What if you were told that implementing a new process to your business could improve customer satisfaction, employee engagement and innovation by 90%?
According to a recent McKinsey study, companies that implemented the Agile Manifesto into their operations "saw significant improvements in their operational performance."
Agile, scrum, sprint, standups are now commonly heard terms around the office and in online meeting these days. The need to be agile has increased due to COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions, which have forced companies to seek operational efficiencies to remain competitive.
However, the rush to become agile has also resulted in businesses claiming to be agile, yet not fully understanding what it means. Here are 4 keys to aide you in transforming your business into an agile operation:
#1 TEAM WORK
Change is difficult, as people have routines and habits they are comfortable with. Implementing agile is easier if teams have worked together for a period of time. This experience gives them a certain level of comfort with one another.
However, if there are newer team members, or if the team is entirely new, working in a common location would be ideal. This allows everyone the opportunity to get to know one another, build trust and understand each others tones and inflections. This proximity will ultimately lead to improved problem solving amongst the team.
#2 LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY
Since a large percentage of the workforce is still working remotely, it critical that technology is used to the team’s advantage. Using video calls is an excellent resource that we have all become accustomed to. However, it is also important to ensure that meetings are structured, and that people are not talking over one another. Using virtual whiteboards can eliminate confusion around concepts and processes, as well as capturing the collective views of the team.
#3 GET A COACH
Managing an agile team is about having strong leadership. Likely, agile hasn't been implemented before and it may even be new to most team members. Consequently, just like learning to ski, hire an instructor.
An agile coach will help your team leaders to understand the agile methodology and aide in the implementation, as well as overcoming any resistance that they may face as a result of the implementation. Furthermore, an agile coach can also ensure that teams are working on different phases of a project contemporaneously, using shared knowledge and data to improve the speed and decision making for the collective team
#4 EXECUTIVE BUY IN
For any new initiative to be successful, senior management needs to be on board with the concept. This sets the tone, expectations and leads to a cultural change necessary to embrace change and guarantee a successful transition.
Executives should be prepared for and expect a certain level of chaos, as the agile framework is implemented. Some teams will embrace it and others will resist. A unified voice and tone from the top will set the culture and expectations. Once fully embraced the business should see meaningful improves across its operations.
CONCLUSION
The pandemic forced businesses to adopt agile methodology, but being truly agile is about more than standup meetings and sprint deadlines. It is about embracing it from the top of the organization to the bottom, making it the de-facto cultural mindset and equipping teams with the necessary tools to transform the business into a agile operating environment.
Agile can deliver impactful results when a business fully commits to it. Once the teams see the commitment, it will influence the businesses overall culture positively. And don’t be afraid to seek help: When making a change, experts (coaches) and technology can help ease the transition for teams being impacted.
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