Being uncomfortable is the new normal

During the start of my Lean-Agile Strategy for Teams workshops, I hold an OpenMic session, and ask the participants to capture the primary challenges and constraints to working in a transparent and innovative way. During a recent workshop, as is often the case, it’s ends up as if they have been waiting for years for someone to ask them, as even the floodgate analogy, cannot capture the pent-up frustration they have nor the speed with which they share it.

The challenges and constraints shared are always very similar; complexity of decision-making protocols, decision-making latency, budgeting, inability of people to do what they know is right, lack of engagement or inability to properly engage across the organization and with citizens and with external partners, procurement complexity and latency, rigid policies and procedures, being held to a plan that is no longer relevant, inability to work on the right things, with the right people and at the right times + more.

There is no lack of desire nor personal capability within each group to address any of these nor others they might cite. And this group in particular are above average. Every government is full of incredibly capable and competent people.

Oh, and speaking of procurement, it’s often done under the guise of “value for money” over “value”. There is a big difference. One is about low cost; the other is about why we spend in the first place. We don’t spend to save (yes, I know, that should be obvious).

We spend to get something of value that we need. That is supposed to make things better.

So why can’t things be different if there are already capable people in place who can fix it? Leaders say they want to transform their organization. It’s all the rage these days in case you hadn’t noticed. Oh, and of course they often couch it as Digital Transformation.

Nice trick that. Why? Because often, that is the foil for saying that it’s a technology problem and not a structural and systemic one. We just need newer tech, and voila, we will be transformed! The organization will be healed! It’s magical you know. Almost religious.

Except it isn’t. Any technology is just a Supporting Asset. They are called Supporting Assets because they support Business Capabilities. We need Business Capabilities to achieve Business Outcomes. And we need Business Outcomes because we need to achieve Citizen Impacts (the good ones and the ones they want), which will tell us we are solving the Problems worth solving so we can create a different future.

Saying we need to start with the end in mind means asking the right questions; what is that different future? Why do we need it? What might it look like? Who would care if we created it? Why would they care? + more

Except organizations don’t start there, do they? It’s digital. It’s tech. So, they start at the wrong end and work from there. Guess what? This isn’t new. That’s called project management. We’ve been doing it for years. Same with most Agile approaches. Start with the Product Backlog.

Which is still a Supporting Asset without a cause. So, what’s missing? I think it requires some introspection into why organizations are designed the way they are, and what our individual roles are within them. We need to start asking better questions.

A Product Backlog is a Supporting Asset without a cause

Starting with why does the organization exist and for whom and in what way? What if we could become what that requires us to be? What would that look like? What might we need to change? Who might be able to help us? How might we start to become that? What might we need to do it? + more.

These are neither trivial questions nor will their answers have trivial consequences. The bigger question though is…are existing leaders willing to ask those questions, assess what the answers mean, and then be willing to do something about it?

That’s scary. And it will be uncomfortable. For leaders and for everyone else. So, what’s the alternative? To not meet this challenge is to say we are willing to allow our government institutions to become irrelevant which some already believe they are.

I’d respectfully suggest there is no better alternative. Leaders need to start stepping into the uncomfortable.

Leaders need to start stepping into the uncomfortable.

Check Lean-Agile Strategy for Teams while you are here and then schedule a free one-hour consultation what it can do for your organization.