How to Create an Agile Learning Organization that Drives Revenue

Excess complexity in business is manifesting itself in several very visible and quantifiable ways, including lack of innovation, poor customer service, and slow response to customer demands. 

According to HBR, an overwhelming 86 percent of executives believe that their business processes and decision making have become so complex, they are actually hindering the ability to grow in a digital economy.

As companies redefine their strategies and business models to embrace more agile methods, teams within those enterprises are bumping up against highly rigid systems -- legal processes that take months to protect IP, business phase-gate processes that require all requirements up-front or client engagement processes that take longer than a two-week development cycle. To become more agile, enterprises must change a mountain of complex methods along with their associated practices and templates.

Overcoming Process-Based Paralysis

Removing embedded, superglued processes that have accumulated over time can be a tremendous task. What traditionally happens in most large-scale enterprises is that a process is born to help optimize a single, focused business problem—the executive leadership team wants to ensure that they are making good business decisions at certain checkpoints or they want to make sure that the goods and services meet quality standards so that customers will be happy.

When viewed across an enterprise, the sheer number of these kinds of projects, sub-tasks and checks against each task can bog teams down and lead to process-based paralysis.

Over time, initiatives fade, technology changes, business focus shifts, yet the related processes stick primarily because it can be difficult to determine what the impact of removing them might be, who might be offended by removing them, or how much effort is required to remove them. That’s where learning analytics come in and make a huge difference.

How Learning Analytics Helps Agile Businesses Reach New Milestones

Executives in successful agile enterprises work very hard to not only remove the process-related jams that slow things down, but to prevent additional ones from forming in the first place. It may not be the most glamorous work, but it is essential for enabling and optimizing agility.

Companies that have invested wisely in business efficiency and measurement initiatives over the past few years have created value for their customers and shareholders in the year ahead. A 2012 survey reveals that a new group of leaders has taken the recent period of slower growth as an opportunity to do things differently.

Rather than simply cutting costs, these leaders have taken a strategic and integrated approach to making their operations more efficient and effective. At the center of their new processes, they’ve developed tangible ways to measure and tackle objectives that are delivering a competitive advantage.

The key to their success:  Metrics.  New practices designed to quantify and improve the impact of their engagement initiatives on overall business performance are now engaging workforces, increasing innovation, productivity, and bottom-line performance while reducing costs related to hiring and retention.

To learn more about Learning Analytics’ role in supercharging your business strategy, join HCI and CGS Enterprise Learning on September 29 at 1 p.m. EDT. You’ll gain best practices and lessons learned from our expert panel and have your most pressing Learning (or business strategy) questions answered.