Category Archives: culture

6 Ways to Leverage Virtual Tools to Create an Innovation Culture

GUEST POST from Soren Kaplan

Culture is a key success factor for every team and organization. Shape it to get more innovation, even from your remote workforce.

Companies like Facebook, Twitter, Box, Slack, and Salesforce all say that employees can keep working remotely well into next year or even forever. We’re seeing a sea change toward remote work and how to make it more fun and effective. But what happens to the culture of teams and organizations in a virtual world?

In my book, The Invisible Advantage: How to Create a Culture of Innovation, I define culture as “the norms and values that shape behavior.” If you want to change culture to get more innovation, for example, you need to change norms and values toward things that inspire people to generate ideas, prioritize the best ones, test them out, and implement them using customer input. So how do you do that when you’re working remotely and it’s impossible to gather around the water cooler?

To change norms and values, you need to first change your own behavior, since our behavior is what ultimately communicates and reinforces what’s important. If you want more innovation, you need to do things that demonstrate you’re serious about soliciting ideas and doing something with them.

Here are six things you can do to get more innovation from your remote team in today’s virtual world:

1. Find Problems to Fuel Ideas

Innovation starts with problems. Ineffective leaders ignore problems and sweep them under the carpet. Innovative leaders love problems because they’re the basis for new ideas. Every month, ask your team to share the toughest problems they’re facing due to working remotely or in their work serving customers. Keep a running list that you can continually prioritize. The result: People see you’re serious about addressing real issues and they don’t hold back sharing problems that, if solved, will make a big different for the business.

2. Bring on Virtual Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a simple process that includes generating lots of ideas, prioritizing them, and the selection the best of the best to pursue. Get a tool specifically designed for online brainstorming, like Mural, Lucidchart, or Ideaboardz. The result: People learn the brainstorming process and your team will have online tools that are just as effective as stickies on a white board.

3. Tell Symbolic Stories

People remember stories. And stories contain messages about what’s important and why. Look for current or past examples of “innovation” from your team, other teams in your organization, or even outside your company. Find stories about how people overcame physical distance or used technology to innovate. Discuss what led to success and how you can do similar things as a team working remotely. The result: People internalize what’s important and why and will re-tell the same stories to others as part of reinforcing culture.

4. Pair Up to Show Up

Working remotely can feel isolating. Pair people to tackle a tough idea or problem. Give pairs time to work together and then report back progress. Use the larger team to provide feedback and support each pair’s efforts. Run virtual “innovation synch-ups,” where pairs share their ideas with the larger team and get feedback. The result: Pairing people up builds relationships infused with the values of innovation while ensuring more robust results.

5. Count It to Make It Count

You get what you measure. Set a target to collect some number of new ideas per month (like 15-20) and successfully implement 1-2 as a team. Track and report on progress regularly so everyone knows the targets are serious success measures. Create an online dashboard that you that you use to track progress from meeting to meeting. The result: People see the importance of quantifiable results and feel accountable to them.

6. Celebrate Wins to Create a Winning Team

Recognition of achievements and team celebrations are as important as ever. When someone delivers an innovation–whether creating a new product, service, process, or anything else–recognize them publicly. During virtual team meetings, set aside time for “virtual awards” to recognize those who have made valuable contributions. Email or snail mail a certificate or gift card in advance so recipients have real-world awards in their possession during the ceremony. The result: People understand the innovative behavior and results that are valued and will do what they can to deliver more of it themselves.

As I wrote in my last article, business should ideally keep going and growing, even in a pandemic or economic downturn. Innovation shouldn’t stop either. If you’re not innovating, it’s likely someone else is. And it’s likely your competition. In today’s world, everything eventually gets disrupted. Your culture is ultimately your only sustainable competitive advantage-even in a virtual world. Shape yours today.

If you want to see how you can build tools & resources to support your remote team, visit Praxie.com.

Image credits: Getty Images (acquired by Soren Kaplan)

This article was originally published on Inc.com and has been syndicated for this blog.

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Reset and Reconnect in a Chaotic World

6 Replies

Reset and Reconnect in a Chaotic World

GUEST POST from Janet Sernack

Meeting face to face, for a lovely lunch recently, with a coaching colleague, we were both shocked to discover how stressed and anxious we were feeling about being asked to deliver live workshops and face-to-face coaching to clients once again.

We shared how emotionally, mentally, and physically overwhelmed we felt, despite having decades of knowledge, experience, and skills in being able to deliver deep learning programs and face-to-face coaching sessions, about doing live gigs again! We also agreed, that despite the range of largely effective emotionally intelligent coping strategies we developed to help ourselves and our clients self-regulate, self-manage, to better adapt to the pandemic-imposed work-from-home restrictions that the past two and half years of working, alone, and in isolation, online, had taken its toll.

We acknowledged and accepted that we along with many of our clients were all suffering from elevated levels of stress, discomfort, and anxiety. We then agreed that it was time to focus on exploring how to better help ourselves and our clients reconnect and reset by enabling them to create states of well-being, emotional agility, and mental fitness, where they can feel good, can function well, and be effective and innovative in an increasingly chaotic world.

To seek new ways of enabling ourselves and our clients to deal effectively with a range of unresourceful feelings including helplessness, powerlessness, and fearfulness about an uncertain future.

We noticed that these feelings often caused many of our clients to contract and freeze, and become immobilised as a result of what we describe as a “bubble” of self-induced silo-based behaviours. That often evolved into extreme self-centeredness, and unconscious selfishness, which ultimately increased their feelings of isolation and loneliness, and lack of belonging, resulting in defensive and avoidant behaviours, in what is becoming an increasingly chaotic world.

How are these ways of being and acting impacting organisations?

Partnering in a wide range of online global coaching sessions, we noticed that a number of common trends emerged as to how our client’s teams and organisations, are being impacted at the cultural level:

Immobilization – many people are unable to self-manage their work from home workloads and are quietly burning out, through being overly task-focused and busy, whilst others are preferring to work autonomously, and not waste hours commuting.
Lacking safety and trust – many organisations are freezing all of their change initiatives, learning programs, and projects, causing people to fear loss and overall job insecurity, where many people are contracting more deeply within their “bubbles” and become even more distrustful of leadership and even more passively defensive and avoidant.
Lacking clarity and foresight – many organisations have slipped into being so reactive, focussing only on delivering short-term results, and are not communicating a clear strategy for leading the way forwards.

