Before we dive into our topic, let's do a quick experiment. Cross your arms as you normally would. Now, switch them so the opposite arm is on top. Feels awkward, doesn’t it? And how many of you had to glance down to figure out how to make the swap? We can experience a similar disorientation when a new process, technology, or strategy disrupts our routine. Our brains take shortcuts toward the familiar, relying on ingrained habits to guide our actions without much thought. While we can’t control every circumstance, we can control how we respond. That’s where learning agility comes in.
Agile leaders take a positive, proactive approach to tackling changes at work. And they intentionally seek out new experiences to challenge their routines and strengthen their ability to adapt. In this blog, I’ll share four best practices leaders need to build an agile mindset and lead through change.
What Is Learning Agility?
Learning agility is the skill of adapting and thriving in new or uncertain situations. Agile leaders anticipate change, embrace challenges, and evolve with their circumstances.
Change is like a powerful current—you can fight against it, let it sweep you along, or harness it to move forward. Welcoming change and using it to grow allows you to take advantage of its momentum. This is how leaders and their teams can thrive in uncertainty and drive progress.
Why Is Learning Agility an Essential Skill for Leaders?
In today’s fast-paced world where rapid technological shifts and global events constantly reshape markets, leadership can feel like navigating an obstacle course. New challenges pop up around every corner, and there isn’t a map. To stay ahead, leaders can’t rely on what they already know. They must learn quickly and leverage change to drive progress.
Leaders can’t count on tried-and-true playbooks because the challenges they face are complex and ever-changing. The most successful leaders experiment, gather insights, and adjust their approach along the way.
Learning agility equips leaders to turn the uncertainty of their world into opportunity. From rethinking outdated processes to staying ahead of the curve during industry shifts, agile leaders inspire their teams and move their organizations forward. By encouraging learning agility, businesses turn disruptions into advantages and outpace competitors stuck in the status quo.
How to Develop Learning Agility in Leaders
Given the importance of learning agility, how can HR and learning and development (L&D) professionals help grow this skill in their organization’s leaders? Start with the methods below.
Assessment
Building learning agility begins by seeing it as a skill that exists on a spectrum. Some leaders naturally absorb and apply new information, while others may need more support to develop this ability. Leadership assessments help map where your leaders fall on this continuum, offering clear insights into the steps needed to close any gaps.
Development
With insights from assessments, L&D professionals can design personalized development experiences to align with each leader’s unique starting point while stretching their capabilities.
For leaders who naturally display learning agility, this might mean creating opportunities for them to tackle complex challenges across a variety of business contexts.
For leaders who tend toward more fixed mindsets, focus on building foundational skills like hypothesis testing, rapid experimentation, and recovering from setbacks.
Talent Acquisition
Include learning agility as a screening criterion in leadership hiring and succession planning to ensure candidates who advance display this critical skill for success.
Culture
Promote a culture that values curiosity over certainty. This creates an environment where leaders feel safe sharing uncertainties, and where learning from missteps is valued just as much as getting it right the first time.
These steps lay the foundation for learning agility, but leaders need practical strategies to apply this skill. They can start with these best practices.
Best Practice #1: Lead with Emotional Regulation
Unregulated emotions can stall progress, but emotional self-awareness helps you recognize and manage your feelings effectively. And for leaders guiding teams, this skill is especially crucial for providing support and direction.
Emotional regulation doesn’t mean suppressing initial reactions to change. Instead, leaders should sit with their feelings first and build a tolerance for emotions—especially negative ones. This creates space for openness, flexibility, and trying new things.
One way leaders can do this is by pausing to notice their reaction before jumping into action. While this may seem counterintuitive when developing agility, taking time to reflect ensures their response is grounded in clear judgement, not emotional overwhelm. Then, they can better align their next steps with the outcome they want to achieve.
Other techniques leaders can use to regulate emotions include:
- Processing emotions by talking through them with someone they trust.
- Keeping a log of feelings towards change to identify patterns or warning signs.
- Practicing stress-reducing activities like breathing exercises.
By practicing these techniques, leaders achieve positive results for themselves and their teams. Leading with emotional regulation:
Creates Psychological Safety
Emotional regulation fosters a culture where team members feel secure to take risks and share concerns. As a result, they benefit from better collaboration and more innovative ideas.
Improves Decision Making Under Pressure
Leaders who manage their emotions can make clear, unbiased decisions even in tough situations. This helps maintain team focus and productivity.
Builds Resilience in the Team
Remaining calm in adversity teaches teams to handle setbacks constructively, increasing their adaptability.
Encourages Open Communication
Regulated emotions lead to better listening and response patterns, promoting honest, solution-focused discussions.
Best Practice #2: Lead with a Learning Mindset
An agile approach requires an openness to learning. Leaders who practice a learning mindset are more effective during uncertain times, as they know that good ideas can come from anywhere. This mindset helps them move through complex situations with curiosity and agility, always fine-tuning their approach and taking lessons from their experiences.
