The essence of RA is in building conscious leadership and conscious organizations. RA structures, systems and measures are both intentional and emergent. This results in every agent in the organization, be it a front-line associate, a temp, a manager, a vice president or global CEO to become critical systemic facilitators. In the same way as every organ in your body is sensing and adapting in relation to the whole. A healthy organization is doing this in its environment from the outside-in, and each individual, team, group, and function is doing this within, inside-out with requisite agility.

Critical facilitators can observe their own thinking structures in relation to themselves and others. Combined with RA work designs, this results in a higher level of collaborative intelligence.

The problem lies in the fact that organizations and teams are not certain at which agility level they currently are and at which agility domains they fail. RA provides you with the right methods and tools for evaluating of the of level of your organization agility.

It is important to understand the existing form of an organization along with its inherent limitation to imbibe the changes required to understand Requisite agility. A heavily governed process, evolved through decades of implementation, is sometimes difficult to alter abruptly. In order to absorb and adjust to a change an organization the environment should be receptive. This implies that the stakeholders need to be involved from inception and engaged throughout the transition process to seamlessly facilitate the shift.

Agility is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is instrumental in enhancing the process capability to efficiently manage the environmental challenges. On the other hand, it can be held responsible for the generation of multiple challenges that create operational bottlenecks to restrict the operations of an organization.

RA has a strong correlation between the current state, the desired future, and the quantum change required to implement the transition. Excessive agility derived at the cost of process fragmentation might lead to formidable implications. RA helps to implement a strategy that balances the desired flexibility under existing constraints. RA helps you plan your transition meretriciously and seamlessly executed to reap the desired results.

REQUISITE AGILITY is intentional and emergent: Taking risks and up upfront costs of change can be intentional, with confidence that applied consciously, disorder and uncertainty will break the inertia of old ways of thinking and working.

RECKLESS AGILITY consists of hyperactivity and panic. Following fashionable trends, forcing through one-size-fits-all solutions pushing agility as the panacea of all ills may appear to be logical and organized on the surface, but if it is the wrong change, it will cause fragility and cost dearly in the end.

Change is not only intentional; it is also emergent. This is why continuous sensing and sense-making need to be built into the capacity of the organization, rather than an event-based interruption.

Requisite Agility Cluster is supported by private and public stakeholders to convene and profile the RA Cluster. Our purpose is to promote the RA Cluster's agenda of informed design of healthy and effective organizations that match the complexity and dynamism of today’s turbulent environment. We live by our values of being inclusive, collaborative and globally focused, enabling novel partnerships and cohesion.

RA consultants put themselves in the position of their clients, they build single, double and triple-loop learning into their own practice so they are leading by example as they facilitate learning and growth with their clients. RA Consultants include themselves as actors in our understanding of the system. Requisite Agility undertakes triple loop learning about its own practice. RA consultants adapt and adopt approaches based on the requisite complexity and readiness of the client. The RA consultant questions critically, transcends the perspectives present and keeps differences and tensions on the table productively for as long as possible, to guide a group to arrive at more and more nuanced choices.

If an organization needs the ability to not only survive but also thrive on fast paced change, it needs to have the primary capabilities of sensing, adapting and responding to the changing business environment. A machine by definition is lifeless and therefore cannot have the capabilities to sense, adapt and respond. Hence it is necessary to infuse life into organizations by modelling them using the principles of CAS, so that they can embrace change.

Agile is an established set of frameworks, principles and practices, originally designed for software development based on TPS, the Toyota Production System. In recent years Agile has been expanded to applications in SysOps and Manufacturing.

There are many variations of Agile. Some are genuine advances on the original concepts and tools developed out of the Agile Manifesto of 2001. Sadly, many approaches being offered as Agile are either a rebranding and wordsmithing of original concepts or worse, waterfall dressed up in an agile dress.Agile is just one of many inputs into the agility of an organisation.

There are many variations of Agile. Some are genuine advances on the original concepts and tools developed out of the Agile Manifesto of 2001. Sadly, many approaches being offered as Agile are either a rebranding and wordsmithing of original concepts or worse, waterfall dressed up in an agile dress.Agile is just one of many inputs into the agility of an organisation.

The AGILITY that an organisation depends on the specific cultural context, leadership readiness and needs.

No two areas have exactly the same need for agility. Some environments are designed for rapid processing of standardised products and services. Others require a continuous evolution of design. Some aspects of work are operational or tactical while others are strategic. Taking a one size fits all approach to scaling agility locks people in different areas into a predefined set of procedures and practices. Agility in Marketing is different from the agility required in a software development or manufacturing environment.

Leaders have a disproportionately high influence on the level of agility of an enterprise. Leaders need to have the Agile mindset and reflect that in their behaviours. This is important not only for influencing enterprise level outcomes, but also because they are seen as role models by everyone in the organization. Moreover, leaders need to work closely with people across the enterprise to bring out the best in them. In a VUCA environment, leaders must themselves demonstrate agility if they are to adapt to change and also enable people across the enterprise to do so.