Resulting in:

Increased resistance to change and going back to the office adds to people’s inertia, and to their sense of disconnection and lack of belonging.
Increased risk adversity and conventional (cost cutting), tactical and short-term focus, inhibits any investment in Research and Development or the skills development required in developing and executing a future innovation strategy.
People have become even more fearful of failure, and are not stretching themselves to adapt, grow, learn and innovate with disruption, and often choosing to merely change jobs, in a competitive job marketplace, driven by scarcity, as a perceived short term solution.

A unique moment in time

This has created an opportunity, in this unique moment in time, to focus on being kinder to ourselves and to others by helping and supporting each other, respectfully and compassionately, creatively and courageously, to reconnect and reset. Despite rising levels of economic, civic, and social uncertainty and unrest.

What made sense yesterday may not make so much sense today.

Many of the mental models we applied yesterday may not be relevant for tomorrow because corporate culture, civic and social structures have drastically changed and digitalization has become commonplace, noting that we are shifting from a VUCA to BANI world where:

Brittle has replaced Volatility.
Anxiety reflects Uncertainty.
Non-linearity is an addition to Complexity.
Incomprehensibility is ultimately the consequence of our non-linear world and goes one step further than Ambiguity.

Paradoxically, this has created new openings to genuinely explore and discover new thresholds to adapt, generate new mindsets, develop skill sets, and power up our toolkits to keep pace with the effects of the emerging BANI world and capture complex systems by asking a key generative or catalytic question:

How might you support and enable others to think and act differently in such a world, where old patterns seem to crumble while new ideas and systems still need to be created, invented, innovated, and established?

As the world of work changes, so does the need for everyone to consider how to be more open-hearted, minded, and willed with one another.

A final word from Gallop CEO Jon Preston in the Gallop Global Emotions Report:

“All over the world, people are trying to understand the rise of violence, hatred, and increased radicalization. They will continue to argue over what the best policy responses should be and what role social media plays in fueling negative emotions.

However, policymakers must understand why so many more people are experiencing unprecedented negative emotions and focus on the drivers of a great life.

Our shared humanity and wellbeing depend on it”.

When we generously and kindly demonstrate care, respect, and appreciation for the value everyone brings, we can also demonstrate helpfulness and support, through our unconditional willingness to reconnect and reset.

Resulting in an ability to co-create a better sense of belonging and a more optimistic outlook, through enhancing our emotional intelligence. To effectively self-regulation and self-manage the superpowers and strategies required to thrive, flourish and flow, and make transformational changes in the face of relentless uncertainty, disruption, and a chaotic world.

This is the first in a series of three blogs on the theme of reconnecting and resetting, to create, invent and innovate in an increasingly chaotic world. You can also register for our free 45-minute masterclass on Thursday, 25^th August, to discover new ways of re-connecting through the complexity and chaos of dis-connection to create, invent and innovate in the future! Find out more.

Image credit: Pixabay

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

How to Measure Cultural Innovation Success

Leave a reply

How to Measure Cultural Innovation Success

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Every forward-thinking leader today understands that innovation isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the lifeblood of sustained competitive advantage. Yet, far too often, organizations fixate solely on tangible outputs: the shiny new product, the breakthrough patent, or the impressive market share gain. While these are certainly valuable, they represent only the tip of the iceberg. The true, resilient engine of innovation lies beneath the surface, embedded deep within an organization’s culture. Cultural innovation – the deliberate, systematic cultivation of an environment where new ideas flourish, experimentation is celebrated, and learning from failure is foundational – is what truly drives long-term success. But if it’s so critical, why does measuring its success feel like trying to catch smoke?

It’s a common misconception that culture is too amorphous to quantify. In truth, measuring cultural innovation success is not only possible but absolutely essential. Without it, you’re investing in an engine without a fuel gauge. This isn’t merely about tracking activities; it’s about understanding if innovation is truly woven into your organization’s DNA, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that consistently delivers value.

Defining Cultural Innovation Success

Cultural innovation extends far beyond a dedicated R&D department or an annual hackathon. It signifies a profound shift where innovation becomes a collective responsibility, a daily habit, and a dynamic source of competitive edge. Success in this realm means:

Widespread Empowerment: Innovation is decentralized; every employee feels empowered and equipped to contribute, regardless of role.
Psychological Safety: Individuals are comfortable proposing unconventional ideas, challenging norms, and taking calculated risks, knowing that intelligent failure is a learning opportunity, not a career threat.
Continuous Experimentation & Learning: The organization exhibits a strong bias for action, rapid prototyping, and a disciplined approach to learning from every outcome, positive or negative.
Strategic Alignment: Innovation efforts are clearly linked to and support the overarching strategic objectives, ensuring resources are directed towards high-impact areas.
Customer & User Obsession: All innovative endeavors are deeply rooted in empathy, understanding, and solving genuine problems for customers and users.

Ultimately, a thriving innovation culture yields tangible business outcomes: accelerated growth, increased market relevance, enhanced operational efficiency, superior customer loyalty, and a magnetic ability to attract and retain top talent.

The Art and Science of Measurement

Traditional KPIs, while useful for operational performance, often miss the nuance of cultural shifts. The key to effective measurement lies in a pragmatic blend of quantitative data and rich qualitative insights. Crucially, we must balance lagging indicators (what happened) with leading indicators (what’s likely to happen) to build a predictive innovation capability.

Four Critical Dimensions for Measuring Cultural Innovation

1. Engagement & Capability Development

Are your people actively participating in and growing their innovation muscle?

Employee Innovation Index (Survey): A customized internal survey tracking comfort with new ideas, perceived leadership support, belief in the organization’s innovative future, and willingness to challenge status quo.
Ideation Platform Activity: Metrics on unique contributors, ideas submitted, comments, votes, and ideas advanced to prototyping.
Cross-functional Project Participation: Number of unique employees participating in inter-departmental innovation projects.
Innovation Skills Training: Participation rates and post-training application scores for design thinking, agile methodologies, or creativity workshops.

2. Experimentation & Learning Velocity

Is your organization building a systematic capability for rapid iteration and intelligent failure?

Number of Experiments Initiated & Completed: Tracking distinct exploratory projects across all business units.
Experiment Cycle Time: Average time from problem identification to validated learning (positive or negative).
Budget Allocated to Learning/Failed Ventures: A healthy sign is when a portion of innovation budget is intentionally set aside for experiments that may not succeed, viewed as “tuition.”
Learning Debriefs Conducted: Documented post-mortems or “pre-mortems” where teams systematically extract lessons from both successes and failures.

