5 pillars for the agile company

A lot is written and said about digital transformation in companies. That companies need to become more flexible and faster, adapt to change or, even better, actively drive it forward. Corporate culture is also quickly mentioned in this context.

However, it is a misconception to assume that the corporate culture can transform the company. This is because only a small part of the corporate culture can be actively brought about. For example, through an active discussion of values by the management. The rest, on the other hand, is simply the product of other effects within the company. For me, the agile organizational form of a company is the breeding ground that makes a future-oriented, change-affirming corporate culture possible in the first place.

What is an agile organization?

There is no standard definition of what an agile company is. I once wrote a somewhat longer article on this. The best known is probably the Holacracy concept by entrepreneur Brian Robertsen. In practice, I often see a lot of self-developed concepts, most likely a Holacracy-But. But there are certainly similarities:

1st teams

Teams are something like the cornerstone of the agile company. Instead of dividing the company into departments, teams represent functions or take care of projects. These teams are usually permanent, but can also be formed on a project-related or temporary basis. The teams should not be larger than 10 people in order to maintain commitment within the group.

2. self-determination, self-administration & responsibility

These teams largely determine and manage themselves. This means that they make decisions democratically within the team. Whether these are trivial things, such as who gets a vacation and when, or more profound ones, such as how to deal with a critical customer relationship. My experience is that the teams make much more broadly based and better decisions than when individuals do this top-down. The path to this is often not straightforward, but naturally leads via group dynamics. The more self-determined and responsible the team members are, the better the decision tends to be.

3. ultra-flat hierarchies

In an agile organization, there should be as few hierarchies as possible, or only two levels. The management and the teams. This also works very well in organizations with more than 300 employees. However, it only works because the teams take on a control, coordination and decision-making function. Traditionally, these are all functions that are performed by middle management. By eliminating this middle management, the organization gains speed of action, reduces the number of potential management conflicts and also saves on salaries.

• 4. servant leadership

I think management makes a decisive contribution to an agile company through servant leadership. The members of management do not see themselves as superiors in the traditional sense, but rather as supporters for the teams. This means that they first clear the way for the employees by letting them work in peace. A key task of management is therefore to ensure that employees feel as comfortable as possible and can work well. If problems occur or situations arise where general correction is required, the servant leaders offer their support. This management concept places employees almost unconditionally at the center of efforts. The corresponding appreciation reaches the employee.

5 “Liquid” processes

In fast-growing or otherwise changing companies, I have often found that it makes almost no sense to define and document processes in the traditional way. That doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. But we don’t see processes in agile companies as something rigid. Rather, processes are constantly being changed in the teams. Thanks to the small group of people involved and the relatively manageable number of processes, this can be done quickly and leanly. Thanks to consistent team retros, all team members immediately know which processes need to be improved. I don’t consider documentation to be obsolete, but daily work shows that processes and procedures are internalized much more strongly by employees than if they first have to learn them from outside.

Only for software companies that use agile project methods?

One might think that the agile organization is something that is particularly suitable for software development companies. Of course, software companies generally have a greater affinity to agility due to their reference to agile project methods. However, agile projects and agile organizations have much less in common than one might assume based on the terminology.

Last summer, for example, I got to know a small craft business that intuitively converted its organization to an agile model. Instead of different departments, 3 teams of 7 people each now take care of customer projects and an admin team (6 people) takes care of everything that comes up on the side. The owner and managing director supports the employees where he is called upon. Otherwise he takes care of sales.

Today, a few months after the changeover, the agile model has proven its worth. The teams have gone through considerable storming phases. However, the open discussions and the resulting exchange have also led to grievances and potential for improvement being uncovered more quickly. And that the company’s internal discussion culture has improved.

Weaknesses

Of course, agile organization also has weaknesses. Of course, it is not a patent solution for all possible problems. But it is a step towards transparency, appreciation of employees and differentiated discussion. All things that are better suited to today’s world than the familiar departmental and top-down thinking.

This article originally appeared as part of my “Transformed!” column on t3n.