What are the key shifts to create an agile culture?

Creating an agile culture involves fundamentally rethinking how you run your organisation and most organisations that we spoke to in our recent research felt that they had not yet fully mastered the transition to an agile culture.

Many were grappling with tensions resulting from new and different ways of working – these tensions are reflected here.

Building an agile culture isn’t for the faint hearted. There are some big changes required.

To make these shifts it changes the way you:

• Time is spent (rather than planning in months and years; it’s about weeks); time is spent talking about mistakes and learning; the goals we are trying to achieve; engaging with the customer.
• Communicate – face to face, solution focussed, giving and receiving feedback.
• Decisions are made - it is less about top down control rather that people are all levels are responsible for outcomes.
• Define success – moving from perfection = success to failing fast = success – mistakes allow for learning.

Based on our research the effort to create an agile culture is worth it!  As I have been speaking to organisations that are making progress on this they report a significant change in business outcomes and the experience that people have at work.

• People feel like they make a difference.
• That they have the freedom to make decisions.
• Get things done – feel that tick of achievement.
• Connect with others, feel a part of something.

This is the possibility that awaits you.