Organizational Agility: The Hidden Goal (And Often Missed Opportunity) of Agile Transformation

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Copyright © 2012 Big Visible Solutions ©
2012
BigVisible
Solu1ons

Michael
Hamman

Bob
Fischer

Jim
Elvidge

Organiza1onal
Agility:

The
Hidden
Goal
(and

OHen-‐Missed

Opportunity)
of
Agile

Transforma1on

Copyright © 2012 Big Visible Solutions
2
Why Organizational
Agility?

8/1/13
2
3

Most Agile adoptions focus on the
delivery capacity of teams or
aggregates of teams.
A
Common
PaPern
of
Agile
Teams
Over

Time...

4

Time
Performance
Teams start off great guns.

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3
A
Common
PaPern
of
Agile
Teams
Over

Time...

5

Time
Performance
Then, at some point performance
and enthusiasm begin to plateau
A
Common
PaPern
of
Agile
Teams
Over

Time...

6

Time
Performance
Without substantial intervention,
those teams can plateau or even
begin to decline.

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What is Happening?
8

We can fix this
ourselves
Time

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5
9

We can fix this
ourselves
We can influence
others to fix this
Time
10

We can fix this
ourselves
We can influence
others to fix this
This is beyond our
control
Over time, the team confronts
things that appear more
challenging to improve.
Time

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6
Managers that haven’t
changed to enable self-
organization still
attempt to control and
coordinate

11

Staﬀ
Caught
Between
Conﬂic1ng
Goals

12

Department

Goals

Product
or

Team

Goals

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13

Exis1ng
processes
have
not
been

reviewed
and
updated
to
support
agility

In
other
words,
your
teams
have
hit
an

ins1tu1onal
ceiling.

14

Time
Performance
Institutional Ceiling

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15

Merely
trying
to
resolve
these

challenges
tac1cally
is
not
sustainable.

There
are
simply
too
many
holes
to

plug.

16

In
the
end,
we
need
to
think
about

agility
holis1cally.

(Moving
from
a
team
delivery
focus

toward
an
organiza1onal
learning

orienta1on.)

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17
In this session we share
some tools for thinking and
managing holistically.
18
What is Organizational
Agility?

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Working
Deﬁni1on

19

Organiza1onal
agility
is
being
able

to
rapidly
sense
and
eﬀec1vely

respond
to
arising
opportuni1es

and
challenges.

20

Sense and Respond

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21

Fostering
organiza1onal
agility
requires

ﬁrst
that
we
have
a
way
of
sensing
the

whole.

MODEL:
Spectrum
of
Agility
Capabili1es

©
2010
BigVisible
Solu1ons,
Inc..
All
Rights
Reserved
22

•  Leadership and management styles and beliefs
about what constitutes effective leadership and
management
•  Structures, processes and systems by which work
gets done and is organized
•  Collective beliefs, perspectives and habits by which
people make sense of things
•  Product Management/Strategy
•  Lean, continuous planning
•  Product Development/Delivery
•  Multiple Team/Programs
•  Kanban
•  Scrum
•  Automated Testing
•  Test-driven Development
•  Continuous Integration

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Spectrum
of
Agility
Capabili1es

©
2010
BigVisible
Solu1ons,
Inc..
All
Rights
Reserved
23

Broader organizational agility can be
achieved to the degree that agile capability
is realized across all five parts of
organizational array.
24

To
get
bePer
at
seeing
this,
we’ll
want

to
ﬁrst
re-‐orient
the
way
we
think

about
the
nature
of
organiza1ons.

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25

To
do
this,
we
start
by
considering
the

no1on
of
mental
models.

Our
Mental
Models
Color
Our

Op1ons
For
Working
Within
Organiza1ons

26

Experience
Preferences

Culture

Training

Mood

Photograph provided under Creative Commons License by Veni Markovski
Models

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•  These
mental
models
determine
the
decisions
we

make,
the
plans
we
administer,
the
management

structures
we
put
in
place,
and
the
styles
of

leadership
we
believe
to
be
eﬀec1ve.

•  And
these
mental
models
are
largely
invisible
to
us

27

Mental
Models
Shape
Ac1on

Mental Models
And Context
Actions Results
Shapes Affects
The
Cyneﬁn
Framework

From:
Snowden
and
Boone

28

"Cynefin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin (accessed October 4, 2011).

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The
Cynefin
Framework

Provides
a
Useful
Perspec1ve
for

Viewing
Organiza1on
and
Leadership

29

Cynefin
model
provides
a

set
of
explicitly
defined

mental
models—or

‘filters’-‐-‐through
which
we

might
produc1vely

observe
and
think
about

organiza1onal

phenomena.

