Developing an Agile Culture

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CultureXP – Blair | 3 min read  

One of the most visible effects of COVID-19 has been the challenge to organisations operating and business models. From shifting strategic priorities, to reimagining operating models, how and where employees work, how they engage with customers, and quickly adapting services, processes, and policies. Research by McKinsey & Company found organisations with agile practices deeply embedded in their operating models have managed the impact of the COVID-19 crisis better than their peers. The design of Agile organisations promotes being fast, resilient, and adaptable. For late adopters or partially agile organisations, this crisis may be the catalyst for accelerating the shift to agile.

To deploy agile development at scale, organisations need to alter their operating models and undertake organisational design - organisation structure, roles and responsibilities, business unit interaction, and budgeting and planning. However, focusing on these does not guarantee an awesome agile journey or the best ROI. An organisation cannot be agile without changing the way people work, connect, and interact. An agile organisation needs to operate in a very different way, with leadership, values and norms all reinforcing the Culture. Core values, behaviours and practices underpin the environment. The foundations for an Agile Culture are trust, vulnerability, and a sense of belonging. It is about people being part of an enterprise agile transformation story that never stops unfolding.

McKinsey & Company back this up by highlighting that the people dimension—Culture especially—is the most difficult to get right. The challenges of culture change are more than twice as common as the average of the other top five challenges. These include a lack of leadership and talent, establishing a clear vision and implementation plan, insufficient resources, and overcoming technological bottlenecks.  In the pursuit of being fast, resilient, adaptable, and enhancing the customer experience – organisations can inadvertently tank their Culture and employee experience. Investment in Culture and employee experience optimises everything bar one – fast. Culture change is hard and does not happen overnight, and may explain why some companies do not focus as much as they should because the ROI is not immediate.

So, can you develop an agile culture without compromising speed? Absolutely. We initiate the build of an agile Culture ahead of the agile bus being parked outside the office and before any discussions about SAFe, self-steering teams, squads, tribes, chapters, scrums, and DevOps pipelines. When the bus arrives, the organisation and people have an agile purpose, and mindset. They have a safe environment, embrace the fail fast principle, and are willing to adapt and give the agile methodology the space and support it needs to thrive. Happy dance.

Based on the McKinsey & Company research, if your organisation has watched the agile bus arrive and depart, leaving the feeling of discouragement - you are in good company. There is never a wrong time to fine-tune your Culture, refocus the employee experience, and align this with an operating model best suited to agility. It can be the difference and recover the ROI story.           

Thanks for reading my blog. Our world is better when we share, and I would love to hear what your biggest Agile transformation challenge has been. If you want to positively impact your Company's bottom line and create an inclusive workplace that enables people to work to their natural best – we would love to chat with you.     

At CultureXP, our inspiration comes from the people around us, what we see and the experiences we live. We are a curious and creative bunch, continually learning and remixing ideas from all walks of life. Sharing the idea ancestry is essential to us. Thank you McKinsey & Company - Nikola Jurisic, Michael Lurie, Olli Salo, and Philippine Risch at Aberkyn.