In a Nutshell

Cultures are created everywhere that people interact. They develop at a team level, a sub-organisational level and whole organisational level. Culture at one level will be affected by, and will affect, cultures at other levels.

In most cases the organisational culture will have a disproportionate effect on team culture because of the relative size and power differences that exists between the two. Tanner & Wallace (2012) point out that in situations where agile standards and other corporate standards are in contradiction, agile standards are far less likely to take priority.

Growing Agile

The failure to prioritise is particularly likely when agile scales within an organisation. If an organisation is experimenting with agile, and uses one team as a test bed they are likely to give the team a certain amount of leeway and accept the ‘strange’ agile demands of team autonomy because a single team is unlikely by itself to disrupt the organisational norms. However, as agile grows in an organisation, there will come a tipping point when agile threatens the old order creating winners and losers from either retaining the old way or adopting the new way.

Agile Trademarks

McKinsey’s (2017) ‘5 trademarks of an Agile Organisation’ highlights the way in which traditional ‘machine like’ organisations see the world and how agile organisations organisations see it. We have then made suggestions as to what might happen within an organisation if they are unwilling to transition to a more agile outlook.

You may want to consider the extent to which your organisation is agile, according the 5 McKinsey trademarks, and therefore how likely is it that the organisational culture will support their teams in the rigorous pursuit of agile disciplines.

 According to McKinsey, The big 5 trademarks of agile organisations are:

  • FROM: “In an environment of scarcity, we succeed by capturing value from competitors, customers, and suppliers for our shareholders.”

    TO: “Recognizing the abundance of opportunities and resources available to us, we succeed by co-creating value with and for all of our stakeholders.”

    Without this transition, the organisation is unlikely to allow the team to look for and seize opportunities.

  • FROM: “People need to be directed and managed, otherwise they won’t know what to do - and they’ll just look out for themselves. There will be chaos.”

    TO: “When given clear responsibility and authority, people will be highly engaged, will take care of each other, will figure out ingenious solutions, and will deliver exceptional results.”

    Without this transition, the organisation is unlikely to accept team autonomy -either in the way the team carries out work and or in the way they manage stakeholder relationships.

  • FROM: “To deliver the right outcome, the most senior and experienced individuals must define where we’re going, the detailed plans needed to get there, and how to minimize risk along the way.”

    TO: “We live in a constantly evolving environment and cannot know exactly what the future holds. The best way to minimize risk and succeed is to embrace uncertainty and be the quickest and most productive in trying new things.”

    Without this transition, the organisation is unlikely to accept experimentation and action-orientated decision making and continuous learning

  • FROM: “To achieve desired outcomes, leaders need to control and direct work by constantly specifying tasks and steering the work of employees.”

    TO: “Effective leaders empower employees to take full ownership, confident they will drive the organization toward fulfilling its purpose and vision.”

    Without this transition, the organisation is unlikely to accept shared and servant leadership

  • FROM: “Technology is a supporting capability that delivers specific services, platforms, or tools to the rest of the organization as defined by priorities, resourcing, and budget”

    TO: “Technology is seamlessly integrated and core to every aspect of the organization as a means to unlock value and enable quick reactions to business and stakeholder needs”

    Without this transition, the organisation is unlikely to allow its relationship with technology to evolve to meet the customers future needs.

It can be seen from the above that if organisations want to be agile, and want their teams to adopt rigour and discipline as part of a set of agile values and behaviours, they must develop a culture that supports rigour and discipline throughout the organisation. Without this, the power struggles that are likely to ensue will create winners and losers, and no-one wants to be on the losing side!

Our Contribution To Culture

If culture is the sum of the ways we all behave in our teams, groups and organisations then we all have a role to play in creating the “right” culture. It’s not just about our leaders, we all contribute - consciously or not - to the shaping of our culture. We must all accept our responsibility to create and sustain the culture we want.

Practices

 

Practices to come:

  • Define the organisation’s purpose [category: Agile leadership]

  • Model the Organisation’s Culture [Sustaining the Organisation]

  • Make decisions at the lowest level of responsibility [category: Agile leadership]

  • Sustain a learning environment [Sustaining the Organisation]

  • Lead through outcomes [category: Agile Leadership - NEW]

  • Sustain a customer led strategy [Sustaining the Organisation]