ENTERPRISE AGILITY STRATEGY
Execute with confidence
Our work is anchored in your strategy and we take the time to understand your organization and culture to deliver tangible results fast through practical, hands-on partnership.
We focus on building your internal capabilities—unlocking new value today, and giving you the agility, processes, and skills you need to flourish in the future.
Growth
Customer satisfaction
Profitability
STRATEGIC AGILITY
Disruptive forces are making it increasingly difficult for leaders to predict and plan for the future. These forces shape our global economy and have weakened or eliminated traditional sources of competitive advantage. In today’s world, it is common for a successful new product or service to be promptly replicated by competitors, quickly commoditizing any advantage premium.
To consistently win, the only effective organizational strategy is Enterprise Agility. The challenge is that the success rate for transformation still hovers around 30%. Still, leaders must navigate the change, as evidence also shows that those firms that do not evolve are relegated to poor performance or obsolescence.
Successfully executing the transformation to Enterprise Agility requires getting the implementation path right, and embedding the change across strategy, structure, process, talent, technology, and culture. There are significant risks to address, and short-term disruptions to manage, as new ways of working take hold. As with any large change-management initiative, such transformations require long-term commitments from employees at all levels, in all functions and business units.
We bring extensive experience and a personal approach to helping our clients chart their unique transformation path and deliver on the promise of Enterprise Agility. It is a significant undertaking, but with the right guidance, leaders can mitigate risk, engage employees, and deliver results quickly.
HOW WE HELP
There isn’t a silver bullet approach to Enterprise Agility. In fact, often the downfall is to follow a one-size-fits-all model. We have identified the fundamental building blocks for agility and focus on the high leverage points specific to your situation. From there, we build momentum and embed new practices, mindsets, and behaviors that fuel transformation.
Leadership time, energy, and attention are among an organization’s scarcest and most valuable assets. All too often they are squandered on operational and tactical issues, rather than invested in strategic activity. This happens because the current paradigm at most organizations draws leaders into detailed decision-making and drives accountability up the hierarchy instead of down.
Chart your unique path to Enterprise Agility
There isn’t a silver bullet approach to Enterprise Agility. In fact, often the downfall is to follow a one-size-fits-all model. We have identified the fundamental building blocks for agility and focus on the high leverage points specific to your situation. From there, we build momentum and embed new practices, mindsets, and behaviors that fuel transformation.
There are many nuances to implementation. For simplicity, we can consider three models: incremental, big bang, and hybrid.
The incremental approach starts with a proof of concept, which leads to pilots, and then scaling. This enables testing, customization, and controlled roll-out.
The advantage to the incremental approach is that it doesn’t require any big bets, and provides ample time for reflection. But this is also its disadvantage: during the slow roll-out, leadership can get distracted, and employee resistance can build. If not done properly, the initial experiment may not provide the right lessons to scale, or it may take too long to drive momentum. Still, this incremental approach may be suitable when senior management is not fully committed and when business case results are needed quickly.
The big bang approach is, as it sounds, large-scale, simultaneous change across business units and functions. Strategic priorities are communicated, the organization is aligned, integrated teams are set up, agile practices are rolled out, and flexible funding models are established. This decisive, full-force approach only works in the rarest of circumstances, and requires bold leadership, appropriate resourcing, and strong follow-through.
In the hybrid approach, support is first gained from senior leadership and key functions, including governance, funding, and human resources. With their support firmly in place, a select set of integrated teams are established. An agile center of excellence and communities of practice provide a robust and scalable implementation. Key agile roles receive specific training, and execution is guided by agile implementation coaches.
As the hybrid implementation unfolds, teams focus on clear points of customer value and market advantage, and lessons are drawn from each iteration. Leadership commitment breeds enthusiasm, and the model is quickly and effectively rolled out with clear performance metrics and support. If Enterprise Agility is a priority for senior leaders, a version of this approach, customized for the organization’s specific circumstances, has the greatest likelihood of success.
We will help you select the best approach given your objectives, circumstances, and ambition. We will develop a detailed roadmap, including success factors, risks, and resource requirements.
Catalyze growth with clear strategic priorities
Leadership time, energy, and attention are among an organization’s scarcest and most valuable assets. All too often they are squandered on operational and tactical issues, rather than invested in strategic activity. This happens because the current paradigm at most organizations draws leaders into detailed decision-making and drives accountability up the hierarchy instead of down.
In an agile organization, structures, systems, and culture move decision-making and accountability away from leaders toward the network of integrated teams, where relevant information and context lies. For this to work, leaders make the shift to play an integrating role, providing clear, actionable, strategic guidance around priorities and the outcomes expected at the system and team levels.
A virtuous cycle is set off as this transition occurs. Leaders provide strategic direction, coaching, and resources to teams, and simultaneously empower them with authority and customer access. Agile teams are significantly more engaged as they work intimately with their customers, and have the end-to-end capability to improve and deliver products and see the results first-hand.
As decision-quality, speed, and accountability increase, more value is created. This emboldens leaders to trust their teams more, and frees them up to spend more time probing the marketplace, working cross-functionally with their peers, and thinking creatively about new sources of value.
So what does it take to catalyze this virtuous cycle?
Enterprise Agility requires a change in attitudes and beliefs as much as in structures, systems, and process. Here are five important shifts that set the wheels in motion:
- A clear set of strategic priorities that embody vision and purpose
- An abundance mindset toward opportunities and resources
- A heightened creative focus on innovation
- Intense customer-centricity
- Commitment to co-create value with employees, investors, and partners
We are equipped with experience and know-how to help leaders and teams make the transition and gain the benefits that Enterprise Agility has to offer. This includes helping leaders become comfortable with new management techniques and systems, encouraging patience as the new model takes hold, and preparing leaders for their new strategic role and responsibility.