2020 taught us one valuable lesson – when it comes to work and careers, we need to be more flexible and agile in our response to change. In a Post-Covid landscape, the must-have character trait is the readiness to survive a competitive workplace.
So how do you remain ahead in your workplace? Here are five characteristics to harness that will make you more agile at work.
You are not afraid to switch direction.
Staying agile gives you the ability to change and adapt based on what’s happening around you – whether that’s a change in your workplace needs, shifts in consumer behaviours, updates to technology and industry trends. Make time in your week to consume as much industry content as possible to keep ahead of the curve.
You understand the importance of listening.
Being agile means you activity listen to people, the trends, the markets, and react and strategise based on those findings. If you’re not listening to what’s going on in your workplace or the wider industry, you won’t be able to shift direction and meet the new needs.
You know collaboration is vital.
Something to work on is appreciating how to share knowledge with your workmates without needing to be the King or Queen of every idea, project, or task. True collaboration needs openness, vulnerability, and the enthusiasm to share ownership over ideas; an agile workplace environment breaks down the typical hierarchical power structure so that everyone is free to explore, create, experiment, and drive positive outcomes.
You’re a problem solver.
The most competent workers are also the most resilient and can quickly create solutions to roadblocks—agility in the workplace demands identifying problems and quickly solving them. They don’t get intimidated by difficulties and know its better to immediately start strategising and collaborating for a quick and effective solution than to play the blame game.
You’re a lifelong learner.
Being adaptable also requires continually keeping up and learning new skills, technologies, or strategies. One of your most invaluable assets as an agile worker is your capacity to keep developing and expanding your knowledge base, using innovative skills and information to respond to whatever comes up in real-time.
