1. StrategicAgility Tan Sri DatukDrRafiahSalim Director, NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development

2. 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.

3. Two major forces for Strategic Agility: Speed and Change

4. 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,

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 Learnings

11. 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

12. 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

13. However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. Sir Winston Churchill 1874-1965, English statesman

14. THANKYOU