Agility: the 7th Sigma
By: John R. Grinnell Jr.
Summary: There are many managers and politicians, but very few leaders. Leadership is the adaptive force of
an organization and, just as in evolution, those organizations that can’t adapt fast enough will eventually,
through entropy or “slow death,” die (Quinn, 1996). Since leadership is the force that fosters agility, this article
is focused on the leadership system of an organization and the individual leader. An organization is an intricate
system of individual leaders operating at all levels and is the leverage point for executive leadership to focus on
to improve agility. To affect organizational agility a leader must first understand three constraining factors
that keep agility at bay, as well as three adaptive factors that release it. Once this knowledge is embedded in
an organization’s leadership system and, subsequently, its culture, it can be called upon as needed. This article
is best used as a starting point for discussion followed by executive leadership action to build a leadership
system that can, over time, optimize organizational agility.
Note: It is acknowledged that agility can be affected by organizational size, structure and process improvement. It can be
impacted by smartly optimizing bureaucracy and policy design. Those trained in the logic of administration, technology, and
science understand this, yet often miss the most fundamental element of organizational agility—real leadership and a culture
driven by its DNA of human belief.
Constraining Factors
“Argue for your limitations and sure enough you have them.”
-Richard Bach
Constraining Factor #1: Unconscious Beliefs (Personal and Cultural)
Less enlightened leaders will tell you that an
organization is a “group of people achieving a
common purpose.” Semi-enlightened leaders say
that organizations are driven by mostly habitual
and sometimes creative human behavior. This is
true; however, behind the curtain of observable
behaviors, both creative and habitual, are beliefs-not just religious beliefs, but all beliefs. If a leader is
not leading from the level of awareness of these
beliefs, he or she is not operating at the greatest
leverage point for agility, organizational adaptation,
or change.
Beliefs are theories based on past data. They can be
personal, organizational and cultural (Grinnell,
“Leadership Beyond Belief”). Theycan guide us, but
they can’t help us make better judgments or
change direction in critical and unique situations,
Copyright © 2011-2017 John R. Grinnell, Jr. All rights reserved.
which are where one finds creative leaders—those
able to optimize agility within the units they serve.
The degree to which a leader or members of a
leadership team are unaware of the beliefs (lived
values) that drive their personal, as well as
organizational decision-making and behavior is
the degree to which they are out of control; being
led by an automated non-creative past that may
run them and their organization aground. Among
the most important activities a leader can do to
increase effectiveness and agility are to observe
with self-awareness and come to understand his
or her own beliefs, perceptions, and behavior in
order to align leadership behavior with what is
right for the organization as determined by future
vision, strategy, and core values.
Constraining Factor # 2: Habitual Behavior
Walking across the room to grab some food and
drink from the refrigerator is a simple act. But if it
were not habitual, imagine the myriad of decisions
that would have to be made: calculating the
placement of the feet, bending the knees, leaning,
balancing, and so on. All the activities we learned
and mastered as children would have to be
reconsidered repeatedly. This would be an incredible
waste of mental energy and time that would not
allow us to attend to more important matters. An
organization is no different. Similarly, the systems,
processes, and behaviors that were installed and
reinforced when the company was young or
reengineered years previously are now tacit and
unconscious; unless questioned they continue to be
followed out of routine or habit. This saves time and
energy, but also resists agility.
New employees are hired and automatically
socialized to this habitual, unquestioned system.
Constraining Factor #3: Ego
Meaning “I” in Latin, ego is not the “I” of who we
truly are, but rather the “I” of our “identity.” This is
significant for leaders, as the identity is that picture
we carry around in our heads that we think we must
live up to at all cost. The difficulty is not the “ego”
itself, but rather the ego-defense that resists any
information, input, or insight that is counter to the
way we see ourselves. The identity (ego) is a rigid
system of belief about oneself that is held in place
and self-reinforced by perception. For example,
being “wrong” does not support a view of oneself as
“smart” or “competent.” Thus, the unaware individual
will argue against ideas, input, opinion, and even
facts in support of the ego’s idealized view of
oneself as being smart and right. If the individual has
authority or is unusually gifted verbally and
intellectually, he or she may be able to “out-argue”
or “shut down” those around him or her who may
have greater insight into how to improve a system,
process, or set of behaviors. Interestingly, research
shows that self-awareness and organizational insight
Copyright © 2011-2017 John R. Grinnell, Jr. All rights reserved.
