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Agile Balance – What it is… What it does… How to get it, part 2 of 2

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As in nature, Agile Balance requires an organic inside out commitment to stay on course. That’s why I always suggest planting my The Four Commitment QuestionsTM deeply to keep every Jack and Jill on plan, on target and in engaged collaboration. The Four Commitment QuestionsTM (What Can I Do More of, Less of, Start and Stop?) become part of the bedrock to insure commitment to the organization’s vision remains consistent and strong.

Once rooted into an organization’s culture, The Four Commitment QuestionsTM transform the workplace. Based on more than 20 years of research from The Leadership Practices InventoryTM (LPI) created by colleagues Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, these simple, yet effective questions take common sense and turn it into common practice allowing Agile Balance to flourish.

With Agile Balance, the individual and organizational benefits are plentiful:

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About the Author

Robert Thompson is the author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable. To learn more about Agile BalanceTM, contact Robert at [email protected], follow him on Twitter @RobertHThompson or subscribe to his Leadership Path newsletter at www.leaderinsideout.com.

Want to learn more about Robert Thompson and The Offsite? Listen to the StrategyDriven Podcast interview during which Robert shares with us his insights on the unique leadership challenges associated with today’s business environment.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:01 — 42.6MB)

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Agile Balance – What it is… What it does… How to get it, part 1 of 2

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Once upon a time, Jack led Jill up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Subsequently, they found the slope a bit slippery. There was a bit of a spill. After that crown-breaking calamity, Jack vowed to become so nimble that he could easily jump over any candlestick, lit or unlit.

Okay, so that’s not quite how the children’s storybook tells it. But, hopefully, like any good leader, Jack, learned from experience. Bouncing back from the fall, he was exposed to “Agile BalanceTM.” (Jill was quick to follow).

What is Agile Balance? Agile is defined as nimble or mentally quick. Balance is defined as steady, maintaining equilibrium or poise. So, Agile Balance might be defined as someone or something that is nimble, quick, steady and self-assured.

But that’s just the start.

When we peer into nature, perhaps viewing the plants and trees on the hill that Jack and Jill fell from, we won’t see a perfect moment of balance. We see Agile Balance. There is no stasis in nature. Change is constant and everywhere. Plants and animals are growing, waning or dying.

That’s the rhythm to life. And that’s the rhythm to great success, both organizationally and personally. That’s Agile Balance. There is no stasis in individuals or organizations. Whether growing, waning or dying, we change each day. And it’s our choice whether the struggle from that process makes us stronger, or nudges us along as we slip slide down the slope.

As they meet on the garden path in my book The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable, guru/gardener Sam Arthur responds that he is “perfect” when Gwen Kelly asks the polite question, “How are you”. I’ve found that every reader defines Sam’s comment about “perfect” differently. Is it possible that Sam is talking about Agile Balance?

When thinking of Agile Balance, a few of the words that spring to mind are: strength, flexibility, speed, endurance and grace. These are just a few of the qualities everyone should seek and embrace as they reach for the results they desire around performance, productivity and profits.

Let’s take a deeper look at these qualities.

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About the Author

Robert Thompson is the author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable. To learn more about Agile BalanceTM, contact Robert at [email protected], follow him on Twitter @RobertHThompson or subscribe to his Leadership Path newsletter at www.leaderinsideout.com.

Want to learn more about Robert Thompson and The Offsite? Listen to the StrategyDriven Podcast interview during which Robert shares with us his insights on the unique leadership challenges associated with today’s business environment.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:01 — 42.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 1 – An Interview with Robert Thompson, author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable

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StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 1 – An Interview with Robert Thompson, author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable explores some of the unique leadership challenges associated with today’s business environment. During our discussion, Robert Thompson, author of The Offsite and founder of Applied Performance, a leadership and personal communications services company, shares with us his insights regarding:

  • the five principles of the Leadership Challenge
  • the differences between management and leadership
  • whether leaders are born or developed
  • the four questions executives and managers should ask of themselves to further develop their leadership abilities

Additional Information

Complimenting the tremendous insights Robert shares in The Offsite and this special edition podcast, are the additional Leadership Challenge materials and resources found on his website, Leader Inside Out (www.LeaderInsideOut.com).

About the Author

Robert Thompson, author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable, is the founder of Applied Performance, a leadership and personal communications services company for entry-level through chief executive officers. For the past 25 years, he has worked with a distinguished group of clients that include AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Sony, and Sun Microsystems. To read Robert’s full biography, click here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (42.6MB)

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