Stoicism is the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and complaint. In business, this refers to the practice of continuing on your plan and trajectory without taking into account external factors. We all got a hard lesson this year on just how important it is to be agile, both for individuals as well as companies.
The future of the workplace will require many skill sets, but most important, one of these is likely to be agility – according to Forbes. With the continued pressures of remote working, endless meetings and economic challenges, an agile mindset will allow flexibility and adaptability to changeable work conditions. The principles of agility include valuing people over process, collaboration and responsiveness to change instead of strictly following a plan. Technology can help to bridge communication gaps and easily adjust budgets and outcomes when a project veers off course.
The silver lining of this pandemic is that we’ve all learned to expect the unexpected, and to be more comfortable with getting out of our comfort zones.
There is always a solution, and having an agile mind and and being organised increases the capacity of finding it.
It is natural to react to stressful situations by reverting to what we’re used to, but thriving in a pandemic requires a different mindset. An agile mindset is akin to the agile methodology used in engineering; it’s one of flexibility, openness to change and adaptability.
The three key principles to keep in mind are:
- Prioritize people & interactions, over process & tools.
- Collaborate with customers & clients instead of focusing on contracts & numbers and let them inform product development and needs.
- Respond to change -and indeed, life, with continuous adaptation.
Agility is more than a mindset it is a business practice. Being a person who can adapt to many situations is useless if the company stays stoic in their expectations and processes. Companies need to take a hard look at their processes and do an agility check.
A company that remains stoic and inflexible stays exactly that; stoic and inflexible. Unchanging. Stagnant.
This used to be the gold standard for an industry like accounting. How can an industry that is based on the same principles established by Luca Pacioli in the 15th century be flexible?
Well, here at Outsourced Accounting we take pride in bucking the trends and always remaining flexible. We have a passion for passing on our love of innovation and change to all we meet, clients and colleagues included.
If you are looking to adapt in this ever-changing world, give us a call to see how we can help on 0208 249 6007.
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Written by Andrew Callister