Business Agility: First Steps

Contents

• SO…WHAT IS BUSINESS AGILITY?

• VISION & PURPOSE

• CONTINUOUS LEARNING

• CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS

• USEFUL STUFF

Business Agility evolved from agile methods. The Agile Manifesto was created in 2001 by a group of software developers and laid the foundation for agile principles, which in effect is a more iterative approach to delivering business value incrementally, compared with more “waterfall” approaches.

What Problem does Business Agility Solve?

• Helps organisations adapt to shift in market conditions and customer trends

• Encourages continuous improvement and innovation

• Reduces waste and process inefficiencies

• Empowers teams, enabling higher motivation and engagement

In my time as a change and program leader, many people assume Business Agility is for large cumbersome organisations with complex org structures, but in my opinion, it’s as relevant for startups and smaller teams as it is for blue chip organisations.

In short, if you have a customer to serve and need to get the right people involved in delivering for your customers, there are parts of Business Agility that apply to you.

To make this work, Business Agility must be supported at the level of an organisation that can influence the movement of people and resources from different teams or departments. So, what are the parts that make up Business Agility?

1. Establish a Clear Vision and Purpose

2. Create a Continuous Learning Culture

3. Cross-Functional Teams

4. Implement Agile Frameworks

5. Prioritise Customer Feedback

6. Open and Collaborative Communication

7. Measure and Adapt

8. Scale Agile Practices

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Example: My fictional software-as-a-service company needs to define a clear vision for agility, such as "Delivering innovative SaaS solutions with speed and adaptability to meet evolving customer needs."

How does the company do this?

Define the Vision:

• Scenario: The leadership team holds a series of workshops to collaboratively define a vision statement that shows agility, such as "Delivering innovative SaaS solutions with speed and adaptability to meet evolving customer needs."

• Action: Engage stakeholders from different teams or departments to ensure the vision resonates across the organisation.

Communicate the Vision:

• Scenario: The CEO presents the vision at an all-hands meeting, followed by smaller department-specific sessions to discuss how each team can contribute.

• Action: Use various communication channels (emails, intranet, town halls) to reinforce the vision regularly.

Align Goals with Vision:

• Scenario: Departments set quarterly objectives that align with the company's vision, ensuring all initiatives contribute to the overarching purpose.

• Action: Implement a system to track progress and adjust goals as needed to stay aligned with the vision.

💡The CEO needs to make sure the leadership team and departments are behind the vision in the first place and ideally co-create it, so they have in-built ownership. This can be true for a small or large company, or for a department lead within an organisation, rather than a CEO.

Real life Examples:

Adobe’s Elevator: Imagine pitching your billion-dollar idea directly to the big bosses. That’s exactly what Adobe did with their “Red box” program. This initiative allowed employees at all levels to share their big ideas, helping Adobe keep their product lineup fresh and also helped shape the company vision.

IBM’s Digital Sessions: In 2003, IBM hosted a virtual campfire chat called “Values Jam“. This online brainstorming session brought together 50,000 employees to ideate what really matters to the company. This resulted in core values that now serve as IBM’s moral compass, guiding much of how they work and make key business decisions.

LEGO’s Crowd-Pleasing Factory: LEGO took things a step further with their “LEGO Ideas” platform, a digital suggestion box open to employees and LEGO fans worldwide. By inviting everyone to get involved, LEGO built a direct line to what their customers really wanted, helping them align their products and vision to customer needs.

Promote Learning Opportunities:

• Scenario: The SaaS company introduces "Learning Fridays", where employees dedicate time to learning new skills or exploring innovative ideas.

• Action: Provide access to online courses, workshops, and conferences to encourage skill development.

Encourage Experimentation:

• Scenario: Teams are given the freedom to run small-scale pilot projects to test new ideas without fear of failure.

• Action: Create a safe environment where employees can share lessons learned from both successes and failures.

Implement Feedback Loops:

• Scenario: Regular feedback sessions are held where employees can provide input on processes, tools and strategies.

• Action: Use feedback to make iterative improvements and demonstrate responsiveness to employee insights.

Real Life Examples

Ever dreamed of having a day off to work on your pet project? At Google, they've turned that dream into reality. Their "20% Time" policy is like giving employees a weekly creative time-out. It's not just about having fun though - this approach has sparked some of Google's most innovative ideas.

Remember the excitement of your first day at work? Amazon bottles that feeling with their "Day 1" philosophy. They're basically encouraging their team to imagine they are a brand-new startup, every day. It's their secret for keeping things fresh and experimental, even as a tech giant.

Form Diverse Teams:

• Scenario: My pretend tech company assembles cross-functional teams (members from different departments working together as a team) with members from development, marketing, sales and customer support to work on specific projects.

• Action: Ensure teams have the autonomy to make decisions and access necessary resources.

Facilitate Collaboration:

• Scenario: Use collaboration tools like Slack or Teams to enhance communication and coordination among team members.

• Action: Schedule regular stand-ups and retrospectives to keep teams aligned and focused on shared goals.

Empower Teams with Decision-Making:

• Scenario: Teams are given the authority to make decisions related to their projects, reducing the need for hierarchical approvals.

• Action: Provide training on decision-making and problem-solving to build confidence and competence within teams.

Real world examples:

Atlassian: Not only builds collaboration tools, they live and breath them. Their secret? “Ship It Days”. Imagine a company-wide hackathon where everyone gets to play with their pet projects ideas. This approach keeps innovation flowing and promotes cross-team collaboration.

Zappos: Implements a flat organisational structure and uses tools like Slack and Zoom to facilitate open communication across the company.

Netflix: Practices a "Freedom and Responsibility" culture where employees are empowered to make decisions without excessive oversight. They famously have no formal approval processes for expenses or decisions.

Buurtzorg: A Dutch healthcare organisation that operates with self-managing teams of nurses who have the authority to make decisions about patient care and team operations.

Recommended Reading:

• Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time 

  By Jeff Sutherland (Co Creator of the Scrum Method), J.J. Sutherland, et al.

  Why I like it: I go back to this book regularly for real-world examples of how to apply Agile and make a difference, from one of the creators of Scrum.

• Scrum Master: The Agile Training Seminar for Business Performance 

  By Joe Justice.

  Why I like it: The author is one of the most highly regarded Scrum Masters, having worked with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

Article:

• Continuous Learning mentioned in this post is a key part of having a Growth Mindset. If you want to find out more about this topic, check out one of my previous posts.