3. Impact & Value Creation (Lagging Indicators)

Are cultural shifts translating into measurable business and human capital value?

Revenue from New Offerings: Percentage of total revenue generated by products/services launched within the last 1-3 years.
Time-to-Market Reduction: Average time to bring new innovations to market (concept to commercialization).
Operational Efficiency Gains: Quantified savings or improvements from process innovations.
Customer Adoption & Satisfaction: For new products/services (e.g., Net Promoter Score, feature adoption rates).
Employee Retention & Attraction: Particularly for roles requiring creativity and problem-solving, as innovative cultures act as talent magnets.

4. Leadership & Environment Enablement

Are leaders actively championing, resourcing, and protecting the innovation space?

Leadership Innovation Index (360-degree Feedback): Measures how leaders are perceived in terms of supporting experimentation, fostering psychological safety, and championing new ideas.
Resource Allocation & Protection: Proportion of budget and dedicated time allocated to exploratory innovation (not just core operations), and evidence of protecting innovation teams from short-term pressures.
Recognition & Reward Systems: Diversity and frequency of employees recognized for innovative contributions (not just successful outcomes).
Strategic Communication Clarity: Employee understanding of the organization’s innovation vision, strategy, and their role in it.

Case Study: “Horizon Initiative” at a Global Tech Services Firm

A established global tech services firm, “SynthCorp,” was struggling to pivot from a project-delivery mindset to a product-led innovation strategy. Despite a strong engineering base, a rigid hierarchy and a “deliver-at-all-costs” culture led to risk aversion and siloed thinking, stifling internal product development. SynthCorp launched the “Horizon Initiative” to embed a culture of product-centric innovation and distributed ownership.

Intervention: They established “Product Guilds” – cross-functional communities of practice focused on specific tech domains, encouraging knowledge sharing and bottom-up ideation. A “Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Fund” was created, allowing teams to apply for small, rapid-deployment grants for experimental product ideas, with a clear mandate to “fail fast, learn faster.” Leadership started holding monthly “Innovation Showcases” where even early-stage, potentially failing MVPs were presented and celebrated for their learning value.
Measurement:
- Before: Product development cycles averaged 18 months, 90% of R&D budget was dedicated to client-specific projects, and employee surveys showed low perceived autonomy (28%).
- After (18 months): The number of internal MVPs launched jumped by 300%. The average time from concept to validated MVP dropped to 4 months. More importantly, 70% of employees reported feeling “empowered to experiment” (up from 15%). The MVP Fund yielded two highly successful internal product lines that generated $5M in new recurring revenue within 2 years. Crucially, the “fail fast” mentality significantly reduced the overall cost of failed large-scale projects by identifying issues earlier.

SynthCorp’s success was measured not just in new revenue, but in the dramatic acceleration of their learning loops and the measurable increase in employee ownership over product innovation.

Case Study: “Connect & Create” at a Non-Profit Healthcare Provider

A large regional non-profit healthcare provider, “CarePath,” was facing increasing operational inefficiencies and declining staff morale due to a perceived lack of voice. Innovation was seen as the domain of senior administration, and frontline staff felt disconnected from problem-solving. CarePath initiated “Connect & Create” to foster a grassroots culture of continuous improvement and patient-centric innovation.

Intervention: They implemented “Innovation Circles” – small, voluntary cross-departmental teams (e.g., nurses, administrative staff, technicians) empowered to identify and solve operational challenges within their units. A simple “Idea to Action” micro-grant program (up to $1,000) was established for small-scale improvements. Leadership launched a “Patient Impact Stories” campaign, regularly highlighting how staff-led innovations directly improved patient care and staff workflow.
Measurement:
- Before: High staff turnover (18%), low scores on “opportunity to contribute ideas” in annual surveys (35%), and an average of 3 major patient complaints related to operational inefficiencies per month.
- After (12 months): Over 150 “Innovation Circles” were active, leading to 80+ implemented process improvements across different departments. For example, a new patient check-in flow reduced wait times by 15%, and an improved medication tracking system reduced errors by 10%. Staff retention improved by 5%, and employee satisfaction scores for “feeling valued” increased by 20%. The number of patient complaints related to operational issues decreased by 50%.

CarePath’s triumph lay in transforming its frontline staff into powerful agents of change, demonstrating that cultural innovation can yield profound human and operational benefits, even in resource-constrained environments.

The Braden Kelley Mandate: Beyond Vanity Metrics

Remember, cultural innovation measurement is not about collecting vanity metrics. It’s about gaining actionable insights. Focus on leading indicators that genuinely predict your organization’s future ability to adapt and thrive. Always ground your quantitative data with rich qualitative context – the stories, observations, and deep insights that explain *why* the numbers are what they are. And, crucially, treat your measurement framework itself as an innovation; be prepared to iterate, refine, and adapt it as your culture evolves. Avoid rigid, one-size-fits-all approaches. Your measurement system should serve your innovation culture, not shackle it.

Measuring cultural innovation success is a continuous strategic imperative, not a periodic audit. It demands commitment, an agile mindset, and a willingness to look beyond the obvious. When executed thoughtfully, it illuminates the path forward, revealing the true power of an empowered, innovative workforce. It’s how you don’t just innovate, but how you become an innovation powerhouse.

Ready to Transform Your Innovation Culture?

Start by identifying 1-2 key cultural shifts you want to achieve. Then, select 2-3 actionable metrics from each dimension above that directly reflect those shifts. Begin measuring, learn, and iterate. The journey to a truly innovative culture starts with a single, measured step.

Extra Extra: Because innovation is all about change, Braden Kelley’s human-centered change methodology and tools are the best way to plan and execute the changes necessary to support your innovation and transformation efforts — all while literally getting everyone all on the same page for change. Find out more about the methodology and tools, including the book Charting Change by following the link. Be sure and download the TEN FREE TOOLS while you’re here.

Image credit: 1 of 850+ FREE quote slides from http://misterinnovation.com

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

This 9-Box Grid Can Help Grow Your Best Future Talent

Leave a reply

This 9-Box Grid Can Help Grow Your Best Future Talent

GUEST POST from Soren Kaplan

Hiring good people is tough. Retaining your best talent can be equally challenging. In today’s disruptive world, competitive advantage relies as much on people as it does technology.

