ThoughtWorks
  • Contact
  • Español
  • Português
  • Deutsch
  • 中文
Go to overview
  • Engineering Culture, Delivery Mindset

    Embrace a modern approach to software development and deliver value faster

    Intelligence-Driven Decision Making

    Leverage your data assets to unlock new sources of value

  • Frictionless Operating Model

    Improve your organization's ability to respond to change

    Platform Strategy

    Create adaptable technology platforms that move with your business strategy

  • Experience Design and Product Capability

    Rapidly design, deliver and evolve exceptional products and experiences

    Partnerships

    Leveraging our network of trusted partners to amplify the outcomes we deliver for our clients

Go to overview
  • Automotive
  • Cleantech, Energy and Utilities
  • Financial Services and Insurance
  • Healthcare
  • Media and Publishing
  • Not-for-profit
  • Public Sector
  • Retail and E-commerce
  • Travel and Transport
Go to overview

Featured

  • Technology

    An in-depth exploration of enterprise technology and engineering excellence

  • Business

    Keep up to date with the latest business and industry insights for digital leaders

  • Culture

    The place for career-building content and tips, and our view on social justice and inclusivity

Digital Publications and Tools

  • Technology Radar

    An opinionated guide to technology frontiers

  • Perspectives

    A publication for digital leaders

  • Digital Fluency Model

    A model for prioritizing the digital capabilities needed to navigate uncertainty

  • Decoder

    The business execs' A-Z guide to technology

All Insights

  • Articles

    Expert insights to help your business grow

  • Blogs

    Personal perspectives from ThoughtWorkers around the globe

  • Books

    Explore our extensive library

  • Podcasts

    Captivating conversations on the latest in business and tech

Go to overview
  • Application process

    What to expect as you interview with us

  • Grads and career changers

    Start your tech career on the right foot

  • Search jobs

    Find open positions in your region

  • Stay connected

    Sign up for our monthly newsletter

Go to overview
  • Conferences and Events
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • News
  • Open Source
  • Our Leaders
  • Social Change
  • Español
  • Português
  • Deutsch
  • 中文
ThoughtWorksMenu
  • Close   ✕
  • What we do
  • Who we work with
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • About
  • Contact
  • Back
  • Close   ✕
  • Go to overview
  • Engineering Culture, Delivery Mindset

    Embrace a modern approach to software development and deliver value faster

  • Experience Design and Product Capability

    Rapidly design, deliver and evolve exceptional products and experiences

  • Frictionless Operating Model

    Improve your organization's ability to respond to change

  • Intelligence-Driven Decision Making

    Leverage your data assets to unlock new sources of value

  • Partnerships

    Leveraging our network of trusted partners to amplify the outcomes we deliver for our clients

  • Platform Strategy

    Create adaptable technology platforms that move with your business strategy

  • Back
  • Close   ✕
  • Go to overview
  • Automotive
  • Cleantech, Energy and Utilities
  • Financial Services and Insurance
  • Healthcare
  • Media and Publishing
  • Not-for-profit
  • Public Sector
  • Retail and E-commerce
  • Travel and Transport
  • Back
  • Close   ✕
  • Go to overview
  • Featured

  • Technology

    An in-depth exploration of enterprise technology and engineering excellence

  • Business

    Keep up to date with the latest business and industry insights for digital leaders

  • Culture

    The place for career-building content and tips, and our view on social justice and inclusivity

  • Digital Publications and Tools

  • Technology Radar

    An opinionated guide to technology frontiers

  • Perspectives

    A publication for digital leaders

  • Digital Fluency Model

    A model for prioritizing the digital capabilities needed to navigate uncertainty

  • Decoder

    The business execs' A-Z guide to technology

  • All Insights

  • Articles

    Expert insights to help your business grow

  • Blogs

    Personal perspectives from ThoughtWorkers around the globe

  • Books

    Explore our extensive library

  • Podcasts

    Captivating conversations on the latest in business and tech

  • Back
  • Close   ✕
  • Go to overview
  • Application process

    What to expect as you interview with us

  • Grads and career changers

    Start your tech career on the right foot

  • Search jobs

    Find open positions in your region

  • Stay connected

    Sign up for our monthly newsletter

  • Back
  • Close   ✕
  • Go to overview
  • Conferences and Events
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • News
  • Open Source
  • Our Leaders
  • Social Change
Blogs
Select a topic
View all topicsClose
Technology 
Agile Project Management Cloud Continuous Delivery  Data Science & Engineering Defending the Free Internet Evolutionary Architecture Experience Design IoT Languages, Tools & Frameworks Legacy Modernization Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Microservices Platforms Security Software Testing Technology Strategy 
Business 
Financial Services Global Health Innovation Retail  Transformation 
Careers 
Career Hacks Diversity & Inclusion Social Change 
Blogs

Topics

Choose a topic
  • Technology
    Technology
  • Technology Overview
  • Agile Project Management
  • Cloud
  • Continuous Delivery
  • Data Science & Engineering
  • Defending the Free Internet
  • Evolutionary Architecture
  • Experience Design
  • IoT
  • Languages, Tools & Frameworks
  • Legacy Modernization
  • Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
  • Microservices
  • Platforms
  • Security
  • Software Testing
  • Technology Strategy
  • Business
    Business
  • Business Overview
  • Financial Services
  • Global Health
  • Innovation
  • Retail
  • Transformation
  • Careers
    Careers
  • Careers Overview
  • Career Hacks
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Social Change
TransformationBusiness

Leading a living, breathing and agile enterprise

Sunil Mundra Sunil Mundra

Published: Dec 26, 2018

Today’s leaders face a new reality thanks to the unstoppable environment of constant disruption. To face of this unprecedented challenge, global business leaders need holistic agility at the enterprise level.

