#respectfirst
In the rush to 'be agile and go agile' we can miss the obvious - our people
A singular focus on customer can be considered an overplayed strength
In product oriented organisations we privelege production over consumption
Change is made easier when we prioritise the principles of respect for our people
Going Agile
As companies continue to ‘go agile’ and progress business agility we often see disdain for the practice of change management in ‘agile’ companies and a somewhat stubborn disregard for the potential problems of doing too much change, too fast and without considering the people in the organisation. The organisational change management community has rallied to shape their practices to respond to the call to be agile, and while I think that is an important adaptation of our practice, it doesn't address the fundamental problem. A lack of respect.Our lingo is punctuated with the catchy #failfast #learnfast, we build, measure, learn, we temper expectations of perfection with MVPs. But do we put enough attention on ensuring our workforce is ready to receive the accelerated products, platforms and services we are so swiftly, nimbly and relentlessly producing?Do we consider that this volume of change is occurring in context of broader strategic, cultural and developmental changes to the organisation? Do we recognise the tension of operations teams who are rewarded on risk reduction and predictability being asked to work with MVPs, and the inefficiency of test and learns.
Overdone Strengths
I would argue not. And I don’t think it’s done with malicious intent. It can considered a case of overdone strengths. The first principle behind the Agile Manifesto is “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software". Customer is key. I wonder though if the original signatories had thought of the implications of that when magnified at today’s velocity of change? In the quest to put the customer first and deliver products that delight, we can overdo it and overlook the people on the other side of the organisation, the inside of the organisation.Agile as an approach is remarkably quiet on the problem. All references within the values and the principles refer to the teams that develop the products, or more laterally, that create the services, and processes. It’s one of the limitations of a singular focus on applying the values and principles of Agile.Modern Agile has at its core the admirable principle: Make people awesome.But when applied this most often addresses the people in the teams that code, that develop, that test, that deploy that are made awesome. The producers of software and services. The product teams who fund, design and own the products being delivered.Faster, quicker, greater cycles of production is awesome for the customers and their relentless appetite.But it’s not so great for the internal consumers; the operations teams that need to consume the new software, and platform. It's not so awesome for the customer support teams that need to respond to the new queries generated by the new products.
In agile organisations we privilege production over consumption.
It’s easily remedied. It’s simply a matter of respect. Putting respect for our people first.Richard Branson tell us ‘clients [customers] don’t come first, employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients [customers]’#respectfirst can be the principle that bridges the tension of innovation and operations.If we paused for a moment to reflect on what might #respectfirst look like as a principle of agile organisations, it could be:
#respectfirst at an enterprise level:
Understanding the volume and the size of the change that will be delivered at the same time for specific groups. Making decisions about scheduling release of new platforms that respect the teams’ capacity for absorbing change.
Creating organisational systems of change delivery – core processes for ensuring business readiness, and platforms for making it easy to receive and retrieve information about the changes so you can do your job. Respecting the desire to avoid both information overload and a vacuum of information.
Respecting the universal desire to have voice and control over things that are new and foreign. Building in opportunities for co-creation, design thinking and autonomy.
#respectfirst at a team level:
Understanding the specific business impacts and being realistic about how the will affect the team
Building in enough time to ensure the team is aware, they understand, they have training or access to support material and they know where to go to escalate concerns
Making the time to run retros with the receiving team as to how the change has gone AND then factoring in that feedback to future releases, or changes.
#respectfirst at an individual level:
Respecting the reason why the person joined the company might not be served by the changes coming through and having open conversations about career implications
Respecting the individual’s need for certainty and providing regular conversations on vision and milestones
Respecting the individuals desire to do great work and provide guidance on what success looks like in context of the changes being introduced
I recognize that organisational change management, even agile change management can be an anathema to companies who want to be rapidly changing and evolutionary in trajectory. It's seen as heavy, process driven and a burden. But respect should not be a problematic concept for leaders of agile organisation. I'd like to think it can be held in equal value to the customer.
#respectfirst.
You will have your own indicators of respect – what does it mean to you to lead change with respect? If you want to discuss how to do change in agile organisations, happy to talk. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]