When situation becomes Fragile, we need to do away from Fixed Routine to become Agile. Yes, this is my quote.
For many years we were hearing the world Agile, especially for describing a toddler, sportsmen etc. But post last 2 years turmoil, discussion on agility has gained lot of ground.
I look at Agility from a different angle. In my opinion an organization / a person / an institute, if is successful in a long run, is running the routine in an efficient way and improving the efficiency over the period, by way of continuous improvement. The process which is being run efficiently, at some point of time must have been checked for its effectiveness.
So, for a success, you should be running an effective process efficiently.
This reminds me the quote by Management Guru Peter Drucker “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all”
As I was reading one article on Fortune 500 companies, 88% of Fortune 500 companies which were in the list in 1955 are gone from the list. Either they have gone bankrupt, merged or are existing but gone down in ranking. To name few from this list is Pan Am, Polaroid, Compaq, Kodak etc. So, what does this reflect? Either these companies did not run the process efficiently any more or they did not revisit to check effectiveness of the processes which they are running efficiently.
Now you must be wondering, I started with Agility and where I ended my last thought. You are right, I may have been efficient in doling out information, but ineffective from the angle of relevance to the chosen topic. Oh, so now another word entered the fray, Relevance!
Are you choosing relevant goal/aim/path/product/process …….???
Just to give example of cheque clearance process in Banks. They might be doing the cheque clearance very efficiently and might have adopted the latest techniques for Cheque clearance so that effective cheque clearing process remains efficient, but looking at current scenario of internet banking, UPI etc, whether in a first place I should be concentrating on process which is losing its relevance in current context?
That reminds me Stephen Covey quote “It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busyness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover that it’s leaning against the wrong wall. If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster”
You would say again I am losing the track of topic. No, I am coming to my point.
So, to be agile (this phrase came from field of software and in my opinion, may not hold good for manufacturing process …… but yes, the concept of agility is relevant for choosing the right process) you need to be nimble footed oh sorry, rather nimble minded. You need to be nimble minded first, to give proper instruction to be nimble footed!
This means you should be ready with changing your plans on the fly, effectively and efficiently, once the relevance of the new plan is established. Dose this means you can’t be Agile, if you have not thought of alternate plans (Plan A, B, C…….), which can be activated at the drop of the hat.
While considering the efficiencies of various resources, Planning fixes the routine, and hence my opening statement. What is your opinion?
This means you require planning to be agile ………, good topic for my next blog.
