Embracing Business Agility

I suspect, if asked, all business leaders would like their organisations to be more adaptable to ever-changing conditions and to improve results. That’s easier said than done though! Let’s explore why business agility is so important in today’s climate and how to make a start on that journey.

You hardly need to make a case for business agility. We are all too painfully aware of the threats to our current business models. From global challenges such as pandemics, geopolitical instability, and climate change through to technological disruptions such as generative AI, there is no long-term certainty we can put behind our business strategy.

We live in what is often characterised as a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment. Our response to this cannot be to try and predict the future and plan for that, but to become more flexible to adapt to whatever change comes along.

Yet, given this context, many organisations either struggle to improve their business agility or fail to prioritise it appropriately. I think in part, some of the struggle is down to perceptions of agility and how that is applicable at an organisational level.

Too often, conversations around agility gravitate towards extremes, from nebulous discussions about being agile and having an agile mindset on the one hand or getting deeply embroiled in wars over which methodology is best and all the things you need to do (or not do) to be agile on the other.

Furthermore, due to the origins of agility in software development, it can be dismissed as a ‘techie’ thing and deemed not relevant or appropriate to the broader organisation. This is clearly not the case as greater agility can be the only response to surviving and thriving in a VUCA world.

In my experience, getting executives on-board with greater business agility can be relatively straightforward. The Board usually recognises the need to focus on customer value and the need to continually change to do this. It is also the case that teams directly delivering products and services wish to adapt and improve based on what they see in their day-to-day work. Where there can be friction and more difficulty in change is often in the middle management tiers. This is certainly an area to consider specifically when setting out to improve agility.

If you’ve now decided to improve agility in your business, where do you start? There’s certainly no shortage of opinionated thought leaders, coaches, consultancies, and methodologies you could turn to for assistance. As with any change though, the commitment needs to come from within. I’d certainly encourage seeking external support but would warn against falling into the trap of leading your efforts fully with external resources and having your people feel this is being done ‘to’ them rather than ‘with’ them.

One resource I would recommend you look at is the Agile Business Consortium’s Framework for Business Agility and associated toolkit. As an independent professional body, you can pick up and use their resources without the heavy sell of a commercial organisation, and benefit from a distillation of industry wide expertise.

The Framework for Business Agility succinctly illustrates the components behind delivering value for your customers, people, and the ecosystem you operate in. Putting agility in culture, leadership, and governance at its core, the framework links these areas through strategy into how you operate, change, and support the business functions that deliver value.

Within the Business Agility Toolkit there are some handy resources to support learning in your organisation and to assess what stage you are at in your agile maturity. This will help guide your efforts and teams on how to move forward. It’s certainly, worth a look as an independent assessment of where you are that’s been built by experts and learnings from many organisations.

A common anti-pattern I see when people wish to embrace greater agility is trying to use traditional thinking to get there. Setting up a big change programme to boil the ocean and convert the whole organisation to agility is doomed to fail. Beagile in the way you try to become agile! Start small, be ready to learn from failure and continually evaluate and adapt.

This approach has been proven to work well over the years, not least, by the UK government through the work of the Government Digital Service (GDS) and the use of trying out of new techniques resulting invaluable feedback.

Creating a small transformation office to lead on agility efforts, producing, coordinating and supporting collateral on ways of working and learning pathways, and monitoring adoption and maturity can be a very effective way to begin to embed agility in the day-to-day work of the organisation. Your people deserve support in adopting more agile ways of working and this should be continuous. I have seen too many organisations push people through a training course, declare they are ‘agile’, then leave their teams without the necessary ongoing support.

I should also say at this stage that business agility is never ‘done’. Embedding continual learning and feedback loops are essential for continuous improvement and to avoid slipping back into old habits. This is all part of the agile mindset required in modern business and moving beyond the fixed mindset of trying to plan with certainty for an unknown future.

The other pitfall to avoid is getting too focused on the process and becoming entangled in methodology debates. Sure, you need clear ways of working for your people, so they are all on the same page, but that doesn’t mean becoming a slave to one particular methodology. Becoming obsessed by all the things you need to do to embrace greater business agility can get in the way of being more agile.

You probably already know you need to embrace greater business agility and there’s no better time to start than now! In summary, as you embark on this journey, I’d recommend you:

1. Start small and seek to build out your learnings in one or two projects or business units rather than a big bang approach.
2. Get buy-in throughout the organisation, not just from executives. Take special care of the specific challenges that may exist in middle management.
3. Use external resources wisely and in collaboration with your own teams. The Framework for Business Agility is a good starting point.
4. Consider using a small transformation office to coordinate your efforts and guide people across the business.
5. Avoid getting too focused on methodologies. Produce ways of working that are right for you, not to satisfy some external coach or certification.

To advance your business agility, explore the Framework for Business Agility and the Business Agility Toolkit. Proud of your journey so far and want recognition for it? Apply for an Agile Business Award.

Not sure where to begin? Contact Value Turbine today to see how we can support you in embracing business agility.