What Types of Industries Need Agile Workers the Most
What Types of Industries Need Agile Workers the Most?
Businesses across every industry realize the importance of agile workers when business plans don’t go as expected. From a neighborhood bakery facing higher prices for ingredients to astronauts floating through the vast unknown, success and survival hinges on adaptability.
Companies that can pivot, respond, and evolve with agility rise above their competitors, setting a foundation for Agile teams to foster innovation and long-term growth. When observing agile teams that support relentless improvement, we see similarities in their use of flexible frameworks that provide space for continuous improvements along the way.
Why Do Companies Need Agile Workers?
Simply put, agile is a mechanism that enables a company to ‘respond to change’ in some aspect of their business. A team of agile workers can build and adjust effective business strategies that can keep a company afloat when disruptions arise.
Hyperdrive Enterprise Coach and Trainer Tom Perry organizes disruptions into four categories: Economic (supply chain, stock market), Ecosystem (pandemics, global warming), Social (social justice movements, politics), and Product (innovation, commoditization). When businesses meet one or more of these disruptions, employees must ask themselves, “What do we need to do to effectively pivot?”
“Within the agile space we tend to be so product focused, which makes sense,” said Perry. “But there’s a much larger world of disruption out there that is just as relevant.”
While it might not be possible to prepare for every possible disruption, teams who embrace a mindset of adaptability (agility) are more likely to overcome obstacles.
Where Do We Find The Need For Agility In The Real-World?
There are five factors that test a company’s agility: rapid market changes, regulatory pressure, innovative demands, complex project management, and customer-centric focus.
1. Rapid Market Changes
To understand the importance of agility amidst rapid market changes, let’s take a look at two industries facing this constant change: tech and finance. As technology continuously evolves at a rapid pace, teams that lead or anticipate change produce better results. Finance (influenced daily by changing interest rates, stock prices, and global events) surprisingly also requires an agile mindset.
Agile Fundamentals
Teams across all industries recognize the importance of agile fundamentals when disruptions test their foundations. An agile operating model shapes strategy and processes into a delivered outcome that can survive inevitable obstacles.
Implementing agile will shift the team’s entire operating model, and Hyperdrive CEO Stacey Louie says this sets up a team for success.
“Our hope is that this output gives us outcomes that benefit the health of the business and delivers customer value,” explained Louie.
Teams should incorporate agile into the operating model’s five components:
- Organizational structure: team structure
- Accountabilities: responsibilities to team, leadership, and company
- Governance: operational policies or procedures
- Ways of working: company culture
- Capabilities: people, technology, and processes
Learn more about Agile Fundamentals in Hyperdrive’s Agile Fundamentals (ICP) course.
2. Regulatory Pressures
We often see regulatory pressures pose new challenges in highly-regulated industries such as healthcare, energy, and finance when new policies emerge. A healthcare worker may be forced to quickly adapt to updated medical regulations. Energy professionals might have to accommodate new sustainability standards. Financial teams often navigate evolving banking laws to avoid costly penalties.
When considering how agile teams maintain requirements, a flexible framework, continuous monitoring, and regulatory updates to workflows help keep the team focused while maintaining their agile foundation.
3. Innovative Demands
Product development, automotive, technology, and marketing all thrive on fresh ideas and constant evolution, demonstrating the importance of business agility. The tech industry’s ever-accelerating development of new tools and apps equates standing still to rapidly falling behind. Automotive companies adapting to electric vehicles rely on agile teams to quickly respond and drive change. Marketing campaigns pivot as trends shift, demanding agility to stay relevant.
When acknowledging how innovation can impact various industries, we recognize the importance of cohesive communication and strategies across teams.
How do cross-functional teams support agile collaboration?
Cross-functional teams bring together diverse skills and perspectives to enhance customer satisfaction. This collaboration helps teams solve complex problems faster, improves communication across departments, and creates ideologies of shared ownership.
4. Complex Project Management
Agile is a lifesaver for industries managing complex projects, including construction, aerospace, engineering, and IT. External factors like weather or supply chain issues can create a ripple effect, forcing professionals to develop new strategies, find new suppliers, or make adjustments to the product.
Instead of getting bogged down by setbacks, develop a growth mindset to use challenges as opportunities to innovate.
5. Customer-Centric Focus
Retail, healthcare, and service industries reflect customer needs and feedback: a key pillar in business agility.
If Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) reflect unsatisfied customers, teams must quickly take new action and adjust their strategies accordingly. In retail, agile corporations may account for seasonal trends. Healthcare workers might integrate new technology to improve patient experience. Service industries, like restaurants or tech support that thrive on happy customers, must adapt to customer complaints and preferences.
Industries With The Greatest Need For Agile
In a fast-paced world that demands adaptability, some industries benefit from agility more than others. Did your field make the cut?
1. Software development and technology
2. Finance, banking, and fintech
3. Marketing and advertising
4. Healthcare and health insurance
5. Construction and engineering
6. Aerospace and automotive
7. Government and military
8. Education and training
9. Research and development
10. Retail and service
11. Hospitality and F&B
12. Tour and travel
13. Trading and distribution
14. Shipment and logistics
Final Thoughts
In today’s ever-evolving landscape, the ability to adapt swiftly and effectively is not just a competitive advantage - it’s a fundamental necessity. Professionals, employees, and workers with Agile ways of doing things and mindsets are imperative.
By prioritizing agility, you position your team to thrive when inevitable disruptions pose a threat to the plan at hand. By embracing agility, harnessing its power, and riding the waves of change, we set ourselves up for a resilient and prosperous future.
Questions? We Can Help.
When you’re ready to move beyond piecemeal resources and take your Agile skills or transformation efforts to the next level, get personalized support from the world’s leaders in agility.