#ATSpeak 5: Process vs. Agility: Both Work!

I have been privileged to work across 3 types of organizations in my career, old and established ones which lay a lot of stress upon process orientation, the middle ground players, and the extremely entrepreneur driven nimble ones. Each had their own learnings.

Established business houses which have been in the industry for decades have through their long years, devised rigorous processes. Competitor intelligence gathering for example used to be known as FIBRES (Fact & Information Based Reverse Engineering of Strategy). Tracking of strategic drivers used to be called KATS (Key Assumptions Tracking System). These processes, I have found, help model and mitigate real-world uncertainties, the tighter the process, the better the management.

Middle Ground organizations have the advantage of long years of expertise (and hence processes) but also have entrepreneurial drive (often by the new generation) which allows them to avail of breakthrough innovation. The organization that I worked with in this space adopted an innovative TOC (Theory of Constraints) based sales model which was demand rather than supply based, thereby breaking away from decades old ‘successful’ practices.

Newly minted entrepreneur driven organizations are rather like the Blitzkrieg (Lightning Warfare) of WW2. The entrepreneur through his personal capability and foresight is the prime driver of strategy. Such an organization constantly molds itself to the changing world, seeks out monetization opportunities basis the skills it has, and business development sometimes precedes product development!

Broadly, the ends justify the means, and the goal of business success (topline, bottom-line, market share) can be obtained by any combination of management styles. I like to think of processes as the logistics of an army, following behind the all-conquering entrepreneur stormtroopers and helping to consolidate and hold the territory that has been captured.  

#ATSpeak #Process #Agility