Businesses that have become agile report experiencing a 60% increase in productivity, a 66% improvement in engagement, and 70% greater project visibility, Forbes reports. Agile is essentially an approach that creates engaged and adaptable employees able to navigate obstacles and achieve goals as quickly and smoothly as possible. By taking steps to make your business agile, you can better set your business up for success.
Encourage entrepreneurial thinking in your employees
Encourage entrepreneurial thinking in your team – this is a key way to improve productivity and organization and foster creativity and innovative thinking. So, for instance, be sure to give your employees a certain amount of autonomy. When employees have the freedom to make their own decisions and solve their problems where possible, the quicker they’ll take action and complete tasks and projects – therefore making your business more agile. You can even host employee workshops designed to develop entrepreneurial qualities. In particular, these workshops can teach your employees how to improve creativity, productivity, and visibility, set goals, budget and manage finances, and develop a healthy work-life balance. In turn, you’ll motivate your employees to improve their performance in a safe and supportive environment.
Switch to agile project management
Project management typically involves ample time and planning – multiple projects are usually prioritized in order of importance for completion before budgets for each are created accordingly. However, in a fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, this traditional style of project management is a risky approach. Alternatively, agile project management promotes speed, accuracy, and flexibility. In particular, fast feedback loops are a key strategy used to boost productivity, validate the work process, and identify room for improvement when it comes to agile project management. For instance, projects are reviewed regularly to ensure they still meet strategic goals. Project managers also often talk with relevant team leaders to gather feedback, as well as identify and find ways to make necessary changes to improve the overall workflow.
Prioritize in-person communication
Although digital communication – whether email or instant messaging tools – is commonplace in the workplace, and can be effective, an agile business prioritizes face-to-face conversations. When you’re aiming to maintain a fast pace, you need to communicate instantly with your team; digital communication typically involves waiting to hear back from people, and therefore slows you down. 62% of employees also say they have issues with being talked over or interrupted with digital communication. So, to facilitate in-person communication, you can either ensure your team is working in the same physical location, or instead use distributed teams working remotely from different places. However, with distributed teams, it’s best to ensure they’re working the same hours, so you can schedule-in video chats, and better create a communicative and collaborative environment.
Making your business agile is key to improving speed, flexibility, and responsiveness. Especially after PSTN Switch Off which is bound to affect businesses, encouraging entrepreneurial thinking, switching to agile project management, and prioritizing in-person communication are key agile principles you can adopt to improve your business.
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