13
05
FROM AGILE THINKING
TO AGILE PRACTICE
Agility impacts on the entire organization. However, there can
be a strong disparity across the organization in terms of how
agility is viewed, as shown by the more detailed analysis of the
index results of various management levels:
AGILE THINKING AT C-EXECUTIVE LEVEL DOES NOT
NECESSARILY MEAN THE ORGANIZATION IS AN AGILE
PERFORMER AT AN OPERATIONAL LEVEL.
C-level executives surveyed in the Agile Performer Index rated
their own company’s agility higher than middle managers.
This observation is valid across all four agility routines. On a
scale of 0 to 100, respondents from middle management gave
an average score of between 59 and 68 points for Strategizing,
Perceiving, Testing and Implementing. Senior managers, on
the other hand, give their company an average of 72 to 76
points.
The result reveals a disparity in perception between C-level
executives and lower levels. One potential reason for the difference
is that, like any other transformation, a shift to greater
agility requires time, targeted communication, and learning
to cascade through the entire organization. A decision to be
more agile taken at C-level will not, in itself, establish agility
at operational levels. The new approaches have to be actively
brought in throughout the entire organization.
The disparity in views could also be explained by the different expectations.
Owing to their role, senior executives tend to be more
outward-looking, and ”talk the talk” of agility because the market
demands it. For middle management, on the other hand, new
agility measures have greater impact on their everyday work – so
they are likely to give a more critical appraisal of the envisaged
benefit of agility because they must “walk the walk.”
What is true in both cases is this:
TRANSFORMING A COMPANY INTO AN AGILE ORGAN-
IZATION IS A LONG-TERM LEARNING CHALLENGE –
ABOVE ALL, IT’S A CHALLENGE THAT TAKES IN EVERY
ASPECT OF THE ORGANIZATION.
Being an overarching capability, agility has an impact on the
entire company organism. For this reason, such changes
cannot be implemented selectively. Rather, the act of
aligning itself to agile principles will in fact change the
company continuously, efficiently and sustainably – and this
change cuts right across every aspect of the organization.
The transformation is initiated by strategic decisions at the
senior management level. However, the organization is not
properly agile until agile practice has been introduced along
every dimension, from hierarchy-free design of structures to
iterative working methods in product development. ||
DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTIONS BETWEEN MANAGEMENT LEVELS
74
-6
68
76
-9
67
74
72
-15 -11
59
61
STRATEGIZING PERCEIVING
C-Level
Middle Management
TESTING
IMPLEMENTING