Mental Agility in less than 20 minutes
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    • 00:00:00
      Enterprise Agility requires much more than the 2001 Agile values and principles or some
    • 00:00:12
      of the proposals we have seen in the market called business agility.
    • 00:00:18
      We have a lot more to talk about such as the three value companies, new behavioral models
    • 00:00:25
      for organizations exposed to accelerated change or what we call neuroxprofiles.
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      This is part of the Enterprise Agility ways of thinking.
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      These ways of thinking provides the foundation for the organization and includes ways of
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      working, ways of structuring, ways of responding, ways of interacting and finally ways of thinking.
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      Today we're going to focus on one of the most important components of Enterprise Agility.
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      I'm Erich R. Bühler and today I wanted to tell you more about how our ideas are changing
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      the world of organizations.
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      Companies today are exposed to much more uncertainty and a greater number of market
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      disruption that they were 10 or 15 years ago.
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      This has led to the development of new approaches that allow companies to be more flexible and
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      resilient when exposed to exponential or accelerated change.
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      When I started writing my book in 2016, it struck me that none of the existing models
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      took into account that successful organizations need people who are extremely mentally flexible
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      and that is an undeniable truth.
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      No matter how great the framework, techniques or practices a company uses, if people in the
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      organization are not mentally flexible, they can't quickly adapt to rapid change and that's
    • 00:02:04
      going to impact the way obviously that they make decisions.
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      Being mentally flexible also means that these people can better handle their emotions when
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      faced with a change or a surprising new situation.
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      We will talk more about this in following videos about the impact of market disruptions
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      on cortisol levels in the brain and how that can affect the way we evaluate situations.
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      We know that the less mentally flexible a person is, the more they are affected by an
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      unexpected situation.
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      That also means that it is harder for them to manage their emotions, the less emotional
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      management you have, the lower the quality of decisions and the fewer perspectives you
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      will be able to evaluate.
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      So how can you make sure that your company has more mentally flexible employees?
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      And if mental agility is ultimately the most important thing, why are not there are framework
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      or practices that consider increasing mental agility or what science called neuroplasticity
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      as a critical part of their structures?
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      From my point of view, companies in which their employees have higher levels of neuroplasticity
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      will have better conditions to be successful.
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      Not only will they be able to produce better products, but they would also make better
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      decisions and achieve higher levels of organizational health.
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      And this is because the interaction between people will be healthier.
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      At Enterprise Agility University, we call this concept mental agility and it is a fundamental
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      part of enterprise agility.
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      An organization whose employees don't have a high level of mental agility cannot achieve
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      the three outcomes of enterprise agility.
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      They are to be always ready, always responsive and always innovative.
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      So once you understand that mental agility is the foundation of any successful organization,
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      you need to put them into a model and obviously actionable practices.
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      Today I want to share with you one of the models I created between 2016 and 2017 that
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      helped drive sustainable change in many organizations around the world.
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      This model looks at enterprise agility as five different types of dimensions that are
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      interwoven.
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      Most importantly, these five types or dimensions of agility somehow allow you to look at organizations
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      from different perspectives.
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      It's like putting on different glasses to see situations.
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      For example, when you put the mental agility glasses, you will focus on anything that can
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      increase the neuroplasticity of what we call mental agility.
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      And obviously that could impact employees and how they adapt to your change initiative.
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      However, if we talk about, for example, social agility, you will focus on anything that increases
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      the connection between people so that the flow of information between them can be more
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      fluid.
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      You can see that enterprise agility has different types of agility or dimensions.
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      However, I found that outcomes agility is the one that is harder for people to understand.
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      Outcomes agility is a very specific dimension which is basically focused on the strategy
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      and which is explicitly interconnected to leadership.
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      It's clear that organizations cannot change strategy all the time.
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      Or at least that is what we believe so far.
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      In a world where things change every week or every day, leaders must be able to create
    • 00:05:54
      strategies in response to those markets and they must be able to realign everyone with
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      the new strategy.
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      And this is true even if everything is constantly changing.
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      Outcomes agility focuses on this constant adaptation of the strategy and its connection
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      between leadership, tactics and the strategic realignment of the organization with the new
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      demands of markets.
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      This makes it possible to create companies that are always ready, always responsive
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      and always innovative.
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      And remember again, these are the three outcomes of enterprise agility.
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      At the bottom is mental agility which supports all the other types of agility.
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      Usually, organization focus on the top which is where the chocolate is or what we call
    • 00:06:51
      technical agility.
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      Technical agility relates to software oriented frameworks and processes and this is strictly
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      connected to classic agility.
