How Agile Are You? 

(photos by James Cammack, Yodit Gidey and Ken Gee)

Ag-ile\’aj-al, -il\adj

1. marked by ready ability to move with quick, easy grace
2. mentally quick and resourceful

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. “  -  Theodore Roosevelt

The ability to “plan your work and work your plan” is an important one.  BUT – what happens when unforeseen circumstances force the plan to change?  Do you possess the mental and emotional agility to execute well, with or without a plan?   

The topic for this article occurred to me as I was competing a month ago in an agility trial with one of my champion Samoyed dogs, Rory.  It struck me that this type of event offered a useful metaphor for coaching success in business and in life.  My hope is that this article will offer a fresh way of looking at the challenges that come up in your life, and looking at life as a fun game that can be navigated successfully on a consistent basis, if you are committed to training, learning, maintaining fitness on multiple levels and being fully present. 

An American Kennel Club (AKC - www.akc.org) agility trial is a race through an obstacle course.  The dog has to navigate jumps, teeter totters, tunnels, a balance beam, an A-frame, a hoop, a chute, a table and a set of 12 “weave poles,” which are like a slalom flush in ski racing.  The handler runs alongside the dog, guiding him through the course in the fastest and safest manner, while executing each obstacle without fault. 

I spend a fair amount of time training and conditioning both myself and Rory in order to compete successfully.  All of this culminates at a trial, where you get 2 runs (of less than 60 seconds each) a day in which to hopefully have a clean run at a speed which will allow you to win over the other dogs (there are usually 300-600 dogs at an AKC agility trial) present that day.  You have to be able to consistently summon and execute all the training that has come before.  As in life, all manner of different conditions can occur on that day at that venue, in addition to the challenge of memorizing and running the course perfectly. 

The course always has several jumps, which are considered fairly routine obstacles.  Compare this to your routine tasks, such as making sales calls, or analyzing your company’s financial statements, or making sure the bills get paid.  The jump in itself is not difficult, in that you have the necessary skill.  The challenge is more in what’s before it and after it, and what you have to do in order to make sure you don’t miss it or drop a bar.  This comes from planning your approach, assessing what’s on the landing side and knowing where you need to go next. 

The teeter-totter (my dog’s favorite obstacle) is like a task where you have to find the tipping point.  And you don’t usually know where it is until you get there – you just have to keep working until you feel the momentum shift, and then you need to continue to see it all the way through.  There can be temptation to bail before that point is reached, and also after it’s reached, thinking no further effort is required. 

The Tunnels in an agility course are like the blind spots in life, when we want to know the unknowable.  Most of us would prefer to know that there is “light at the end of the tunnel” before committing effort, but sometimes you just have to go in and have faith that if you execute well, you’ll come out the other end.  Going in timidly will just keep you in the dark longer, and cause you to lose the momentum you’ve acquired to that point. 

The Dogwalk is  a 12” balance beam four feet off the ground, with a ramp at the beginning and end.  What’s needed is to take a very specific, narrow path with appropriate speed in order to finish at the right place at the right time, despite risk of nasty consequences if attempted absent proper care.  Finding the right balance between healthy fear/attention and having the courage to trust yourself is something that continually needs to be cultivated in life.  It requires an accurate evaluation of risk (how fast can I run it without falling off?) vs. consequences (if I DO fall off, it’s all over – I lose and maybe sustain injury). 

The A-frame requires gathering sufficient speed and strength to climb up a significant incline, then keeping balance and traction on the down side so as not to fall or slide off.  Think of how much energy it takes to bring a company to profitability, or to jump start a new team.  Most of us are either better at starting something, or keeping it going.  Learning how to manage your energy so that you can call forth a burst of strength when needed, and also to rein it in when necessary, is the skill set called for here. 

The Hoop Jump – well, how many hoops do you have to jump through?!  Enough said.  If you don’t pay attention, you’ll probably have a nasty, but not fatal, fall. 

The Chute looks like a tunnel at the entrance, but immediately turns into a 15-foot, cloth tunnel that the dog has to plow its way through.  The skill required is that of continuing to move forward despite being unable to see and having resistance all the way.  We see this as a leadership skill all the time.  Something looks like it will be relatively easy, but then turns into resistance, and the way through is obscured.  Persistence, strength, drive and faith are what make for success. 

The Table – ah yes, the Table.  The metaphor here is patience!  This obstacle requires the dog to jump up on a table in the middle of a full speed run and sit or lie down for a full 5 seconds.  Out of context, it’s a piece of cake.  But when you’re running at full tilt and the adrenalin is pumping, it’s very challenging to have to stop and….wait.   How many times are you eager to plow ahead with a project but then have to….wait?  It’s a useful discipline. 

The Weave Poles are the most difficult obstacle for the dog on an agility course – there is nothing intuitive about it, and it requires a great deal of training to weave well consistently.  The abilities required are to find the right entrance, and then execute with rhythm, speed and focus until the task is complete, despite some repetition.  Think communication skills – it’s something you have to be able to do over and over, with grace, timing, focus, and poise.  The right path is not always intuitive, but with practice, you can acquire mastery. 

Beyond just being able to negotiate these obstacles, the course needs to be run in a specified sequence, and it is the handler’s responsibility to plan the best route to accomplish the course with accuracy and the greatest speed.  Both dog and handler sometimes bail each other out, compensating for the other’s mistake.  Knowing your partners’ strengths and weaknesses is key in any team situation, as is knowing that you can count on them.  And no matter how good you are as an individual, having others to team with can leverage your abilities.  And how great is it to have others with whom to share progress and success? 

The last skills I’ll mention here are those of thinking on your feet and being flexible.  Sometimes things happen on the agility course that require running a different route.  It’s great to have a plan, but when the plan has to change on a dime, are you flexible enough to create a new one that will also work?  All of us would prefer to have some time to reevaluate a course of action when finding out that a current plan won’t work.  But time is not always available.  So learning to think on your feet is a vital ability to cultivate. 

In summary, being agile means:

1. Being willing to continually learn, train and be fully present.  It is a combination of natural ability, conditioning, courage, confidence and desire.

2. Paying attention to routine tasks so that they don’t trip you up in the larger picture.
3. Finding the Tipping Point.
4. Executing with confidence, even when you can’t see the end of the tunnel and are faced with resistance.
5. Evaluating risk with likelihood and severity of consequences.
6. Managing your energy so as to muster strength, restraint, speed and patience as called for by changing circumstances.
7. Learning how to navigate situations that are counter-intuitive, difficult and repetitive, with enthusiasm and precision.
8. Knowing and being able to compensate for team members’ strengths and weaknesses.
9. Thinking on your feet and being flexible when a well thought out plan needs to change.
10. As your level of mastery increases, finding coaches and learning that will allow you to win at your chosen endeavors.

I get coached in cultivating agility in myself, as well as on the agility field.  If you would like to improve your agility quotient, consider working on these ten qualities with a qualified coach!