organization made needed changes to survive the crisis thus far.  Changing to remain successful amid external change is a mark of organizational agility.

There is a crucial question to answer to remain successful.

How hard was it to make the changes?  Was it harder than it should have been?  If so, one of your tasks as a leader is make future change easier when (not if) the next crisis occurs or if a market opportunity appears.

You may be thinking “How can I make change easier?  Change is hard!”  Change can be hard.  It can also be easy!  See an earlier post about the nature of change.

Think of organizational agility like a form of organizational Parkour.

 

The Parkour concept

In Parkour (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour), practitioners “aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible … Parkour involves seeing one’s environment in a new way, and imagining the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.”

I invite you to read the above paragraph again.  Now add the word “organizational” in front of the word “practitioners.”  Isn’t that what you want your organization to do?  Get from where you are now to where you want to be, in the fastest and most efficient way possible through a complex (and changing) environment?

Applying the Parkour concept

Let’s look at applying the Parkour concept to your organization.

Begin with your purpose/mission.  This is what your stakeholders (your C.E.O.S.*) gain from your continued existence and success.  Think of the stakeholders as accompanying the organization in it’s Parkour journey in a backpack.  Will they all survive and benefit from the journey?

Next, what is your vision for the future?  To be successful in Parkour, you need to:

• See the environment as it is.
• See it in a new way, exploring different ways of navigating through it.
• Visualize your next destination and an initial path to get there.

The clearer the vision, the easier it will be for others to understand and follow.

You will need commitment.  Parkour is not easy nor always “safe,” especially if the vision involves new levels of achievement.  The clearer you are – and the vision is – the better.  Everyone needs to understand the benefits of getting to the destination to withstand the difficulties of the journey and leaving comfort zones.

You will also need capability.  Parkour entails challenging yourself and others to higher levels of achievement.  Getting past more difficult obstacles and more complex paths to the destination means improving capabilities.  It may take multiple trials and adjusting approaches until you can achieve the desired path with acceptable risk.

The initial creators/practitioners of Parkour understood success as more than just physical athleticism and agility.  They saw mental strength and agility as parallel capabilities necessary for success.

So it also is for organizational Parkour.  It is possible to survive for a short period by reacting to an environment out of fear or a scarcity mindset. That only works until strength or resources are exhausted.  To survive and thrive long-term requires continually creating new organizational capabilities that match the environment on an ongoing basis.

Develop your vision, commitment, and capabilities now.  Otherwise, your agility – your organizational Parkour level – may fail short during the next crisis or opportunity.

by Mike Russell

 

* C.E.O.S. stakeholders, with variations for for-profit or non-profit, are:  Customers or beneficiaries, Employees, Owners/shareholders/financial backers, Significant other stakeholders like communities and sustainability.