Every business has metrics to track performance—revenue growth, productivity rates, and employee retention are the most common examples. But underneath these metrics lies a success indicator that many overlook: the speed and agility with which the company moves.
At a time of unprecedented volatility and disruption—from AI advances to geopolitical instability to changing employee expectations—businesses can no longer rely on size or strength to stay ahead. True performance champions are defined by their ability to shapeshift at speed.
This isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s the defining trait of businesses that win. In fact, a global study by Aon revealed that 72% of C-suite leaders feel their businesses aren’t moving fast enough to address the risks posed by global megatrends.
The challenge? Most organizations don’t know how to measure—or even define—velocity. It’s time that changed.
Organizational velocity: What it means and how to assess it
Organizational velocity is the ability to adapt, align, and execute quickly—at scale.
It’s not about frantic speed for the sake of it. It’s about removing friction at every level of the business, from disconnected tech to unclear messaging.
It’s especially important for large enterprises—organizations with complex, globally distributed teams—which makes sharp pivoting difficult.
Organizational velocity is what turns good ideas into real outcomes. Or as I often say, “It’s the difference between planning and performance.”
To assess your company’s velocity, start by asking yourself the following questions:
- Does the entire workforce understand our strategy and priorities?
- Are our people informed, enabled, and empowered to make decisions at speed?
- Do we have an effective way of communicating new initiatives at pace?
Look for lag indicators like slow execution, employee disengagement, or departmental silos. It’s also a good idea to use regular check-ins and skip-level conversations to identify what’s slowing teams down.
Velocity isn’t static—it’s shaped by leaders every day through the systems they build and the signals they send.
The hidden drains on velocity
At Unily, we’ve been lucky to work with some of the largest and most iconic brands in the world, helping them to remove blockers to speed and agility. This has given us a good sense of the common “velocity drains” enterprises face. These include:
- Disconnected systems and overlapping digital tools—which end up causing the same inefficiencies they were brought in to solve
- Functional silos and ineffective collaboration—which hinder both culture and the speed of innovation
- Weak internal communications and feedback channels—which leave teams in the dark and create confusion rather than clarity
For organizations with lots of frontline workers—who don’t necessarily work at a desk or have traditional working hours—this can be an even bigger problem.
Unily’s recent research showed that 72% of frontline workers don’t have a strong grasp of company strategy—and it takes them an average of 4.5 days to receive important company updates. We calculated that this “frontline friction” costs enterprises over $80 billion each year.
If people can’t find the information they need or don’t know how their work connects to strategy, they can’t move fast—nor can they move in the right direction.
What companies can do now
Improving velocity isn’t necessarily about a big transformation project—it starts with embedding a new mindset. There are practical steps that can be taken to build velocity into the culture of an organization. Here’s where leaders can start:
- Make enterprise-wide alignment a strategic priority, not just HR’s responsibility
- Audit digital tools and streamline where possible to ensure they’re used and useful
- Build continuous feedback into the flow of work, not just annual surveys
- Reach every layer of the business with internal comms that are timely and targeted, especially for the frontline. We found that almost a third of frontline workers expect comms to be personalized to their role and location.
When companies start focusing on these areas, the results are impressive. A great example is Kerzner International, a luxury hotel and resort brand that partnered with us to overhaul its digital employee experience. Kerzner International replaced several siloed legacy systems with a single, unified platform that acts as a north star, keeping employees connected and on mission as the business expands.
By giving frontline employees immediate access to real-time communication, best practices, and critical systems, Kerzner was not only able to dramatically increase employee engagement and productivity, but it was also able to improve the customer experience in unexpected ways.
Employees from different resorts now share solutions to shared challenges through the platform, helping to drive a culture of responsiveness and increase service standards globally. They also use the platform as a hub for learning and development, ensuring they’re constantly upskilling to take on new challenges.
With the ability to communicate with a globally dispersed workforce at speed, Kerzer can move at pace without compromising engagement. It’s a brilliant example of organizational velocity in action.
Why velocity is the future of work
It’s worth remembering that speed alone isn’t enough. Real performance comes from moving fast and in sync. Organizational velocity is the engine behind that—ensuring your people are aligned with your priorities, and able to execute the way you want them to.
At a time when the only constant is change, leaders must quickly identify the barriers to velocity. Ultimately, if you don’t know what’s slowing your company down, you won’t be able to speed it up.
Jenny Shiers is the Chief People Officer at Unily, a top AI-powered digital employee experience platform.
Photo courtesy Getty Images for Unsplash+