So, how do you objectively know which people are your all-stars, especially in a bigger organization? And not just the best talent today, but the best for the future?

I originally wrote this article for my Inc. Magazine column. My team at Praxie.com created an online 9-Box app and I was stunned at how much interest there was from across industries for this solution.

Keeping & Growing Talent is Today’s Name of the Game

Just as it’s easier and cheaper to retain customers than to acquire new ones, the same goes for employees. Knowing who your current and future all-stars are helps you keep them and gives you the opportunity to help them grow into more strategic roles.

The 9-box talent grid categorizes your people into nine categories. The grid contains two axes, performance and potential, each of which includes three levels each: low, moderate, and high. When you match up the categories on the axes, you get nine boxes that become classifications.

Categorizing people helps reveal who’s contributing the most now, and who will likely contribute the most in the future:

Stars (High Potential, High Performance): Consistently high performance with high potential. Will likely become part of the future leadership team.

High Potentials (High Potential, Moderate Performance): Solid performance overall with high potential to grow. Will most likely advance in current or future roles and may become part of the future leadership team.

Enigmas (High Potential, Low Performance): While high potential, challenges exist in performance that may require additional support or training and development.

High Performer (Moderate Potential, High Performance): Consistently high performance with solid potential to advance in current role and future positions with the right opportunity.

Key Player (Moderate Potential, Moderate Performance): Overall good performance and potential with additional support and opportunities to grow.

Inconsistent Player (Moderate Potential, Low Performance): Low performance and moderate potential require additional support and training to validate growth opportunity.

Workhorses (Low Potential, High Performance): Highly effective performance yet may have peaked in terms of potential so coaching or training may help elevate potential.

Backups (Low Potential, Moderate Performance): Decent performance and an asset but may not become a more significant contributor.

Bad Hires (Low Potential, Low Performance): Low performance coupled with low potential means re-evaluating overall role in organization.

The team at Praxie.com has made the 9-Box application available to try to free.

9 Box Example

Shoot for the Stars

The easiest way is to assign people to the categories is based on your experience working with them. Or, if you’re in a larger organization, collect inputs from managers and aggregate the results.

Here’s how it works: The CEO of an organization works with their HR director to collect inputs from managers within the sales department. Twenty-five sales representatives are mapped into the nine boxes. The results are used to provide additional incentives, identify people for leadership development programs, and promote individual reps to managers for new territories.

The 9-box grid provides a snapshot in time. Use the tool to continually assess and reassess your talent. You’ll see some people move up and to the right while others may stay stagnant. Use these trends to help people grow. It won’t improve just your organizational culture. It will also improve your business.

Image credits: Praxie.com

This article was originally published on Inc.com and has been syndicated for this blog.

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Recognizing and Rewarding Employee Contributions

Leave a reply

Recognizing and Rewarding Employee Contributions

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Employee recognition plays a crucial role in fostering a positive workplace culture, enhancing morale, and driving engagement. This article explores the importance of recognizing and rewarding employee contributions while showcasing two remarkable case studies that illuminate best practices in action.

The Importance of Recognition

Recognition is not merely a feel-good exercise; it is a strategic component of successful organizations. According to a Gallup study, companies that prioritize employee recognition can increase their profitability by up to 21%. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to be engaged, productive, and loyal.

Case Study 1: Google

Background: Google is known for its innovative workplace culture, which fosters creativity and recognizes employee contributions.

Approach: Google implements a variety of recognition programs, including peer recognition platforms and the famous “kudos” system, which allows employees to publicly acknowledge their peers’ efforts.

Impact: In a study conducted by Google on employee engagement, teams that participated actively in recognition programs reported a 50% increase in collaboration and a 70% increase in employee satisfaction. Employees felt empowered to contribute their ideas, leading to increased innovation.

Case Study 2: Zappos

Background: Zappos has cultivated a strong culture centered around customer service and employee happiness.

Approach: Zappos has a unique recognition program called “Zollars,” where employees earn points for demonstrating the company’s core values. These points can be redeemed for various rewards, including gift cards and experiences.

Impact: A post-implementation survey showed that Zappos employees felt more valued and connected to the company’s mission, with over 80% reporting increased job satisfaction. This program also led to a 20% reduction in turnover rates, showcasing the long-term benefits of effective employee recognition.

Strategies for Effective Recognition

To ensure effective recognition, organizations should focus on personalization, timeliness, and inclusivity. Formal recognition programs should complement informal tactics, allowing employees to be recognized in a manner that resonates most with them.

Furthermore, recognition should be tied to meaningful contributions aligned with the company’s values and goals. Here are some practical strategies:

Regular Feedback: Encourage managers to provide frequent feedback and acknowledgment of contributions. Tools like Lattice or 15Five can facilitate this process.
Peer Recognition: Create a system where employees can recognize each other’s work and achievements through platforms like Bonusly.
Celebrate Milestones: Recognize both professional and personal milestones to show employees they are valued as whole individuals.

Pitfalls to Avoid

While recognition is beneficial, common pitfalls include inconsistency, lack of clarity on contribution criteria, and overlooking remote employees. To mitigate these issues, organizations should strive for transparency and inclusiveness in their recognition practices.

Conclusion

Recognizing and rewarding employee contributions is essential for cultivating an engaged and motivated workforce. By examining organizations like Google and Zappos, we can see that tailored recognition programs not only enhance job satisfaction but also drive performance and loyalty. As leaders, it is our responsibility to create a culture that values every contribution, fostering an environment where innovation and excellence can thrive.

Image credit: Pexels

Guest AI: Grok

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Empathy: The Currency of Human Connection and Innovation

1 Reply

Empathy: The Currency of Human Connection and Innovation

GUEST POST from Soren Kaplan

Having worked with innovation teams from global companies like Visa, Colgate-Palmolive, Kimberly-Clark, Disney, Medtronic and many others, there’s one consistent success factor when it comes to innovation, no matter what you’re doing: it all starts with the customer.

Companies spend oodles of time and money trying to understand customers. They conduct surveys, hire market researchers, run focus groups, analyze social media, and the list goes on. What’s often missed, however, are customers’ deeper needs and underlying pain points that really matter to them. Quantitative surveys, for example, might give you a sense of a market’s overall sentiment about a topic, but you won’t get to know someone’s personal struggles and underlying motivations from checkboxes on an online form.