Those in power support managers who are fully
aligned with the old ways, promoting them to
leadership roles and giving them organizational
power. Without awareness it may become difficult
for leaders to challenge the efficacy of the very
systems they have been rewarded and reinforced to
support and serve—which again constrains agility.
This is not a problem as long as it still aligns with the
future needs and strategy of the organization. It also
enables an organization to sustain its culture and
system and to defend against intrusion of outside
forces that would change it. However, organizations
with such constrained agility can be hampered by
unaware leaders, who are likely slow to take
advantage of strategic opportunities (Grinnell,
“Leading Culture”).
are not directly correlated to IQ. They appear to
correspond more to a concept called “Emotional
Intelligence” discovered through rigorous research
by Daniel Goleman of Harvard and defined in his
book Emotional Intelligence (1995). It seems that the
fundamental aspect of EQ is an ability to monitor, or
have “consciousness” or “awareness” of one’s own
mind, emotions, and belief-based perceptions. A
successful front-line supervisor, manager, technical
expert, or executive must have a strong ego to
maintain the drive and ambition to succeed. But
without awareness, his or her decisions, actions, and
arguments for the status quo, often result in
outcomes based on feelings, old knowledge, and
ego instead of on the mission, strategy, or purpose
of the organization or team. Leaders must learn to
create “leaky margins” that allow for the energy,
drive, and motivation that ego provides, while also
remaining self-aware enough to be able to “suspend
belief” in order to truly consider options without first
feeling “wrong,” incompetent, or less intelligent for
past decisions or actions.
Adaptive Factors
Adaptive Factor #1: Self-Awareness
Behavior, systems, or processes that are not
understood cannot be consciously changed.
Unconscious beliefs are dictatorial unless examined
and understood; they resist agility. Furthermore,
even known beliefs tend to be accepted by the mind
without question. Self-awareness is a first step in a
leader’s being better able to choose a belief or
behavior instead of having the belief choose the
behavior. Leaders change the existing system
around them by first opening their own minds,
seeing reality more clearly and then changing their
behaviors to fit the new requirements of leadership.
To not do so and to act too slowly on opportunity of
problems is called “Leadership Lag” (Farr, 2004).
Although many are often unaware of what drives the
mind, perceptions, and decisions of human beings,
and how, those leaders armed with this knowledge
can greatly improve not only their decision-making,
but also the actions, and outcomes of those around
them, thereby fostering greater organizational
agility.
Using a flow chart is one way for an organization to
become aware of a business process. Actually seeing
habitual, previously unquestioned processes and
roles (which may have been created years earlier and
are now accepted as the norm) can allow a team to
differentiate between steps that are still viable and
those that no longer makes sense.
Awareness is the first step in aligning belief,
behavior, and process with today’s requirements for
success. A leader’s self-awareness is similar in that it
requires enough consciousness to look at current
beliefs and behavior, compare them with the
demands of leadership now (instead of those of a
habitual past), and, if necessary, change them.
Many people think that they are “self-aware” when
in fact they are only “personality-aware.” Selfawareness has to do with the cultivation of a free
consciousness that can observe, see, and think
above and beyond the confines of habitual human
emotion, judgment, and thinking. It can sit quietly
and speak directly and honestly in the fire of debate
or crisis, see clearly, and then decide and take action
based on right purpose, not on a personal agenda.
Self-awareness is essential if an organization wants
to become more agile through more agile leaders.
Adaptive Factor #2: Open Information Flow
Organizational development professionals, executive
coaches, and savvy leaders have known for years
that an essential part of facilitating more rapid
changes (i.e. agility) is feedback or input. As pointed
out earlier in this article, the ego does not like to be
wrong and will resist input and feedback that does
not support the idealized view the unaware leader
holds. An egocentric leader uses interpersonal
tactics to block information flow. In addition, the
higher the position, power (authority), and scope of
responsibility a leader holds, the bigger the problem
of information flow becomes. For example, a CEO is
much more apt to have his or her ego “groomed”
with supportive information than is the janitor. If not
managed, an increase in “fear of sharing” on the part
of subordinates can ensue, blocking the free flow of
accurate, timely, and useful information (Grinnell,
“Executive Amplitude”). Insulated from the truth,
many executive leaders remain “fat, dumb, and
happy” until avoidable issues surprise them.
