One of your customers is looking for a product or service that is similar, but not identical, to one that you offer. Members of your team know how to react quickly and will demonstrate to the customer all the advantages of this alternative that meets her needs. That’s what business agility means. Agility is a sign of responsiveness and openness that attests to the ability of a business – and its team – to meet the specific needs of its clients.

Agility is an invitation to better adaptability, increased flexibility, and anticipation of change. Agility also allows room for error and encourages the business to focus on human capital while offering continuous improvement.

Just as in an earlier article we talked about the importance of innovation and renewal, agility leads your business to set itself apart and seize beneficial opportunities in an economic climate in which competition is fierce and the landscape is changing rapidly. You’ll be more inclined to see your customers in a different way.

Some simple principles for moving forward with greater agility:

  1. Focus on your areas of strength: Determine what your business’s fundamental skills are: in other words, the areas in which it excels and which your customers appreciate the most – and which your competitors, ideally, find hardest to imitate.
  2. Surround yourself with allies: Having the right technology and right product/services isn’t enough. Focus on a well-trained team who has the right aptitudes and the right attitude, as well as carefully selected suppliers who are available for you. Make them understand your business’s “raison d’être.” Give them the chance to be part of a shared challenge that ties them more closely to your success.  Act as coordinator and facilitator. Take care of the people who ensure your business runs smoothly: foster an environment of autonomy where each person has his or her place. See that your business makes continuous improvement a priority. By committing yourself to continuous improvement, you’re constantly putting the emphasis on improved productivity and quality: it’s an unending process.
  3. Define your niche: What markets are you focusing on? What client group does your business really connect with?  How can you take advantage of this niche’s unique characteristics?
  4. Survey your customers and your team: What are their needs? What do they have to tell you? Use the survey results to respond effectively to demand. Survey suggestions: informal questions during visits, a comment box, a home survey, a survey on your website (see www.surveymonkey.com for a free service), a roundtable with your team, a blog and comments on your website, etc.
  5. Keep your inventory up to date. As much as possible, have on hand what your customers ask for and deserve.
  6. Practice lean management: Lean management is aimed at reducing waste (activities, services and products with no added value) within your business. It allows you to provide your product or service in the shortest possible time, without sacrificing quality or increasing costs. In fact, it can actually lead to cost savings. To promote lean management, you should eliminate or simplify any processes which, in the final analysis, don’t create value for your customers. Ask yourself the following questions: what do I need to make my business activities more efficient and effective? Which activities add value and which ones don’t?
  7. Opt for simplicity: Pare back administration as much as possible. What information is really necessary? For what purpose? At what time? You can avoid decision-making bottlenecks by clearly assigning roles and responsibilities. Transparency regarding each person’s responsibilities is essential. Define who is responsible for decision-making, who has supervisory authority, who sees to implementation and who looks after follow-up.
  8. Stay on your toes and take nothing for granted: Keep a careful eye on trends and the evolution of your company’s business context. Institute a monitoring process that will keep you up-to-date with your competitors’ activities. Determine what information is strategic then clearly assign responsibilities with respect to collecting, organizing, and analyzing it.

To sum up, agility in the business world allows you to:

  • Retain your market share;
  • Update yourself in crisis periods;
  • Seize new opportunities;
  • Respond to uncertainty and instability;
  • Adapt your behaviour and your products and services to your customers’ needs;
  • Put yourself in a position of innovation and well-being.

These days, everyone is talking about the need to put enjoyment and value(s) back into work. To achieve their plans, “agilists” give priority to interactions among individuals rather than tools and processes; collaboration with customers rather than contractual negotiations; and acceptance of changing needs and responsiveness rather than rigid planning.

Instituting an agility-based culture will make you aware of the need to focus on what is meaningful: creating value in work and valuing individuals in the service of the collective project.

Christine Lecavalier