30

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•  Stability,
liPle
change

•  Clear
cause
and
eﬀect

rela1onships

•  The
right
answer
is
self-‐
evident,
and
usually

there
is
a
single
right

answer

•  “Known
knowns”

31
32

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•  Rela1onship
between

cause
and
eﬀect
is

there,
but
not
everyone

can
see
it

•  Requires
high
degrees

of
exper1se
and

analysis

•  Mul1ple
right
answers

•  “Known
unknowns”

33

Copyright © 2012 Big Visible SolutionsPhoto provided under Creative Commons by David Villarreal
Fernández
34

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Copyright © 2012 Big Visible SolutionsPhoto provided under Creative Commons by David Villarreal
Fernández
35

An expert engineer can dissemble it
and re-assemble it and be able to drive
out of the garage.
Over and over, again.
•  Large
number
of
interac1ng

parts

•  Interac1ons
are
not
always

predictable

•  Behavior
of
the
system

cannot
be
predicted
based

on
behavior
of
the
parts

•  The
history
of
the
system

eﬀects
current
performance

•  Cause
and
eﬀect
can
only

be
perceived
in
retrospect

36

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37
Photo provided under Creative Commons by wka
Implica1ons
of
Complex
Systems

•  You
cannot
determinis1cally
predict
how

the
system
will
react
to
a
given
s1mulus

•  You
can
only
understand
the
system
in

retrospect

–  But
the
understanding
is
illusory

•  Solu1ons
cannot
be
imposed
because
there

are
simply
too
many
unknowns

•  Therefore,
complex
organiza1ons
are
best

led
through
a
probe-‐sense-‐respond
loop

38

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39

Though
most
modern

organiza1onal
semngs
are

complex,
most
managers
and

leaders
view
organiza1ons
as

complicated.

40

This
is
a
big
problem.

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You
now
have
the
wrong
ﬁlter.

With
the
wrong
ﬁlter,
anything

you
do
to
improve
things
will
actually
make
them
worse.

41

In
trea1ng
organiza1onal

situa1ons
as
complex:

•  Experts
dominate
the

discovery
process

•  This
leads
to

–  Entrenched
thinking

–  Analysis
paralysis

42

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This,
in
turn,
leads
to
the
Treadmill
of

Compounding
Complica7on

43

New

Processes

and

Structure

Diﬃcult

for
People

to
Follow

Process

Not

Followed

Perceived

Lack
of

Control

Start

Here

You
are
now
buried
in
complica1on
that

needs
to
be
that
much
more
‘managed.’

44

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45

Many
organiza1onal
situa1ons
are

inherently
complex.

They
cannot
be
regulated
by

tradi1onal
management
approaches.

Complex organizational situations
call for a different approach to
leadership and management…
46

A Well Designed
Environment
Photo provided under Creative Commons by Eugene Chan

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47

…from managing for control
48

…to designing for emergence

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In
an
agile
organiza1on,

the
job
of
leadership
and

management
shiHs
from

managing
individuals
and

teams
to
managing,
and

con1nuously
improving,

the
organiza1onal

environments
in
which

individuals
and
teams

operate.

49
Agile

Teams

Organizational
Environment
50

There
is
a
sensing,
and
there
is

responding
aspect
to
this.

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51

Sensing
The
Sensing
Elements

52

Organiza1on

Structures

Organiza1on

Culture

Leadership

Styles

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27
The
Sensing
Elements

53

The organizational
structures, rules and
policies which facilitate
how work gets done and
how results get
produced.
The
Sensing
Elements

54

Collectively held beliefs,
values and assumptions
which determine how
people think and how
they behave.

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The
Sensing
Elements

55

How leaders and
managers lead, inspire,
direct and motivate
others.
Improvement
in
All
Three
Areas

is
the
Job
of
Leadership
and
Management

56

Organiza1on

Structures

Organiza1on

Culture

Leadership

Styles

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57
Agile

Team

EXAMPLE:
Agile
Team
Sensing:
Start
with
the
team…

58
Agile

Team

What
challenges
and
blocks
does
it
run
into?

What

behaviors
do
they
exhibit?

Blocks,
impediments,
bad behaviors,
inefficiencies

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59
Agile

Team

These
are
the
ques1ons
posed
by
a
Management

Team.

Blocks,
impediments,
bad behaviors,
inefficiencies
Management

Team

Rather
than
simply
making
the
problem
go
away,
we

want
to
engage
in
a
form
of
systemic
inquiry.

Systemic Inquiry:
Agile

Teams

Blocks,
impediments,
bad behaviors,
inefficiencies
Management

Team

How can we better understand, not
just the presenting problem or
challenge, but the underlying
dynamics which that problem or
challenge manifests?

