Why 'being Agile' isn't a cultural change- #60MOC February 2017

Apologies for being a bit late in my write up of last Friday's #60MOC session.

A combination of a busy schedule and a naturally reflective nature have left me not hitting a key milestone, which was to deliver this article to my colleagues in 2 days.

Ouch! I have let my people down in a small way, but to our marketing people my flexible approach to delivery has annoyed them. 

How can I tell them I was considering the question whether Agile can be used to produce cultural change, the topic of last #60MOC's session at The Science Exchange in Adelaide? And my creativity knew not of deadlines and key moments in their schedule.

Let us begin by explaining the premise, the set up and the result of #60MOC and why I am now so confused on the role of Agile in cultural change.

 The premise for Feb 2017 #60MOC was a simple panel who would debate and add professional colour to the topic of whether Agile can be used to create cultural change.

We would, in true #60MOC fashion, weave in some industry insight and then let the speakers argue and provide alternative facts views for the amazing #60MOC audience to absorb and consider. To cut a long story short, we had two legit speakers, Chris Lawler and Swati Sharma, and we set up two 'stage stormers', Paul Dewsnap and Lesley Marchioro, who not only created surprise for the audience when they started to tell yell out (all staged btw), but  after joining the stage, offered a healthy professional argument into why Agile is an instrument of cultural change.

As much as I was the moderator I found myself listening in with great interest.....

As a management consultant myself with (way too) many years of experience,  I am not fully convinced it is an instrument of change. Change the people and the people will change ... and maybe Agile is just a set of behaviours we're aching for in business and this new 'mindset' is a way to legitimise long forgotten values and sneak back in humanness. But before I get howled down, let me share with you five of the main points of the session and you can make up your own mind.

1. Agile is a mindset and a powerful framework

No doubt about this - great Agile is amazing. It embraces the concept of creativity and problem solving in the workplace and creates a method to infuse this into better innovation and solutions.

It creates space for multiple views to be heard and is forceful in its focus of 'Customer/User' as the beneficiaries of the change and not the boss. We see post it notes extract wonderful insights and ideas pop out of heads and be displayed for all to see and look into.

But does this act of engagement and participation create cultural change? I am genuinely not sure. Agile offers a sense of long forgotten freedom but it is up to people to connect with this or not. This act of commitment to the process is the essence of the culture at the point. Agile is another 'thing' and is not immune to the bad cultures or long histories of treating people poorly.

This vulnerability to culture makes me question whether it itself can change it, or can Agile be another distraction that can lead to frustration and confusion - neither of which are positive characteristics when found in abundance in the workplace.  

2. An agile/Agile company needs skilled people for it to work

Ever been in a meeting and played the w**k words bingo with people who rattle off the latest phrases in the hope of looking superior or super skilled? I have and I can also plead guilty for being one of those people too (occupational hazard, sorry).

Years ago we had Six Sigma, followed by ITIL then a smattering of TOGAF lexicon got thrown around... and let's not overlook all the stuff in between.

But if any of you have been through a brilliant capability building exercise you'll know that developing the skills of people is critical for outcome, in fact it is mandatory to create the productivity uplift you're after and generate better outcomes. Forget happy cupcakes, show me HOW to do my job better and I will be happier and more engaged as I step through the phases of mastery.

Unified professional skills and targeted training helps reduce confusion and everyone feels 'safer' and more focussed simply because you know what to do, who to go to and under what conditions. Remember Prince2? We all cried out in happiness and slapped our knees to see IT project delivery was finally being viewed as a new 'type' of project management and we knew we had a place. (whatever happened to Prince2 BTW?).

So my question ... is it Agile itself or the fact everyone has a fresh, united focus and a better understanding of the roles within the project team formation that produces this morale uplift and performance gain? Don't we all know that a team that clearly understands its role and its players, are far (far) more likely to succeed in a project than those who are wandering around with dusty job descriptions from 1998 still in their hands? Is it Agile or is it people needing direction?