Instead, you need to truly put yourself in the customer’s shoes. It’s not just about intellectually understanding their situation. It’s about tapping into the emotions they feel, and even feeling them yourself as part of the process of connecting to their experience.

Empathy Reveals New Opportunities

I recently led a leadership development program for a large health care provider with hundreds of hospitals. They wanted to understand their patients better, so they could come up with innovations to help them stay healthy and avoid costly visits to the doctor and hospital. Initially, the team had ideas to provide promotional materials on how to eat healthier and exercise.

As part of the process, a small team went to visit patients at their homes in rural areas. At one house, they discovered a giant water tank had been built by a company that towered over their patient’s home–and it was slowly dripping water on the roof, creating a whole variety of problems, including causing the beginnings of respiratory issues for the woman living in the house due to mold. The team was shocked.

The team realized that pamphlets about healthy eating and exercise wouldn’t do much to help. They also recognized that in certain cases they might need to provide radically different types of support to their patients as part of ensuring their overall health, beyond just providing traditional health care. They helped the woman contact the water tank company to fix the leak. They have also since expanded their approach around prevention to address various “social determinants of health” in communities like poor quality water, lack of healthy food, and other issues that lead to health issues long before someone shows symptoms of a formal medical issue.

Immersing yourself in the world of your customers through visits, observation, interviews, and other interactions can provide a new perspective around issues, problems, and assumptions.

Capture Concrete Observations

Empathy is a core element of “design thinking,” a common approach used for product and service innovation. It’s also a concept that can be hard to understand when it comes to translating what you might see and hear into something meaningful about the customer. Here’s a template for doing just that from Praxie.com.

Customer Empathy Map

The next time you connect with a customer, consider the following to help capture concrete observations:

Say: What does the customer explicitly say?
Feel: What are the customer’s emotions?
Think: What occupies the customer’s thoughts?
Do: What does the customer do in public?

By providing a structure for cataloguing your observations, you can turn what might seem as ambiguous into something tangible.

Turn Observations into Insight

It’s one thing to observe customers. It’s another to translate what you observe into real insights that help catalyze new ideas.

Once you’ve cataloged your observations, take a step back. Consider the ultimate “pain points” that your customer experiences. What are the customer’s top problems or frustrations? Also be sure to consider the “gain” the customer hopes to achieve. What does the customer hope to accomplish or achieve?

Answering these questions helps move general observations into insights that can be used as the basis for generating new ideas.

Give the World Your Empathy

Empathy is the currency of human connection. We all crave it. And when we give it to others, we build and deepen relationships. Try empathizing with others. You’ll see the returns in the form of a better world, and greater innovation.

Image credits: Praxie.com, Pexels

This article was originally published on Inc.com and has been syndicated for this blog.

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Importance and Ethos of Empathy in Business

1 Reply

Importance and Ethos of Empathy in Business

GUEST POST from Douglas Ferguson

Why is empathy important in business? The reality is that though empathy focuses on identifying others’ emotions and connecting with your team in the workplace, true empathy has powerful results for every facet of an organization.

Organizational Ethos: Why is Empathy Important in Business?

Empathy makes it possible to center each other’s needs, desires, and emotions at the heart of what you do. From navigating your intuition to working to identify and meet the needs of clients, workplace empathy is essential to effective leadership and future success.

Below, we explore why is empathy important in business as we discuss:

Empathy in the Workplace
Empathy as Empowerment
The Ethos of Empathy
Why Empathy is Important for Business
Applications of Organizational Empathy

Empathy in the Workplace

Allowing empathy in the workplace encourages leading from the heart. By centering emotional intelligence in your organization, you’ll prioritize a people-first approach to leadership.

Empathy allows us to recognize others’ emotions and to understand their point of view in a situation. When employed in the workplace, empathy offers insight into how to understand and respond to others’ needs. While empathy can be confused with sympathy, the two aren’t the same. Empathy focuses on identifying and sharing the emotions and experiences of others.

By practicing emotional intelligence, organizations can use empathy to better navigate and support their employee’s well-being, while driving innovation and collaboration. As life constantly ebbs and flows, employees need empathetic leaders that understand the nuances of navigating life’s changes. This allows team members to craft the best work-life balance that lets them do their best work while maintaining a positive home life.

Empathy as Empowerment

Why is empathy important for business? The simple answer is that empathy empowers. As leaders and fellow team members extend empathy to each other, they are allowing one another to feel a sense of validation and respect. Considered to be an organizational superpower, empathy can positively impact employees’ engagement, motivation, and well-being.

The true power of empathy lies in your ability to envision yourself in a team member’s position, or a position of leadership. Once empathy becomes part of the organizational culture, it empowers employees to center their fellow members and work collaboratively.

From a leadership perspective, empathy invites employees into the decision-making process. This communicates that leaders value and trust the opinions and positions of their team members. As such, more employees feel a sense of validation and are driven to engage with their work and their teams’.

The Ethos of Empathy

Workplace empathy is part of a larger conversation about organizational ethics. The ethics of an organization refer to how the leadership and team members respond to their external environment. These ethics dictate the principles and guidelines that determine how the company and its employees conduct business in the workplace.

Leaders should work to translate empathy into their organizational ethos to ensure that every decision is guided by a commitment to uplifting and connecting with others. To make an impact with empathy and ingratiate it in your company culture, ensure that your organization has a clear code of ethics. By building empathy into your ethos, you’ll train your leaders and employees to constantly prioritize each other’s feelings and perspectives in the workplace.

Why Empathy is Important for Business

Empathy has a multifaceted impact on the workplace. From enhancing leaders’ capabilities and improving the way team members relate to one another to prioritizing clients’ needs and customer relations, empathy is undoubtedly an important part of any business.

Empathy benefits businesses in the following ways:

1. Empathy is your leadership superpower.

Maintain Top Talent: Leaders that connect with their team in a genuine way are able to foster a sense of loyalty and retain the best people.
Boost Morale by Instilling Motivation: Empathetic leaders can successfully encourage their teams and motivate them to perform at their best.

Increase Sales and Productivity: Leaders with empathy can better understand customers’ needs and address their desires, pain points, and fears.

2. Empathy is essential for teams.

Develop a Community: Through empathy, team members can develop stronger bands and build trust in each other. This allows team members to become a true community both in and out of the workplace.

