Change Communication in Adopting a Lean-Agile Way of Working

“The why-factor”

By Klas Fj?rstedt

Introduction

This blogpost describes the importance of “why” in change communication when going from waterfall to agile way of working with examples on storytelling that can be used.

Key takeaways

• Create a basic concept for the communication including a rational and an emotional view
• Do not get stuck in the plan – iterate your content along the way
• Find a compelling story “a why” – repeat that early and often
• Go from transmission to sense-making
• Use words and language familiar in the organization and remember to change the metaphors
• Do not blame the old, explain the new

Start with why

In the beginning of a transformation, it is easy to jump into “how questions” right away. But there is a risk when doing so that people don′t want to follow you.

Looking at?ADKAR? for inspiration the “what” and “why” is more connected to the two first parts in the model – the “Awareness” and “Desire” steps.

You must remind yourself that people are in different places in a large organization – both in mind and work. Some are used to the agile way of working and some have never heard of it. Empathy and patience are needed, ADKAR is an example that reminds us about that.

Everything starts with the individual and in “the why”. And we all start from different places with different perspectives. Herein lies the challenge and the?great potential.

Change Communication plays a crucial role when changing way of working to agile. The why story on a logical and rational level include the obvious parts such as AI, digitalization, outside competitions and so on. But logical and rational reasons is not enough. You also need to talk to people’s hearts. You need to go from transmission to sense-making. That’s the work for “the why”. As Kotter states in?Accelerate :?“You need a compelling part. It is not all head. There is heart in it as well.“

Setting the scene

Introducing agile in an organization is, when zooming out, really about going from a linear way of thinking and working (waterfall) to a circular way (lean-agile) with the assumption that the context has switch from a clear blue sky to a fog, the VUCA-world.

Concept for the change communication

A concept for the communication can be structured in four parts with four perspectives starting with looking out.

• The outside world?–this is happening right now in the outside world Why do we need to act??Sense of urgency. Recognize the problem to be solved. Herein lies the challenge?and?the opportunity
• The current reality?– looking inside, this is how we’ve acted so far Tone-setting behaviors we want to change to face the challenge?and?the opportunity in the outside world
• The transformation?– this is what we need to do Tone-setting behaviors we want to transform into
• The new reality –?a new starting point This is our new starting point to face the reality ( the outside world) with

Content based on the concept

In the early part of the transformation, you need to mix the “how you do agile” part with mindset, what and why.

The “sence of urgency” story need both a challenging theme and an opportunity theme. Those how see the opportunity in the digital disruption will be more suited to take on the challenge. It needs to be positive as Kotter states in Accelerate. Because it is about an opportunity.

Guiding articles, blog posts and movies based on the stories

With a concept in place,?the communication can be developed incremental and iterative. Guiding articles, internal movies, internal blog post and so on can be produced in iterations in close collaboration with the organization and its learnings.

Change communication incorporated in learnings

Classrooms and e-learnings should also be based on the same why-stories. This makes it easy for the student to recognize the content and the message. Use the content before, under and after a workshop or learning session. This gives the learner an opportunity to connecting the dots and dig deeper into the content in her own pace.

Renew your metaphors in your communication

Going from a linear way of working (waterfall) to a circular way (lean-agile) also means switching organizational metaphors and thus language. Gareth Morgan lays out eight metaphors for an organization where the “machine metaphor” more match the linear way of working and the “organism metaphor” more match the circular and agile way of working.nbsp; For example, it can means going from the people view of talking about “specialized resources” to “learning individuals.” Going from “controlling managers” to “servant leaders.” Going from “parts arranged in a logical order” to “connecting networks.” And the process is no longer “static” it is rather “dynamic.” And so on.

“If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” – Joseph Campbell

Examples of stories connected to the four perspectives

The outside world. Story: “The fog”

Rational: Competing in the age of software

Emotional: Going from navigating under a clear blue sky to navigating in the fog

But what is the why-story? Why do we need to change? The story is for sure not about the method. On a higher abstraction level, it is about the transition from a linear way of thinking and working to a circular. That story needs to stick. And if you want something to stick you need to be emotional. And you need to talk about the story all the time – in articles, movies, in the classroom, in meetings and in blogposts. And do it in a way where you go from transmission to sense-making.

“If we want to communicate the importance of an issue, we need to allocate time to it. If an issue is the first item discussed at every staff meeting, the organization decodes it as being important.” – Don Reinertsen

In his book “The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development” Reinertsen uses the fog to explain why we need to plan with shorter time horizons. Inspired by that story you can developed a story about the “clear blue sky” vs “the fog” explaining the transformation with the metaphor that we in the old way of working more assumed that we were under a clear blue sky with a static goal visible a head of us. In such a context, big budgets (projects with a lot of people) with fixed scope and timeframe is a logical approach. But all of u sudden a fog has arrived. Faced with that everyone can imagen with their own words and feelings what has to be done. In the fog we navigate with advantage in smaller groups (teams) taking smaller steps. We early and often reflect on where we are and where we are going. And we constantly ask each other “are we OK?”. The communication in the fog is face to face and we are more likely to success with a team that is cross functional. Sounds like an agile team, right?

Linear vs circular

“Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines. Herein lie the beginnings of our limitations as system thinkers.” – Peter Senge

When establish the story about the “clear blue sky” vs “the fog” you can drill down and explain the linear vs the circular way of seeing the world. And then big scope vs small experiments and temporary projects vs agile teams seems reasonable. And so on. With that story in your communication you don’t put any blame in the old paradigm. It is actually kind of logically with a big scope and big groups under the clear blue sky. It is the context that drives the change! If the context change, you have to change. And everyone can understand that we from now and forward will be navigating in the fog. The challenge and opportunity is to do that that better than your competitors.

