"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
Contemporary factors like the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and digital transformation of the workforce have shifted how organizations do business – inside and out. After working remotely for months, or even years, employees have redefined what they value in their roles and workplaces. This has left many companies scrambling to evaluate and adjust their internal culture, which is comprised of their values, beliefs, and behaviors. And, when it comes to the success of your business, the importance of company culture should not be underestimated.
As the pandemic has shown us, having an agile culture that embraces flexibility can help your business navigate change and uncertainty. Culture is an incredibly important piece of any company, and making an agile shift takes significant planning, consistency, and patience. When successfully implemented, it can propel your business.
Collaboration is key
An agile culture creates an internal dynamic that responds quickly and efficiently to find solutions. It empowers team members by aligning their processes and goals and provides more transparency and visibility in work being done. This collaboration is not only important for task completion – it also supports the initial shift to agility. In fact, a McKinsey & Company survey found that more than 70 per cent of respondents felt transforming the culture in their company was the most difficult aspect of an agile transition. Collaboration can help alleviate these challenges by encouraging your team to establish what existing values, beliefs, and behaviors are impeding internal processes. How can your processes be improved?
Lead with purpose
Once you have decided to make the agile transformation, it’s important that leaders buy into your new cultural aspirations. All team members – regardless of demographics or years of work experience – should feel comfortable sharing their ideas and diversity of thoughts and opinions. By acting as coaches instead of commanders, leaders will empower employees to trial-and-error ideas and processes, ultimately enabling tailored solutions to be found. This collaborative process is also mutable and, with real-time feedback from employees, ensures that you’re building an innovative culture based on efficiency and employee satisfaction. By achieving this, your agile team can develop streamlined solutions that remove silos and ensure value creation is achieved through each action.
Although transforming to an agile culture is not easy, it can fundamentally elevate your organization and create team members who are happier, more cohesive, and more productive.
Interested in building an agile culture?
Contact us to find out more. Our Valiantys team can provide you with an agile teams and tools assessment to evaluate your organization’s agile readiness, identify any impediments, and define the right path for your agile transformation.
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