What is an Agile Mindset? Attributes of Personal Agility

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What is an Agile Mindset? Attributes of Personal Agility

Lately we read a lot about organizational agility. To make organizations agile, we need agile people. An agile mind-set accepts everything as lessons, adjusts actions according to feedback or requirement (i.e. adaptiveness), proceeds toward desired outcomes, and works for continuous improvement.
A person or individual with an agile mind attacks his work with a positive attitude, provides and receives suggestions to overcome obstacles. People with an agile mindset believe that "there is no failure, failure is only feedback".
Here are 5 common attributes of individuals with an agile mindset:

1. POSITIVE ATTITUDE
   
   1. They believe "there are challenges everywhere".
   2. They understand people are only human and make mistakes.
   3. Everything and everyday can not be perfect and can't go well.
   4. They never give up, even when facing a failure.
2. THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE
   
   1. They never think "I am doing my best", but perceive there still is plenty room for improvement.
   2. They have an inquisitive mind and like to study more to get more knowledge.
   3. They adapt easily, use experience-based techniques, and make use of exploratory testing.
   4. They ask five "Ws”: Who, What, When, Where, and Why is this relevant to their work.
3. GOAL OF TEAM SUCCESS
   
   1. They share knowledge.
   2. They aim to lessen key person dependencies while at work.
   3. They have a common understanding of the goals to achieve and the resources needed to achieve these goals.
   4. As a team member they are always ready to move from their comfort zone.
4. PRAGMATISM
   
   1. They always consider analyzing feedback useful.
   2. They try to spot where there are still defects or issues.
   3. They identify the real constraint(s).
5. WILLINGNESS TO FAIL & LEARN
   
   1. They learn from failures.
   2. They diagnose the causes of failures.
   3. They never hide failures.

⇒ Do you agree these are the main traits of agile persons? Or am I missing one?

		Comments by date▼ Comments by rating Rating
		4 Gera Teacher, Kenya
	People are Human So? Thanks for the various points that are well outlined. But the point that says "people are only human so they make mistakes" is difficult to understand as comparing human with non-human doesn't make sense. So give us more tips, thanks, Gera.

		2 Jan Palencar
	Human / non Human @Gera: Dear Gera, I was thinking about it for a while. And I came to conclusion that maybe comparing people that are human-like to those who are like machines and a little bit inhumane thanks to their attitude and pride in being flawless and perfect. Which we all know is quite untrue in real world. I am offering terms like being vulnerable and whole. Thanks for your reaction.

		5 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	People are Only Human So they Make Mistakes Perhaps the meaning of this attribute (trait) is that agile persons not only allow mistakes, but embrace or welcome them as Prof. Barman is mentioning under #5. Because they have a deep understanding that without taking risks and without trying new things, no innovation or major improvement is possible. They believe that new ideas or improvements don't happen overnight, but they grow out of the learning and adaptations following many earlier attempts, failures and mistakes.

		4 Prof. Arup Barman Professor, India
	People are Only Human I wrote about people who are agile in nature. They assume or understand 'people are only human, so they may make mistakes'. Because any agile person or group understands corrections can be made only following attempts and actions. They accept that mistakes enable correction. And agile people see correction as a moving target for themselves and for others too.

		2 Rob Powys-Smith Analyst, United Kingdom
	Athletes with an Agile Mindset This is the essence of successful athletes and competitive sportspersons, as characterised in 'Black Box Thinking', by Matthew Syed. They are driven (by deep-seated motivations and a degree of self-belief) to continuously improve - to devise mini hypotheses, hold these lightly while single-mindedly testing, adapting, failing, learning and growing (often incurring great cost / sacrifice). A dogged preparedness to always learn, they derive a certain joy from challenging themselves to improve and sharpen skills. Their drive originates from a hunger to be the best they can be (perhaps stemming from an impoverished or hard-up background) and a perception that if they thrive, they give others, from similar upbringing and life experiences, the permission to thrive too. They have a resilience born of total, unswerving commitment, hardship and an iron-willed character (to prove nay-sayers wrong) to achieve their goals irrespective of the personal cost. David Beckham springs to mind.

		5 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Personal Agility Test I developed a quick 1-minute "test" to find out what is your personal agility score score 😃: - Go back to the main article at the top of this page. - Then rate yourself on each of the 5 attributes from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). No cheating… Done? Now review your test results: 0-19: You are not agile at all. In current fast-changing times not a very impressive score. You should be more open to changes happening around you. 20-29: Your personality is just a bit agile. Try to be somewhat more embracing to changes around you. 30-39: You have an agile personality. You adapt well to changes around you. You are probably an early adopter or at least you belong to the early majority. 40+: You have a very agile personality. You are probably an innovator. Compare also: Innovation Adoption.

		1 Prof. Arup Barman Professor, India
	Agile Personality Test Haha, I assessed myself and I came out as a very agile person in all attributes in my given situation and I will be agile in other situations to adapt. I have limitations in facilities, but not in my mind. My score was 9-9-8-8-9. A total of 43.

		1 KOEHL Maryse Professor, France
	Research on Attributes of Personal Agility It would be interesting to test each attribute of personal agility in several managerial situations so as to evaluate the impact of each one on the concept of agility....

		2 Maria Salter Manager, United States
	Personal Agility and Emotional Intelligence I might add that people who have an agile mindset are also emotionally intelligent. They understand that they have strengths and weaknesses. They are able to use their emotions to work for them rather...

		2 OLU Student (University), United States
	How an Agile Person Reacts to Mistakes Made by Others ‘People are only human and can make mistakes’ could also be understood in terms of the attitude of an agile minded person in relation to other persons. Having at the back of his/her mind that people ...

		1 Sathya Devarakonda Project Manager, India
	To Make Organizations Agile, we Need Agile People The original agile framework as I understand it is from the world of software engineering where there was need to release a product very frequently for example every 2 weeks - these are called product...