So the answer is not the method. The method is the result of understanding that we now is navigating in the fog. This Fog can also be explained more rational as VUCA. An all of u sudden people will understand why we are talking about small batches like in small teams, small experiments and short feedback-loops. And the need for constantly communicate dependencies among and between agile teams and agile trains. The lean-agile way of working simply put.

Let the why-story influence all your content from learning materials to blogposts, movies and articles.

“… the goal of the enterprise isn’t to be Agile, Lean, or SAFe; the goal is to provide a continuous flow of value to the customer. That is the only way to thrive in this age of constant disruption and increasingly complex technologies.” – Dean Leffingwell

The current reality. Story: “Don’t blame the old, explain the new”

Rational: Projects, handovers

Emotional: There is always a better way

An important part in the change communication is to explain that there is no best way of doing things. There is always a better way. Inspired by the first sentence in the agila manifesto “We are uncovering better ways …” and Demings “Everyone is already doing their best; the problems are with the system … only management can change the system.” it is clear that no individual have done “wrong” in the old way of working. It is the VUCA-world (the fog) that is requiring us to work in a different way, a more circular way – the lean-agile-way. And only management can change that system ergo initiate the start of agile release trains. But there is everyone’s responsibility to constantly improve the system.

The transformation. Story: “Think differently – do differently”

Rational: Implement SAFe

Emotional: Think differently – Do differently

The prevailing way of thinking and acting causes the result we get but also the problems and costs we experience today. A different result requires a different way of thinking and doing.

“All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the results they do.” – Arthur W Jones

What is visible is easier to act on, but what is invisible has often a greater effect.

When we introduce a new way of working with new processes and principles, it is easy to fall into the trap and only deal with and communicate the visible parts as processes, tools, roles, etc. It is not enough to make change happen. We must change both how we think and how we act.

To sustain and institute change, as Kotter describe as important factors in leading change, we also need to change our behavior. It is easier to jump straight into the toolbox and into methods, the visible, and neglect behavior and culture. It is what we say and how we say it and how we relate to each other that creates the conditions for behavioral changes in the long term.

We therefore need to ask ourselves the question: “How can we change behaviors and introducing new methods and frameworks?” The change communication needs to focus both on doing differently and thinking differently.

The new reality. Story: “Maximum customer value in the shortest sustainable lead-time”

Rational: Agile teams?

Emotional: Value through short sustainable lead-times

So, is it really stop doing projects that the story is about? We are not really leaving projects; we are leaving the project organization and the plan-driven temporary linear collaboration. In a way a feature or a user story is a project. Something temporally that needs a cross functional view to develop. The change is in the organization developing based on a customer need where we go from temporary projects to long-lasting teams.

The sentence “Maximum customer value in the shortest sustainable lead-time” explains what the new is really about. It is what Stephen R. Covey described in his book “7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” as real effectiveness: when you are focusing on both the product and the capability that can produce the product. Covey uses Aesop’s fable about the Hen which laid a golden egg every day to describe the valuable lesson about short term wins and long-term thinking. If we want to be able to produce golden eggs tomorrow, we need to take care of the hen today.

If the golden eggs are the value (the outcome) – shortest sustainable lead-time is the capability. In a lean-agile way of working the team and teams of teams is focusing on both. So, the change communication needs do tell the story about the product creating the value and the capability to produce the value and that both perspectives is organized at the same place over time. A big difference from temporary project organization where focus rarely where on the capability. Why should there? The organization, the capability, was never long term in the first place.

This story also holds the sustainable ingredient. The lead-times are not just short they need to be sustainable. As stated in the agile manifesto, principle #8: “Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely”. The capability that is developing the value is of course us – you and me. There are no machines in software development. The capability is the brain and the heart where creativity and curiosity live. Sustainability is of course part of that story.

“The most dangerous words in any language are ‘we’ and ‘them’.” – Peter G?rdenfors

That agile way of working eliminates also the “we and them thinking”, in theory anyway. The business and technology need to work together at the same place at the same time just as the sentence “Maximum customer value (business) in the shortest sustainable lead-time (tech)” tells us. A so called Lean-Agile approach where flow-optimized value delivery in agile cross-functional teams is central.

Lets create!

There is a lot of communications going on in the framework (SAFe). One way to describe SAFe is as a “framework for communicate dependencies and direction.” Communicating business needs, successes, learnings and vision can all be done with the help of storytelling. The more storytellers you have in the organization the better. In VUCA you do not have the time to wait for someone else to do your communication. Communication professionals become more of coaches and teachers to the organization. And leaders become more of communicators using storytelling as one way to include, engage and lead. From transmission to sense-making simply put. Always with “the why” in mind.

Reference

Covey, Stephen R. 7 Habits?Of?Highly Effective People. 2012

Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Harvard Business Review Press, 2012.

Kotter, John. XLR8 (Accelerate): Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World. Harvard Business Review Press, 2014.

Morgan G. Images of Organization (updated edn). London: SAGE. 2006

Reinertsen, Donald G. The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development. Celeritas, 2009.

https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

https://www.prosci.com/methodology/adkar

https://www.klas.one/2022/04/08/storytelling-as-a-method-in-change-management/

https://academy.nobl.io/gareth-morgan-organizational-metaphors/