Learning agility is the ability to learn from experience and apply it in new situations. As AI changes work, it matters more than any single skill.
Why it matters more now
The World Economic Forum expects 39% of core skills to change by 2030. McKinsey's State of Organizations 2026 says 75% of current roles will need reshaping as AI is embedded.
Deloitte's 2026 Global Human Capital Trends found that 7 in 10 leaders see being fast and nimble as their main competitive strategy.
People are already moving. The University of Phoenix's 2026 Career Optimism Index found half of US workers are learning AI skills on their own.
Five dimensions
One widely used model, developed at Korn Ferry, has five parts.
Mental agility. Questioning assumptions and staying comfortable with ambiguity.
People agility. Reading others well and working with a wide range of people.
Change agility. Curiosity about new approaches and willingness to experiment.
Results agility. Delivering in situations you have never faced before.
Self-awareness. Knowing your strengths, blind spots and patterns. The other four depend on it.
Build this capability in your organisation
Growth Performance designs bespoke programmes that turn insight into measurable behaviour change.
The conditions that build it
Psychological safety. People learn fastest where mistakes are treated as information. Amy Edmondson's research has shown this for decades.
Time. Learning needs space. If every hour is committed, nobody experiments.
Leaders who learn in public. When leaders share what they got wrong, others feel free to try.
Managers who support it. Gallup's 2026 report found manager engagement fell to 22%. Depleted managers struggle to build learning teams.
What this means for leaders
Learning agility is the engine of Acceleration: being ready as change keeps speeding up.
Run small experiments. Test one new way of working for two weeks, then review it.
Share what you learn. Make sure a good discovery in one team reaches the others.
Try this
Ask each leader in your team three questions. What have you changed your mind about this year? What mistake taught you most? What are you learning now?
Then plan one small test with the Experiment Planner.