Staying Nimble & Responsive

By Scott Bahr, June 21, 2021

In the current business atmosphere, companies who are not nimble and responsive tend to have limited success. The speed of business increases every year, with the advent of technology and the subsequent flood of information, being able to efficiently and effectively handle these demands will determine your ultimate level of success.

Let’s first discuss what it means to be nimble in your approach. Being nimble, based on our organization, means that we do not weigh ourselves down with unnecessary policies and procedures, we eliminate overhead that does not add value to what we provide, we know how to work with each other, and we continuously evaluate our processes, our software, our technology, and our deliverables.

It’s important to ask yourself the tough questions regarding whether you have the right people in the right functions, do you have the software that meets your needs, does your team have the resources they need to succeed?

This needs to be an ongoing internal evaluation process. Over the years, we have used numerous software solutions whether it’s for our analysis, reporting, survey programming/hosting, communications, etc. This evaluation process, and ultimately a blog I wrote about my frustrations with research software, I was approached by a company that provides these types of solutions (see case study on CCG here: https://www.qresearchsoftware.com/customers/cairn-consulting).

And finally, there is the idea of being responsive. Responsiveness seems obvious to most, yet in some cases, it’s easy to forget what it means to the end-user. First and foremost, if you are not nimble, you are going to struggle being responsive, so make sure your organization is nimble and efficient.

Responsiveness is ultimately how you approach your work and your relationships with your internal and external customers. It does not always mean answering immediately (though it’s important), it ultimately means responding effectively. This could mean a multi-staged response such as an initial “I will look into this and get back to you by the end of the day” and then making sure you follow-up by the end of the day. You’re responding to your customer and first, acknowledging them and second, making sure that they know they are important to you. Over the course of my career I’ve noticed a pattern: the most successful people in business are the most responsive. The people who have achieved the highest levels of success in their industry are also the ones who will answer emails, phone calls, and will acknowledge your relationship. It’s not a coincidence.

Overall, take the time to evaluate your processes, your software, your training, your human resources and make sure they are all functioning efficiently and that you have the right solutions in place. Make yourself nimble. Your systems and resources make you responsive, and those are the keys to managing your business relationships.