Can consultants transform companies and make them agile? Companies do expect them to do that, but I don’t believe it works that way. True agility comes from the inside and cannot be imposed on people.
After more than twenty years since the Agile Manifesto was published, most organizations worldwide haven’t been able to adopt agile. Many claim to be agile, but they aren’t. Teams aren’t self-managed, the organization is incapable of adapting, and psychological safety is low, to name some aspects
I must say that I’m not really surprised about that. Back in 2001, my expectation was that agile isn’t something for the masses. True agility requires mindset and culture is differs significantly from what’s common in the software industry. One that values individual people and fosters collaboration th, deliver customer value, and embraces change
Still, many companies are hiring consultants to “make them agile”. Agile coaches are brought in to do an agile transformation. Most of those agile transformations fail. Still, the company declares itself agile, ends the contracts with the consultants, and managers cash their bonuses.
Explicit language
This is not a regular tips and ideas blog post in which I share my experiences for you to use in your daily work. It’s a personal cry out in which I share my thoughts on a delicate but important topic. If this is not what you like to read then there are hundreds of posts on my website so just pick one and enjoy.
In this post, I’m challenging the software industry’s view on and practice of agile transformations. I share my ideas which present a different way of working that a large part of the industry adheres to, supports, and accepts as being the “best and only way to do it”. If you are easily offended then you might want to skip this post.
On the other hand, if you have a strong opinion on adopting agile and want to learn about my ideas, go ahead and read it!
How true agility looks
True agility means that you believe in and act according to the values described in the agile manifesto. People in the organization behave as intended in the manifesto, not because they have to, but because they truly believe that it works for them. Also, true agility takes practicing, experimenting, and learning by doing.
True agility doesn’t come with a certificate. You can’t learn it in a course or take an on-line training. You have to live it.
To increase agility, encourage people in your organization to come up with their own solutions and trust them to get the job done. Don’t tell them what to do or how to do their work.
Can you make us agile?
The short answer to the above question is “no”.
There’s also a longer answer, which starts with asking why do you want to become agile? Once we know what the company wants to achieve and why that matters, we can go on a journey toward it.
The chances of such an agile journey succeeding are much higher, because the people involved now have a clear view of what’s needed and why it’s needed.
We could call that agile. Or true agility. It doesn’t really matter what you call it. It’s the right thing to do for your company, for you.
And yes, if we can together find out what’s important for you and your company, then I can help get started and you move towards it. I won’t make you agile, but your agility will increase.
I won’t make you agile
I’m not an agile coach, although I do occasionally coach people or teams. What I mostly do is train people, facilitate sessions, and help professionals and teams reflect and learn.
In one organization, I was supporting people in becoming a team. One of the things that changed along the way was the expectations that team members had from their manager. When I initiated this delicate topic with their manager who had brought me in to work with the team, he kicked me out of his office stating “I didn’t hire you to put me to work and have me change my behavior”. Less than half an hour later he called me to make a new appointment, stating “you may have a point about me having to change the way I do things”. Being rather ego-less, that worked for me 🙂
When I met up with some of the senior managers in an organization that I was working with, I asked how things were going. The managers said that there’s been some significant improvement and good results. But I didn’t meet one expectation: At times the managers felt uncertain and insecure, and they wanted instructions from me on how to do their work. When I asked how that would work out when I told managers what to do, the answer was that there would be a lot of resistance and it would slow down the change significantly. For a moment I thought about a proper reaction, but the look on the manager’s face after hearing himself saying this was priceless and that did the job for us :-).
These examples make clear that I’m not a person who intends to change people. I help people reflect, recognize what is happening, and think about what they can do themselves.
If I haven’t lost you along the way, then this statement might do it. Don’t hire me as a trainer, facilitator, advisor, or coach, if your sole purpose is to enforce agile (or Scrum) so that you can put a sign on your company with the word “agile”. That won’t work (literally).
You’re not getting any certificates from me
You won’t get an agile certificate from me if you attend one of my workshops or do an in-company workshop. Instead, you get the chance to try out many different practices and learn how to apply them to address the challenges that you need to deal with.
Certified training doesn’t fit me, I would feel myself limited in my teaching, not being allowed to give maximum value. It limits my flexibility to adapt during a workshop class to better serve the attendees.
In my workshops, people practice and learn in small teams. I connect with the attendees in teams, present concepts and approaches, next teams practice, reflect, and share their learnings.
True agility
By now, it’s pretty clear what I won’t do. The question then is, how can I be of value to you?
If you are looking for someone who can help you and your professionals explore the journey that you’re on, learn new and better ways to collaborate, reflect to find out what’s holding people back, and visualize the future potential of the people and the organization, then please get in touch with me.
I can help you define the goals for your company and find a way to get there. To increase psychological safety and establish a culture where people speak up if there’s a problem. And where people collaboratively solve problems, using the strengths of everyone involved.
In my workshop, people experience collaboration, reflection, culture change, psychological safety, problem-solving, and many more important topics. They play games, use coaching cards, and do exercises in teams where they experience different ways of working. Learning by doing.
If you want to find out how agile you are, and what you can do to truly increase your agility, please contact me.
