Keeping multiple Gods happy can help Agile Transformation.. I mean it
The credit of this idea goes to Devdutt Patnaik
When Europeans came to India for the first time, they were shocked and also puzzled with the concept of Indians having multiple Gods. They were even more shocked to see the way we prayed Gods. Some patterns were
1)We went to one God with a request and then when that did not materialize, we went to other Gods for help
2)We prayed the Sun God in winter and Rain God in summer.
Unlike Christianity or Muslim culture, where they have only One God , the Hindus have multiple Gods. Why did Hindus pray so many Gods.. well there is a very strong reasoning and this reasoning can help us in dealing with Organization change management.
In Hinduism, we have Ista Devatha (the personally liked God), the Gruha Devata (the God of the house), the Kula Devatha (God of the clan) , Grama Devatha (the God of the a small community) and Vana Devatha (The God of the Jungle). Each of these Gods have a different form, different form of prayer offering, While you may offer some flowers to one Ista Devatha, you offer meat to the Grama Devatha or Vana devatha. The appearance, needs, cloth, food, location are all different. We, the people pray these Gods to get alignment with the Bhagwan. You cannot directly approach the Bhgwan , you will have to use these intermediate Gods to get the blessings of the Bhagwan. Often to meet and get blessed by the Bhgwan we ignore the intermediate Gods which results in misalignment and hence many requests get unanswered.
In the typical corporate world, with global organizations, you cannot have one CEO to be omnipresent. The CEO is generally at the headquarters and works with a set of Intermediary leaders. These Intermediary leaders then work with the teams to bring alignment in the organization. I often see and hear that the middle management create the maximum resistance to Agile transformation. Are we keeping the Intermediary leaders happy? Are we creating the Agile Transformation and Change Management discussions which results in alignment with this intermediate layer and taking them along with the transformation. Are they afraid of being ignored, are they afraid of their role in the echo system, Do they fear their own existence?
Why do not we address these emotional aspects during the Change transformation?
In short if these intermediate Gods are kept happy, I do not see why a transformation have to fail.. Let me know what you think
Agile and DevOps Coach, Trainer; SAFe? 6.0 Practice Consultant; Transformation Agent; Agile Enthusiast
6 年Nice article Mr.Anand. A new way of thinking through with this analogy
Senior Accountant (Microsoft Retail) at JLL
6 年Very nice article and loved the analogy
Global Head - Business Excellence, CISO & DPO at Quest Global
7 年This is good. There are Gods that help / guide you and you need to keep them happy, there are Gods you need to keep them happy so that they do not interfere in your way. In summary, you need to keep all of Them in good humor !! Nice analogy with Agile, for that matter for any kind of Project Management.
Agile Program Manager & Scrum Master at AutoZone Inc
7 年Very nice article. Change needs to be focused from the inner circle i:e bringing the cultural aspects from inside out.
Blockchain practitioner, Enterprise architecture practitioner
7 年Nice View Point. Liked it. Further, I think the ground level teams that are undergoing the transformation in their cultural / ways of working when they all have unified conviction and common alignment on Business objectives or Product goals, they are in good position to work with middle layer/management for making them too aligned in the transformation journey.