Before Covid, the top business outcomes we heard that leaders desired in their agile transformations were Speed and Predictability. In 2020 we saw an immediate shift to market responsiveness as an imperative to an organization’s ability to survive during times of extreme disruption. Once things started to reach a new status quo in 2021 and 2022, we saw organizations put an emphasis on innovation and standing out among the competition. As we enter 2023 and plan for the year ahead, it’s time to check in with the key question once again: what business outcome is your organization focused on?
Not sure how to choose? Here’s some helpful info…
Why Business Outcomes Matter
A transformation without a clear business outcome lacks motivation and urgency to change since the people impacted by the change lack a correlation between actions taken and the why behind it. Organizations will often get lost in the implementation of “agile things” but fail to realize the true benefits of agility if they are not connecting the capabilities they are building back to the business results they’re seeking. To combat this problem, Path to Agility® has defined nine business outcomes of an agile transformation, as seen below.
One of these business outcomes should be the main reason why you are trying to improve your organization; your guiding north star. Selecting a guiding outcome to align your transformation around will ensure that you are building capabilities that will directly impact your desired business results.
Choosing Your Business Outcome
Selecting a north star requires a conversation at the leadership level. When leaders look at the nine business outcomes, their first response is usually “ I want all of them”. Of course all are valuable, but what are they going to focus on in the next 3-6 months?
As you look at the nine business outcomes in Path to Agility, you’ll notice dependencies among them.
It’s important to identify the priority areas to focus on first and why. For example, Customer Satisfaction may be your ultimate goal, but making progress on other business outcomes will impact it. If you have low Customer Satisfaction scores, it might be a Quality issue, which might in turn create a Speed issue, which impacts your ability to be responsive to the market, and because you’re not able to respond to the market fast enough, you have low Customer Satisfaction. So, depending on where you are currently, you may need to focus on an outcome that is a predecessor to your ultimate goal.
What’s Next?
Identifying your guiding business outcome helps you know what actions to focus on. Using Path to Agility Navigator you can assess progress toward that goal and provide visibility into the transformation.
If you are interested in learning how you can use Path to Agility to align your transformation around a measurable business goal and track progress along the way, learn more here.
What business outcome is top of mind in your organization for 2023?
Identifying your guiding business outcome helps you know what actions to focus on. Using Path to Agility Navigator you can assess progress toward that goal and provide visibility into the transformation.
If you are interested in learning how you can use Path to Agility to align your transformation around a measurable business goal and track progress along the way, learn more here.
