How to develop an agile organisation

An agile mindset is the key ingredient of a deeply collaborative work environment. It helps organisations to behave flatter, faster, and more dynamically, and can even position them to become the disruptors that reshape entire industries. 

In our latest presentation we take a look at what the keys are to developing organisational agility.

Rapid change can be one of the hardest obstacles to confront in business when wanting to start developing agile practices, but making sure you equip your teams with the right information is key. I’m sure you’re thinking, why reinvent the wheel and fix something that isn't broken, right? You’re not alone. In fact, in our latest State of Atlassian ecosystem Report, 44% of respondents said their main barrier to working in a more agile way was that the status quo was working just fine. Remember though, it's not about reinventing, it's about improving and utilising the time you have to work smarter and more collaboratively—not harder. 

Making sure all of your relevant teams are on the same page and working towards the same common goal is essential for transformational success. Without spoiling the punchline in the presentation, our research revealed that developing social networks and, in particular, building on the complexity of the patterns of conversations within teams was at the heart of developing agile practices and fostering a culture of collaboration in your organisation.

Of course, developing agile practices is easier said than done, and it can be tricky to break out of long-standing ways of working. But what if this new way of thinking improves your overall execution within projects? What if working in social networks allows for smoother collaboration, broadens horizons and allows for successful (and on time!) delivery of projects? It’s not about necessarily changing what you are doing but how you are doing it—looking at your daily tasks through a new lens and unlocking more value from the things you are already doing.  

The famous quote for the definition of insanity is, ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’. That's exactly why fostering organisational agility is so important: working in new ways, and with new people, will give you enhanced results. Rather than teams working in silos with rigid top-down routines, our research clearly suggests that working cross-functionally with more autonomy improves productivity and employee engagement.  

Collaboration is key to developing a truly agile organisation and that’s why social networks and conversations within teams are so important.  Why tackle a complex task alone and delay a project when there are other members of your organisation  who are experts in this subject and can work with you to get this project delivered effectively and on time? Who knows, they might even make you think about things in a way you hadn’t considered before. 

Working within new social networks allows you to broaden your knowledge on different aspects of your role and develop your skills by working with people who have knowledge in the areas you lack. Learning how to build the right environments for your teams is the best way to create opportunities for more engaging and meaningful work.

One of the first things we can do to improve the way we work together is simply to improve how we ‘speak’ to each other. It sounds so basic, but it’s true. As John Turley, Senior Digital Transformation Consultant and presenter of 'Developing an agile organisation' explains: “If you want to solve problems you've never seen before, with solutions you haven't yet thought of, you need an even more complex pattern of conversation.”

Let's have meaningful conversations and meetings rather than meetings for the sake of meetings. Let's understand why we are doing what we are doing, the value of our work and what success looks like. Let's explore what can we be doing with our time that is more resourceful and never be afraid of three very simple words: I don’t know. Being open and honest is the way forward and how you will ultimately reach your goals. 

As detailed in our presentation, work culture consists of power relating, psychology (mindset and motivational orientation), and patterns of conversation. To transform, support, and develop motivational orientation and psychological complexity we look at conversations and collaboration and how they can alter the network structure and enable us to truly change.