Business Agility Roadblock #3 – Lack of capacity

If you lack the internal capacity to continuously reflect and examine all parts of the business, achieving organization-wide business agility will be very difficult. Without this capacity, improvement opportunities are missed, and the transformation cannot evolve in line with business needs. Building a strong business agility foundation is crucial for sustainable growth and adaptation.

Look Beyond Initial Transformation

Often, organizations bring in business agility experts to make sweeping, transformational changes. These Agile Consultants will make a lot of noise and check many tasks off the transformational to-do list. On paper, and for a while after they leave, their efforts look impressive.

However, outsourcing a project like this will not embed agility into your organization’s DNA, which is crucial for a long-term business agility transformation. You need to look beyond the initial push for change (the revolution) and focus on the future (the evolution).

Organizations committed to business agility develop and instill continuous improvement and evolution into their teams’ genetic code.

Embed and optimise

The secret to success with business agility is to shift your mindset. Think of it as an ongoing investment that requires regular refinement and optimisation. Consider what types of training you deliver to employees, and how often, so that they can continue to follow and champion business agility methodologies.

Investing in ongoing optimisation pays off, as it helps to create a culture of evolution in your broader business. In today’s hyper-competitive landscape, any business that stands still runs the great risk of falling over. You need the ability to constantly disrupt yourself, your products and your services to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Tips

• Promote and encourage business agility courses to build capacity and educate employees about the how and why of what you’re doing.
• Don’t get an external consultant to do business agility for you. Instead, find an expert who will do it with you. There’s a real difference there.
• With business agility a proven precursor to business evolution, dedicate time to it at an organisational level.
• Make participating in Business Agility activities and continuous improvement practice a performance metric, especially for managers and leaders.

Read more…

Roadblock #1 – Leaders Aren’t Leading The Way

Roadblock #2 – Leaders Aren’t Leading The Way

Roadblock #4 – Lack of Capacity

Roadblock #5 – Your Legacy Culture