The Relationship Between Workforce Agility and Production Performance

The Relationship Between Workforce Agility and Production Performance

Imagine your business is a car. The workforce is the engine, and production performance is the resulting speed. The faster the engine works, the faster the car goes.

Now imagine you're trying to make your engine run even faster. How can you do that? You could add more fuel—or, in business terms, more employees. But just as with a car, adding more people to the workforce won't necessarily make the engine run any faster.
In fact, if the workforce isn't agile enough, adding more employees could actually slow things down. That's where workforce agility comes in. In this article, we'll explore the relationship between workforce agility and production performance and show you how to make your engine run as fast as possible.


What Is Workforce Agility?

In order to understand how workforce agility affects production performance, it is important to first understand what it means. Workforce agility is the ability of a company's workforce to quickly adapt to changes in the business environment. This could be changed in customer demand, new technology or even changes in the company's strategy.
When a company's workforce is agile, they are able to quickly adapt to these changes and continue to produce at a high level. This is critical for companies that want to be able to quickly respond to changes in the market and stay competitive.

The Different Types of Workforce Agility

Organizational agility is the ability of the organization to change its structures and processes to meet the changing demands of the market. Functional agility is the ability of different functions within the organization to work together to meet these changing demands. Individual agility is the ability of employees to be able to change their skills and work behaviors to meet the changing demands of their job.
All three types are important for a company's production performance. organizational agility allows the company to change its structures and processes, functional agility allows different functions to work together, and individual agility allows employees to be able to change their skills.

How does Workforce Agility Impact Production Performane?

You may be wondering how workforce agility impacts production performance. After all, they seem to be two separate topics. But in reality, they're closely intertwined.

The truth is, workforce agility is necessary for high production performance. When your team is able to quickly adapt to changes in the market or production demands, it means that your factory can keep running at full speed. That's because your team is able to swiftly respond to any unexpected hiccups and get things back on track right away.
On the other hand, when your team is slow to adapt, it can lead to missed deadlines, lower-quality products and even canceled orders. So as you can see, workforce agility is a critical component of a high-performing factory.

The benefits of Workforce Agility

There are many benefits of workforce agility, but perhaps the most important is that it can help to improve production performance.

How does workforce agility do this?
Simply put, workforce agility leads to better employee engagement. And when employees are engaged, they are more productive. In fact, engaged employees are said to be up to 20% more productive than their disengaged counterparts.
There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the most important is that engaged employees feel a sense of ownership over their work. They feel like they are part of something larger and that their work has meaning.
So, if you're looking for ways to improve production performance, workforce agility is a good place to start.

How to create a More Agile Workforce

If you want to create a more agile workforce, there are a few things you can do.

First, think about the physical workspace. Is it set up in a way that encourages collaboration and creativity? Or is it more of a traditional office setup, with cubicles and individual offices?
Second, consider the way work is assigned. Are employees given the freedom to choose the projects they work on, or are they assigned tasks by their managers?
Third, take a look at the way decisions are made. Is there a lot of red tape and bureaucracy, or is decision-making more flexible and agile?

Making even small changes in these areas can make a big difference in the agility of your workforce.

FAQs on Workforce Agility

You might be wondering how you can improve workforce agility in your own organization. Here are some common questions I get asked:

- What is the best way to measure workforce agility?

- How do I create a more agile workforce?

- What are some common barriers to workforce agility?

- How can I overcome these barriers?

If you're looking for answers to these questions, or if you have other questions about workforce agility, feel free to get in touch. I'm always happy to chat about this topic and help organizations improve their production performance.

Learn how you can easily improve your production

Book a free demo of our application and see how it can take your manufacturing operations to the next level.

stryza in action at customer 7stryza in action at customer 8