Why Is It So Important that Senior Leadership Teams are Engaged During an Agile Consulting Engagement?

Why Senior Leadership is Non-Negotiable in an Agile Consulting Journey

Unlocking the full potential of Agile transformation hinges on one critical factor: the active engagement of senior leadership. In this article, let’s discuss why their role is important and non-negotiable in any Agile consulting journey.  🎯

Systemic Change: The Pivotal Role of Leadership

I often grapple with this fundamental question - “Why is it so important that senior leadership teams are engaged during an Agile consulting engagement?”

The answer is intrinsically tied to the kind of systemic change you’re targeting in the organisation.

Are you looking to transition towards a business that is faster at reacting to changing market demand?

Well, that’s the essence of what we’re discussing when we talk about Agile.  🚀

Leadership’s Crucial Role in Enabling Adaptability

It’s practically unimaginable to think about speeding up customer feedback loops or boosting adaptability in any team within an organisation without involving leadership.  💡

Those circumstances don’t exist.

Without leadership being involved and interested, you’re essentially bound by the constraints of a disengaged leadership team.

Thus, the objective of faster market engagement, which is the purpose of Agile, requires that everyone in the organisation change, participate, and be willing to change potentially any business practice."

Engaging with the C-Suite: CEOs and CFOs

When I’m consulting solely at the team level, I don’t hesitate to seek out the CEO’s office and knock on their door.

Why? Because I believe it’s vital that they be involved, understand, and help with the transformation journey. Yet, I’ve often found that CFOs can be even better allies. 🤝

After all, they’re the ones who sign the cheques and better optimise the value you get from the money you put in than someone who’s fiscally minded, right?

Comprehensive Change: It’s a Requirement, Not an Option

Let’s consider the DevOps team at Microsoft as an example. When asked what changes were necessary to adopt agility, their succinct response was “everything.” 🔄

Every aspect needed revamping, from marketing and sales to stakeholder engagement and product development. Achieving this sort of deep organisational transformation is “super hard” and absolutely demands senior leadership involvement.

Leadership Alignment

In summation, the need for senior leadership engagement is not an optional extra; it’s a fundamental requirement. You need “alignment all the way up the organisation to as high as you can possibly go” to gain the “permission” to make impactful changes.

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