Make Agility A Part Of Your Organisations Culture
Agile has certainly been a busy buzzword in recent years. For good reason, because nimble organisations significantly improve their odds of long-term performance. (1)
But what exactly is an agile culture? Why is it important? And how can you make it part of your organisational culture and ensure employees understand what’s being asked of them? We answer these questions with reference to some stand out examples of agile organisations and teams.
How To Become An Agile Organisation?
The past decade has seen a significant shift in the way businesses operate. Historically, good leadership meant relying on top-down management with a level of bureaucracy to convey detailed instructions to teams working in silos. For decades, organisations that embraced this model outperformed their rivals.
Reasons Why To Apply Agile Culture Within Your Organisation
This approach became outdated because it makes it difficult for organisations to:
Adapt to rapidly changing environments and more pressured demands from customers, shareholders and regulators
Counteract the continuous introduction of innovation: disruptive technology like automation, artificial intelligence and new models of working
Accelerate digitisation and deal with the increased volume and distribution of information to multiple parties
As the FTSE 100 shows, old, large, top-down management organisations are now struggling to compete. Only 30 of the 100 companies that made up the FTSE 100 at its inception in 1984 still featured in the list in 2019 (2).
To compete, modern organisations are morphing into what we call ‘adaptable organisms’ - rather than inflexible machines.
The Main Differences Between Agile Methodology And Agile Culture.
With digital transformation changing the way businesses work, new systems and software have been at the forefront of organisational change. This has led to some confusion about the meaning of the term ‘agile’.
Google the topic and you’ll find a range of articles on the agile methodology. This approach to IT development projects brings together cross-functional teams and their customers to assess and meet demands through fast-paced collaboration. This collaborative work is often called a ‘sprint’ and it’s common to see walls adorned with sticky notes to help manage tasks.
So, let’s get this clear: despite some crossover with agility, as a term to describe a type of organisational culture, agile methodology is a separate - although related - issue. When new IT software is introduced into a business, it requires teams to break down silos, work more collaboratively and it frees up time for employees to devote their time to more valuable tasks. Teams need to rethink how they approach their work and change how they carry out their jobs; they need to be ‘agile’.
This happened on a project we worked on. The business was introducing a new SAP based programme using agile sprints to develop the software and roll it out. As a result, the culture needed to become more dynamic. Part of our job was to make a clear distinction between the two types of agility in our communications to avoid confusion.
What is Agile Culture?
So, what does agile mean when it comes to company culture? We often describe it as the way many start-up organisations operate. They’re entrepreneurial, they demonstrate fresh thinking and make decisions quickly to adapt to whatever life throws at them.
In contrast, larger organisations are often much slower. They have different departments like HR, IT and Finance who all need to be involved in decisions and operations. Implementing change is often equated to turning an oil tanker around - it’s certainly not fast and nimble like smaller, competitor brands who are like speed-boats, quickly changing direction whenever they need to.
When we speak to directors at larger firms who want to be more agile, what they’re really seeking is the adaptability demonstrated by start-ups but with all the structure and process they have in place.
To plug the gap between being an oil tanker or a speedboat, agile cultures are structured so leaders provide direction and empower teams to take the necessary action. Teams are built around end-to-end accountability with a focus on delivery and making rapid changes with flexible resources and skills. In short, they’re more innovative, flexible and adaptive.
Examples Of Organisations With An Agile Culture
From humble beginnings selling books online, Amazon is one of the fastest-growing and most successful enterprises in recent decades.
Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, puts this down to the Company’s culture, which is based around what he calls a ‘Day 1’ mindset. This concept is all about maintaining the hunger and behaviours of a successful start-up: “Staying in Day 1 requires you to experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when you see customer delight…” (3)
Asked by a colleague what day two looks like, Bezos said: “As companies get larger and more complex, there’s a tendency to manage to proxies… A common example is process as proxy. Good process serves you so you can serve customers. But if you’re not watchful, the process can become the thing. This can happen very easily in large organisations. The process becomes the proxy for the result you want. You stop looking at outcomes and just make sure you’re doing the process right.” (3)
An agile culture defines that employees must continually scrutinise and rethink the norms that exist in the business for people, systems and processes.
Bezos also goes on to explore the importance of delighting customers, embracing external trends like new technology and rapid decision-making in maintaining the agility of a ‘Day 1’ culture.
It’s not only major global firms that adopt more agile cultures. When David Marquet took command of the USS Santa Fe he had a performance problem on his hands due to an outdated leader-follower management model.
This meant his crew were given little decision-making authority or incentive to give the most of their intellect, energy and passion. By simply waiting for and following orders, the crew was running at half speed and under-utilising their imagination and initiative.
Marquet changed the leadership model to leader-leader. This empowered crew members to propose their own solution they thought would work best, rather than being told what to do by a senior officer. This simple tactic brought a rapid improvement in the submarine’s performance and represented an enormous cultural and behavioural shift. (4)
Contact Enthuse today and find out how we can help you with your culture change programme through powerful, meaningful internal communications. Call 07812 343310 or email us at andrea.law@enthuse-comms.co.uk.
References
1 - https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-five-trademarks- of-agile-organizations: “The five trademarks of agile organizations”, McKinsey and Company, 2018.
2 - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/01/25/ftse-100-firms-will-last-another-35-years/: “Which FTSE 100 firms will last another 35 years?”, The Telegraph, 2019.
3 - https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/2016-letter-to-shareholders: “2016 Letter to Shareholders”, Jeff Bezos, 2016