It’s hard to predict the future. Just think of all that has happened in the world in the last two years. From the COVID-19 pandemic to supply chain issues to inflation and war, no one could have predicted these events early enough to be adequately prepared.

These challenges make it more difficult for companies to succeed and achieve their long-term objectives.

When the needs of your employees, customers and the market change suddenly, you must be ready to make the necessary shift. Proactive small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can achieve this by practicing organizational agility.

Organizational agility is the flexibility and coordinated effort to quickly address rapidly changing market conditions. It empowers your people, processes and technologies to change direction quickly as needed, avoiding extended downtime and revenue loss.

Importance of organizational agility

Agility-focused businesses can manage their growth flexibly, independently and productively. This improves their efficiency and reduces costs.

With this approach, you don’t predetermine the path forward. Instead, you make iterative changes based on feedback loops generated throughout the growth process, such as from employees and other key stakeholders. Once you’ve made changes to accommodate all the constructive recommendations, you can prepare to make additional changes based on future suggestions. Since your clients are also part of the process, you can use their feedback to identify priorities and make changes.

What is the difference between agility and scalability?

Scalability is the ability to increase or decrease your resources to meet critical needs. On the other hand, agility is the ability to react quickly to a situation, adjust with minimal downtime or loss, and keep moving forward indefinitely or permanently.

In simple terms, scalability refers to the ability to scale up and down in response to changing circumstances, while agility is all about the ability to move left or right to avoid a stumbling block.