Increase innovation: Empathy is linked to innovation as it allows team members to practice curiosity, generosity, and equality towards their colleagues’ ideas. By entering another’s perspective, team members develop a sense of compassion that allows for creative thinking.

Create a safe environment for collaboration and learning: Teams that practice empathy are leading with their heart. This encourages a sense of psychological safety, allowing others to feel vulnerable and open to learning and collaborating.

3. Empathy is transformative for clients.

Forge connections with customers: Empathetic organizations put their clients first. This human-centered approach allows teams and leadership to build real bonds with their customers that can last a lifetime.
Prioritize clients’ wants and needs: Why is empathy important for business? Empathy makes it easy to identify and prioritize clients’ wants and needs. By walking a mile in their shoes, an organization will have a better understanding of customers’ expectations.

Applications of Organizational Empathy

Discovering why empathy is important for business is the first step in cultivating an empathic culture. The next challenge is learning to apply empathy in every facet of your organization.

Implement empathy in your workplace with the following practices:

1. Listen to Others

Listening to others is the first step in implementing empathy in the workplace. Listening goes beyond hearing what someone says; empathic listening requires one to actively listen and pay attention to body language, facial expressions, and similar nuances.

2. Use Empathy Maps

Empathy maps allow organizations to take a human-centered approach to problem solving and ideation. Essentially, this helps one to get inside the user’s head. Organizations use empathy maps to determine what the user is thinking or feeling, and how they may experience the product.

3. Design User Personas

User personas identify the skills, goals, attitudes, background information, and behavioral patterns of your target audience. This allows your team to better explore how to relate to users and which solutions would benefit them the most.

4. Practice Empathy Immersion

Use an activity called empathy immersion to encourage your team to understand their perspective and opinion of others.

Change Your Perspective

Challenge your team to adopt another’s perspective.

Limit Yourself

A major part of having empathy for another person is understanding the challenges and struggles they face. By limiting yourself, you’ll be able to experience the same type of challenges as you empathize with their experience.

Do It Yourself

Oftentimes in the field, it makes the most sense to wait for management or a qualified leader. However, this shouldn’t limit one from problem-solving on their own. Under empathetic leadership, team members will feel a sense of self-motivation and confidence that allows them to take agency and create solutions of their own.

Similar Experience

Team members can empathize with each other and their clients by recreating an experience similar to what their colleagues or customers are going through.

Day-in-the-Life

A day-in-the-life activity allows team members to walk in another’s shoes and navigate the successes and pitfalls from another person’s perspective.

Want to adopt empathy in your organization? Connect with us at Voltage control to learn the ways you can implement empathy in your workplace. Our courses on Change Management and Master Facilitation will teach the art of leading with empathy as you learn how to shift your company culture to one that embraces an empathic ethos.

Article originally seen at VoltageControl.com

Image Credit: Pexels

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Cultivate Innovation by Managing with Empathy

Leave a reply

Cultivate Innovation by Managing with Empathy

GUEST POST from Douglas Ferguson

Managing with empathy is a leader’s superpower. Empathy opens the door to increased innovation, collaboration, and engagement.

Experts assert that empathy is the single most important skill in today’s workplace and the numbers don’t lie: 76% of workers with empathetic leaders are reportedly more motivated and engaged than those who experience leadership with less empathy.

Leaders can harness the power of empathy to create a more collaborative and engaged culture at work. In this article, we explore empathetic leadership in the following topics:

What is Workplace Empathy?
Becoming an Empathetic Leader
The Benefits of Managing a Team With Empathy
The Connection Between Empathy and innovation

What is Workplace Empathy?

Managing with empathy requires a keen understanding of the nuances of workplace empathy and empathetic leadership. Empathy allows one to understand another person’s emotions, actions, and thoughts. Our emotional or social intelligence helps us practice empathy and understand the mindsets and emotions of others.

Empathy belongs in the workplace. While work-related responsibilities should be top of mind, your team members won’t be able to do their best work if they feel as though their emotions and feelings are invalidated or ignored. It’s crucial that team members feel as though their feelings and emotions are prioritized both in their professional and personal lives. With the power of empathy, team leaders and managers can shift company culture for the better and motivate their team to be the best version of themselves.

Empathetic leaders understand the three types of empathy:

1. Cognitive Empathy

Cognitive empathy relates to connecting to another person’s mentality and understanding how certain situations influence their thoughts. Cognitive empathy is related to “theory of mind” that explores how someone can think like another and predict what their future behavior may be.

2. Somatic Empathy

Somatic empathy occurs when one experiences a physical response to another’s feelings or experience.

3. Affective Empathy

Affective empathy involves understanding another’s emotions and responding most appropriately.

Becoming an Empathetic Leader

Managing with empathy is possible for all leaders and team members willing to start within. To connect emotionally with others, you have to first prioritize your connection with yourself. By cultivating your emotional intelligence and understanding your own emotions and feelings, you’ll be better equipped to lead with empathy.

In today’s ever-changing climate, workers have to navigate the likes of diverse workforces, virtualized teams, and global economic challenges. Being able to adapt and sympathize with the perspective and experiences of others will help you improve your empathetic leadership.

Consider the following steps to amplify your emotional intelligence and grow your leadership skills:

1. Listen

Listening to your team is one of the fastest ways to start managing with empathy. With every conversation comes the opportunity to build a better relationship and affirm your team member’s emotions. In each conversation, be sure to pay attention, avoid distractions, and wait for the person to finish before you speak.

In addition to letting your team members fully share their opinions, the art of listening requires you to fully understand the emotions that are behind each conversation. This includes understanding nonverbal cues, identifying the tone of voice, and paying attention to body language. If you’re working remotely, managing with empathy can be particularly challenging. Take advantage of voice notes, video chats, SMS messaging, and sending photos and videos to ensure you’re virtually communicating as comprehensively as possible.

2. Get Personal

Though personal bonds in the workplace are often discouraged, building healthy professional relationships is an effective way to start managing with empathy. By forming personal connections with your team members, you’ll encourage a culture of open communication and alignment. As you both connect, you’ll find commonalities in your shared vision and values.

3. Adopt their Point of View

As an empathetic leader, it’s essential to gain emotional insight into what your team is feeling and thinking by adopting their point of view. Whether your company is remote or in-person, it isn’t always easy to understand the perspective or emotional state of your team. While some leaders shy away from discussing emotions and feelings at work, the truth is that learning more about each employee’s emotional state will help you understand how they approach their work and why they work the way they do.

