Why companies need to become agile

Survival of the Fittest. This is not only the Darwinian law in nature. We also tend to transfer this attitude to our into our business world. With success?

It is true that companies are generally better positioned if they have relevant resources. However, this does not ensure competence for long-term survival. Especially not at the speed at which the market is developing today. The digitalization demands new competencies as an acceleration mechanism. Agility is at the top of the list.

What makes me agile?

Agile appears as a term in various leadership models and is and is used in an inflationary manner in management tools. But what does it actually agile to be?

It says in the dictionary that it is a sign of great agility. So fast. Vital. Skilful. And above all, adaptable. Flexible. Which brings us back to Darwin. Or the great misunderstanding that it is not the fittest that survive, but those who create new options. Just like nature, a company should be geared towards diversity and without years of analysis or planning be able to react to changes.

But now we tend to want to hedge everything. Better once too much calculated than risked. But the fear of failure paralyses. Sometimes even to the point of immobilising. And then you get eaten. Conversely, that would be an appeal to be courageous. But is that enough? Daredevil undertakings are not necessarily promising either. Yes, there is more to being agile than just being courageous.

Agile, agile ? is it getting too much for me?

If you transfer agile thinking and action to a company, one thing has to be considered. A Pursue only functions as well as its individual links. In addition to the material resources, this includes those that control them. In contrast to things, these are those that have the possibility to make agile decisions. If a company wants to be agile, however, this means that every part of the company itself adopts an agile attitude. It also means being courageous. Courageous enough to make their own decisions and take responsibility for them. And that brings us to the much more relevant part of agility in the context of the company. Because being agile can only be actively lived when everyone employees is prepared to feel responsible for it. If you are not used to this, it can seem more stressful than simply being the executive hand of a decision-maker. In many corporate cultures, you would have to employees probably first get used to an independent sense of responsibility.

Survival of the most agile

But the company wants to survive out there in the free market economy. So how do you establish an agile mentality? First check your own agility, for example. How willing are you to actually try new things, accept coincidences or take other people's ideas seriously ? especially if they contradict your own ideas (at first). How well do you tolerate the complexity of the incalculable? Planning is good and important. But at what point does the same way of thinking and the same processes. These usually result from experience. But when does experience limit us rather than help us to break new ground?

Of course, we don't want to remain so abstract and are hereby starting a series of contributions that deal with agility in the context of project and company management and also consider the extent to which a ERP software can support in this endeavour or to what extent systems need to change.

Let's get agile!