What does an Agile Work Environment Look Like in Retail?

Working in an Agile way is becoming a hot topic in the area of retail. The Agile workflow has its roots in software development and is primarily used by the IT community. However, there are many benefits of working in this way that could enhance the operational side of retail businesses. For purposes of this series of articles, I will refer to the Agile workflow by designating a capital A for agile when I reference the workflow process. I will use a lowercase A when referring to the term agile, meaning nimble, flexible, quick to change. Pivoting and being agile in how a company works are two currently common buzzwords, and I want to distinguish between how these are compared to having an Agile workflow process. Not coincidently, adopting this way of working will allow a company to pivot quickly and be agile in serving customer’s changing needs.

Most retailers will openly admit they need to be agile. (And when I refer to retailers — I am referencing more traditional brick and mortar retail companies.) Fewer have adopted a framework for shifting the mindset to work in an Agile way. It is a significant mindset change that is required to think in an entirely new way. Retailers that are evolving, like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, are beginning to see the fruits of thinking in new ways. It helped them adjust quickly to a pandemic-induced shift in 2020. They quickly adjusted their models to support the immediate needs of customers who suddenly demanded curbside pickup and same-day delivery options.

Interestingly enough, most retailers received a dose of the possibilities of working with Agile processes. Traditional retailers had to implement a different version of an OmniChannel offering in a short window of time. This exposed the potential that can come from rethinking the work processes that bring new service offerings to market. The challenge is sustaining that as you change the way you work, instead of only seeing it as a crisis reaction. It is a considerable shift in thinking that I find myself challenged to appreciate fully. I also know it will become more and more necessary to adopt and embrace this new mindset and, more importantly, a radically innovative approach to working. 

Quorso published a manifesto earlier this year to explore the possibilities of how the Agile workflow could be applied to retail stores and help them make the evolution necessary to adapt to a changing consumer and new way of doing business.

The core of this approach highlights the need for four key elements to be in place to adopt an Agile approach for retailers. I’ll start with what Quorso has shared and then break those down from my perspective. They outline the values as: 

• Engaged humans over compliant task doers

• Actions over insights

• Store networking over centralized instruction

• Learning and adapting over following a plan

You can see immediately why some may get tense over this approach. To some, it will sound like chaos and anarchy – a loss of control and a chain of stores doing whatever they feel is right. That could be a recipe for disaster. Thus, the need to understand and define an approach and foundation for how this can help retailers find success with a new way of thinking.

An engaged team

There is no secret to long-term success – it is people-driven. Processes will only get you so far. Unless the team buys in and understands the vision, the purpose, the why – they will not engage at the level that makes any approach successful. It will be surface-level at best and a culture more centered around compliance versus a culture committed to serving customers and fulfilling the vision and purpose of the company.

Without the strength of a team united, you will end up with multiple undisciplined approaches to solving problems. People will misunderstand the values and spirit of the approach that Agile lends itself to.

Take action

Analysis paralysis is real. It is especially so for many retail field leaders. We have never met a report we don’t like. We especially like it if it shows that we are doing well. In fact, many will seek the metrics that are favorable for them and point to that as a key indicator. We will dive into metrics and how to utilize them further in a future article in this series. For now, taking action means just that, get going. Do something to see what movement occurs. Doing something will always be more valuable than doing nothing. “Wait and see” is costly, especially in the long term. 

Localization

Providing autonomy at the local level may be the scariest element of this value set. It doesn’t have to imply a lack of control or complete decentralization. Rather, it can mean empowering local teams to make the adjustments necessary that make sense to engage their team and customers. Planograms don’t have to shift on a store-by-store basis, but how you connect products within that planogram to the customers can make a difference. Making sure the green and yellow colors are never empty on the shelf in the fall during Green Bay Packer season will be very different for a store location with the same planogram in Miami as an example. That is a local action that can drive big differences that no one at a centralized headquarters will be reviewing at the same level of detail. That is a basic example, but you get the point and a reference for where this thinking can begin. 

Iteration and learning

Making changes and learning from them is critical for bringing the entire process together. You can quickly see these core values for Agile thinking work hand-in-hand and are reliant on each other. Taking action only has value if you learn from the change made and are willing to make further changes based on the outcomes. This becomes a cycle, and over time can become common practice to generate ongoing progress that moves you closer towards the outcomes you are seeking. Using it within a framework provides the discipline and structure necessary to keep the momentum in the right direction versus busy work that merely spins the wheels. (This is where defining accurate key performance measures (KPIs) becomes so critical to understand the results of the actions you are taking.)

Thinking in a new way is a big challenge. Working in a new way is even more so. Sustaining that and shifting the mindset of everyone in your organization begins to paint the picture of how significant this movement is and why so few may truly adopt it. But, in the spirit of what an Agile workflow represents – thinking you’ll have it all figured out and perfect before you start leads to inaction and hesitation. Get started, find an area that you can plant the seeds for a new way of working and achieving success. In time, improvements and learning will come that will allow you to expand to other areas. Over the course of the next several articles, I will explore additional elements and areas that retailers, even individual field leaders, can take these principles and engage in. For Store Managers, District Managers, and even Regional Leaders – you do not need to wait to have a centralized support process in place to begin to change the way you work in your areas of control. You can become more agile by utilizing the Agile framework for working in an innovative way.

What interests you most in thinking about how an Agile workflow could work for you?

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