Personal traits have a huge influence on the level of leaders’ agility. For mental agility, leaders need to be able to expand their mental models, for people agility they need a high level of emotional intelligence, and for change agility leaders must have creativity, courage and resilience. Besides these traits self-awareness, a passion for learning and being aware of one's cognitive biases are crucial for leaders to become enablers of agility.

Leaders need to realize that the traditional leadership style based on directing and controlling is a major impediment to agility. To enhance and sustain agility across the enterprise, leaders need to guide, facilitate, enable and mentor people and teams. Recognizing the need for this shift and a strong intrinsic desire to learn and change are fundamental towards developing the personal traits which are enablers for agility. Self-awareness, reflection, seeking feedback and having a coach/mentor can go a long way in developing the desired personal traits.

Most existing organizations, including our corporations, endure some degree of bureaucracy – where the focus is more on the internal pathologies of their workers, such as procedures and processes that fit some quirky supervisor, and less on meeting the needs of their customers. Most organizations have developed a tolerance for certain shadows or dark behaviors that detract from their being as effective and vital as they might be as enterprises and workplaces. People who work have become resigned to this less-than-fully-functional state as “the best they can do under the circumstances,” a condition that gives rise to mediocrity and low morale.

Maximum value for an organization is not accomplished through a prescribed set of mechanics and practices or the construction of a facade designed to enhance "culture.” Instead, these constructs exist only to support the stakeholders who are truly responsible for both creating and consuming value. While others seek to improve results by focusing change efforts on mechanics or crafting “culture facades,” RA helps business to not only survive but thrive but helps it to adapt and transform what it offers, how it produces, how it operates, how it sells, and how it engages others. It integrates awareness with intuition, orientation, and improvisation so that individuals and collectives may benefit from uncertainty, disorder, and the unknown. RA helps people and organization leveraging the approach, their collective wisdom and knowledge.

Once the process of becoming purposeful has begun and intentional action has been implemented, the organization’s values and core ideologies need to be re-examined in light of this new purpose. These core ideals might change constantly as the organization continues to become more and more purposeful. Since people and organizations can only strive for total purpose, the process of becoming more and more purposeful is integrated into the “way of life” for the organization; this is part of what a purpose of Organization is – a group of people who are constantly examining their own individual and collective purpose.

Organisations being Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), change should be enabled and facilitated rather than being directed and managed, considering the emergent behaviours and outcomes. People across the organization must get an opportunity to be heard in defining the ‘why’ of the change, and should be empowered to discover and drive the ‘how’ of the change.

The question ‘what’s in it for me?’ must be answered for all who are influencing and/or being influenced by the change. People must have access to forums where they can express their fears and concerns, and these must be addressed through continuous direct and indirect communication by the leaders.

Leaders must become role models for change. It is often observed that leaders expect other people to change while they continue with their old mindset and behaviours. This is a guaranteed recipe for disaster for any change to sustain.

The Conscious Organization is not an end state where every worker is “certified” self-actualized, transcended or enlightened, where each and every element of the company, division, bureau, agency or institution is spotlessly cleaned of any residual dysfunction. The Conscious Organization is one that is continually examining itself, committed to becoming as self-aware and responsible as it can at any given time in its life. It purposely creates a very low tolerance for dysfunction. It possesses the collective will to be vigilant about unresolved issues that might fester under the surface of awareness or otherwise go unnoticed like they do in so many organizations today.

The nature and rate of change of your environment (ΔE) how you work, think and organized determines how agile you are (ΔO). We have ways of assessing what is Requisite.

We have ways of measuring how close to RA you already are based on: ΔO ≥ ΔE

This understanding allows for a wide range of approaches for improving the situation.

Interventions and applied solutions that best address a deficit or excess agility (fragility).

People have a natural affinity with work, whose nature and complexity is in line with their competences and capability. When this inclination does not match the challenges of the work, the person makes poor decisions, misapplies their judgment, and fails to meet the requirements of the role and the expectations of the others.

Organizations shall be as flat as possible. But not flatter. There are actual differences in the complexity of work that need to be considered. Each level of work complexity builds on and adds true value to the previous one. Each comes with its own, unique logic ¬– a system of values and assumptions specific to that level. Requisite Agility appreciates these differences and takes them into account in designing the agile enterprise.

Organizations exist to align human endeavor towards common purpose and goals. This calls for mutually embraced values, unifying principles and policies, common understanding of the strategic context, and clear accountabilities as to who is expected to do what. When requisite managerial leadership is lacking, the efforts will be scattered and desired outcomes not achieved.

Managerial leadership does not, however, imply top-down, directive command and control. It should be about nurturing conducive culture, exhibiting the organization’s values, providing proper context, and facilitating work so that the team’s expected performance and results are achieved. When this scaffolding is properly in place, people are motivated to work in maximum autonomy to their fullest potential. If the reins are too tight, their initiative and innovation are stifled.

People attend Reckless agility conferences and agile for sale conferences which are nothing but using buzzwords. Those conferences are nothing but story telling conferences. RA conferences will be real conferences where people come and learn, transcend and find new ways to make their organisations efficient. They are part of the RA convergence. Which other conference combines all the disciplines together I.e. culture, lean, agile, RO, agile, management cybernetics etc.? Each of these consultancies has reached the limit of what their individual specialty can provide.