Strategic Agility Tan Sri Datuk Dr Rafiah Salim Director, NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development

Strategic Agility  Strategic agility is the ability to think and act differently  Strategic agility is the ability to react quickly to changes in the external environment, or marketplace/situations in order to avoid disruptive and competitive threat.

Two major forces for Strategic Agility: Speed and Change

Key Enabling Capabilities of Strategic Agility  Strategic sensitivity : both the sharpness of perception and the intensity of awareness and attention  Leadership unity : the ability of the top team to make bold decisions –fast, without being bogged in “win- lose” politics at the top.  Resource movement : the internal capability to reconfigure business systems and redeploy resources rapidly,

Key enablers for Strategic agility Strategic Sensitivity Clear strategy process Strategic alertness/sharpness Internal dialogue/buy-in Resource Mobilisation Dynamic resource allocation Mobilising people Modular structure and processes Leadership Unity Mutual benefit and dependency Working together as a team Adaptive leadership style

Strategic Sensitivity  Superior information, strong insight and good judgment  Active and purposeful dialogue with key stakeholders  The more open, the more breakthrough ideas and well informed judgments  People of different sensitivities, areas of expertise, cultural origins, age, gender and types of intelligence need to be brought together in a structured purposeful dialogue  Expressing difference or dissent in a corporate hierarchy is difficult yet essential to strategic sensitivity

Leadership Unity  Organizational interdependency allows for a shared Strategic agenda  All top members become deeply dependent on each other. They become interdependent contributors to an integrated corporate strategy  Senior executives need to become comfortable with direct informal dialogue. Taking time to share each other’s personal values and drivers strengthens the basis for dialogue  Need for adaptive leadership – work of energizing, empowering and enabling teams to rapidly deliver value in a continually changing environment  In situations of transformation or change, leaders should provide a foundation for collective work

Resource Mobilisation  The ability to rapidly deploy resources in a fast- developing strategic situation is critical  Need to decouple strategic business units from operating business units  A need to quickly mobilise people and not be hindered by bureaucracy  Need to move individuals out of comfort zones  Modularise the processes and structure

The Results Achieved  Simplified Internal Processes for speed and efficiency  Removal of 50% redundant Rules and Procedures and automated processes  Used Technology for Productivity  Promote electronic documents and Illegalized hard copies  Consistent Best Practices Across UN Offices  Standardization of rules across the Globe  Improved HR Recruitment Process  Reduced recruitment from 1 year to 3 months  System is used till today  Introduced competency model  Training based on the model to ensure standards

Learnings  Could not totally empower the manager  UN over audited over sighted – people are scared to make mistakes  Needed longer time to change the culture  Gender parity – policies and implementation done well, nevertheless there was an increment but not 50%  Goal unrealistic, no talent pool to support  Awareness of the importance of gender diversity

Thinking strategically, acting fast and driving change What it took to make things happen:  Being sensitive and understanding the impact of change  Collective Commitment and Discipline in:  Working of a top team  Courageous leader  Building organizational infrastructure (people, structure and processes) that can be reconfigured fast

Embarking on the next Strategic Challenge!  Today my Agency under the Ministry of Women has been given the responsibility to drive the gender diversity agenda on boards of public listed companies:  30% women representation on boards and decision making positions of Malaysian public listed companies  Achieve target by 2016

Sir Winston Churchill , English statesman However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. strategy

THANK YOU