One of the concepts that core to achieving agility is “Servant Leadership”.  There are many places that one can read about the concept, its precepts and how it can best be effectively practiced in the modern organization. The purpose of this brief blog post is to simply highlight a recent example of “Servant Leadership” within...Read More

In an earlier post, I talked about Job Descriptions and Roles.  In another, I talked about Vertical Hierarchy and Titles.  It’s time to talk about Performance Management. One of the most hated systems in many organizations is the performance review system. Every few years the griping will rise to a level where the Talent Management...Read More

In an earlier post I talked about defining every position in the context five roles:  Producer; Talent & Resource Manager; Innovator & Entrepreneur; Personal & Team Developer; and Friend & Citizen.  In this post I argue for limitations on vertical hierarchy. I think most organizations currently have too many levels of vertical distinction.  In non-management...Read More

At agilityIRL, we’re focused on helping teams, leaders, and organizations become Agile—in real life. If you’re ready to become Agile via a whole-system approach that changes both the mechanics and culture by which you work, you’ve come to the right place. We’re glad you’re here. Welcome! We’re Proud to Launch Our New Website Welcome to...Read More

To continue from Part 1… We are constantly being peppered, assaulted really, with things competing for our attention, and there is no sign that the universe is going to let up on us. I am generally regarded as someone who is technologically progressive, but you will not find me on any social media other than...Read More

There are two clues that someone doesn’t know what they’re talking about. The first is that they use an excessive number of variables and factors to explain the problem. The second is that they turn a legitimately complex situation into something overly simple—this is probably the most common way of demonstrating ignorance of the subject...Read More

Regardless of the type of organization that I serve, I see a number of phrases that seem to be common. Every company hires only “the best and brightest”, every organization claims their people to be their “most valuable asset” and every entity declares, “Our people make the difference”. Beyond the fallacy that everyone hires only...Read More

Based on our decades of experience in creating organizational agility in real life, there are six properties that organizations that are leaders in agility will possess. First, those organizations that are leaders in agility, don’t merely meet their customer’s requirements, they produce products/services that create customer requirements to which competitors must respond, because this is...Read More

Based on our decades of experience in creating organizational agility in real life, we’ve found that there are six characteristics that agile organizations possess. First, and foremost, agile organizations start with, “Why?” Agile organizations understand the purpose of their work—the noble purpose of their work. Achieving an ROI or EBITDA or EPS does not mobilize...Read More

Productivity…What is it? Productivity is defined as outputs divided by inputs. Measuring the productivity of an organization is done the same way. For example, the productivity of a business is defined as sales divided by expense, or revenue divided by costs. It is this equation that led Gary Hamel to coin the term, “denominator manager.”...Read More