Remember at the dinner table when Dad used to say, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way… You’re going to eat those peas. You can either eat them now when they’re hot or you can sit there until they’re cold, and then eat them anyway.” I’m not saying that enterprise agile is yucky, but IMHO the success rate with this scaling approach is essentially the same. Bear with me here…
Enterprise agile transformation can be yucky if your organization doesn’t have the right culture, or if the leadership approach is wrong. Because the ability to change organizational culture is the biggest barrier to the adoption of agile* practices, agile leadership competencies are key. Rather than force the transformation into a framework that doesn’t align with agile, you may be able to leverage and build from the culture to create the right environment.
If the goal is to get people to eat more veggies, maybe peas aren’t the right choice? A little feedback from the team might reveal that broccoli is the better place to start. Maybe the team isn’t hungry yet. It’s your job to find out before you begin; then the transformation won’t be nearly as hard.
In addition to simplifying the process, good agile leadership fosters open, innovative collaboration that is more sustainable to growing the business. If you’re thinking about scaling agile, start by asking yourself three questions:
1) Does your organization have the right culture?
2) Do you know what it takes to create cultural change?
3) Do you have the right techniques to lead agile success?
On October 8th Pete Behrens, well-known leadership and organizational agility coach with Trail Ridge Consulting, will share insights on how agile leadership can drive culture change and your enterprise agile transformation. Learn more or register now for this AgileLIVE thought leadership webinar. Hope you’ll join us!
*Source: 2012 State of Agile Development survey. See the results here or take this year’s survey here.