Leaders can become better learners by:
- Starting their day with questions and a desire to discover, rather than feeling pressure to have all the answers.
- Proactively seeking knowledge and embracing curiosity. For example, researching new ideas, talking to people with different viewpoints, learning about their customers, or asking thoughtful follow-up questions.
- Looking for growth opportunities and using every experience—whether a success or a setback—as a chance to develop new skills and apply those lessons in the future.
When leaders take steps to lead with learning, it:
Accelerates Skill Development
Teams are motivated to improve their skills and grow their knowledge, preparing them for rapid change.
Promotes Growth-Oriented Feedback Culture
Leaders who are open to learning set an example for accepting feedback, making improvement-focused feedback a norm for the team.
Enhances Problem-Solving Abilities
A learning-focused team is more willing to test new solutions. A team like this adapts quickly when faced with challenges.
Builds a Culture of Curiosity
A focus on learning encourages employees to seek knowledge beyond their roles. This drives proactive problem solving and cross-functional agility.
Best Practice #3: Lead with Innovation
Fostering innovation means improving current practices by embracing fresh ideas, knowledge, and methods. Sometimes, this involves refining what works; other times, it means replacing outdated approaches entirely. While innovation isn’t always about staying ahead of change, it is a powerful tool for closing the gap and keeping pace with shifting demands. Consistent innovation helps leaders strengthen their flexibility, preparing them for periods of uncertainty.
There are many ways to practice innovation. For example, testing new ideas with a focus on learning what works and what doesn’t—without fear of failure—can lead to breakthroughs.
Other ways leaders can foster innovation include:
- Regularly questioning their current methods.
- Gathering feedback and ideas from others to learn from fresh perspectives and challenge their thinking.
- Staying open to iteration and adapting through multiple phases.
Leading with innovation in the workplace:
Increases Solution-Finding Capabilities
An innovative approach helps teams explore solutions and adapt quickly to unexpected problems.
Supports a Culture of Experimentation
Teams feel safe to test new ideas without fear of failure so they can make quick adjustments when strategies change.
Drives Competitive Advantage
Innovative leaders guide teams to think ahead, allowing them to anticipate and respond faster to market changes.
Inspires Continuous Improvement
Innovation encourages teams to refine processes and methods, keeping the organization agile and prepared for change.
Best Practice #4: Lead with Creativity
Change is a marathon, not a sprint. While agility is often linked to speed, true agility is about sustaining momentum over time, not relying on a single burst of effort. This requires taking the time to explore diverse solutions and consider a wide range of ideas.
Innovation plays a key role in driving change, including creating, testing, and applying new ideas. But creativity takes these methods a step further, nudging leaders to truly think outside the box. Creativity thrives when leaders shift from reacting to daily problems to seeking inspiration and exploring ideas. For example, jotting down a full page of ideas—even if they seem impractical—before choosing one can spark the best approach. (Bonus points for using physical pen and paper to break away from the speed of typing and think even more deliberately!) Taking time to reflect often fuels more effective solutions.
Other ways to foster creativity include:
- Looking for inspiration everywhere, even in unrelated fields or activities.
- Approaching problems with an outside-the-box mindset.
- Remembering the best solution is rarely the first one you think of.
- Challenging conventional thinking and exploring alternatives before committing to a decision.
There are many positive outcomes of carving a space for inspiration at work. Leading with creativity:
Encourages Unique Perspectives
Teams feel empowered to bring diverse ideas, helping them to adapt to evolving needs and approach challenges with fresh solutions.
Enhances Flexibility in Problem Solving
A creative mindset helps leaders and teams pivot and adapt, responding effectively to unexpected situations.
Reduces Resistance to Change
Creativity encourages openness to change, making it easier for teams to embrace new methods, tools, or strategies.
Fosters Team Engagement
Creative environments are engaging. They energize employees to take active roles in evolving team dynamics and goals.
Why Learning Agility Defines Tomorrow's Leaders
In today’s business landscape, yesterday's solutions rarely solve tomorrow's challenges. Learning agility isn't just another leadership competency—it's the master key that unlocks sustainable success.
Every day, leaders face unprecedented problems, complex decisions, and opportunities that demand a fresh perspective on what’s possible. At this relentless pace, the difference between thriving and surviving often comes down to how quickly leaders can learn, adapt, and act in unknown territory.
As HR and L&D professionals, we have the power to shape learning agility across our organizations. In fact, developing learning-agile leaders is perhaps the most impactful way we can drive long-term business success. But beyond improving performance, helping leaders build true learning agility equips them with resilience to find their footing in roles that can often feel overwhelming.
When leaders embrace learning agility, they transform the demands of modern leadership into energizing opportunities for growth and impact.
Read more about Leading Through Change and discover how leadership development can build the learning-agile leaders your organization needs to thrive.
Meagan Aaron is a managing consultant with 25+ years of advising clients on their talent management strategies that scale all levels of the leadership pipeline. When she’s not leading account teams or coaching executives, she supports the community of the city of Memphis by coaching small women business owners and upskilling leaders at nonprofits.
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