3. Organisational culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically

Cultural change is an outcome to your actions - both good and bad. At the risk of sounding all Zen, your company culture 'Just is, man'. (insert : Peace sign). 

Every culture is a soft and membranous thing - influenced by the internal stories, the history, the future, external forces, 'moments in time' and even how you measure culture. It is as strong as a flock of birds gliding around an airplane and as sensitive as a school of fish responding to a horrible child tapping on a tank in a pet store. Culture is a force, not a thing. Posters don't produce organisational values, people produce values.

So can Agile be used to create or influence a culture in a positive way? Absolutely! But it would appear to be an instrument to produce engagement, to freshen focus on delivery and yet still uphold the tension of movement in ideation and multiple possibilities.

This last attribute of implied resiliency and optimism is a magical thing and it will have a deeply profound impact if your team can adopt a belief of being agile and forward orientated as a great thing.  No matter who you are or your role, it will infiltrate personal attitudes which will lead to behavioural changes and then we have a renewed way to work together... leading to cultural change....

Argh .... but where is the chicken and egg?

4. Surveys show that most Agile teams report tension between the way the teams operate and the way the rest of the organization is run.

Okay, we I made fun of Forbes' dodgy empirical measurement system that has been used to paint the picture of how Agile teams can in fact generate 'organisational friction' by being the 'cool kids' in the office rather than role models of inclusiveness and modern leadership styles.

Swaggers, hipster clothing and a nice combo of valued intelligence and creativity has many living out dreams of being Mr Jobs but they might accidentally be leaving people out. This issue is not to be confused with the Agile Service Leadership approach, but is more to do with how we collaborate and engage with people - especially in cultures that expect equality.  

Add to this, new in-phrases and 'ceremonies' and we can easily but accidentally cause little areas of divide, where in fact we seek harmony of purpose.

5. Creativity is not relaxing and inspiring for everyone.

A wonderful audience member pulled the hardest question to pose to a Pro-Agile group..... (and I have elaborated on this)

'What if I am simply not creative or agile naturally? What if I find this approach you speak of threatening and the whole 'be agile' mantra as way to discourage me from my world of professional approach and career path? Am I to be excluded or relegated to menial tasks (like holding the textas) as the extroverts grab the post it notes and create user stories?. What happens to me?'

As the moderator, I stopped and held my breath for the answer. The insightful and emotional plea was bang on.  Being agile can be a horrible experience for 'linear processing' people or those who interpret pivoting and being 'messy' as a threat to humanity itself. Okay, I am exaggerating, but you get the picture... agile can in fact leave people behind.

Not everyone can 'think on their feet' nor does their mindset lend itself to being agile. And a thrust to convert the masses to Agile will in fact threaten the very diversity that produces wonderful ideas and concepts. Can you image if everyone went Agile?

The capacity to absorb ideas and different points of views is the next stage along once we start to express our diversity.

So okay, here's the twist...

Do I think Agile can be used to create a positive cultural change? 100% I do ... :) If I could I'd sing it, interpretative dance it or graffiti on the nearest visual aid wall, I would share with you the passion Agile invokes. Agile is a beauty and failure all in the same moment - a place where creation and innovation can grow.

It is exciting, anti-suffocating by its nature, challenging of norms and puts all humans in the centre - the good and bad of us. It is a way to build professional trust, create space for vulnerability and experiment in ways normally reserved for start ups. It unashamedly forces us to connect to users and customers in ways that many other approaches couldn't, including my beloved Six Sigma.

Just like a surgeon's scalpel, it is up to the person and the team who hold this instrument of change as to whether it will be great or not.

About the Author and MCBI

Marina Pullin is the Managing Director of MCBI.

MCBI is a progressive and well established professional services firm that helps organisations to succeed through exceptional transformation services and skill.  They do this with three teams, who each support clients in different ways to take bold risks, demand success with every project and set their companies up for long term and exciting futures.