Appendix
This report’s findings are based on research conducted by Highspring in spring 2025.
The primary aim was to validate organizational agility as a distinct, critical factor influencing business outcomes and employee experiences—not interchangeable with performance but correlated to it.
The study sought to:
↗ Confirm that agility correlates with better business and employee outcomes.
↗ Demonstrate that investing in agility produces greater benefits than focusing solely on performance.
↗ Highlight the agility gap in high-performing but rigid organizations.
Design:
The study was built around three diagnostic frameworks:
1 | Agility Index
2 | Organizational performance diagnostic
3 | Key measurable business metrics
Respondent makeup:
The study included 517 total respondents with purchase decision-making responsibility in talent, consulting, and managed services.
Company size and revenue
Industry
List of additional industries (Other)
Agriculture
Automotive
Behavioral Health and Psychiatric Services
Construction
Customer Service
Education
Engineering
Entertainment and Sports
Energy and Energy Services
Event Management and Production
Government
Health and Wellness
Higher Education
Insurance
International Development
Legal
Logistics
Nonprofit and Not-for-profit
Performing Arts
Professional Services
Public Utility and Utility Construction
Real Estate
Research and Social Science Research
Resorts and Theme Parks
Restaurants
Security
Software
Telecom and Telecommunications
Data collection areas
↗ Organizational demographics (size, revenue, industry)
↗ Respondent role and purchasing involvement
↗ Agility, performance, and measurable organizational outcome
Analysis approach
↗ Statistical analysis, including correlation measurement (r ≈ 0.845) between agility and performance
↗ Cross-segment comparisons (e.g., SMB vs. Mid-market vs. Enterprise)
↗ Industry-specific cuts (Private Equity, Technology, Healthcare, Financial Services)
Definitions used
Organizational agility
Definition: Momentum, balance, and control at the moment of changing direction.
What we measured
↗ Speed of decision-making and problem-solving
↗ Adaptation to new challenges and opportunities
↗ Communication effectiveness
↗ Ability to scale and manage resources
↗ Departmental siloing
Agility Index metrics
↗ A1–A12 scores ranging from -30 to +30
↗ Dimensions include reaction times to problems, reorienting to change, acting on feedback, proactive opportunity identification, updating processes and tech, and scaling abilities.
Agility bands
Organizational performance
Definition: Organizational alignment, execution, and impact that’s measured in outcomes, not effort.
What we measured
↗ Employee alignment to goals
↗ Role clarity
↗ Psychological safety
↗ Trust and communication quality
↗ Diversity and inclusion
↗ Continuous development
↗ Leadership quality
↗ Customer success
↗ Employee retention
Performance diagnostic metrics
We set Highspring’s definition of agility against a diagnostic for measuring the prevalence of high-performance culture in organizations.
This diagnostic consisted of 15 questions and measured widely accepted aspects of performance validated in existing organizational research and thought leadership.
These included:
↗ Employee alignment with and commitment to company goals
↗ Role clarity
↗ High-quality interactions
↗ Psychological safety
↗ Diversity
↗ Continuous development
↗ Strong leadership
↗ Customer success
↗ Employee affinity and retention
Our objective in incorporating high-performance culture into this study was to ground our novel notion of agility against a more commonly understood and accepted interpretation of organizational success. We also sought to validate that the presence of high-performance cultures did indeed still correlate with positive organizational outcomes.
How we measured business outcomes
We used the following key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the relative outcomes of different cohorts.
↗ Revenue trends for Q1 2025
↗ Projected revenue trends for 2025
↗ Employee retention
↗ Frequency of disruptive events, including:
– Restructuring
– Layoffs
– Mergers and acquisitions
– Expansion into a new market
– Launching a new product/service
– Sunsetting a market
– Sunsetting a product/service
Employee and leadership optimism about company outlook
Business strategy alignment with talent, execution, and technology strategy.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)—adjusted to “Would you reapply for your job?”
These measures were drawn from existing thought leadership and in-depth conversations with business leaders, subject matter experts, and analysts from diverse industries.