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31
A
Sensing
Elements
frame
helps
us
conduct
such
a

systemic
inquiry
by
helping
us
frame
deeper
ques1ons

about
the
organiza1on.

Systemic Inquiry:
Agile

Teams

Blocks,
impediments,
bad behaviors,
inefficiencies
Agile

Enablement

Team

How
might
our
thinking

and
leadership
styles
be

impeding
the
capacity
for

eﬀec=ve
agile
delivery,

product
development,

and
organiza=onal

agility?

What
assump=ons,
collec=vely

held
beliefs,
or
percep=ons
of
our

values
are
blocking
our
ability
to

imagine
new
ways
of
working?

What
org.
structures,
rules,
or
policies,

which
once
may
have
been
needed,

have
now
become
boClenecks
to

eﬀec=ve
agile
delivery?

62

This constitutes a form of deep
organizational sensing.

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63

Responding
A
shiH
from
managing

through
direc1ng,

mo1va1ng
and

coordina1ng
people…

64
People

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Organizational
Environment
…
to
managing
through

design
of
environments.

65
People

It
can
be
helpful
to
use

our
organiza1onal
sensing

lens
to
orient
our
design

thinking.

66
Organiza1on

Structures

Organiza1on

Culture

Leadership

Styles

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34
A
Simple
Example:

We
Reﬂect
On
and

Improve
How
we

Work
through

Retrospec1ves

67

Photo provided under Creative Commons by Improve IT
68

How might the design of the
organizational environment facilitate
the emergence of this capability?

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69

Organiza1on

Structures

•  Organiza1onal
support
people

gathering
to
reﬂect:

•  Team
spaces

•  Collabora1ve
technology

70

Organiza1on

Structures

support
people

gathering
to
reﬂect:

•  Team
spaces

•  Collabora1ve
technology

Organiza1on

Culture

•  It
is
safe
to
admit
failures

•  There
is
a
constant
drive
for

improvement

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71

Organiza1on

Structures

support
people

gathering
to
reﬂect:

•  Team
spaces

•  Collabora1ve
technology

Organiza1on

Culture

•  It
is
safe
to
admit
failures

•  There
is
a
constant
drive
for

improvement

Leadership
Style

•  Leaders
publicly
reﬂect
on
their
own

successes
and
failures
–
and
improving

•  Leaders
demonstrate
ac1ve
learning

72

Notice how little management (in the
traditional, control sense of the term)
there is.

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37
73

Environment Design is a
management methodology that
facilitates emergence of particular,
desired organizational capabilities.
Environment
Design
as
a
Methodology
for
Building

Organiza1onal
Capability

74

Outmaneuver
the

compe11on
by
implemen1ng

high-‐value
product
features

faster
than
they
do

Goal

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38
Environment
Design
as
a
Methodology
for
Building

Organiza1onal
Capability

75

Outmaneuver
the

compe11on
by
implemen1ng

high-‐value
product
features

faster
than
they
do

Goal

We
are
able
to
experiment

with
new
product
ideas,

quickly
iden1fying
what
is

worth
inves1ng
in
and
what

is
not

Capability

Environment
Design
as
a
Methodology
for
Building

Organiza1onal
Capability

76

Outmaneuver
the

compe11on
by
implemen1ng

high-‐value
product
features

faster
than
they
do

Goal

We
are
able
to
experiment

with
new
product
ideas,

quickly
iden1fying
what
is

worth
inves1ng
in
and
what

is
not

Capability

•  Leaders
support
experimenta1on
<L>

•  Fast
failures
are
celebrated
<C>

•  Org
structures
facilitate

experimenta1on
<S>

•  Lean
startup
prac1ces
are
used
<C>

Environment

Design

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39
77

Environment Design recognizes that
an important dimension of
organizational life is complex, and
therefore cannot be regulated in the
usual manner.
78
Such an approach to organizational
management calls for something more
than just tactical or strategic
leadership.
It calls for what Bill Joiner and Stephen
Josephs call catalytic leadership.

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40
79
Complicated
vs.
Complex

Complex
The relationship between cause and
effect can only be perceived in retrospect
(most organizational situations)
-> Catalytic, experimental methods work best
(allow the path forward to reveal itself)
-> Follow emergent practices:
1. Probe
2. Sense
3. Respond
- But watch for command/control, imposing
order
MODEL:
Cataly1c
Leadership

From:
Joyner
&
Josephs

•  Each
level
reﬂects
a
greater
capacity
to
deal
with

complexity
and
rapid
change.

