The world seems to be becoming an increasing unpredictable environment. How do you create organisational success, business success, with all the challenges that are surfacing? From technological advancements to political shifts, from the war for talent to digital transformation, sustainability, supply chains, energy, healthcare, and finance. Disruption is everywhere.
As Heraclitus famously said, Panta Rhei - everything flows. You can’t step into the same river twice. And yet, as Alphonse Karr put it, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
But do they? In our hyper-connected (“VUCA”) world, where predictability is fading and inertia comes at a high cost, how do organisations thrive? How do they deal with the noise and unpredictability? So, you need to be resilient, robust. Not static resilience and robustness, but not the kind that makes you rigid like a rock. Instead, organisations need dynamic resilience and robustness. Like a surfer riding the waves, staying on top, enjoying the unpredictability of the water, the current, the waves, and the wind. Ensuring you don’t hit other surfers, vessels, dolphins, sharks, and rocks.
But how do organisations surf? How do projects or programmes surf? How do they become adaptable yet stay stable? Like the river: always in flow, never the same yet always there. How do you build the competence of your teams and your organisation? And if you’ve fallen off the surfboard a few times, or worse, hit a rock, how do you get back up? And, perhaps most frustratingly, what do you do when the new surfer who started just two months ago seems to be gliding effortlessly ahead of you?
Why Previous Business Models Are No Longer Enough
The previous ways of working assumed a steady and predictable environment. These ways focused on evolving efficiency for financial benefits, measuring output and actions for progress, hierarchies for proper decision-making, and functional siloes to warrant quality and consistency. People were seen as interchangeable resources (HR anyone?). Culturally, change was something to be avoided or managed in a controlled way. Do you remember, unfreeze – change – refreeze? This assumes ‘frozen’ is the preferred state. But in an unpredictably changing environment, ‘frozen’ is not an option. This environment requires a different organisation, a different culture. One we cannot implement using unfreeze – change – refreeze.
The Fight, Flight, Freeze – or Flex – Response
Talking about freezing, what happens to people in difficult circumstances, they fight, they flee or they freeze. The same can be seen with organisations. Some will stop investing and will ensure there’s money in the bank, waiting for better times - they freeze. Some will move forward, investing in technology like AI, bitcoin, etc, in the hope this will help them stay out of problems - they fight. And some will seek consolidation or mergers to be bought by big companies - they flee.
But there is a fourth way: to flex. To focus on what’s important, to focus on delivering value in a changed environment, to see how in the new situation this can be accommodated
If a tiger stands in front of you and your instinct is to fight, flee or freeze, remember you have another option. If you’ve trained your flexibility muscles, you’ll recognise this fourth path. And by keeping your cool, you can not only navigate the situation but also overcome it. Whether that means becoming less appealing prey, scaring the tiger away, seeking help from others, or even realising that what it needs is some attention and pet it. Your ability to adapt makes all the difference.
NOTE: In previous conversations, another "F" has surfaced, one we won’t spell out here. But let’s just say it involves doing the completely wrong thing (you know the one). And in rapidly changing, unpredictable environments, this happens to more organisations than we’d like to admit. They forget about their purpose and don’t survive. They focus only on their own board while surfing, ignoring the environment around them and the bigger picture until they crash into the rocks or get eaten by the sharks.
Business Agility: A Proven Alternative
Fortunately, we can learn from organisations who have been successful in this other way of organising, what we call business agility. These organisations prioritise impact and value delivery, working in cross-functional teams, making empowered decisions, involving customers, and adapting through rolling forecasts. From the Insights Report 2024 and 2023 which are based on real cases from the Agile Business Awards, demonstrate how organisations are becoming more successful using business agility. From research done by the Business Agility Institute, we can see how the need for business agility is growing, and the maturity of business agility is growing. This isn’t an unproven, radical concept. It’s a proven path forward. Others are already doing it—and with some practice, why wouldn’t you?
What is the evidence?
