What Is Agile Strategy?

Agile strategy is a method of competition and management. It is all about leveraging change and making the most of opportunities as they arise. The goal of the agile strategy, when adhered to correctly, is to provide your company with what it needs in order to set itself up for success in both the short-term and long term.

As far back as ancient Greece, there have been theories on how to maximize efficiency during times of upheaval. However, it wasn’t until 1990 that Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka wrote: “The New Product Development Game” that laid down the framework for agile strategy. In his book “Reinventing Giants: How U.S. Businesses Overcome Adversity,” Gary Hamel called this idea “fast-cycle innovation.”

Many companies struggle with the question of whether to prioritize agility or stability. The truth is that both are necessary in order to gain a competitive advantage over your opponents. You need the ability to respond quickly to changes in the market and your environment while also having a vision for where you want your business to go.

The mindset behind agile strategy can be summed up by an analogy. Imagine yourself driving on a winding road at night with no headlights. You cannot see what lies ahead very far in advance, but with great care and deft steering, you will reach your destination safely if you stay aware of what’s around you right now.

The benefits of the agile strategy include:
-the ability to take advantage of short-term opportunities;
-a greater ability to plan for the future;
-increased employee morale and productivity;
-more profitable business performance.

Although many companies embrace agile strategy without realizing it, not all do so consciously. So the first step is becoming aware that there are two very different approaches to managing your company—even if you feel like you’ve already found a way that works for you. Then, with this awareness comes the capability to objectively assess the pros and cons of both strategies to discover whether agile is right for your business. Only then can you strengthen your competitive position over time by gaining control of your future.

Agile strategy is the opposite of traditional strategic planning (which focuses on long-term goals rather than short-term opportunities); it acknowledges that you do not know what the future holds and embraces flexibility.

Strategic planning looks at things like revenue projections, consumer trends, economic data, etc.; Analytics to predict outcomes; foresight into what might happen based on these calculations; then implementing a plan for dealing with said possibilities.

A company using agile strategy has no interest in any of the “what ifs” because it knows that only reality matters—the need to adapt quickly to change instead of spending valuable time considering all possible scenarios.