The Premise
The fundamental objective of any business is to earn revenue. Business can only exist when there is a transaction for money. If money isn’t being transacted, then it is charity. However, Business is also NOT about making money. Technically no business can ‘make’ money. Making money is the responsibility of the government mint! Businesses, or organisations, can only ‘create’ money.
Creation of money simply means to channelize the money that exists in the market into the organisation system. Anything and everything that ensures an uninterrupted flow in this channel may be considered ‘doing business’. In fact, the efficiency of the business is directly proportional to the flow of money into the system. The more seamless the flow is, the more efficient is the business.
The flow of money, or revenue, is dependent on transactions. A give and take. Give something in return for its money value. This ‘Give’ can be either a product or a service or both. There is, however, a caveat. Business is not about a ‘give and take’. Business is more to do about human perception towards the ‘given and take’. Money is a creation of mankind. It has an unnatural existence on this planet, hence is governed more by the forces of the human system than laws of nature.
The Intent
If money is the key for a business and money is a creation of human beings, then logically: Business is not about money, but more about the Human Being. It isn’t really about focusing on the channel which generates the money in the business. It is more to do with the channel(s) that are governed by human influences. Businesses, therefore, to thrive need to be sensitive to the ‘human factor’ at all times.
The world today is bombarded with technological innovation. Innovation fulfils instant gratification. Not only does a person want a choice in ‘what’ to consume, but he also exercises a choice in the ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘where’ of the consumption. Businesses today can no longer enjoy the luxury of creating its own strategy on the might of its product or services. The product or service isn’t the locus anymore, the ‘human element’ associated in each of its business processes is. Companies that failed to keep this in mind, failing to continuously monitor the ‘pulse’ of the human element, have perished. Markets of today are seamless and heavily influenced by the flow of information and human perception. Businesses, therefore, cannot be reactive. They cannot afford to be predictive either since human consumption patterns are not stable and enduring. What if the need of the hour is to adapt and respond? Adapt to the fast-changing consumption landscape and respond to environmental realities. Both these are dependent on the ability to be quick and flexible. Hence, businesses have to be agile. Imbibe the agility of quickly responding and adapting to its internal and external work environments.
A systemic transformation to Agile is one such opportunity that is available for businesses (irrespective of size or nature) to not only survive but also prosper in the market. Business Agility is one such methodology that encapsulates the essence of Agile fundamentals with sound business practices.
Business Agility, therefore, is the ability of an enterprise to operate efficiently in an environment of chaos and disruption. This ability is not confined to management alone. It has to permeate into four fundamental spaces that exist in the organisation. Business Agility is about being responsive to People, Processes, Product and Environment. All actions directed in meeting the emergent requirements of these four aspects of business is the scope in which Business Agility is pitched at.
The Scope
The fundamentals of Business Agility fulfil the undermentioned purposes of a Business. Some of the undermentioned are from the learning outcomes of the ICP-BAF course and have been highlighted to fit the context:
- Operating in Chaos: Understanding an environment of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) and successfully operating in it.
- Identifying the North Star: Organisations need an enduring foundation of new values and principles in order to be persistent and maintain direction.
- Tactical Agility: Competition is all about creating self-organised teams with the right mix of cognitively diverse people who are closest to the customer experience and empowered to make decisions to achieve customer delight.
- Customer Delight: Need to collaborate with customers, to solve problems they might not even know they have.
- Creating a Common Purpose: Why a strong sense of purpose is essential to enable high-performance. How they become a key source of inspiration, engagement, commitment and organisational cohesion.
- Strategic Thinking: Focus on the big picture and generating a vision of what the future will look like can help an organisation plan backwards to identify the steps to make it happen.
- Focus on the Human Element: Understand how to identify and empathise with customers in order to deliver differentiating value and customer experiences.
- The emphasis of Being Agile: Adopting a growth mindset (the belief that talents and abilities are not static, but can be developed and improved).
- Key Performance Indicators: Results need to be empirically measured to determine actual vs. planned benefits to inform pivot vs. persevere decisions
Business Agility is all about the Human Element in Business. How we focus, address and strategize on achieving strong and enduring human relationships in each function of the business is the essence of the talk. At Leadership-Tribe, we approach this topic from an ontological perspective (Science of Being) and use empiricism (knowledge derived from the senses) to enable greater understanding, so that it can be implemented as an effective methodology for deriving business outcomes. Get in touch with us to know more about how you can profit from this subject, both as an enterprise stakeholder or an Agile proponent.