4. Get Leadership Training

Managing with empathy doesn’t always come naturally. Take the opportunity to invest in leadership training to learn how to better incorporate your emotional intelligence and empathy into your management style. With the help of professional leaders, you’ll learn how to emotionally connect with your team and manage the personal and professional challenges that come your way. Consider courses in facilitation and change management as you learn the ins and outs of empathetic leadership.

The Benefits of Managing a Team With Empathy

Don’t put empathy on the backburner. While it takes time and intention to cultivate a company culture rooted in empathy, making the journey to create an emotionally intelligent environment is worth it.

Consider the following benefits of managing with empathy:

1. Better Relationships

Better relationships are a direct benefit of managing with empathy. Empathy helps team members emotionally connect as they identify personal interests and can freely communicate with each other. Use empathy to deepen relationships by asking questions about how others feel and providing careful and thoughtful responses.

2. Enhanced Teamwork

Empathy is a key ingredient in designing stronger teams. Managing with empathy encourages a desire for team members to help each other and work together. As you learn more about the challenges your team faces, you’ll naturally want to assist them in finding solutions. This type of cooperation encourages a culture of camaraderie where team members feel as though they are a critical part of each other’s success.

3. A Stronger Work-Life Balance

Empathy is a natural part of a stronger work-life balance. At times, challenges from one’s personal life can affect the way team members approach work obligations. Understanding their challenges will help you shape a better work-life balance for your team. Whether they need more time off or want more remote work, listening to and understanding their needs will help them create a healthier balance between their personal and professional lives.

4. Increased Innovation

A workforce of engaged and emotionally aligned employees allows for increased innovation. A workplace culture of empathy helps to develop soft skills such as curiosity, generosity, and equality, which encourages team members to design new creative and collaborative solutions.

The Link Between Empathy and Innovation

The link between innovation and empathy is undeniable. Empathetic leadership allows us to understand and relate to each other in a deeply profound and authentic way. Empathy is an incredible tool for innovation as it works to encourage companies and teams to center the needs and feelings of others.

By encouraging team members to adopt another’s point of view, leaders can utilize empathy as a problem-solving framework. Empathy places the experience and satisfaction of others at the heart of the creative and collaborative process. These empathetic techniques and behaviors are undoubtedly linked to the most effective designs, products, and creative solutions.

In the workplace, empathy naturally reinforces a culture of innovation as it encourages and validates the feelings and opinions of others. Regardless of the problems at hand, human-centered thinking encourages organizations to empathetically eliminate their biases, reservations, and judgment to arrive at the solution that benefits the end-user and their fellow team members the most.

If innovation is at the heart of your company, it’s time to start managing with empathy. Voltage Control offers custom programs built around connection, psychological safety, community, and play. Connect with us today to learn how to use empathetic leadership for the greatest good.

Article originally published at VoltageControl.com

Image Credit: Pexels

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

How Networking Accelerates Growth

Leave a reply

How Networking Accelerates Growth

GUEST POST from Douglas Ferguson

As a leader, you’re likely aware that building a network takes time and work. Mentors and a network of peers are not easily established for jobs, professional growth, or business. The process of growing a network, and a community, is proportional to the thought you put towards it.

That said, not everyone takes the same steps to build a network. Leadership development programs are tools we highly recommend considering. They’re a step towards learning about yourself and expanding your understanding of how to work with people.

Now, how does a network contribute effectively to your role as a leader, and how can you unlock that network in a productive way?

The search for true leadership requires self-awareness, which networks play a key role in developing.

A true leader puts in the self-work before looking to others to change. They also view self-work as an ongoing experience of sustained learning rather than a short-term project.

Let’s dive deeper into networking, a concept that you’ll learn has positive connotations when framed correctly. This article addresses the following:

What is networking and why is it important?
How do we pursue true leadership?
How do we sustain learning as leaders?

What is networking?

Networking is intercommunication, exchanging ideas with those with shared interests or expertise. We view networking as a series of opportunities to learn and engage. Learning about yourself, others, and information. Most importantly to leadership development, it’s learning about yourself through others.

Networking doesn’t have to be insincere, corporate, or repulsive if you approach it with meaning and an intention to develop deeper relationships. Oftentimes, those relationships are a twofold source of wisdom and knowledge when you need it most.

Good networking involves a mutual understanding of the relationship and an environment conducive to it. The more work you put into a network, the more it resembles a community: a place you can go to for help or to help.

Why is networking important?

Networking is profound for connection and support. As you build yours, you’ll find that you can lean into your network for much more than professional development, and you begin to build a community.

It’s also a wonderful practice in self-awareness. By interacting with people outside of your usual environment, your creativity and self-image is challenged. It often feels uncomfortable for good reason. Allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable and observe the environment around you serves as practice for what you should often do as a leader.

As we do this, we acquire perspective, which encourages growth. A healthy network focused on growth boosts:

Confidence and awareness of strengths
Understanding of opportunities for personal and professional growth
Creativity through exposure to other pools of knowledge and ways of thinking

The community you draw from networking often becomes a resource for your team. That includes resources for:

Hiring new teammates and identifying strong leaders
Industry information and trends
Future positions or opportunities for involvement

Dr. Peter Gray, who spent years studying professional networks, also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a tight-knit community, or as he phrases it, “building a collaboration network”. In our Control the Room podcast episode with Dr. Grey, he suggests that consistent, quality relationships with 15-20 close ties prove wildly beneficial to a work environment. Reframing teamwork as a collaborative effort makes the workplace exciting, and perspective within your network enhances your desire for innovation.

“Your ability to see the world really changes as a function of your network.”

Dr. Peter Gray

Are there people who are positive thinkers within your network? Do they support your ideas? Do you feel excited to present your ideas to them? Dr. Gray calls these traits of good leaders “energizer traits”.

As you grow within an organization, it becomes more important to have a solid network from which to pull when needed. That’s especially the case as teams become more collaborative with time. We built this assessment tool to help analyze involvement and existing relationships.

Spend time pursuing a network. Your future self will thank you for the time you save them and opportunities you bring them.

How do we pursue true leadership?

Self-awareness assessments can fall down when used without follow-through. We can use them to help us understand whose strengths in the team will help us prevail when faced with a new problem, product, or shift.

