Economic and business uncertainty means many organisations are retrenching and protecting their operations and market offerings. Cost-cutting, head-count freezes and workforce reductions are likely levers organisations are focusing upon. This indelibly marks the climate within organisations, the concerns of leaders and anxieties of their staff.
There’s a lessening appetite for transformational work and once trending approaches such as Agile are no longer top of mind.
So, as change agents working with colleagues and clients, we need to be very careful using terms such as Transformation and Agile. Directly focusing on such activities and approaches are likely to have little currency and draw little attention.
Instead, when consulting and supporting colleagues and clients, try to pick up on their language and empathise with their position. In confidence, try to help them articulate their concerns.
Use techniques such as Agendashift’s 15-minute FOTO which helps them shift from obstacles to outcomes.
I’m not saying dismiss the values and principles of agility. I’m suggesting having these at the back of your mind, and play them into your client’s or colleague’s situation without hitting them over the head with Agile and Transformation. They’re likely already bruised by ill-fitting adoption of such approaches and initiatives.
Work with them to run safe-to-learn change experiments. Such experiments are likely to focus on protecting value with less – less funding and sadly potentially less colleagues.
So, unless they use them, stop starting conversations with terms such as Transformation and Agile. Instead, use their language, recognise their change anxiety, and co-discover approaches which enable their organisations to respond to a rapidly changing world.