Strategic agility means the ability of an organization to quickly and appropriately respond to or drive change in the market, while maintaining flexibility and focus. It involves recognizing and capitalizing on opportunities, as well as identifying and mitigating potential threats. It also means creating new services, products, and offerings, and even new markets, ahead of the competition.
Strategic agility is a product ownership responsibility that requires fluid organization of teams and going outside of systems, structures, and processes.
Some of the benefits of strategic agility are:
– It helps organizations stay competitive and relevant in a dynamic and uncertain environment.
– It enables organizations to innovate and adapt faster than their rivals or new entrants.
– It allows organizations to leverage their strengths and minimize their vulnerabilities.
– It fosters a culture of learning, experimentation, and collaboration.
Some of the principles to build strategic agility are:
– Anticipate and sense changes in the market and customer needs.
– Respond quickly and effectively to emerging opportunities and threats.
– Align and mobilize resources and capabilities to execute the strategy.
– Empower and engage employees to take ownership and initiative.
– Learn and iterate from feedback and results.
– Balance stability and dynamism in the organization.
Think digital first. Organizational leaders need to infuse a deep knowledge of technology into the strategic plan. If leveraging technology isn’t one of the organization’s core competencies today, it absolutely has to be tomorrow.
Destiny Young, MSc (Cand), MBA (Distinction), MTech (UNISA), BSc (Hons)
Technology/IT Infrastructure and Cybersecurity
