The First Step to Becoming More Agile

How can a company – especially a larger or more established company with established practices – learn to become more agile?

The first step becoming more agile is determining in which parts of your company agility is most important, and focusing your efforts there. Agility is most important in those parts of your business which have the greatest impact the customer’s decision to buy, and in which the business environment is changing fastest.

For a restaurant chain, the best place to focus agility efforts might be speeding up the drive-through line by enabling customers to order and pay using their smart phones. For a manufacturer, it might mean securing a new distribution channel that can offer round-the-clock deliveries, or special service capabilities.

Once you’ve decided where to focus your agility efforts, there are three components of agility which you should work to enhance:

The first is market agility. Here you want to hone your ability to continuously observe the changes that are going on in your business environment, and to anticipate the opportunities that these changes will create.

The second is decision agility. This means coming up with smart, differentiated ways of capitalizing on the opportunities you see, and taking quick action.

The third and most important component is execution agility. This means enlisting and inspiring your organization to execute the new direction. Agile companies continuously experiment and learn, so that they can adjust course as they go.

Most companies are good at one, or even two, of these components of agility, but few companies are good at all three. Focus your learning efforts on the areas where you are weak.