Throughout the Agile Business Awards, we see organisations focusing on creating customer value, increasing their revenue (or impact for public organisations), their customer satisfaction, and their people satisfaction. We see how they thrive in their organisational ecosystem, handling ESG better, engaging with their supply chain to create win-win advantages. Mind you, these are not the organisations that are implementing Scrum, SAFe, LeSS, AgilePM, Kanban, or any other framework or method. These organisations are utilising these methods and techniques as part of the learning journey to become an agile, resilient, adaptive organisation. They are constantly evolving, continuously riding the waves of change to become the best organisations they can be.
So, Why Isn’t Every Organisation Already on This Path?
If business agility delivers such clear benefits, why isn’t every organisation already on this journey? One probable cause we’ve seen is that this is a journey which doesn’t follow the implementation “unfreeze-change-refreeze” approach. It’s not a one-time implementation; it’s a continuous learning journey. An experiment-and-adapt journey. Organisations who have done this successfully all have this learning journey in common. They focus on being agile, doing agile, delivering value and strategic experimentation in a balanced approach. Their business agility journey is linked to the overall strategy of the organisation and is actively supported by high level management. They recognise that it’s not just about changing structures and processes, it’s about changing leadership, culture, governance, strategy and purpose of the organisation potentially. This isn’t the kind of change you launch on a Friday afternoon and complete in three months with a neat, final result. It requires surfing the adoption curve, with the driving force being the desire to provide better value and become a stronger organisation, not simply to "become more agile."
What’s Holding Organisations Back?
The biggest barriers are cultural and leadership shifts. The need to unlearn old habits. The challenge of abandoning “safe” structures like multi-level hierarchies. The necessity of trusting teams and people, to deliver greater value when “unleashed” than to deliver some value through a controlled way. It also requires really engaging with customers to find out their needs and how you can serve them. Collaborating with your supply chain to see how to create a win-win partnership instead of focusing on the lowest price. Doing business in a value-driven way. Scary, eh?
And the biggest thing holding them back? The fact that there is no model you can successfully implement. The successful frameworks help you to ask the right questions and point you towards possible solutions. They cannot tell you what to do. Neither can consultants. And if they do, don’t trust them! Use frameworks and expert advice as inspiration, not as a step-by-step recipe. Because if you treat them like a recipe, don’t be surprised if the meal doesn’t turn out as expected (...although you might strike lucky).
Many organisations, instead of embarking on the learning journey, have done what they know best: they have implemented agile methods and structures. Only to find out that there is no “one size fits all” despite what consultants and frameworks might claim (and charge handsomely for). They soon discover that simply implementing agility as a process is nothing more than a commodity, it’s what everyone is doing. It is not a key success factor. It is not what’s making the difference.
What Is Making the Difference?
In a rapidly changing world, success isn’t about frameworks, it’s about focusing outward. On what’s happening in the market. On delivering value in rapid short cycles. On impact, and less on output (and certainly not on input).
The good news? This trend of “Implementing Agile Methods” has more than reached its peak. It has led to “Agile is Dead” discussions. But agility is more alive, and is needed more than ever, for those organisations that want to build their active resilience, adaptability, and create sustainable value. Yes, frameworks and methods might help and can support the journey. They might be the surfboard, but they are not the surfer. You don’t become a good surfer by buying the best surfboard. “All the gear, no idea.” But you also will not become a good surfer without a decent surfboard either.
Learning to Surf = Learning to Adapt
Mastering agility is like learning to surf; it’s a continuous learning journey. You don’t start with the biggest waves. Instead, you build skills over time, testing, adapting, and improving.
Begin with small waves. Get a practice board. Learn how to stand and how to fall (gracefully, in a safe environment). Seek guidance from experienced surfers. Understand different boards and when to use them, whether windsurfing, kite surfing, or foiling. As you gain confidence, take on bigger waves. Teach others. Learn together. Build your own boards. Watch the tides. Stay aware of your surroundings, so you learn to know when conditions are ideal and when dangers, like sharks or strong currents, might lurk beneath the surface.
Practice. Engage in social learning. Stay flexible. And most importantly, enjoy the ride!
Now, let’s take this mindset into business. Let’s create an environment where organisations can learn, experiment, and build agility together. Because the goal isn’t just to stay afloat, but to ride the waves with confidence and skill.
Are you ready to navigate the waves of change?
