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Why Companies Need to Turn Agile in 2023

In the context of doing business in 2023, being adaptive is synonymous with staying competitive. Any business worth their salt must have the tools and the resources available to rise up to the exigencies of a rapidly changing market.

Challenges companies are facing in 2023

  • The possibility of a recession

A survey done by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) in March says that 58% of economists predict an impending recession in the US to occur within the year, specifically during the third quarter.

Another survey involving the chief economics of the World Economic Forum reveals that almost two-thirds believe a global recession in 2023 is likely.

  • Global talent shortage

A Korn Ferry report shows that 85 million jobs might go unfilled by 2030 as there are not enough skilled people to capably assume the needed positions.

The 2023 Global Talent Shortage report by ManpowerGroup reveals that nearly 4 out of 5 employers globally cannot find the skilled talent they need.

Image source: ManpowerGroup

 

Image source: ManpowerGroup

In this environment, employers are addressing the issue by upskilling and reskilling their workforce and offering more flexibility for when and where employers can do their jobs.

  • Increasing demands from customers

Customer demands have always been the starting point of any development process. But as the global talent shortage issue hits the market, companies are going to have a hard time responding to these demands. Constant market feedback is what drives innovation in the 21st century but that takes work. If companies want to survive, they need to have both human and technical resources to stay on top.

  • Supply chain issues

The global supply chains have been severely disrupted by the pandemic, causing widespread damage to various parties worldwide. This crisis has also laid bare the inherent flaws in the existing supply chain structure. Consequently, numerous companies are currently striving to develop more adaptable approaches to tackle similar situations. However, addressing this challenge and repairing the damage inflicted by the pandemic will undoubtedly require a significant amount of time, as everyone continues to grapple with the ongoing economic impact.

In this environment, turning Agile is no longer an option but a necessity.

Related: The Future of Customer Service

Image by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels

How Agility can help companies tackle and survive these problems

  • Making the planning process faster and and more responsive
  • Making the workflow more transparent, visible, and more flexible
  • Encouraging accountability and building teams that are capable of making reliable decisions
What is agility?

Agility is about delivering a working product to the customer often through continuous cycles of discovery and delivery. This is made possible by using a decentralized approach to decision making, using customer feedback to drive innovation, and embracing the fail fast philosophy.

Agility means decentralizing decision-making

At its core, agility:

  • Decentralizes decision making
  • Dismantles traditional hierarchies
  • Recognizes that valuable insight comes from anyone regardless of title or position

Having an agile mindset enables people to decide on the spot without looking upwards for orders about what to do next. For this way of working to occur organically, two shifts need to happen.

  • Leaders need to relinquish control, their need for perfectionism, and they must have an inherent trust in their teams
  • Team members need to take accountability of the work that happens and must be autonomous in their decision making

 

Image from Rawpixel

“Agility, or being agile, is often misunderstood. It is not about speed. Operating faster can simply be a recipe for doing the wrong activities quicker. Agility is about being able to adapt, pivot, and respond to your customers and market trends, both at an organizational and individual level."  ~ Amanda Fajak

Agility means letting the customers drive innovation

Customer feedback drives innovation and decision-making in an agile environment. Every direction taken needs to be constantly guided by customer feedback. This way, customer become co-developers of the product instead of taking a backseat and letting the “pros” do all the work.

By actively seeking and incorporating customer feedback in the work process, agile teams reap the following benefits:

Assumptions are validated early so potential issues are identified and addressed immediately before they become significant problems

Resources are used for developing features that the customers actually want

Agility means failing fast

In agile spaces, failure is not considered an absolute but a normal part of the development process. In order to develop faster, it’s only expected that the team will make errors and mistakes, whether technically or strategically, along the way.

Embracing this fact and using the “test, learn and iterate” process means making mistakes faster so they can learn what works, what doesn’t, and move forward faster. This mindset and way of doing things is at the heart of what Agile is.

"Move quickly, test, learn, and iterate. Failing fast and letting go of ideas or projects that aren’t delivering value means you can pivot to those that have more possibility of success, you’ll remain in step with your customers and the market, and won’t be wasting precious time, money, and energy in the wrong areas." ~ Amanda Fajak

Image by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash

How to apply agility within your team

So now that you know the why, it’s time to get into the “how”. The best thing about Agility is that it not only outlines the mindset change that needs to happen but also lays down a concrete and actionable framework that teams can directly apply into their work process.

To incorporate Agile into your team, incorporate a process that follows these steps.

  • Define your short-term goals.What can you do in two weeks that will make your customers happy?
  • Do the work. Make sure everyone knows what they need to do to contribute to the short-term goal.
  • Evaluate your progress and identify the next short term goal.

Final Word

Flexibility, innovation, and collaboration is what the market demands from companies in 2023 — core principles that the agile methodology advocates and upholds. By adopting agile methodologies and mindsets, companies stand the chance of staying competitive even in the unpredictable changes in the modern  business landscape. The only question that remains is: Are you ready?

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Related: The Future of Customer Service

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