Business Agility Roadblock #3 – Lack of capacity

If you lack the internal capacity to continuously reflect and examine all parts of the business, then it will be very difficult to achieve organisation-wide business agility. Without this capacity, improvement opportunities are missed and the transformation cannot evolve in line with business evolution.

Look beyond initial transformation

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

But outsourcing a project like this will not ingrain agility into your organisation’s DNA and doing this is crucial if you want the business agility transformation to have a long-term effect. You need to look beyond an initial, transformational push for change (the revolution) and think about the future (the evolution).

Organisations that are committed to business agility, develop and instil 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