The Agility Mindset: How Reframing Flexible Working Delivers Competitive Advantage

Shows how to unlock the massive efficiency savings and productivity gains by reframing the approach to flexible working by concentrating on workforce agility.

We know that organizations don’t need the same number of workers 9-5, five days a week 52 weeks a year. We know that not all of the best talent will work when and where we want. We know that command and control Taylorism stifles innovation and creativity.

So why do we keep thinking of flexible working as a cost to the organization?

A simple mindset shift is all that is required to grasp the opportunity that smart organizations are already exploiting. Stop thinking about “flexible working” and start thinking about “workforce agility”. By creating win-win working practices you can attract the best talent by offering the flexibility they crave and secure the agile, just-in-time workforce that can get the job done.

The Agile Future Forum, a business-to-business initiative started by 22 founder members – mostly CEOS of big employers including BT, Lloyds Banking Group, Cisco, Tesco, KPMG, HM Treasury and Ford – have conducted case studies and a collated best practice from world class organisations which show that a more agile approach to flexible working not only delivers better performance but can also save between 3 and 13% of personnel costs.

The Agility Mindset blends the insights of scores of CEOs, along with the frontline experience of practising managers to create this very practical guide. Based on rigorous research, but packed with practical diagnostics and frameworks, the book shows you how to create a fit for purpose workplace in a world where only the agile will flourish.

About the Author

Fiona Cannon OBE. Fiona is the Lloyds Banking Group Diversity & Inclusion Director and the Director of the Agile Future Forum.

She has been working on the issue of agility for a number of years: Lloyds Banking Group was the first UK company in the 1990’s to introduce flexible working for all employees. She was also chair of the Employers Group on Work Life Balance which was established in 2000 to look at how employers could support flexible working for employees. Fiona was also a member of the Governments’ Work and Parents taskforce in 1999, which developed the original UK flexible working legislation. In her role at Lloyds Banking Group, Fiona has been implementing the lessons learned as a member of the Agile Future Forum.

Fiona was awarded the OBE in the 2011 New Year’s Honours List for services to equal opportunities. She has also recognised as a Working Families Pioneer by Working Families and named European Diversity and Inclusion champion in 2015.