Such assessments should be used or followed up with for inner work and inner change. The self-assessment serves as a true mirror when you’re focused on self-discovery and self-improvement. Use the reflective moments to continually practice being the improved version of yourself.

When you practice looking at your true self, you can begin to ask questions. It can be powerful to see if you’re being perceived the way you see yourself.

Are you being manipulative? Are you a true leader? Is the story in your head about yourself authentic? What can be done to fine-tune your tendencies and align the person in the mirror with the person in your head.

The leader should always start within, looking to the symptoms that need to be addressed within themselves.

It is necessary to lean into the things that can create change, empathy, psychological safety, and culture. These are often viewed by society as soft, squishy, and even scary to approach.

As you address these within yourself, you’ll learn how to better work with those around you, and you’ll see the value in advancing those skills. Inter-relational dynamics have to be discussed and addressed. People don’t often want to lean into that stuff, but that’s ultimately where the real work happens.

Learning and working through how to work with people and welcome collaboration advances innovation. Spawrks, the co-host of Space Pencils, stated the following in a recent conversation on our podcast:

“I feel like that’s the thing, that if you can have the patience for assuming positive intent all the time as much as possible, you can really find out and learn a lot more, even when you might be completely able to see around the corner. By validating it with that type of respect and in your communication, you can yourself learn more than you even knew about what you’re thinking about.”

Spawrks

Start with yourself, move to department health, and finally the full organization.

How do we sustain learning as leaders?

Practical steps must be taken to sustain learning and development. Oftentimes, this takes the form of programs, which can replace networking if done right.

There are systems and programs that offer some of the same benefits of networking. What’s key is finding the right cohort or program to suit your needs.

Programs offer support to those who are looking to build a network. At the end of a program, this question often arises: “Now that I’m trying to use these learnings, what do I do with them?” It’s vital to be able to bring it back to the cohort for support.

The most powerful programs offer quality content and provide an environment for connection. We believe that the right programs, ours included, are designed to create extended relationships as a long-term resource. That’s invaluable. Maximize your time by recognizing opportunities for connection. That comes in the form of connecting the content and training into the work you do and building relationships with others on site.

Ultimately, learning is sustained through consistent attention to self-work and upkeep with your network. Connection within programs allows a moment where we truly connect to the work we do.

We’re capable of both contributing towards and gleaning from our networks in a productive manner. The aim of “networking” should be to do both, developing connections into communal, mutually beneficial relationships.

Interested in growing your network through programs? Check out our Leadership Development Programs, which offer leadership consulting through self-work and connection with a cohort. The aim is to provide a clearer view of your leadership style and connect people with interests in innovating as leaders.

Article originally seen on VoltageControl.com

Image Credit: Unsplash

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Cultural Shifts Required for Agile Success

Leave a reply

Cultural Shifts Required for Agile Success

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In an era of rapid technological evolution and market dynamism, Agile has emerged as the go-to methodology for organizations seeking agility and resilience. However, the successful adoption of Agile is not just about implementing new processes or tools. At its core, Agile requires profound cultural shifts—a transformation in how individuals and teams think, interact, and operate.

The Imperative of Cultural Change

Agile methodologies promise speed, flexibility, and customer-centric approaches. However, many organizations fail to reap these benefits, primarily because they overlook the critical role of culture. For Agile to truly take root and flourish, organizations must embrace several key cultural shifts:

From Control to Empowerment: Agile thrives in environments where teams are empowered to make decisions. This requires a shift away from command-and-control management styles.
From Silos to Collaboration: Cross-functional collaboration is vital. Agile demands breaking down silos and fostering open communication and teamwork.
From Planning to Experimentation: Agile values iterative learning and adaptation over rigid planning.
From Risk Avoidance to Embracing Failure: Creating a culture where failure is seen as a learning opportunity is crucial for innovation.

Case Study 1: Spotify

Spotify’s success with Agile practices is well-documented and provides a compelling case study of cultural transformation. At Spotify, the organization is designed around cross-functional “squads,” each with end-to-end responsibility for their portions of the product. Here’s how Spotify navigated the cultural shifts:

Empowerment: Squads at Spotify are autonomous, empowering team members to experiment and make decisions without needing constant approval from higher management.
Collaboration: Cross-functional nature of squads ensures deep collaboration across disciplines, promoting knowledge sharing and holistic problem-solving.
Experimentation: Spotify encourages a “fail-friendly” culture where trying new ideas is embraced, and projects can pivot or stop based on what they learn quickly.

As a result, Spotify maintains a high capacity for innovation and adaptability, relevant to their fast-moving digital landscape.

Case Study 2: General Electric (GE)

General Electric, a company known for its traditional bureaucratic structure, embarked on an Agile transformation journey in its software development division to keep pace with technological changes and market demands.

From Control to Empowerment: GE overhauled their managerial approaches by adopting Lean Startup principles, which gave teams more autonomy to develop innovative solutions quickly.
Silos to Collaboration: GE’s Agile journey involved creating collocated, cross-functional teams tasked with tackling specific customer challenges, breaking down traditional silos.
Embracing Failure: Teams were encouraged to experiment and iterate, fostering a culture of learning from failure without the fear of repercussions.

While challenges existed, this cultural shift allowed GE to accelerate innovation and better respond to customer needs in their software products.

Navigating the Transition

Transitioning to an Agile culture is not without its challenges. Resistance to change, entrenched habits, and existing power dynamics can hinder progress. Here are strategies to navigate these challenges:

Leadership Buy-In: Securing support from leadership is crucial. Leaders must model Agile behaviors and champion cultural changes.
Change Agents: Identify and empower change agents who can advocate for and facilitate cultural shifts within teams.
Continuous Learning: Promote a culture of ongoing education and training to equip staff with the skills and mindset needed for Agile success.
Feedback Loops: Create mechanisms for regular feedback and reflection, allowing teams to learn and adapt continually.

Conclusion

Agile is not just a process but a mindset—a culture. The organizations that successfully navigate the transition to Agile do so by fundamentally reshaping their organizational culture. As seen in the examples of Spotify and GE, the journey to Agile success is challenging but ultimately rewarding, leading to more innovative, responsive, and resilient organizations.

To truly thrive in today’s fast-paced world, organizations must embrace the cultural shifts that Agile demands, fostering environments where empowerment, collaboration, experimentation, and learning from failure are not just encouraged, but ingrained into the very fabric of daily operations.

Extra Extra: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.