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In this era of instability, is your business able to adapt to industry shifts

For decades, business schools and industry professionals followed the philosophy that business was relatively stable, and trends predictable, provided the professional put in enough time to analyze the market forces. This has caused many businesses to rely on business plans based on the assumption that market dynamics will change in a predictable manner.

While those strategies used to be effective, today things have changed. The Internet is making it possible for any company to transact across the globe, and the relatively low cost of developing and implementing technologies means companies can rapidly try new ways of operating. In 2019, Quartz reported that Six Sigma, once one of the most favoured business process optimization models, has since given way to Agile management.

This shift isn’t surprising. Six Sigma is built on the view that processes can be perfected over time by continuously looking at previous performance. Agile development on the other hand follows the view that businesses should rapidly deliver features and offerings. Rather than trying to create a perfect offering that does everything management envisions, Agile simply requires businesses to deliver something that is “good enough.”

Shipping solutions/offerings that are “good enough” benefits business professionals because it enables them to ensure that they’re delivering something customers want. By incorporating customer feedback, the business can iterate and further enhance their offering. Aside from benefiting consumers, companies also benefit from spending less on wasted features.

All those things in mind, in order to stay competitive, business executives need to continuously evaluate market dynamics. In general, at the very least, key performance indicators should be tracked by the month, and high level corporate strategies should be capped at around 12 months.

Shifting to an agile corporate culture isn’t something that can happen overnight. In order to be successful, corporate executives need to ensure that change occurs from the top down. In his article on business strategy, Dr. M Muneer provides a variety of tips to help facilitate organizational transformation such as:

• Maintaining clear lines of communication: In-person meetings and/or video conferencing (for distributed teams) should be used for handling complex discussions, and also ensuring everyone is synchronized with their tasks.
• Establish an open door policy: Executives should be receptive to hearing the ideas and concerns of regular employees.
• Embrace storytelling: Leaders should use storytelling to make sharing knowledge more engaging and relatable across the organization.