Business agility

Today’s business environment is very complex, if we take into consideration several parameters. It is equally uncertain for small companies as it is for multinational giants. Until just a few years ago, having large working capital, developed infrastructure and a good market position would represent a huge advantage to large corporations.

And then “smaller” companies appeared, so-called disruptors. These are companies that have managed to shake up big, corporate players with a completely different business philosophy. These disruptors are everywhere. One of the most obvious examples is the example of telecommunication operators and their disruptors, Internet communication services. Initially, superior in their comfortable seats, most board directors did not pay attention to these “new” players on the market. However, as their earnings started to slowly decline over time, they decided to respond and show their teeth to these “small” companies. Of course, this seems completely wrong from the point of view of understanding modern business. Today, it is simply impossible to forbid someone to create their own business. Especially if that “small” player on the telco listens to the user, recognizes what his problem is and tries to solve it. Large players who, due to their project complexity, delivered a solution to the problem to the user in a year or even two, were very late for small and agile companies. It was much easier for these “disruptors” to adapt to the business environment and focus on the client. These are now companies worth billions of dollars, like Viber, WhatsApp and many others. This is exactly the reason why the “big” telco players needed a different strategy, which is really focused on the client and his needs. That sluggishness and arrogance of big telco corporations was something that was a big brake to changing the mindset, the way of thinking.

So how do you respond to new market conditions? One of the four values described in the Agile Manifesto is “responding to change over following the plan”. We need to change old business models, we need a different setup and we need different leaders, leaders who are able to generate new behaviors. Such leaders are catalysts for change, able to understand the client, but also to lead teams in conditions of constant uncertainty.

Business agility is implemented by agile leaders, who have proven many times until now to be one of the key factors in creating a new business culture, one in which the customer comes first. Satisfied employees are like the wind in the sails of a company ship in agitated seas, and satisfied leaders steer that ship firmly holding the rudder in their hands and not taking their eyes off the target.