Agility and Flexibility Lead To Success

Business success is no longer just a matter of how effective an organization can be with regards to creating products, selling products, and serving the current needs of a customer. It is also about how fast and proficient an organization can react to new challenges, new customer demands, and new technology. There is no escape from change, and businesses have no choice but to adapt to the times. Coping with change is one thing, but the most successful organizations do not just cope to this critical factor, they envision the changes on the horizon and are preparing themselves for it before it comes. This requires considerable operational agility and flexibility by each employee, as well as substantial organizational vision. Improving your vision is not only crucial for realizing new potential paths, but also for ensuring the availability of your resources, their efficiency level in meeting current demands, and their readiness for future demands.

Vision is important in this equation because it paints a target for an organization. It lights the fire, keeps people moving forward, and allows your employees to see the big picture. Unlike looking at a stationary target, however, organizational vision changes as the needs of the customer changes. Your vision prepares you for this, but your flexibility and agility are what get it done. For example, the strength and success of a football team does not just come from the plays the coaches call from the sidelines or how well each player understands what they are supposed to do according to the playbook…it comes from how they are able to perform once the ball is in motion, when the play has begun, and things change, or unexpected things happen. The vision comes from the coaches/leadership, but the ability to react, perform, and outlast comes from the agility and flexibility of the players/employees. Having the most talent on the field at one time is not always what leads to success. Being able to consistently perform play after play, not running out of gas, and keeping a marathon pace are also very important factors in your success. In a business organization, it is no different .

If your organization is flexible and agile, they will be able to rapidly address issues, respond to new opportunities, and meet new customer demands. This is the formula for success for any small business, because agility and flexibility are extremely critical in not only keeping/pleasing current customers, but also adding new ones. When each employee in an organization shares these traits, they are able to offer valuable insight to the leadership. Let’s look again at the football analogy. Coaches see things happening from the sidelines – they have a perfect view of the entire field. But the players are on the field, and they see the action from another angle. When your players are able to hear and see things that the coaches may not be able to hear or see, they share the information with them. This allows coaches to make changes to their game plans or call new plays. In business, when the employees are out on the floor and they see new opportunities, they can share them with the leadership, which allows the leadership to get a jump on the action and possibly strike big. This can have an incredible influence on the long term success of any organization.

Being able to meet customer requirements depends on the heart of this very issue. Take a look at Walt Disney, for example. Although he was one of the first to create cartoons that had sound, cartoons that had color, and movies that included animation, they were not his biggest accomplishments. He had to be able to adapt to change, and had to keep a long term vision. He was agile and flexible. He adapted to customer needs and new demands. He saw change coming and planned for it. In doing so, he created his greatest masterpieces, Disneyland and Walt Disney World. But he didn’t give up on books, cartoons, and movies. He was in tune with what people and customers wanted and needed and led the effort in that direction, while still contributing to the products he began with. Today he is still the leader in the business, and will probably be tomorrow. If your organization is successful now and wishes to be successful tomorrow, as well as decade after decade, they need to have similar vision, agility, and flexibility.

Almost any company or employee can do a better job in preparing for change. Recognizing this is important. Keep moving down the path that has gotten you where you are today, and keep the vision open to where you want to be tomorrow. Your company culture is important and being a close knit team is vital. Adapting to change, preparing for new challenges, and responding to demand signals all contribute to this. Doing such will lead to revenue growth, employee happiness, satisfied customers, and a long-standing successful organization.