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      We saw this in the previous video.
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      Many times companies focus so much on having that chocolate very soft and appetizing that
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      they end up burning the base of the cake which is mental agility.
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      In this video, we will talk about mental agility, what it is, how you can measure it and the
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      most important thing which is to understand how you can improve mental agility in your
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      organization.
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      We will talk about the other dimensions of agility in the following videos and today
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      I wanted to introduce two of my best friends, Andrew, the Agile coach and Hannah the HR.
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      They will be helping me to explain the ideas behind mental agility and how to measure it.
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      Thank you Erich.
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      I hope you folks enjoy the time with Andrew and me.
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      We are going to learn great things about mental agility today.
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      When things are changing exponentially, a new approach is needed to enable people to
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      deal with new situations comfortably and sustainably.
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      As Erich explained, enterprise agility has three universal outcomes that enable building
    • 00:08:19
      businesses that are always ready, always responsive and always innovative.
    • 00:08:26
      Let's learn how mental agility relates to those outcomes and how it can help you.
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      Mental agility indicates how flexible a person is when faced with new situations, even if
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      they may cause stress.
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      A person with a high level of mental agility can evaluate a situation more comprehensively,
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      even if he or she's under a lot of stress.
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      This means that he or she's better able to accept and evaluate the facts, perspectives,
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      emotions and values from the views of the other person or team and feel them as one's
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      own.
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      Mental agility refers to reframing challenges to find new solutions even during stressful
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      times.
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      We know that when we're stressed, cortisol in the brain increases, which decreases
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      mental agility.
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      This causes us to feel less empathy for others or to be unable to put ourselves in the perspective
    • 00:09:23
      of the other person.
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      This puts us in defense instead of cooperation mode.
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      Imagine an event where two people perceive different facts about the same situation and
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      also have different perspectives, emotions and personal values.
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      If these two have low levels of mental agility, it'll be difficult for them to reach agreement
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      and cooperate.
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      And that's critical, because with low levels of mental agility, companies deliver less
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      innovation and business value to the customer, company and workforce well-being.
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      It also makes it hard for organizations to be always ready, always responsive and always
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      innovative.
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      Do you remember the cake where mental agility was at the bottom?
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      This means that mental agility impacts shared progress and it is the foundation for all
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      other types of agility.
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      Whatever happens in your brain will affect how you communicate and connect with others
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      or social agility.
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      How flexible you're in adapting and implementing your strategy or outcomes agility, and how
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      well it's accepted by employees.
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      Also, how you design the processes and roles to support those people or structural agility.
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      And how you develop software and products or technical agility.
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      To measure mental agility, we'll show you a model called the Four Stages of Awareness
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      of Mental Agility, developed by Erich R. Bühler.
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      We will help you think about how to create metrics to evaluate levels of mental agility
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      in your company.
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      These four stages represent the path people can take when they want to increase their
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      mental agility and also enables leaders and change consultant to plan for change adaptation,
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      stress management and resiliency skills.
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      It also makes us see that we are all similar when we embark on the conscious path to reframing
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      situations and mental agility.
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      Higher levels of mental agility is crucial for shared progress.
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      The higher they're in the model, the more they'll be exercising their mental agility.
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      For example, a group of individuals who are unable to see facts, perspectives, emotions
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      or values from another person's or team's point of view is considered the lowest level
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      of mental agility.
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      People who are at this stage of their journey may have higher levels of conflict and lower
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      levels of innovation and value delivered to the client and company.
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      This in turn leads to lower levels of workforce well-being.
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      In contrast, an individual or team that can analyze facts from the point of view of another
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      person or group is more flexible than the former team.
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      However, it's less flexible than a group that can evaluate facts and perspectives from
    • 00:12:20
      another team's point of view.
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      At the next stage, emotions, people develop a certain degree of empathy for others.
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      This is an important step because it also means a greater maturity of the person or
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      group in dealing with emotions.
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      The highest level of mental agility is reached when people are able to evaluate facts and
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      perspectives and feel the emotions of others as their own or empathy and temporarily embrace
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      others' values or reframing.
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      Keep in mind that if the person feels fear, feels that she's losing prestige or power,
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      this increases the cortisol level and causes the person to begin to see fewer perspectives,
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      or in other words, to lose the ability to reframing.
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      The four stages of awareness of mental agility also gives recommendations for those who want
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      to improve their mental agility.
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      The area on the left is called lead myself and is the foundation for improving self-awareness.
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      The area on the right is called lead others and offers the basis for greater mental agility
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      and empathy towards others.
