Why are senior leaders agile blockers?

"Over 2 in 5 respondents say not enough leadership participation is a barrier for adopting agile practices on the business side of the organization"

Recently I ran a "Leaders Agile Level-set Workshop" with an organization that's on the path to being an agile enterprise. Every time I conduct this workshop I see the varying levels of understanding, acceptance and support for their agile mission that exists at the top of the company. This is my favourite assignment as I know how important it is for all senior leaders to be engaged at the same level: agile is a 'team sport.'

Strong data supports this. A few days before I ran the workshop, Digital.ai released its "2022 16th annual State of Agile report." This is a global assessment, the longest continuous annual series of reviews of agile practices, that details the progress of agile enterprises around the world. The report is unsurprisingly upbeat about the potential of agile, but it also delves into the current challenges in adoption (it describes them as "opportunities".)

#1 on the hit parade for why agile fails? "Not enough leadership participation" with a chart-topping 42% of respondents saying this is a blocker to their organizations' agile success. And when it's broken down:

Why are senior leaders agile blockers?

Senior leadership teams are essentially a group of divisional leaders working together to guide the success of the organization. For example, the leadership team is collectively responsible for aspects such as balance sheet performance, creating a thriving work environment, and ensuring systems are functioning valuably. If I ask you who's ACCOUNTABLE for those in your organization though, you're probably going to point out the CFO, the head of HR, and the CIO, respectively.

So then who is accountable for the agile enterprise? It really has to be each senior leader equally. Agile practices usually start from the IT corner, and then grow out under the CIO's control. Lots of research has proven this is a mistake. Agile in an enterprise context (business teams engaged in agile practices) has to feel less 'techie' and more as a foundational business practice. Pod leads and coaching chapters should 'report' to the senior leadership directly. If an org chart line needs to be drawn, connect the Pod leads to the CEO.

What's it going to take for joint ownership of the agile enterprise? Here are some things to consider:

1. Level-set the shared understanding of agile. Each leader needs to understand the basics of how agile functions, the impacts on planning and budget activities, and the cultural changes required. This learning needs to continue; agile with its language, tools and significant shifts in work functions is a long-term exercise of understanding.

2. Participate in agile. Every business leader should attend at least the monthly agile review sessions, and if there is agile work being done for the divisional lead's agenda, attend regularly at sprint reviews, and focus on removing blockers as a sponsor. Don't be an 'agile outlier' by trying to jump the queue in getting your project work done: engage in the agile process.

3. Invest in better agile planning. One path is to ensure the pod leads have an active voice at the executive planning table—remove the one-way street of pushing down work, and collaborate on the prioritization of what gets done in agile.

4. Learn to access and read a Kanban board. A powerful agile tool, the Kanban board gives anyone a very transparent view to the development work that's being considered, prioritized, in-progress, and what's been done. Instead of requiring the time and effort be spent to periodically report on agile progress (through the dreaded PowerPoint charts and graphs?), learn to read a Kanban board. Coaches, pod leads, and product owners will be happy to help with this.

5. Use 'one voice' to communicate agile commitment. All senior leaders need to message their support and engagement in agile, across the organization. Have your communications team manage an ongoing plan and messaging stream so all staff hear the same messages from their leaders.

All evidence supports the requirement for the senior leaders to unilaterally support and participate in the foundation and growth of an organization's agile enterprise. It's so impactful that just by building agile at the top of the organization, it takes a giant step toward agile success.

Do you need to level-set your leadership on agile? Talk to me about hosting an interactive workshop to engage a common understanding of the what, why, and hows of growing an agile enterprise.