Agile: A Social Technology for Our Times

There are many reasons why most companies today are adopting an Agile way of thinking and being: improved customer experience, improved capacity/productivity of staff, reduced costs, and lowered risk, among other things. Agile is commonly thought of as a framework to accelerate learning and value delivery. These characterizations are true – Agile does accelerate individual, team, and corporate learning AND it does accelerate value delivery.

However, there is a hidden, less-talked-about virtue of Agile and that is it serves as an important social technology to transform a company’s culture. A ‘social technology’ can generally be thought of as a way or method of bringing about certain social behaviors and/or interactions. In today’s fast-changing world, being Agile represents less a tactic for a company to thrive than a tactic to merely sur-vive.

To thrive in today’s operating climate, to establish a competitive advantage in the marketplace it requires more than simply adopting the form of Agile – it requires transforming one’s culture (aka ‘the behaviors and social interactions of a company’). Why culture? How is culture the supposed ‘silver bullet’ to creating a competitive advantage?

It lies in the fact that culture is an exceedingly difficult thing for competitors to copy; to replicate. Case in point: in the 1990s and beyond, manufacturing companies have tried to replicate the efficiencies and effectiveness of Toyota by adopting Lean Manufacturing tools and techniques. However, what most companies missed in their ‘replication’ efforts was the supporting culture that encapsulated such tools and techniques.

The Lean tools in isolation did not elevate Toyota to the top of its industry, it was more the culture they established in using such tools – their culture of continuous improvement was their secret sauce; that served as their competitive advantage. As such, and sadly, most companies learned the hard way that you can copy the form (of something) but that does not guarantee success.

There was a hidden side to Toyota’s success to which most were blind. And so it is with Agile. A company can certainly adopt the form of Agile (i.e., its events, burn-down charts, tools, etc.) but there is a hidden side to Agile; a more potent social technology present.

You see, the essence of Agile is not the events, charts, and tools, per se, it is how such things inspire social activity; social interactions; in embedding new social processes within a company’s culture. For example, consider all the ways Agile events (or ceremonies) both drive and inspire social interaction: Daily Huddle: 1) stating one’s commitments to others 2) asking for help/collaboration from others, 3) respect for each person’s voice, 4) stating challenges for team feedback/guidance; Sprint Planning: 1) discussion/debate on what backlog items to pursue, 2) negotiation with Product Owner on urgency vs. impact, 3) collaboration with team members on what must be done, 4) validation and confirmation of team-based goals; Sprint Review: 1) team members practicing radical candor, 2) team members celebrating ‘wins’; successes, 3) team members holding accountabilities to achieve team goals; Sprint Retrospective: 1) personal reflection on team health, alignment, execution, and key learnings, 2) team reflection on what to start, stop, and continue, 3) team embodying the practice of psychological safety. Collectively, such events, social activity create the conditions to establish a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

How so, you ask? Well, consider that when done well such events, such social interactions collectively lead to improved teaming, rapid problem solving, better decision making, improved customer experiences, increased staff capacity and productivity, and reduced costs among other things. Such cultural artifacts are not so easily copied nor sustained by one’s competitors.

Upon reflection, one knows the truth. Think of your company – how consistent and reliable are you with producing the outcomes above?

Know this: you can adopt the form of Agile (do the right things, say the right things, etc.), but that does not guarantee you will realize many benefits. It is the social side of Agile that makes Agile special. It is the social processes, routines, and habits that Agile impresses on individuals, teams, and organizations that makes Agile special.

And it is precisely these social artifacts that when combined with the more (mainstream) marketed benefits of Agile that enable companies to outperform their competitors. In this regard, we can say that Agile is a social technology for our times. We know this to be true, as our times demand we accelerate our learnings.

Our times demand we accelerate our value delivery. Our times demand we improve our social skills. All things are possible with Agile. But, do not be oblivious, blind to the ‘social side’ (the hidden side) of Agile as it is the ‘social technology’ aspects of Agile that will truly help your company’s performance soar.

Related Reading

• 30 Reasons to Embrace the Agile Daily Huddle

• Continuous Listening Framework to Boost Org Performance

• Cultural Transformation: 4 Levers for an Industry of One

Facing a complex change challenge in your organization? Book an OD consultation with Henosis Partners.