Today’s VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) characterized environment forces a new perspective forward; a recognition of enterprises as agile, living systems — ones that sense, respond and adapt to changes in their environment. Their most critical components aren’t standardized machines but feeling, thinking, creative and curious people. Such systems are subject to natural evolution and necessitate high levels of agility, to stay empowered.

Re-infusing ‘life’ into enterprises

Michelle Holiday, president of Cambium Consulting asks, “ Why does a flat, networked organization now seem the better choice...?" "Why do we need to engage customers in meaningful conversation...?" The answer is a move in the direction of resilience, adaptability, and creativity. Traditional mechanistic modeling of enterprises stifles agility, making it necessary to free the enterprise and bring the business back to life.

Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), a proven model of high agility

The challenges of environments becoming highly dynamic, interconnected and unpredictable might be new in the context of business, but they are widely prevalent in life and social sciences.

Prominent examples are humans, ecology, the global macroeconomic network within a country, or group of countries, social insect colonies, and any human social group-based endeavor. These systems are better known as complex adaptive systems (CAS). And, most importantly, these systems have demonstrated a pattern of evolving: adapting and responding to change.

BusinessDictionary.com defines CAS as an “entity consisting of many diverse and autonomous components or parts (called agents) which are interrelated, interdependent, linked through many (dense) interconnections, and behave as a unified whole in learning from experience and in adjusting (not just reacting) to changes in the environment.”

CAS model
Figure 1: a high-level operating model of CAS where, self-organizing agents interact with each other, creating complex adaptive behavior. The agents receive both, positive and negative feedback, which helps them adjust their behavior.
What can enterprises infer from CAS? To better understand this, I have listed the key characteristics of Complex Adaptive System and, followed that up with how they apply within an enterprise -

CAS characteristics

  • Continuous evolution: A CAS significantly improves its ability to survive because to can adapt.
  • Autonomous and self-organizing agents: Agents have the autonomy to reorganize as they see fit can respond quickly to change.
  • Variety is a source of strength: Contradictions and uncertainty create new possibilities to evolve with and/or adapt to the environment.
  • A non-linear relationship between cause and effect: Small changes can have a surprisingly profound impact on overall behavior, or vice versa, a huge upset to the system may not affect it. Effectiveness over efficiency: Open systems rely on having rules that are simple so that they can be more effective.

Implication for enterprises

  • Enhanced agility: Be hyper-aware of your environment, so you can spot important trends quickly. And you need to be agile, so you can react.
  • Responsive structure: Your organization’s structure should support autonomous, decentralized and outcome-oriented teams.
  • Cultivate diversity: Diversity of people (gender, ethnicity, education, and experience) and thought will introduce new perspectives and deliver greater value.
  • Shorter feedback loops: Feedback loops across the enterprise need to be as short, frequent and across every level
  • Experiment with lever points: Actions which are inexpensive but lead to significant positive outcomes are called lever points. They can be identified through experimentation or learned based on patterns of empirical evidence.
  • Prioritize effectiveness over efficiency: Your culture needs to be learning and knowledge-driven so your employees can effectively adapt and respond to the fast-changing environment.

The new paradigm of leadership

But it’s not just an organization that needs to change. The characteristics of good leadership are changing too. Kevin Cashman, the author, speaker and pioneer in executive development talks of the five dimensions that are crucial for agile leaders -
  • Mental Agility: thinking critically to penetrate complex problems
  • People Agility: understanding and relating to other people, as well as tough situations, to harness and multiply collective performance
  • Change Agility: enjoying experimentation, being curious and effectively dealing with the discomfort of change
  • Results Agility: delivering results in first-time situations by inspiring teams and exhibiting a presence that builds confidence in themselves and others
  • Self-awareness: being reflective, knowing themselves well, understanding their capabilities and being aware of their impact on others
In effect, leadership traits needed to lead the 21st-century enterprise will have to be very different. If you’re interested in learning more about the concepts and ideas of leading in a vastly dynamic agile world, do download a complimentary chapter from my recently published book.

A version of this article has appeared in YourStory.

Business Hub

Business and industry insights for digital leaders.

Explore
Related blogs
Transformation

Do You Have What It Takes To Transform?

Gary O'Brien
Learn more
Technology Strategy

Value-Driven Digital Business

David Robinson
Jim Highsmith
Learn more
Technology Strategy

The Quick and the Dead: Leadership in the Age of Digital Complexity

Chris Murphy
Guo Xiao
Learn more
  • What we do
  • Who we work with
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • About
  • Contact

WeChat

×
QR code to ThoughtWorks China WeChat subscription account

Media and analyst relations | Privacy policy | Modern Slavery statement ThoughtWorks| Accessibility | © 2021 ThoughtWorks, Inc.