Hacking for Agile Change

1. Agility is a Holistic Organizational Capability

For an organisation to become agile, it needs people with capability in each of these parts: people who are agile in their thinking, their actions and in their practices.

Beyond methodology. Agility extends far beyond just software development or project management frameworks ("Big A Agile"). It's a comprehensive organizational capability built upon three interconnected pillars: how you think (mindset), how you act (behaviors), and what you do and deliver (practices). This holistic view is crucial for organizations to adapt and thrive in a continuously disrupted environment.

Defining agility. To truly understand and implement agility, it must be defined as a capability that permeates all levels of an organization. This involves fostering an environment where individuals, teams, and the entire enterprise can be responsive, adaptive, and innovative. It's about demystifying the term "agile" and applying its core principles broadly.

Organizational agility. Ultimately, an agile organization is one that can rapidly change and adapt to market shifts, identify opportunities ahead of competitors, and deliver value faster. This competitive advantage is achieved when a critical mass of people within the organization embody the agile mindset, demonstrate agile behaviors, and consistently apply agile practices.

2. Cultivate an Agile Mindset for Continuous Change

Being truly agile starts with an agility in mindset.

Mindset is foundational. An agile mindset is the bedrock of successful change, characterized by openness to learning, comfort with uncertainty, intense curiosity, and a willingness to experiment and fail. In a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world, this adaptive thinking is essential for navigating relentless disruption. It's about how we think, which underpins our behaviors and choices.

Growth over fixed. A growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed one, embraces challenges and views failure as an opportunity for learning and improvement. Individuals with a growth mindset are prepared to step outside their comfort zones, take risks, and continuously stretch themselves, believing that talent and intelligence can be developed through effort. This contrasts with a fixed mindset, which fears judgment and avoids new challenges.

Embrace ambiguity. Comfort with uncertainty and the unknown is a prerequisite for an agile mindset. Instead of jumping to conclusions or seeking familiar anchors, embracing ambiguity opens minds to new possibilities and "aha" moments. This involves thinking like a beginner, suspending judgment, listening intently, and questioning everything to foster intense curiosity.

3. Embrace Human-Centered Design Thinking

Design Thinking is as much about problem defining as it is about problem solving.

User-centric approach. Design Thinking is an emerging capability that applies a human-centered lens to change, focusing on understanding the end-user's needs before devising solutions. It's a feedback-driven approach to create a desirable future for employees and customers, moving beyond biases to co-create solutions from a holistic perspective.

Iterative process. The Stanford d.school's Design Thinking process involves five iterative steps:

• Empathise: Understand users by observing, engaging, and immersing in their experiences (e.g., developing personas, empathy maps).
• Define: Create a point of view capturing user needs and problems (e.g., journey mapping current state pain points).
• Ideate: Brainstorm creative solutions with suspended judgment (e.g., "idea storms" encouraging wild ideas).
• Prototype: Experiment with models or representations of ideas (e.g., showing future state journey maps, bodystorming).
• Test: Refine solutions with new user groups, often leading back to earlier steps for further iteration.

Co-creation benefits. Applying Design Thinking, such as running journey workshops, creates a safe space for people to discuss emotions and thoughts, legitimizing conversations about feelings that might otherwise not occur. This early, meaningful involvement helps identify user needs, informs change impact assessments, and fosters a collaborative approach to change planning.

4. Prioritize Agile Behaviors for Team Effectiveness

Many project managers have recognised the importance of recruiting team members with the ‘right’ behaviours, and many employ for ‘will’ (attitude) over ‘skill’ as skills are easier to teach than new behaviours.

Behavioral foundation. Agile behaviors are characterized by high levels of trust, mutual accountability, collaboration, transparency, honesty, and a willingness to work outside one's area of expertise. These traits enable adaptability and continuous improvement within teams, making them crucial for success in any project or change assignment.

Emotional contagion. Our actions have a ripple effect on others due to emotional contagion, where moods and behaviors are subconsciously mimicked. Leaders and team members must be mindful of the emotional footprint they leave, as positive behaviors can energize, while negative ones can drain. This hardwired tendency to align with our "tribe" underscores the importance of modeling desired conduct.

Self-organizing teams. Agile teams are often self-organizing, meaning motivated individuals have the authority to make decisions and proactively manage their work. This requires a shift from "command and control" leadership to empowerment and trust, creating a safe environment for experimentation and learning from mistakes. Key values for such teams include:

• Focus: On delivery, with distractions removed.
• Courage: To experiment, challenge, and speak out.
• Openness: Transparency about progress and challenges.
• Commitment: To team members and solution delivery.
• Respect: For individual strengths and responsibilities.

