Agility, Benefits of Company Culture, High-trust leadership
Here鈥檚 what boosts agility for your employees, and how great workplaces support people in adapting quickly to change.
When facing economic headwinds or business challenges, how you adapt to change is the only measure of success.
Market volatility is soaring as the world digests new U.S. tariff policies, and the rapid rise of AI technology ensures every company is laser-focused on change management.
鈥淭here is more change and more disruption going on than ever,鈥 shared Jim Kavanaugh, president and CEO of World Wide Technology, at the 逸遊娛樂城庐 For All Summit鈩 in Las Vegas.
His recipe for responding to these changes in the business landscape? 鈥淚f you have a really strong set of values that you commit to, it鈥檚 amazing how that culture helps navigate through challenging times,鈥 he says.
For leaders of any organization, a relentless commitment to business agility should be a core part of the strategy for the months and years ahead.
What is business agility?
For companies in any industry, business agility is a measure of your organization鈥檚 ability to adapt and evolve to gain and maintain and competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Business agility plans might include developing new products or services to stay competitive, adjustments to business operations to meet the demands of a new business environment, or maximizing the untapped potential of your workforce.
Even in the best of times, businesses must constantly adapt to remain viable. Only a third (34.7%) of private sector businesses in the U.S. founded in March of 2013 survived to their 10th birthday in 2023, per the .
One potential culprit for slowness? A lack of agility in your workforce. Nearly four out of five (79%) of junior employees say they can鈥檛 keep up with the dizzying rate of technological change in the AI era, per , HR leaders who can foster business agility will find more influence in their company.
What drives business agility in the workplace?
Your people play an essential role in either accelerating or hindering business transformation.
Does your workforce lean in and embrace new ways of working, or do they sabotage your modernization efforts? It鈥檚 not just senior staff who might be holding onto outdated workflows and business practices. Four in 10 (41%) Gen Z workers is one of the nine high-trust leadership behaviors that strengthen culture and contribute to long-term success. It鈥檚 essential for every employee to have the opportunity to receive recognition for their work, and for companies to reward specific behaviors that contribute to their goals.
For example, Bank of America helps every employee look for ways to improve their work by assigning everyone an annual goal to submit new ideas through its 鈥淪peak Up!鈥 tool. The employees whose ideas are implemented receive cards celebrating their contributions.
2. Psychological safety that allows everyone to take smart risks
It鈥檚 not enough to only celebrate people for trying something new when a project succeeds. The 253% higher likelihood that employees adapt quickly to change only occurs when employees say their company celebrates people who try new things regardless of the outcome.
This is a core tenet of psychological safety, the term coined by researcher Amy Edmondson to describe an environment where employees feel safe to take reasonable risks.
鈥淚f you only welcome trying new things when they work out, then they鈥檙e not very new,鈥 she shared on the 鈥淏etter鈥 podcast. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e kind of safe bets. And again, over the long term, that鈥檚 not an innovative company. That鈥檚 not a company that will likely thrive over the long term.鈥
How can leaders create an environment where failure can lead to growth? A key ingredient is the ability to acknowledge their own mistakes.
3. High levels of cooperation across teams and between departments
When employees believe they can count on colleagues to cooperate, they are 132% more likely to quickly adapt to change, per 逸遊娛樂城 data.
This spirit of cooperation is driven by high-trust leadership, which in turn allows colleagues to invest in the success of their peers. If people don鈥檛 believe promotions are fair, or if their hard work isn鈥檛 recognized, it breaks trust, which can create a toxic environment where coworkers sabotage each other in a zero-sum competition for power.
Great workplaces do things differently. Companies on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For庐 List rely on a foundation of trust to boost effort and agility, resulting in 8.5 times more revenue per employee compared to the market.
4. Benefits that support employees鈥 needs inside and outside of work
Having special and unique benefits makes it more likely 鈥 51% more likely 鈥 that an employee will quickly adapt to change. However, the benefits driving increased agility are not gym memberships or free office snacks.
Employees deeply value childcare benefits, flexible work options, generous retirement benefits, and more 鈥 tools that allow them to build a foundation of security from which they feel empowered to take risks. It鈥檚 hard to take on a new project or adopt a new technology if you are worried about your family or your financial security.
Companies like Wegmans Food Markets uncover the specific needs of their employees through listening sessions and employee surveys. When it learned that frontline employees were struggling to manage at-home responsibilities without a consistent weekly schedule, Wegmans created a companywide program to give hourly employees a consistent day off each week.
5. A clearly communicated vision for the future from top leaders
Employees want to know how they fit into the future of the organization. The more confident they are that their leaders have the skill and foresight to guide them through a volatile business environment, the better they perform.
When employees say leaders have a clear view of where their company is going, they are 51% more likely to adapt quickly to change.
If employees are unclear about how they can contribute to company goals, it might be time to revisit your mission statement.
鈥淭he test of a mission statement is 鈥楧oes it drive behavior every day?鈥欌 according to John Burke, CEO of Trek Bicycle. Trek鈥檚 mission is something Burke regularly calls on when evaluating work or offering feedback to his team.
Whenever his team has faced headwinds, a first step has been to revisit the mission statement and ask: 鈥淚s our mission still relevant?鈥
6. Employees feel involved in decisions that affect them and their work
When employees say they are involved in decision-making, they are 41% more likely to quickly adapt to change. That doesn鈥檛 mean every employee has a voice in every business decision, but companies like Hilcorp Energy have achieved remarkable results from increasing the ability of employees to engage in business decisions.
鈥淲e give every employee access to the company鈥檚 financials, share our measures of business success, and we teach them how to understand them,鈥 says Mike Brezina, senior vice president, human resources at Hilcorp. 鈥淲e open the books and share our financial measures such as cash flow, margin, production rate, lifting costs, investments, oil and gas price impacts, storage costs, and more.鈥
7. A commitment to lifting up local communities
Employees who say they feel good about how their company contributes to the community are 34% more likely to quickly adapt to change. This relationship can also be seen in the strong connection between employee sentiment on AI and their trust in their organization鈥檚 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts.
Companies like Accenture capitalize on these trends by inviting employees to participate in programs like its 鈥淪ustainability Innovation Challenge.鈥 Employees from across the organization compete with entries like Mangrovera.ai, a tool developed by a team in India to help researchers restore and protect Mangrove forests. The new technology 鈥 an AI-powered solution 鈥 provides an opportunity for employees to explore new tools and build skills while giving back to a cause that they believe in.
8. Every employee, regardless of role, has a voice and feels respected
When employees say they are treated as a respected and valued member of the team, they are 31% more likely to quickly adapt to change.
This often becomes a challenge for frontline workers who feel excluded from the culture enjoyed by employees in another part of the company. Frontline workers are less likely to receive training and development opportunities 鈥 such opportunities make employees more likely to be engaged AI adopters.
To combat this disparity, Marriott International rebuilt its training and development offering to ensure every employee can access learning content.
Improve your business agility through our employee engagement software
Business agility is a competitive advantage in today鈥檚 marketplace. With the rise of AI and mounting market uncertainty, companies that can adapt to change will be in the best position to thrive.
For HR leaders, this means having a strategy to increase agility across your workforce. The first step is to benchmark your culture.
The 逸遊娛樂城 platform offers analytics and insights to drive your business to move faster and seize new opportunities in a complex climate. Explore the survey platform and begin your journey with 逸遊娛樂城 Certification鈩 today.
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