Alan Amling, author of Organizational Velocity (Business Expert Press, 2022), defined the term as "the ability to observe, accept and act with speed and agility".
Explaining how it works at Unily, Shiers said: “A key focus for the business is organisational velocity: ensuring that the business is agile and adaptable.
"Big organisations, like the types that we work with, can struggle to make an impact if there are a lot of silos within the business. It leads to disengaged employees, and the business not being able to make decisions or pivot quickly.”
She explained: “If you’re able to address and break down those silos, and get engagement right, you can move faster and get your organisational velocity working. This can really help you get ahead of your competition."
Read more: How to build a skills-first HR approach
This is the key message that Shiers and her team try to communicate and embed, both with customers and within the business. Part of the task of enabling agility involves stilling the noise for employees, according to Shiers. This supports good mental health, and allows people the reserves and energy to pivot and be agile when the need arises.
“Employees have got so many things coming at them; so many message notifications,” said Shiers. “We did a report a couple of months ago around how long an employee can concentrate for: it's less than 30 minutes at a time before being pivoted to something else. If you find a way to quieten down the noise of all these enterprise apps that every company has, it reduces stress for your employees, and it allows them to be more productive.
“It also allows them to be happier at work, and we all know that if you've got happy employees, they're engaged, and they keep your customers happier. It's good for business. It feels like a win win."
Naturally, as people leader of a tech business that advertises products aiming to do exactly that (quieten the noise for employees, and streamline productivity), Shiers recommends Unily’s solution. But there’s another doorway to jet-fuelling agility and organisational velocity, and it’s one that HR leaders know all too well.
“We need to better equip managers,” Shiers reminds. "Work is almost entirely driven by line manager relationships: it impacts retention massively.
“It's not money, and it's not a lack of access to training courses that make people leave an organisation. Usually, people leave or stay because of their manager. I don't think we serve our employees or managers well, often, because we overlook their skill set."
Read more: HR's role in organisational agility
Other areas that HR leaders should focus on, include strategic planning and data gathering. “Don't roll something out for the sake of it,” advises Shiers.
“Know what your baseline is. There's no point in saying: ‘At the end of 2026, we're gonna have 50% women in the business,’ when you don’t understand what’s happening in your organisation. Figure out what's realistic, where the gaps are and why are they there.
“Generic DEI training is practically pointless, but lots of organisations do it. If you can target the training to what's happening in your business, it will be more effective."
