HRZone.com defines business agility as “a quality that allows businesses to respond to rapid changes in both the internal and external environment without losing the company’s vision or momentum.” In other words, business agility allows companies to adapt to change and is known as the key to survival in the long term. Businesses that fail to adapt to changing environments most often don’t succeed. Businesses that are adaptable, flexible, balanced, and ready for quick changes in the industry are considered agile.
It’s not only the business’s owners and senior management that must have knowledge to maintain an agile business; employees are just as important. It’s about responding to new business developments, changing industries, and processes in the short term. If your employees don’t have the knowledge to maintain an agile business, now is the time to start training. For a business to be considered agile and adaptable, everyone must play their part.
Agile Businesses
There are many businesses that can be considered agile and don’t have a problem adapting to rapid change in their industry. Syncsort, a data integration company, is a prime example of an agile business. Syncsort is able to offer products to a variety of clients and can easily implement changes depending on the needs of their clients and the industry as a whole. Syncsort meets the definition of an agile business, providing solutions that are adaptable, flexible, and balanced to the needs of their customers.
Another company that can be considered truly agile is Apple. Apple stays agile by keeping their teams small and assigning projects to small groups responsible for the development of major products — both hardware and software-based. They hold the assigned individuals responsible when things don’t go as planned, and they removed middle managers that hindered the business process with competing agendas. According to Forbes.com, Apple is truly an agile organization that works with a set of values to bring out the best in every one of their contributors.
Pro tip: Business agility can be the key to your company’s success. Ensure your employees are adaptable and flexible to a changing business environment.
Teaching Employees About Agile Business
If your employees are not already up-to-date on agile business, now is the time to introduce them. This can be done through employee workshops that focus on the main values of an agile business: being adaptable, flexible, and balanced. Teaching employees how to be adaptable to quickly-evolving business processes may seem like a lot to accomplish, but you’d be surprised how many catch on knowing that their chances for long-term success and stability is on the line.
Agile workshops teach employees what it means to be agile leaders, form adaptive teams, and support agility throughout their entire organization. They’ll learn how to be agile employees day in and day out, by planning out their work and sticking to it, making use of backlogs, scrum meetings, and stand-ups. Whether they work individually or as part of a team, learning the basics of agile business can improve your business processes and keep everyone on the same page.
Unsure of where to start? There are many companies that can help set up workshops with the goal of improving teamwork and business agility. Take a look at the consultants available in your area. Becoming an agile business is about reinventing your company culture, and it starts with the company’s core values and making sure everyone who is a part of the organization is on board, on the same page, and willing to change.