StrategicAgility

Tan Sri Datuk Dr Rafiah SalimDirector, NAM Institute for the Empowerment of WomenMinistry of Women, Family and Community Development

Strategic Agility

Strategic agility is the ability to think and act differently

Strategic agility is the ability to react quickly to changes in the external environment, or marketplace/situations in order to avoid disruptive and competitive threat.

Two major forces for Strategic Agility:

Speed and Change

Key Enabling Capabilities of Strategic Agility

Strategic sensitivity : both the sharpness of perception and the intensity of awareness and attention

Leadership unity : the ability of the top team to make bold decisions –fast, without being bogged in “win-lose” politics at the top.

Resource movement : the internal capability to reconfigure business systems and redeploy resources rapidly,

Key enablers for Strategic agility

Strategic Sensitivity• Clear strategy process• Strategic

alertness/sharpness• Internal dialogue/buy-in

Resource Mobilisation• Dynamic resource

allocation• Mobilising people• Modular structure and

processes

Leadership Unity• Mutual benefit and

dependency• Working together as a

team• Adaptive leadership style

Strategic Sensitivity

Superior information, strong insight and good judgment Active and purposeful dialogue with key stakeholders

The more open, the more breakthrough ideas and well informed judgments

People of different sensitivities, areas of expertise, cultural origins, age, gender and types of intelligence need to be brought together in a structured purposeful dialogue

Expressing difference or dissent in a corporate hierarchy is difficult yet essential to strategic sensitivity

Leadership Unity

Organizational interdependency allows for a shared Strategic agenda All top members become deeply dependent on each other. They

become interdependent contributors to an integrated corporate strategy

Senior executives need to become comfortable with direct informal dialogue. Taking time to share each other’s personal values and drivers strengthens the basis for dialogue

Need for adaptive leadership – work of energizing, empowering and enabling teams to rapidly deliver value in a continually changing environment

In situations of transformation or change, leaders should provide a foundation for collective work

Resource Mobilisation

The ability to rapidly deploy resources in a fast-developing strategic situation is critical

Need to decouple strategic business units from operating business units

A need to quickly mobilise people and not be hindered by bureaucracy

Need to move individuals out of comfort zones Modularise the processes and structure

The Results Achieved

Simplified Internal Processes for speed and efficiency Removal of 50% redundant Rules and Procedures and

automated processes Used Technology for Productivity

Promote electronic documents and Illegalized hard copies Consistent Best Practices Across UN Offices

Standardization of rules across the Globe Improved HR Recruitment Process

Reduced recruitment from 1 year to 3 months System is used till today

Introduced competency model Training based on the model to ensure standards

Learnings

Could not totally empower the manager

UN over audited over sighted – people are scared to make mistakes

Needed longer time to change the culture

Gender parity – policies and implementation done well, nevertheless there was an increment but not 50%

Goal unrealistic, no talent pool to support

Awareness of the importance of gender diversity

Thinking strategically, acting fast and driving change

What it took to make things happen:

Being sensitive and understanding the impact of change

Collective Commitment and Discipline in: Working of a top team Courageous leader

Building organizational infrastructure (people, structure and processes) that can be reconfigured fast

Embarking on the next Strategic Challenge!

Today my Agency under the Ministry of Women has been given the responsibility to drive the gender diversity agenda on boards of public listed companies:

30% women representation on boards and decision making positions of Malaysian public listed companies

Achieve target by 2016

Sir Winston Churchill 1874-1965, English statesman

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.

THANK YOU