Why being agile is a mindset
I’m working in environments that are in a state transformation. A transformation towards agile working environments. When talking to leaders and managers, I like to ask: Why do you want to work agile? And I often get the answer: To be innovative, to be faster to market and to become a market leader. In a nutshell: to make more money.
I find this quite interesting, because to be innovative and be a market leader, you don’t have to work agile. You can achieve all this in a non-agile, traditional waterfall environment. Get some strategy consultants in, have one or two days of ideation and design thinking workshops and boom, here we have a roadmap full of innovative, new business cases. Afterwards you are going to create project teams to execute and implement the roadmap. I bet this sounds familiar to many of you. And there is nothing wrong with this approach. You can succeed and you can fail in this set up.
Now, I’m wondering why so many leaders think being agile is the ultimate key to success and innovation? Because if implemented right, it will unlock the teams potential to deliver value faster and adapt to change due an iterative process. That’s the idea, nothing new so far. But, and that is the crucial point, it is not enough to create teams according to an agile framework, working in cadences and sprints. It’s not about the framework.
Transforming into an agile work environment is the transformation of the working culture towards an agile mindset.
It’s a great shift in culture and mindset. The ultimate goal is to create a value-driven and safe environment, where teams can feel empowered to use their skills, allow diverse opinions and fail faster (yes, it’s also about failure) to foster innovation.
It also means that managers and leaders need to acknowledge their own lack of knowledge and skills to provide power and accountability to teams. It’s about breaking with the old patterns and behaviors.
Ask yourself: Am I ready to shift my own mindset and break with patterns? Why do I want to lead the transformation the into a new way of working?
The answer should be: Because I believe team empowerment and a diverse and safe environment is the key to success and innovation.