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      I'm aware of the exact moment when my brain activates my facts to filter the situation
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      and create my own subjective reality.
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      I know how to adjust my mindset to go beyond my facts.
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      Imagine you're having a conversation with someone who's observing a situation with different
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      facts than you're seeing.
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      In the first moments of that conversation, your facts will dominate your brain, leaving
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      little room to clearly evaluate the other person's facts.
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      Therefore, it's important that you become aware of the exact moment when your facts begin
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      to filter the situation and create your subjective reality.
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      When you become aware of this, you can explicitly change your mental processes and adjust your
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      thinking to go beyond your facts.
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      You can use strategies to accomplish this, and we have developed tools and training that
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      will show you how to achieve a new understanding of your mind.
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      This will help you evaluate more information, see different facts, adapt better to an exponential
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      world, and make better decisions.
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      The same is true for perspectives, emotions, and values.
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      The emotion stage prepares you to experience the feelings of others while we consider values
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      the highest level of mental agility.
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      When you can temporarily take on another person's values as if they were your own, we say you're
    • 00:15:16
      reframing.
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      And this is crucial to build shared progress.
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      To sum up, the left area focuses on increasing mental agility with respect to self-knowledge
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      and self-awareness.
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      Let's talk now about the right side of the four stages of awareness of mental agility.
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      I'm aware that your brain filters the situation with your facts to create your subjective
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      reality.
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      I realize that your view is as real as mine.
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      I know how to adjust my mindset to go beyond my facts.
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      This area focuses on increasing mental agility and empathy with respect to others.
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      It makes us see that we are all similar when we embark on the conscious path of building
    • 00:16:00
      a more flexible and resilient mind.
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      It also helps to become aware of the critical moment when you begin to understand where
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      the other person stands regarding their path to mental agility.
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      This helps you adjust your mindset, expectations, behaviors, and your communication strategy
    • 00:16:18
      to support others and see that the other person's point of view is as real as your own.
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      Each person requires their own time, space, and needs when it comes to improving their
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      mental agility and start focusing on mutual benefits and shared progress.
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      If you understand this, you can also become aware of your blind spots and focus on the
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      way others evaluate situations.
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      Your superpowers are about adjusting your mindset to increase your empathy and understanding
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      of the other individual so that you can lead others based on the other person's needs.
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      This will improve your leadership skills and allow for the magnification of your communication
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      beyond the empathic level.
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      Something crucial in tri-value companies is necessary to build shared progress.
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      In summary, the stages on the right make it possible to create a common ground that allows
    • 00:17:07
      others to develop and build a collective capacity of understanding that enables everyone in the
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      company to have higher levels of mental agility when facing accelerated change.
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      I imagine you're wondering how to build indicators for mental agility.
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      One way is to use each of the stages and evaluate them independently.
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      For example, the ease with which a team or an individual can evaluate another person's
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      facts using a scale of 0 to 4 or the range you prefer, then you could do the same with
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      perspectives, emotions, and values.
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      Another option is to combine these four stages in a single metric.
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      The higher the score, the closer you're to the value stage or reframing.
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      The lower the score, the closer you're to the facts level, which translates into less
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      mental agility.
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      You can also use other approaches, such as measuring people's adaptability to change,
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      the level of conflict when situations change unexpectedly, etc.
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      We call it changeability in enterprise agility.
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      We'll measure it indirectly, such as the time it takes to achieve the same innovation
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      or business value they'd before the disruption.
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      You can measure mental agility in a scientific way, and this is something you can consider
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      as well.
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      Let's look at some examples of what indicators you can use to measure mental agility.
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      Measure the four stages of mental agility independently.
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      Find one indicator for each stage.
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      Evaluate the time to adapt to the new reality.
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      Use other ways to measure mental agility.
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      We hope you found it useful.
    • 00:18:50
      Thanks Erich, and you for giving us the opportunity to explain all this.
    • 00:18:55
      Remember that mental agility isn't a score, but an approach that allows us to make better
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      decisions when helping people, teams, and companies that require greater resilience
    • 00:19:04
      and adaptability to change and help you build shared progress.
    • 00:19:09
      You have been awesome today.
    • 00:19:12
      We have a lot to learn in the next chapters, such as the NeuroX profiles to understand
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      how neurocapabilities can help people when they are exposed to exponential or accelerated
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      change, the three-value companies, which is a new conception of how organizations build
    • 00:19:30
      value when they are exposed to constant changes or high uncertainty.
    • 00:19:35
      Do you want to know more about enterprise agility?
    • 00:19:39
      See you soon.

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