5 Steps to Make Your Organisation More Agile and Customer-Centric

Companies today face immense challenges as markets change and technologies develop at a speed unknown before. To make it even harder, the changes have become increasingly unpredictable, so organisations need to be able to adapt quickly and pivot when necessary.

It is clear that agility and customer centricity are key factors in helping businesses succeed. Why? Because consumer preferences and expectations change as trends come and go. Technology such as AI is transforming industries and the speed of innovation is increasing, making competition more intense. Businesses that aren't moving with the times will get left behind.

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While we face unique challenges which demand a more Agile approach, the Agile mindset itself is well established. Many forward-thinking companies have drawn upon the methodologies to advance their project goals. The principles we follow have driven success in many organisations, so I'm keen to share some of the insights I've gained over the years in how to improve market responsiveness:

1. Continuous improvement culture

Every challenge, personal or professional, has a solution, but solutions are not endpoints. While celebrating successes and overcoming obstacles are essential for growth, the process must be continuous. A culture of sustained improvement builds the resilience and agility required to navigate change and disruption. Elevating performance and efficiency is an ongoing imperative to achieve (and more importantly sustain) market leadership.

So, what's the most effective way of implementing a continuous improvement culture? In Agile, we have regular retrospectives throughout the project to encourage teams to identify any problems, risks or opportunities and make incremental changes based on the findings. We're all about learning from failures because nine times out of ten, mistakes are valuable learning opportunities. According to insights from McKinsey,

`Lasting competitive advantage comes from the ability to learn faster, respond faster, and develop deeper ties to customers.’

And it is through a motivated and connected team that the answers to success can be found.

2. Tailor Agile practices

Agile practices and methodologies can be applied to most companies, but we don't believe in one-size-fits-all. We tailor our approach to fit a team's needs and challenges. So consider your situation and set-up - how can frameworks like Scrum fit into your workflow, and how you can adjust these practices to suit your organisation's unique needs??

If your approach is too rigid or 'by the book,' this could lead to inefficiencies and misalignment with your goals. Take a flexible approach that complements your team dynamics and don't force what doesn't feel right. Over the years we’ve found that a blended approach can often serve the most value - this is where outsourcing comes in. Whoever you choose for your Agile consulting, make sure the Agile implementation and training isn’t focused solely on a single level. Educating and connecting the organisation, with tangible skills, from the bottom to the top is crucial for any level of success.?

3. Customer feedback for customer satisfaction

If you haven't already, I recommend setting up a system for regularly collecting and analysing customer feedback, for example focus groups. You know your market now, but will you know them this time next month??

Are you really sure that what you understand about your customers now will stay the same? Regardless of their preferences, people are constantly influenced by external forces and other competitors, so keep your finger on the pulse.

Bain & Company’s analysis shows that companies that excel in the customer experience grow revenues 4% - 8% above their market.

So, stay on top of those customer insights and see how any changes, however small, could be developed further into growth opportunities. You don't need all the answers; you need a strong, intelligent, motivated team to support you.?

Real-time adjustments will lead to improvements, but it’s your deep understanding of customer needs that creates lasting loyalty to your product or service. In the words of Jeff Bezos, `We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.’

4. Empower teams

You want your team to be a well-oiled machine, perform at their best, and deliver results quicker than your competitors. So the question is, do you have the right tools in place so that they have a range of resources and insights to draw upon? Give them enough freedom to make decisions and respond to challenges promptly. Ultimately, it's the team that drives success and achieves the goals. As a leader, your role is to support them, not to do everything yourself. Autonomy, training and an overall culture of trust and ownership will help your team fly.

According to Deloitte's ‘2024 Global Human Capital Trends', which surveyed over 14,000 respondents in 95 countries, internal constraints were identified as the top barrier to making meaningful progress.

5. Data-driven proactive decision-making

One of the defining aspects of our generation is our obsession with data, and for good reason. Data insights insights enable a more strategic approach to decision-making by mitigating risks and forecasting trends. This allows for the identification of opportunities and results in more informed, proactive, and precise actions. Putting data insights to use also provides stakeholders with confidence in the outcomes - positioning your organisation for a competitive advantage.

Here's the thing, data shouldn't just be something you look at every month or every quarter, it should be there for you all, set up in a real-time analytics dashboard. With the insights readily available for you to look at each day, you can effectively monitor KPIs, customer satisfaction and whether your projects are on track.?

A McKinsey & Company survey revealed that the likelihood of achieving above-average profitability is almost 19 times higher for customer analytics champions than for laggards.

So the key, certainly from an Agile perspective, is to have a dynamic team working in an iterative way combined with solid analytics to achieve the ultimate success.