5. Leverage Hardwired Human Instincts for Change Adoption

Our human behaviour is hardwired and we can use this knowledge of our primal instincts to achieve greater cut-through with our change efforts.

Primal brain influence. Our primal instincts, honed over hundreds of thousands of years for survival, continue to dictate much of our behavior at an unconscious level. Understanding this "hardware" of the brain, which is constantly processing information through neural pathways, allows us to design change efforts that resonate with our natural preferences rather than working against them.

Social connection. Humans are instinctively social creatures, wired for connection and cooperation. Social neuroscientists like Dr. Matthew Lieberman suggest that our most fundamental need is social interaction, with social pain (like exclusion) activating the same neural activity as physical pain. This highlights the importance of fostering belonging and addressing "survivor guilt" during organizational changes.

Information processing and rituals. Our cognitive capacity is limited, with George Miller's "magic number seven" suggesting we can only retain 5-9 pieces of information in short-term memory. This necessitates "chunking" communication for easier digestion. Additionally, our innate desire for ritual and ceremony, linked to primal needs for social cohesion, can be leveraged to mark new beginnings, celebrate wins, and provide closure during transitions.

6. Implement Practical Agile Practices for Engagement

Agile practices can be applied in all your change planning and your day-to-day engagement with project team members, stakeholders and end users.

Adaptable tools. Agile practices, often associated with "Big A Agile" projects, are highly adaptable and can be effectively applied to any change initiative, including "hybrid" or "wagile" projects. These practices promote deeper engagement, transparency, and iterative delivery, even without a strict Agile framework.

Key agile practices:

• Stand-up meeting: Short, daily team meetings (max 15 mins) to discuss progress, next steps, and blockers.
• Change canvas: A one-page visual overview of the change plan, case for change, and scope.
• Kanban board: A visual tool to display work progress (to do, doing, done) and manage work in process.
• Lean Coffee: A democratic, agenda-less meeting format where participants collectively decide discussion topics.
• Working out loud (WOL): Making work visible to colleagues to gather feedback, avoid duplication, and build networks (e.g., showcase sessions, think tanks).
• Gamification: Applying game-based principles to learning and engagement (e.g., "curiosity challenges").
• Retrospective: A session to reflect on what went well, what can be improved, and what to do differently next time.
• Future-spective: A twist on retrospectives, where teams visualize project completion to plan for success and anticipate challenges.

Engagement and co-creation. These practices are designed to foster collaboration and transparency, moving away from top-down communication to invite discussion and dialogue in real-time. They empower participants, uncover insights, and build a shared understanding of the change.

7. Master Storytelling to Drive Change Resonance

A story with a beginning, middle and end primes the brain for an outcome and builds anticipation and interest.

Primal connection. Our brains are hardwired to love stories, a legacy from when oral traditions were the primary means of communication and knowledge transfer. Stories resonate deeply, are easily remembered, and are readily retold, making them an incredibly powerful tool for change leaders. When we hear a story, the parts of our brain that respond to experiencing the event are activated, and dopamine is released, aiding memory.

The Pixar formula. A proven framework for building compelling narratives is the six-step Pixar formula:

1. Once upon a time there was… (Setting the scene and characters)
2. Every day… (Establishing routine or status quo)
3. Then one day… (Introducing the disruption or inciting incident)
4. And because of that… (Consequence 1)
5. And because of that… (Consequence 2, building tension)
6. Until finally… (Resolution or new state)

Benefits for change. Storytelling simplifies complex messages into plain language, making projects easier to explain and understand. It involves the project team in building the narrative, fostering shared understanding and a common language among stakeholders. Animating stories or using visual storyboards further enhances their impact and memorability, making them ideal for communicating change initiatives.

8. Go Beyond the Stakeholder Matrix for True Influence

When we look for our influencers, we often focus on stakeholders with formal, positional power. But this story reminds us that we also need to consider the hidden influencers.

Beyond formal power. While traditional stakeholder matrices are useful for tracking formal roles, effective engagement requires identifying and leveraging "hidden influencers" – individuals like Paul Revere, who may not hold positional power but possess significant social presence, trust, and connections across informal networks. These individuals can "tip" the message and garner support for change.

Win/lose analysis. A more nuanced approach to stakeholder mapping involves assessing what each group perceives to "win" or "lose" from the change, aligning with our hardwired response to seek reward and avoid threat. This "win/lose" or "threat/reward" analysis, inspired by David Rock's SCARF model, helps uncover potential resistance and identify tailored interventions.

