Agility as a process is well understood today in feedback generating iterations or as a flow. Agility as a structure is becoming better understood through cross-functional teams working collaboratively. However, Agility as a culture has very little exposure - yet culture impacts every attempt at agility.
This session provides a language for organizational culture, its impact on agility, and examples where exposing culture has aided adoption. We explore cultures within single organizations, sub-cultures across boundaries within larger organizations, and cultures bridging a corporate merger.
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While many organizations adopt agile, and those that bring in outside aid do so much faster than others, few are able to sustain their agile transformation - this is the focus of the presentation
• Concrete, tangible reality, facts• What has occurred and is occurring now• Actual experience and occurrence• What can be seen, heard, touched, measured• Practicality, utility
Possibility
• Insights and imagined alternatives• What might occur in the future• Ideals, beliefs, aspirations, inspirations• Novelty, innovations, and creative options• Theoretical concepts or frameworks
Many of the subsequent slides will display information in color without coding what the color indicates. Just as the introduction of the culture language, each core culture is represented by its color.
Yellow = Collaboration Culture
Red = Competence Culture
Green = Cultivation Culture
The information presented in the subsequent slides is from real companies who have transitioned and are in various stages of sustainability of agility.
The following case studies were chosen as examples of various cultures and how understanding their culture impacted their agile adoption and sustainability.
Data was obtained through surveying the organizations.
This is control culture signature of a large retail IT organization with a centralized functional hierarchy. While there are many nuances to their agile adoption, in general they have been on the road for 2 years.
2. Which of the following best describes the primary way decisions are made in the organization?
3 a. We pay close attention to our concepts and standards. We emphasize the fit between our theoretical goals and the extent to which we achieve them. Our decision-making process centers on how systematically our conceptual goals are achieved.
5 b. We pay close attention to our values. We emphasize the fit between our values and how close we are to realizing them. Our decision-making process centers on the congruence between our values or purposes and what we have put into practice.
89 c. We emphasize what the organization needs. Our decision-making process centers on the objectives of the organization and on what we need from each function within the organization.
3 d. We emphasize tapping into the experiences of one another. Our decision-making process centers on fully using our collective experiences and pushing for consensus.
ControlCollaboration
CompetenceCultivation 5
33
89
Control cultures tend to have a functional focus on the current needs.
5. What counts most in the organization is:26 a. Winning. Being recognized as the best competitor around. 3 b. Not losing. Keeping what we've got.63 c. Evolving. Realizing greater potential. Fulfilling commitments. 8 d. Accomplishing it together. Being able to say "we did it together".
ControlCollaboration
CompetenceCultivation 63
268
3
Not all responses indicate a control culture as this response indicates a cultivative response.
Due to the control culture structure and size of the organization, agile adoption is more challenging and takes longer as the traditional structures are deconstructed in favor of more agile structures
6. Which phrase best describes our organization? 80 a. "We believe in what we are doing, we make a commitment, and
we realize unlimited potential."10 b. "We are the best at what we do." 0 c. "We are the biggest at what we do."10 d. "United we stand, divided we fall."
ControlCollaboration
CompetenceCultivation 80
1010
0
Cultivative cultures look forward and look for growth in people through mission
Due to the smaller size and agile culture alignment, adoption was natural and fast. Added agile structures to focus on discipline of agility. Even as they reach plateaus, their culture helps them move beyond them.
Starting with a greenfield organization, in the medical field, Omnyx created a culture of agility from the outset and have continued strengthening it for 3 years
Not all successful agile companies are cultivative. Salesforce.com, one of the most documented successful agile organizations sports a competence-based culture.
8. Which of the following best describes how you feel about working in your organization:
7 a. This is a caring and "spirited" place. I feel supported.24 b. People are able to count on one another. 2 c. Things are no nonsense and restrained.66 d. Things are rather intense. I feel like I have to be on my toes all
the time.
ControlCollaboration
CompetenceCultivation 7
6624
2
Competence cultures tend to drive their people and have higher intensity
“All In” approach in R&D with training/coaching help brought early success. Continued expanding through IT, Tech Ops, Marketing over next 4 years.Agile structures have guided its continued growth.
In this case, a leadership summit focused on culture began to expose the organization to this language and their culture. It aided in their shared understanding of different sub-cultures.
During the summit, cross-departmental teams envisioned new cultures based on what they had learned - these examples illustrate a desire to take the strengths across all cultures to drive a new future combined culture.
Catalyst-level leadership is required to foster and support organizational agility and an agile culture, especially when a corporate culture exhibits behaviors which inhibit agility.
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Sprint Cycle
Program Review Cycle
Organizational Heartbeat
Serving as a second example, creating organizational shared learning and collaboration structures like this organizational heartbeat drive increased agility.