What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do
A case study in learning agility—the ‘organizational x-factor.’
Have you ever come up against a problem that you had no idea how to solve?
A project that was so far outside your wheelhouse that it stopped you in your tracks and left you dumbfounded about where to go next?
I have, and I bet you have, too.
The company I worked for at the time incorporated mergers & acquisitions (M&A) as a key component of its growth strategy, and the business unit I was a part of had entered into discussions to acquire a smaller company adjacent to our core offering. I was being asked to join the cross-functional M&A project team and, if I accepted, would be owning the human resources aspects of executing the purchase and integrating the acquired employees into our team.
There was only one problem — I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even have an idea of where to start.
What’s one to do when you don’t know what to do?
The answer lies within something called “learning agility,” a competency that has been called the “organizational x-factor” in the sense that it can “propel organizations ahead of their competitors” according to Korn Ferry, a global organizational consulting firm.
Korn Ferry defines learning agility as “an individual’s ability and passion to quickly study a new problem and use their own learning process to gain deep understanding before making a decision.”
Learning agility is comprised of five factors including:
- Change agility: willingness to lead transformation efforts, continuously exploring new options.
- Self-awareness: being reflective, understanding strengths and weaknesses, seeking feedback, and personal insight.
- Mental agility: embracing complexity, examining problems in unique ways, making fresh connections, and staying inquisitive.
- People agility: being open-minded toward others, enjoying interactions with diverse groups, bringing out the best in others.
- Results agility: delivering results in tough situations, responding to challenge, inspiring others to achieve more than they thought possible.
More simply put, learning agility is “knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.”
And, I assure you, I had no idea what to do.
Nevertheless, I jumped into the murky depths of the unknown buoyed by the belief that I would figure it out along the way and learn a few things in the process.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was leaning into my learning agility.
Here’s what I did:
Change agility
Looking back, the flywheel of learning agility was kicked into motion the moment I agreed to take the project on. I could have said, “no.” In fact, I think a few other people actually did say “no” for one reason or another.
Saying “no” isn’t really my style, though. I’ve learned over the years that the people who see every challenge as an opportunity to learn something new are the ones who do just that. So I said, “yes.”
Kevin Cashman of Korn Ferry describes the change agility component of learning agility as “enjoying experimentation, being curious and effectively dealing with the discomfort of change.”
Truth be told, I wasn’t exactly loving the “discomfort of change.” But, I do believe that growth lies at the edge of our comfort zones, and I was managing through the discomfort by focusing on the opportunity to do something I had never done before.
Self-awareness
Daniel Goleman, psychologist and science journalist, says self-awareness is having the ability “to understand your own emotions and their effects on your performance. You know what you are feeling and why — and how it helps or hurts what you are trying to do. You sense how others see you and so align your self-image with a larger reality. You have an accurate sense of your strengths and limitations, which gives you a realistic self-confidence.”
For me, this meant loudly and proudly acknowledging to the team around me that I was way outside of my comfort zone. I had never done this before.
I was consciously incompetent; I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
To be fair, I did know some things necessary for this project. I knew how to hire employees, onboard new hires, and enroll team members in benefits. I knew which employment laws might play into our decisions. I knew how to navigate tough conversations that accompanied unwanted changes in compensation or job title as a result of the acquisition.
But, how these things played out in the context of an acquisition? No, I didn’t know anything about that.
My HR knowledge would speak for itself; I didn’t need to belabor the point of what I did know to the team around me. But I did remind them early and often of my blindspots.
I wanted and needed their feedback. I asked them about the mistakes of acquisitions-past, so I understood the impact similar missteps might have today. I invited them to call me out when I wasn’t considering something I should be. I needed them to anticipate where I would lean on them to know more than I knew.
Mental agility
When purchasing a business, the two most common transaction structures are stock purchases and asset purchases. The differences between the two lie within the structures of the agreement and what specifically is being purchased and/or assumed (stock, assets, liabilities, etc.).
The structure of any purchase agreement dictates quite a bit about the type of due diligence and integration planning needed to prepare for it.
Unfortunately for us, the structure of our deal was a moving target. One day we anticipated an asset purchase, and the next day it was a stock purchase. Back and forth, we went. This added a significant amount of complexity, both in terms of the mental focus needed to keep things straight and the execution itself.
Cashman describes mental agility as “thinking critically to penetrate complex problems and expanding possibilities by making fresh connections.”
So, what did I do? I embraced the complexity of not knowing this foundational element of the deal and planned for both scenarios. I stayed inquisitive, tapping into my natural curiosity and seeking to understand the implications of each before incorporating those learnings into my plans. I would be ready to execute whichever way the deal-makers landed.
People agility
As the human resources SME, I was responsible for anything associated with the people side of the transition. That’s not to say it was only me, because that would be false. I knew that to be successful I would need to employ the talents of those around me.
My background was general in nature, and there are certain disciplines within HR that require more focused expertise than I could offer.
In Cashman’s words, I used the experts around me to “multiply [our] collective performance.”
I pulled in our benefits manager, compensation strategist, payroll processor, HRIS specialist, and employment law expert. We strategized on things like retention agreements, healthcare coverage transitions, and commission plan equivalents. I met weekly with the cross-functional project team, bringing back our progress updates and further questions alike.
Hearing from the cross-functional SMEs each week was fascinating. Everyone had such nuanced areas of focus. Supply chain was looking into how to source future materials, marketing was integrating the two websites, and engineering was reviewing prior patents for compliance.
I was given a rare glimpse into areas of the business that I might never have touched if not for blindly running into the unknown towards this project. I was learning so much more than I ever would have if I had let this challenge pass me by, and I was having fun doing it.
Results agility
Eventually, the day came when the sale was set to close. We knew what the end goal was, and we were intent on achieving that result.
“Whatever you do, don’t let HR be the reason this sale doesn’t close,” a colleague warned me.
You see, the agreement included language that required us to secure a certain percentage of accepted offers to close. Any misstep on our part could put months of work and the potential for a new revenue stream in jeopardy.
The pressure to deliver results was on, but we were up for the challenge.
We had a plan, and a contingency plan, and a backup to the contingency plan. We had the information needed to address any and all employee concerns, and we had grit.
And, sure enough, we made it happen. The sale closed, and the rest is history.
Learning agility is all about knowing how to learn and applying that knowledge to new challenges.
Perhaps the Center for Creative Leadership said it best when they said,
“Embrace the challenge of the unfamiliar; don’t just go through the motions. If you react to the new learning opportunity by staying close to your comfort zone, you minimize struggle and discomfort — and you also miss out on the corresponding rebound in growth and performance. The end result is that you’re pretty much the way you were before, and the full power of the new experience is lost.”
Sure, the process is uncomfortable. At least, it was for me.
But who wants to stay comfortable at the expense of remaining stagnant?
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