Facilitated engagement. Regular, facilitated workshops with the project leadership team are crucial for bringing the stakeholder matrix to life. These sessions should:

• Identify primary owners for each stakeholder relationship.
• Prioritize engagement activities and key messages.
• Discuss anticipated resistance and potential gains.
• Uncover informal networks and hidden influencers.
• Ensure transparency and avoid duplicated efforts in engagement.

9. Develop Strong Facilitation Skills for Co-creation

A facilitator guides a discussion to surface issues and help a group reach resolution or agreement on next steps.

Guiding discovery. Facilitation is a distinct skill set from training, focusing on guiding group discussions to surface issues, foster co-creation, and help participants reach their own "AHA moments." An expert facilitator doesn't provide answers but creates an environment where the group can collectively discover solutions, even without a slide deck.

Essential techniques:

• Force field analysis: Brainstorming driving and restraining forces for change to understand potential resistance and leverage support.
• 2x2 matrix: A versatile tool for prioritizing ideas or activities (e.g., effort vs. value, will vs. skill).
• Fishbowl conversation: A participant-centric technique for open discussion, hacking hierarchy by allowing anyone to join the inner circle.
• Walk-around brainstorm: A high-energy method where small groups rotate between flipcharts to generate and build upon ideas.
• HACK it™ approach: A structured method for reviewing and reshaping existing proposals by asking participants to Hold, Add, Change, or Knock out elements.

Curate creativity. Effective facilitators continuously collect interesting props, quotes, and activities from various sources to build their toolkit. Using visual metaphors, like Hoberman's Sphere to represent mindsets or optical illusions to challenge perceptions, can powerfully engage audiences and make abstract concepts tangible.

10. Ensure Change Sticks Through Strategic Reinforcement

What is important is measured, What is measured is done, What is done is rewarded, What is rewarded is repeated.

Holistic embedding. To truly embed change and foster organizational agility, a holistic approach is required across organizational, team, and individual levels. This involves creating an environment where "change receivers" feel empowered to continuously improve and integrate agile approaches into their daily practice.

Four pillars of stickiness:

• Model it: Leaders and individuals must consistently demonstrate the desired agile behaviors and mindset. "Do as I say, not what I do" approaches undermine trust and demotivate teams.
• Recruit the right people: Prioritize "will" (attitude and motivation) over "skill" when hiring, as skills are easier to teach than shifting undesirable behaviors. Interview questions should uncover alignment with agile characteristics.
• Reward it: Clearly define desired agile behaviors and integrate them into performance programs and scorecards. Publicly recognize and reward individuals and teams who demonstrate these behaviors, ensuring fairness in allocation.
• Reinforce and embed it: Continuously remind people of desired behaviors through public recognition (e.g., intranet stories, Kudos Boards) and celebrate successes. This consistent reinforcement ensures behaviors become "the way we do things around here."

Human-centered measures. Identify success indicators for the "future state" by asking impacted users what they will be doing, thinking, and feeling once the change is implemented. This human-centered approach ensures that measures are practical, relevant, and reflect true adoption.

11. Foster Lifelong Learning and Personal Curiosity

Regardless of how educated or experienced we are, there is something yet to learn.

Self-directed learning. In a rapidly evolving VUCA environment, lifelong learning is no longer optional but a necessity for staying relevant and achieving mastery. With organizations spending less on formal training, individuals must take the driver's seat in their professional development, embracing self-directed learning, often through informal channels.

Personal Learning Network (PLN). Developing a PLN is critical for navigating disruptive times. This informal network allows individuals to learn from diverse sources and channels, tapping into different perspectives and fresh insights. A PLN typically includes:

• Inner circle: Immediate team, workplace, family.
• Middle circle: Broader professional network within the organization.
• Outer circle: External resources like social media (LinkedIn, Twitter), TED talks, webinars, podcasts, conferences, and MOOCs.

Cultivate curiosity. Curiosity is a critical attribute for an agile mindset, driving proactive learning and helping navigate ambiguity. It opens new networks, stimulates brain activity (releasing dopamine for "aha" moments), and helps suspend judgment. The "curiosity matrix" illustrates how a healthy appetite for curiosity expands one's PLN, leading to continuous social and organic learning.

Continuous growth. By embracing curiosity and actively building a PLN, individuals can learn quickly, just-in-time, and stay ahead of the curve in a world where change is the new normal. This commitment to evolutionary fitness ensures continued value, whether as an employee or an independent consultant.

Last updated: August 11, 2025