•  Each
level
builds
upon,
but
expands
the
range
of

mental
and
leadership
capability
over
the
levels

below

80

Three
Levels
of
Leadership
Agility*

Expert Achiever Catalyst
* Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change.

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41
Expert

81

View
of
Leadership

Agility
in
Pivotal

Conversa=ons

Agility
in
Leading

Teams

Agility
in
Leading

Organiza=onal

Change

Tactical, problem
solving orientation
Believes that leaders
are respected and
followed by others
because of their
Authority and
Expertise.
Style is either to
strongly assert opinions
or to hold back to
accommodate others.
May swing back from
one style to the other,
particularly for different
relationships. Tends to
avoid giving or
requesting feedback.
More of a supervisor
than a manager.
Creates a group of
individuals rather than a
team. Work with direct
reports is primarily one-
on-one. Too caught up
in the details of own
work to lead in a
strategic manner.
Organizational
initiatives focus
primarily on incremental
improvements inside
unit boundaries with
little attention to
stakeholders.
Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change
Achiever

82

View
of
Leadership

Agility
in
Pivotal

Conversa=ons

Agility
in
Leading

Teams

Agility
in
Leading

Organiza=onal

Change

Strategic, outcome
orientation
motivate others by
making it challenging
and satisfying to
contribute to larger
objectives.
Primarily Assertive or
accommodating with
some ability to
compensate with the
less preferred style.
Will accept or even
initiate feedback, if
helpful in achieving
desired outcomes.
Operates like a full-
fledged manager.
Meetings to discuss
important strategic or
organizational issues
are often orchestrated
to gain buy-in to own
views.
Organizational
initiatives include
analysis of external
environment.
Strategies to gain
stakeholder buy-in
range from one-way
communication to
soliciting input.
Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change

8/1/13
42
Catalyst

83

View
of
Leadership

Agility
in
Pivotal

Conversa=ons

Agility
in
Leading

Teams

Agility
in
Leading

Organiza=onal

Change

Visionary, facilitative
orientation
articulate an innovative,
inspiring vision and
bring together the right
people to transform the
vision into reality.
Leaders empower
others and actively
facilitate their
development.
Adept at balancing
assertive and
accommodating styles
as needed in particular
situations. Likely to
articulate and question
underlying
assumptions.
Genuinely interested in
learning from divers
viewpoints. Proactive
in seeking and utilizing
feedback.
Intent upon creating a
highly participative
team. Acts as team
leader and facilitator.
Models and seeks open
exchange of views on
difficult issues.
Empowers direct
reports. Uses team
development as a
vehicle for leadership
development.
Organizational
initiatives often include
development of a
culture that promotes
teamwork, participation,
and empowerment.
Proactive engagement
with diverse
stakeholders reflects a
belief that input
increases the quality of
decisions, not just buy-
in.
From Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, p. 8.
84
“During the early 1980s, a series of academic studies produced
statistically significant correlations, showing that the capacities
managers develop at the more advanced stages carry over into
the way they exercise leadership. These studies also found that, in
the great majority of cases, catalytic managers are more effective
than conventional managers.
Why? Because they are more strategic in their thinking, more
collaborative, more proactive in seeking feedback, more effective
in resolving conflicts, more active in developing subordinates, and
more likely to redefine problems to capitalize on the connections
between them.”

Correlation
of
Stages
to

Managerial
Styles

Source: Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, pp. viii-ix
Correla1on
of
Stages
to
Management
Styles

8/1/13
43
Agile Leadership Principles
…

Why
Do
We
Care?

•  There
is
a
rela1vely
low
level
of
cataly1c

behavior
demonstrated
by
managers

–  45%
Expert

–  35%
Achiever

–  5-‐10%
Catalyst

•  And
yet
there
is
an
increasing
need
for

catalyst
leadership
in
modern
organiza1ons

85

Conclusions

86

•  Leaders
and
managers
need
to
think
beyond
the
team
and

facilitate
the
emergence
of
a
broader
capacity
for

organiza7onal
agility.

•  Such
a
capacity
cannot
be
managed
or
regulated
into

existence;
such
a
capacity
can
only
really
be
catalyzed.

•  By
focusing
on
the
broader
organiza1onal
environment,

managers
ﬁnd
important
design
points
of
leverage.

•  Managing
through
the
design
of
environments
creates

condi1ons
that
favor
the
emergence
of
par1cular,
desired

organiza1onal
capabili1es
and,
therefore,
behaviors.

•  Managing
for
the
emergence
of
organiza1onal
agility
is
an

inherently
complex
task,
calling
for
a
cataly7c
approach
to

leadership
and
management.

Organizational Agility: The Hidden Goal (And Often Missed Opportunity) of Agile Transformation

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