Scan the environment before you choose and scope an initiative

Before committing to a change, look at the conditions around it, write the outcome you want, and narrow the initiative to a scope you can actually shape.

Perché funziona

Joiner and Josephs describe context-setting agility as the first of four forms of agility that support a successful initiative, and define it as “being able to scan your environment to choose and scope an initiative and clarify its desired outcomes.” The book’s broader argument is that environments differ in complexity and pace of change, and that the level a leader needs depends on them. The Expert level, in their account, suits environments where “incremental improvements to existing strategies” can succeed, while the Achiever level suits moderately complex environments where the pace of change requires episodic shifts in strategy.

Come farlo

1. Before the next initiative, list the outside forces you can see: how fast your field is changing, which other teams and partners depend on your area, and what they have already tried.
2. Write the outcome you want in one sentence, and check whether it still makes sense against that list.
3. Narrow the initiative to the part you can change within your own authority, and name what you are leaving out.
4. Write down what would show the initiative is working, and when you will check.

Prove scientifiche

The definition of context-setting agility comes from the authors’ June 2006 interview, and the Reams 2007 review lists it as one of four competencies. The link between environmental complexity and the level a leader needs is the authors’ framework, based on their research with more than six hundred managers. The sources read do not test that link. (anecdotal)

The excerpts read for this page do not give a measure of environmental complexity, so judging how complex your own situation is remains a judgment call.

Fonti

• Joiner, B., & Josephs, S. (2006, June). Leadership Agility with Bill Joiner and Steve Josephs [interview]. Integral Leadership Review, Fresh Perspective.
• Joiner, W. B., & Josephs, S. A. (2006). Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, Chapter 1 (publisher excerpt). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Reams, J. (2007). Book review: Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, by Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs. Integral Review, 4.

Errore comune

Treating an environment that needs a new strategy as one that only needs incremental improvement. The book associates the Expert level with environments where incremental improvement is enough, so the mistake is choosing by habit rather than by what the conditions call for.