An article by Scott Williams
published on 28 Sep 2023
Summary headline.
In this OPS:Innovator podcast episode, I spoke with James Edmondson about structuring for agility.
Here’s the tl;dr:
- Ways of working in many organisations are still missing something
- You may already be behaving in an agile way, but not recognise it
- You can’t scale out of chaos
- Teamwork can be taught
When talking about agility, creativity and innovation, there are ways of working that enable it, those that ignore it and those that hinder it. I think that James is right when he tells us that many more people experience the 2nd or 3rd options. That doesn’t mean that individuals aren’t working in nimble and responsive ways, because there are. But they are doing so despite the operating environment in which they find themselves – not because of it. Even though the benefits related to risk mitigation and protection of investment have been proven over and over again, it’s still not the norm when you look holistically at how most organisations, especially the larger ones, work.
But, wait: I just said that some people are doing it, so what’s the deal. Well, there are two reasons for that. The first is that an individual has been exposed to more adaptive ways of working somewhere else and experienced the benefits for themselves. Those people will, understanding the underlying principles and with a desire to keep ahold of them, will find a way.
The other reason is that some people may actually be engaging in ways of doing their work that an agilist would recognise, even if that person doesn’t realise it themselves, James gave us a great example about his time in the Navy. He spent a lot of time at sea on various types of ships, and when these ships go out to sea, they are dealing with a complex environment (namely, the sea itself). If you then layer on warfare (hopefully only training for it!), which is itself highly complex, you’re adapting to your environment quite a lot. So, the way he was trained and brought up as a naval officer lends itself to agility, even if he didn’t realise it until later.
Do you find yourself breaking things down, dealing with the most important stuff now and worrying about the rest later? Do you understand why you are doing something before you do it? Are you responsive to new information and not afraid to adapt what you are doing to match? If so, you are being more agile than you know.
But if we want to expand these ways of approaching things beyond the mavericks and accidental agilists, we need to put a structure in place that enables it for everyone. James talks about a mentor of his who said you get two or three people together smashing it, but if you want to get bigger and faster, you have to get something in there that supports them without constraining them, but also helps them to be disciplined. He introduced us to an “equation” that he likes, which is Structure + Teamwork + Trust = Outcome (agility, creativity, etc). The first variable, structure (how people will work together to be more nimble in response to market pressures), is a critical component if we want more people doing this in our businesses. If you don’t know how to set one up, bring in some help. There are plenty of consultants and agencies who would love you talk to you.
The 2nd variable in that equation is teamwork, and according to James, it can be taught. I tend to agree. There are many frameworks, methods and techniques that people can learn and adopt which will help people work together better. A quick Google Search or ChatGPT prompt will make short work of that one.
The last part we need to reach an outcome that makes a difference is trust. That one can’t mandated or taught, unfortunately – it has to be earned. However, there is a proxy for trust in professional environments, and that is respect. I may have just met you, so there’s no reason I should trust you yet. However, you are here because of the experience and expertise you bring, so I will respect you enough to give you the chance to earn my trust.
And how will you prove it? Through our teamwork in a well-implemented structure.
To hear more of this conversation or those with any of our other notable guests, check out OPS:Innovator wherever you get your podcasts or find all our shows on YouTube.
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