Book Image

Enterprise Agility

By : Sunil Mundra
Book Image

Enterprise Agility

By: Sunil Mundra

Overview of this book

The biggest challenge enterprises face today is dealing with fast-paced change in all spheres of business. Enterprise Agility shows how an enterprise can address this challenge head on and thrive in the dynamic environment. Avoiding the mechanistic construction of existing enterprises that focus on predictability and certainty, Enterprise Agility delivers practical advice for responding and adapting to the scale and accelerating pace of disruptive change in the business environment. Agility is a fundamental shift in thinking about how enterprises work to effectively deal with disruptive changes in the business environment. The core belief underlying agility is that enterprises are open and living systems. These living systems, also known as complex adaptive systems (CAS), are ideally suited to deal with change very effectively. Agility is to enterprises what health is to humans. There are some foundational principles that can be broadly applied, but the definition of healthy is very specific to each individual. Enterprise Agility takes a similar approach with regard to agility: it suggests foundational practices to improve the overall health of the body—culture, mindset, and leadership—and the health of its various organs: people, process, governance, structure, technology, and customers. The book also suggests a practical framework to create a plan to enhance agility.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Enterprise Agility
About Packt
Forewords
Endorsements
Contributors
Preface
Other Books You May Enjoy
Index

Leadership alignment on the need for change


While the need for enhancing agility may appear obvious, at least on paper, it is important to explicitly ensure that the leaders of the enterprise are convinced about the need and timing of the change. They must be mentally ready to steer the enterprise through the potential turbulence that the change may cause, and, most importantly, understand how their role will need to change, if the enterprise is to have greater agility.

The path to enhancing agility starts with revalidating or even changing the purpose of the enterprise. Getting this wrong can put the survival of the business at stake. Hence, the decision regarding revisiting the purpose may need the approval of the board of directors. So, alignment about the need for enhanced agility needs to happen at the board level as well.

Lack of alignment at the senior leadership level will send confusing signals and a feeling of tentativeness about the initiative to the entire organization, which is...