Mental Agility in less than 20 minutes

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Enterprise Agility requires much more than the 2001 Agile values and principles or some

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of the proposals we have seen in the market called business agility.

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We have a lot more to talk about such as the three value companies, new behavioral models

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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

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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

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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

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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

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businesses that are always ready, always responsive and always innovative.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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Thanks Erich, and you for giving us the opportunity to explain all this.

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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

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and adaptability to change and help you build shared progress.

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You have been awesome today.

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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

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value when they are exposed to constant changes or high uncertainty.

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Do you want to know more about enterprise agility?

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See you soon.

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