When you come to a street crossing that has a crossing guard, you have two options. You can cross with the help of the guard, or look both ways and cross when it’s clear. Most people will ignore the crossing guard, assuming they are there for school children, and continue on their way without giving it a second thought. But is ignoring the available help and expertise the wisest way to cross the road?
There are two reasons why you should cross with the crossing guard. First, the crossing guard is objectively better. Crossing guards have equipment, training, and authority. Second, and more importantly, crossing with the guard shows others around that this is the safest and smartest option. So what can this crossing guard scene teach us about the agile mindset?
In an organization considering an agile approach, the first step towards change is at the operational level. Managers will pick a methodology, hire a coach for the teams, and explore a tool to catalogue the work. The result? An agile push toward the teams without consideration to the need for changes at the management level. So what happens? Like crossing without the crossing guard, management think they have the expertise to cross the road themselves – they don’t see the value or need for agility at their level.
This approach is unfortunate as the agile mindset provides more benefit to the organization at the management level than at the team level. It’s a better way to make decisions and a better way to engage with teams.
Change toward an agile approach for management teams is difficult. Guidance from agile methodologies is less prevalent and the span of responsibility is more significant. There can also be the feeling that agile is an approach to doing work and is better delegated to experts to teach teams. As a result, agile consultants, to provide immediate value, will usually focus attention on the delivery teams. Scrum, XP, Agile/Lean hybrids are well-known and easier to train on delivery teams.
Agile principles become harder to apply and tricky to develop with middle and upper management as they require targeted coaching. These challenges shouldn’t and won’t deter leadership teams who are serious about positive change. Those leaders will be determined to set an example – like showing others that crossing the street with the crossing guard is best.
Leadership teams determined to introduce agile should ask themselves questions like these:
- Are we being transparent about our goals, statuses, and priorities of the work being done?
- Do we have a cadence for regular meetings and is it known to all?
- Are we holding ourselves accountable to keeping to the meeting cadence even when priorities shift?
- What are we doing to overcome dysfunctions within our leadership team itself?
- Are we dedicated to continuous improvement and learning at all levels of the organization?
- Do we actively seek out and remove blockers?
The Moral: For a leader to encourage agility, they must exemplify agility.