The leaders I work with have found that “flexible focus” is necessary for success today.   Success is defined as:

  • Delivering results on goals
  • Keeping the team focused and productive
  • Navigating the increasing pace of change without becoming misaligned
  • Making time to keep a long-term view while delivering short term results
  • Utilizing leadership agility skills to achieve the above.

Success is still defined about hitting financial targets and other yearly goals.  With all the uncertainty in the country, economy and world today, leaders have to keep bringing their people back to the now.  THIS is where we are today.  THIS is where we’re going.  And THIS is how we’ll adapt, if necessary.  All of us want to have certainty around what we’re expected to do next, even when it feels like we’re on shifting sands.

Yet the reality of our world also requires leaders to redefine their relationship with change.  Change management used to be a project for a set time and a set initiative.  Now disruption is a daily reality and it’s not going to slow down.  There is no longer a “done” point.  Change creates uncertainty, which triggers our brain’s threat response, leading to stress and burnout.   A shift in perspective to view the change as a constant market dynamic, like supply and demand, defangs the risk profile and it becomes just another variable to be managed.

PwC’s Global CEO survey showed that almost half their time is spent on short-term issues and only 16% dedicated time to longer term time horizons.  Tellingly, they’re very aware that those percentages should be reversed at their level.  Strategic retreats, whether a day or a week, are critical to ensure leadership success.

Leadership agility is the super competency required of leaders today.  Successful leaders are able to aim through the target, and flex between the daily urgency and complexity into wide-angle thinking over a broad time horizon.

Agile leaders recognize the importance of self-management, to be the “true North” for their team with authenticity and transparency about both priorities and challenges.  Additionally, they focus on their own continual leadership development.  Leaders need to keep pace with the velocity of their business and the broader sphere in which it operates.

Stakeholder agility requires playing the same role for all key constituencies – customers, board members, community members, etc.  Making sure to understand their positions and needs, and reassuring them with the importance of flexible focus.

Context setting agility enables leaders to provide that focus.  While it’s tempting to want to tackle an entire wall full of problems and opportunities, successful leaders keep the team focused on the goals and priorities within a picture frame on that wall.

Finally, creative agility is essential since we’re facing challenges we’ve never seen before.  We need to move at the speed of AI and soon quantum technologies.  We need to solve problems in new ways since the old ways can’t keep up.