The need for enhancing agility
The Meriam-Webster dictionary defines agility as:
"the quality or state of being agile." [ix]
The views of two well-known experts bring out the essence of agility. According to David S. Alberts, author of the book, The Agility Advantage:
"Agility is the ability to successfully effect, cope with and/or exploit changes in circumstances".
According to Jim Highsmith, one of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto:
"Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment. Agility is the ability to balance flexibility and stability." [x]
Every enterprise has some level of agility, and hence the concept of agility is not new in the business world. What is relatively new is the realization of the need for enterprises to have greater agility. It is now considered as one of the core qualities which an enterprise must have in order to survive and thrive in today's rapidly changing environment.
According to Wouter Agthina of McKinsey, with today's levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and volatility in markets, and globalization, agility is important for all companies. He further states:
"The opposite of fragile is something that gets stronger when I exert force or stress on it. In today's environment—with enormous changes coming from both inside and outside of the organization—that's what we think the aspiration should be. That's what I call agility: when you thrive on change and get stronger and it becomes a source of real competitive advantage." [xi]
Enterprises today must have greater agility than ever before, in order to deal with the implications of fast paced-change, as discussed in Chapter 1, Fast-Paced Change – Threat or Opportunity?. It is agility which will enable enterprises to not only deal with disruptions arising from change but also to create disruptions and gain/improve competitive advantage. Agility is necessary for the enterprise to evolve and renew itself, in order to be able to align itself to changes, which are happening at a very fast pace.
No amount of past glory and success is of any use when dealing with disruptions arising from change. No enterprise, even one with high agility, is in a position to predict when and how a disruption will create impact in the future, including posing a threat to survival. However, agility will enable the enterprise to be as prepared as possible to deal with disruptions, so that when those disruptions happen (it is not a question of if), they are in the best position to deal with them.
Enhancing agility, and maintaining it, requires constant commitment, dedication, and hard work. This is akin to an athlete making all efforts to get and stay in good shape, even when a competition for their sport is not on the horizon. Someone wanting to become an athlete while they are currently having a sedentary lifestyle will need more time and a lot more effort to even get close to being as fit as an athlete. For enterprises, it is a race for survival today. If they have any chance of staying in the race, they need to enhance agility to a level that is optimal for them, and then maintain it as well.