With new technology, globalization of markets, and increased pressure for shareholder value, the tempo and thrust of change-and the way leaders must lead-have been forever altered. The world is inundated with disruptions: unforeseen dangers, unanticipated opportunities, unrealistic requirements, and overwhelming demands. The act of recovering from these shocks is becoming almost a full-time job in itself. These constant surprises have spawned a new vulnerability for leaders that is unique in history. As our companies prepare for the next century, we also are beginning to confront unprecedented numbers of self-initiated and externally generated projects. Compounding this urgency is the increasingly complex implications these projects carry, as well as the need for them to be accomplished faster and with fewer resources. And because these transitions must often be made on the turn of a dime, they also carry greater risks of failure and are more costly should they fail.

The added pressure on people to accommodate new, unfamiliar tasks and circumstances will soon be measured in quantum leaps rather than increments, and the jolts will occur more frequently. In the midst of all this commotion, there is a growing feeling among leaders that they are simply not able to keep up with the shifting nature of their markets and the ever-evolving requirements for remaining competitive. Not only is the magnitude of change accelerating and the cost for failed implementation efforts advancing, but the very nature of how to manage change itself is in transition. The salient question this presents for today's leaders is, “If the traditional way we have thought about implementing change is no longer valid, what will take its place”.

The answer: “No one really knows exactly” I could easily espouse some rhetoric to quell your anxiety and induce a false sense of security, but that's not going to help you lead your organization. The truth is, we are at one of those fundamental breaks in continuity that occur periodically in the course of human evolution. Consequently, the framework that will accommodate this kind of turmoil has not yet fully materialized. What we do know is this: The experience of organizational change is no longer what it has been, but neither is it what it will be.

Next, leaders must form a new perspective on leadership. Today's leadership calls for a different approach to orchestrating transitions than was necessary during an earlier, more stable period. It's your responsibility to build a nimble business capable of adroitly responding to the chaotic conditions produced by constant change. If global competition is threatening, or new technology is remolding your market's landscape, or customers are expressing different interests, or your industry is consolidating itself, then your organization must be able to alter its formula to meet those challenges. The more volatile the environment, the more important the changes become. In turbulent markets, your ability to execute changes becomes a key success factor. If your organization falls behind in its capacity to meet the demands for change, it will be unable to accommodate the other success factors necessary to flourish in a churning market.

In direct contrast to nimble operations are those companies that are unable to carry out decisions intended to deal with shifting demands for success; these are called “constrained organizations” Despite their intention to sometimes do otherwise, constrained organizations rigidly adhere to the status quo. Even after a concerted effort to conform, most constrained organizations gravitate back to operations that are similar in nature, if not in form, to the way things were before the challenge surfaced. Constrained organizations have a history of introducing significant, disruptive modifications for which associates have little warning and may be unsure of how to develop adequate response strategies. Rarely do they achieve successful implementation of those changes. It's obvious that between these two modes of operation, nimbleness holds the competitive market advantage.

As a leader, your role to help your organization become nimble is threefold. First, ensure that the enterprise is an “open system,” which means keeping people and things in an unending growth-and-renewal mode; second, take steps to increase the enterprise's absorption limits; and, finally, constantly press the envelope of these boundaries by introducing as many important changes as possible without overextending your company's resources.

Being the nimble provider in a market brings a number of important advantages beyond securing and maintaining market alignment. Nimble organizations are able to attract and maintain more competent employees, as well as design and deliver more creative solutions to their customers. The most important step in building a nimble operation is hiring and retaining the kind of people who can translate the desired vision into tangible reality. Building the nimble organization depends more on who is on your team than on how teams are structured or what responsibilities they are assigned. Leaders must be supported by a cadre of managers, supervisors, and employees who are able and willing to go beyond the guidance provided them.

Nimble organizations tend to attract people who display resilience during change. Resilient people are positive that they can succeed in unfamiliar circumstances. They remain focused on objectives during times of confusion, exhibit flexibility, find order within what appears to be chaos, and proactively engage change rather than run from change. They also tend to be resourceful, multiskilled, highly motivated people who have a high tolerance for ambiguity, a desire to experiment, and a willingness to appropriately challenge authority. When an organization creates a critical mass of people with these qualities, its ability to attend to shifting demands dramatically accelerates.

Leaders of constrained organizations usually try to maintain their organization's equilibrium by directing and predicting events. In contrast, nimble leaders invest their resources into directly influencing what they can, and then relying on responsive processes for meeting the rest of their organization's security needs. Instead of trying to predict events, nimble companies focus on developing processes that will allow quick, effective responses to events as they unfold. In this vein, the typical preoccupation with what will occur in the future is replaced with a new focus on how to address key events as they take place. For example, nimble companies pay more attention to how they will identify customer needs than they do on guessing exactly what particular needs customers will have.

Focusing on responsive processes calls for early detection systems that alert the proper personnel at the first signs of a new threat or opportunity and for procedures to determine what the proper response should be. For instance, leaders of nimble organizations don't manage their customer relations by hoping to correctly guess the details of next year's demand and then tooling to provide only that product or service. Instead they build a responsive process that can provide what the customer wants now, react quickly to the customer's unanticipated needs, and scan the horizon for early signs of emerging customer requirements so that an innovative response can occur.

Finally, leaders of nimble organizations must be consciously competent; that is, they must know explicitly what contributed to past successes as well as how to replicate that success, or they might as well be operating in a vacuum. Organizations that are nimble, but lack the insight into what they actually do to produce this powerful quality, will more than likely lose their nimbleness over time and ultimately become constrained.

Change is scary; change is intimidating; change may make you doubt yourself more than a little. Change also is necessary; change is a fact of life; and change may be the best thing that could happen for you and your company. By taking the necessary steps to build a nimble organization, you're preparing yourself in the best way possible to work with change. And, perhaps more importantly, you're developing the strategy to make change work for you.