However, with self-awareness, leaders can be
afforded the ability to interrupt the behavior that
Copyright © 2011-2017 John R. Grinnell, Jr. All rights reserved.
stops the flow of information to them. Just as there
is egocentrism, there is also “corpocentrism,” a term
I coined years ago. Corpocentrism is the unifying
force of both a team and an organization, but, when
not optimal, is also the basis of organizational silos
that resist the free flow of information across
organizational boundaries. The ability to move
information across these interfaces is critical to
allowing the organizational agility that fosters
coordination and the efficient use of resources
(Grinnell, 1994). Political boundaries are often
tenacious, but must be loosened if the organization
is to become more agile. This is where strategic
leadership development and effective processes are
used to both foster appropriate and effective
interpersonal relationships and build strong
leadership. Regardless of how strong corpocentrism
is, personal relationships are the basis for breaking
down these barriers. For optimization of this
boundary, a proper development process with the
right timing and sequencing of leadership
involvement is required.
Adaptive Factor #3: “On-Purpose” Action
Agility is best achieved with a clear intended target
and the means to reach it; this target should be wellarticulated by the leader or leadership team, then
executed by real leadership. Often the target is
merely espoused by leadership and not real or
demonstrated. Many leaders know the future they
want to create, but don’t change their behavior—
with their minds and emotions acting to maintain the
status quo. Breaking the inertia of the past and of
habitual action is difficult for most people. They
continue to slog along, knowing what they should be
doing differently to get a better outcome, yet
choosing the comfort of past behavior over the
emotional challenge associated with agility. Robert
Quinn (1996) points out that this fear of change is
the emotional factor that causes great strategy to
never realize its potential with the result of not
reaching organizational or personal leadership
potential and the eventual demise of systems and
organizations.
Peter Senge (1989) from MIT coined the term
“creative tension.” Unlike anxiety, creative tension is
the inevitable discomfort and oftentimes fear
associated with breaking free of habit. Creative
tension, although uncomfortable, is not to be
avoided, but rather embraced and accepted as the
often inevitable price a leader pays for success. In
other words, “on-purpose” leadership behavior that
leads to a better future requires courage. Real leaders
know the discomfort associated with launching a
change with uncertain success, but don’t allow this
feeling to stop them. The emotional skill of feeling
discomfort while maintaining alignment with the
intended “on-purpose” behavior--is a key factor in
the improvement of organizational agility.
Organizations are human. Agility impacts the speed
of purposeful change. An organization with the best
technology, organizational design, administrative
systems, and marketing prowess, but without a
leadership culture based on the cultivation of aware
leaders cannot reach its full potential for effective
agility. Giving leaders the opportunity to gain both
personal and organizational insight will help a
company move faster toward success and the
adoption of more effective practices, thereby saving
time and making money, and, it is hoped, help the
leaders gain greater personal satisfaction.
If you liked the concepts in this article, please contact Betsy at [email protected]
to find out about Grinnell Leadership’s 4-day intensive group-coaching process that helps executives and managers
become more aware to enhance their leadership agility.
Reference
Farr, James N. Supraconscious Leadership, Humanomics Publishing, 2004.
Goleman, Daniel Emotional Intelligence, Bantam, 1995.
Grinnell, John R. “Leading Culture,” White Paper, Grinnell Leadership Website*, 2009.
Grinnell, John R. “Human Systems Optimization for Quality,” ASQC Journal November, 1994.
Grinnell, John R. “Leadership Beyond Belief,” White Paper, Grinnell Leadership Website*, 2010.
Grinnell, John R. “Leadership Lag,” Business Leader Magazine, 2005.
Grinnell, John R. “Executive Amplitude,” Business Leader Magazine, 2004.
Grinnell, John R. “ABCs of Organizational Change,” Business Leader Magazine, 2005.
Quinn, Robert Deep Change, Jossey-Bass, August 1996.
Senge, Peter The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday, 1989.
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Copyright © 2011-2017 John R. Grinnell, Jr. All rights reserved.