Improving Organizational Speed & Agility

“Almost nine in ten executives say organizational speed and agility have become increasingly urgent issues for them over the past five years, according to a McKinsey survey.( n1) Still, a majority admit they struggle to outpace their competitors. The survey defined ”speed“ as a measure of how rapidly organizations execute an operational or strategic objective and ”agility“ as the ability to change tactics or direction quickly.”

“When asked to pick the top two barriers to speed and agility, 50 percent of respondents select ”overly centralized, slow, and complex decision making,“ although many other factors also emerged (exhibit). When invited to cite the two organizational elements that contribute most to speed and agility, executives choose the alignment of company strategy and individual employees' performance goals and the delegation of decisionmaking authority as far down the organization as possible (41 percent and 39 percent of the sample, respectively). On the behavioral side, 57 percent think responsiveness to customer needs is the key issue.”

“This survey confirms our own experience in improving organizational speed and agility. Companies must create a sense of common purpose, focused on the customer and the market, by relentlessly capturing and leveraging market knowledge across the organization. It must then be linked to individual performance goals, roles, and accountabilities. They should also simplify decision-making processes and foster a culture that places less emphasis on following rules and procedures and more on driving business outcomes.”

Written while groovin' to Eternal Broadcaster (Authentic) from the album “The Beat Konducta: Vol. 1-2” by Madlib