If The Shoe Fits: Are You Agile?
by Miki Saxon
A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.
It’s almost impossible to find a company, let alone a startup, that doesn’t swear by agile product development.
But what about applying agile for to other areas, especially other human areas? Specifically, bosses.
We’ve all heard bosses at all levels blather on about creating an agile organization and being an agile leader, but seen little proof they are accomplishing it.
Ever wonder why?
To embrace agile bosses themselves often need to change.
So, while the answer is simple, implementation is not.
As Steve Denning said in 2016, Agile Is A Mindset, Not A Methodology; a few months later he did an excellent job explaining agile beyond its roots.
Consider the basic tenets of agile
- Openness. Be receptive to feedback on your own behavior and activities.
- Trust. Feel comfortable that not everything will be planned; let trial and error show the right direction.
- Collaboration. Go for the greater good of the company, which is not necessarily good for a particular unit.
- No Ego. Have everyone speak with one voice—as an organization.
- Transparency. Call out those unwilling to change or to reflect the “new world.”
- Accountability. Hold one another accountable.
Bosses whose preferred management style runs to command and control, ignore it and hide, benign neglect, or combinations thereof dictated by events are not only uncomfortable with agile, but downright resistant to it.
No one is saying that agile is perfect, but refuting the standard objections is pretty easy.
All of this is just more proof of the accuracy of my company’s tagline: To change what they do change how you think.
Image credit: HikingArtist
