Agility or speed: a fundamental difference for your company

When we talk about an organization with agile management, we are referring to a company where those involved in the process usually participate in all its stages, in a more informal, dynamic, and less rigid way. The management of an agile organization focuses on resources and its pillars are agility, team motivation, delivery of value to the customer, the search for excellence, and frequent adjustments to adapt to changes and needs.

On the other hand, and laconically, traditional organizational management has detailed planning, has innumerable processes, ways of keeping documentation, and ways of communication that are previously established. There, employees receive tasks or goals, but they do not always participate in defining them. Therefore, as the participation in the decisions is less, the commitment also tends to be less. These companies are usually fast but… not necessarily agile.

In a changing market, immersed in a complex business world, it is important to have organizations that can react and adapt to innovation. It is important to have agile organizations. Therefore, it is important that if you want to improve competitiveness in this changing context, you move your company completely away from a structure that is static and traditional.

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An agile organization imposes an order that also implies improvements over time: teams that work in coordination and move in the same direction, at a steady and stable pace. On the contrary, "speed" is a term that is used as a reason to transfer the "rush" to reach the results, to achieve the objective, and that only ends in disorder and confusion. This order, although it may seem superficial, is internalized, it is not imposed or overwhelmed as in a traditional method, and it contributes to improving times. Now, what is the key to being able to make your company agile?

1. Get differential value with your decisions: the workgroup must prioritize which decisions are the most urgent and which are not; which decisions are a priority and which are not. This will allow your employees to know how to spend their time to be productive and achieve their goals.
2. Clearly define what role each one occupies within the team: each member of the work team must know what their tasks and responsibilities are. When this is clear, it allows decisions to be made quickly and efficiently.
3. Betting on technology and innovation: As I was saying before, the people who work in a company play a very important role in decision-making, therefore, it is essential to foster a work environment that is welcoming, creative, where employees have a good ability to adapt to changes. This together with technology is a combination that will undoubtedly bring your company closer to achieving the success you expect.
4. Process improvement: It is important to have processes that do not hinder the creativity and performance of your organization. For this, you need to reduce bureaucracy, optimize tasks and reduce the number of levels in your organization chart – the greater the relationship between the decision-maker and the employees, the better. Companies that have clear processes are more likely to achieve positive results.

In conclusion, the agility of a company has a direct and very notable influence on achieving its strategic objectives and obtaining better results. Why? The answer is simple: an agile company can respond to any type of demand, regardless of the context in which it finds itself. This is because agile methods do not bring speed, but are synonymous with flexibility.

Agility can be measured and therefore you can focus on productivity. Eliminating waste, continuous improvement, focusing on what is fundamental is quantifiable and, more importantly, can be compared so that the improvement of times is both the common thread and the desired result of continuous improvement. The success of a company is not a question of speed, it is more a question of solidity and agility.

What type of company do you want? Fast or agile?