15
AGILE THINKING
AND AGILE PRACTICE
03
Agility impacts the entire organization. However, there can be a strong disparity across the organization in terms of how agility is viewed, as shown by the more detailed analysis of the index results of various management levels: agile thinking at executive level does not necessarily mean the organization is an agile performer at an operational level.
Despite increased company efforts to achieve higher agility throughout the last years, overall agility scores have declined from 2017 to 2019 by ~4% across all industries. One reason for the unsatisfying development of agility since 2017 might be the lack of awareness among the leadership. As in 2017, C-level executives surveyed in the second Agile Performer Index rated their own company’s agility higher than middle managers. However, the gap decreased by 50% over the last two years, suggesting that top management views on agility are becoming more realistic.
In support of the earlier finding regarding agility and management learning, this increasingly realistic view suggests that top management is starting to grasp the full complexity and amount of effort required to achieve higher agility.
DIFFERENCES IN AGILITY PERCEPTION BETWEEN MANAGEMENT LEVELS
Top Management
Middle Management
-10
-5