The Hidden Flaw in Your Agile Transformation: It’s Not What You Think!

As agile minds we often flatten hierarchies and strip away bureaucracy. Simplifying organizational structures and processes—the outer structures—is often seen as the key to becoming more agile.

While reducing these outer structures is important, there’s a critical element that often gets overlooked: building up the inner structure of the people within the organization.

The Missing Piece: Inner Structure

So, what exactly is this inner structure? It’s the collection of personal competencies and mindsets that enable individuals to thrive in an agile environment. This includes:

• Self-management and self-leadership
• Capacity for emotional regulation
• Discipline and accountability
• Willingness to take risks
• How we perceive and interact with our colleagues

As we give people more freedom by not confining them to narrow job descriptions or predefined processes, they need to guide themselves and collaborate more effectively. Freedom can be intimidating because it means there’s no one telling you exactly what to do or what’s right or wrong.

Why Inner Structure Matters

Without building up inner structure, simply removing outer structures can lead to confusion and chaos. People may feel overwhelmed by the lack of direction and unsure of how to proceed. This can hinder the very agility we’re striving to achieve.

An agile organization relies on individuals who can self-organize, make decisions, and adapt quickly. Without the inner capabilities to handle increased autonomy, teams may struggle to function effectively.

Learning from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

To develop this inner structure, we can draw valuable insights from fields like psychology and behavioral sciences. These disciplines help us understand:

• Our own habits and mechanisms to reflect on them
• Our emotional triggers and how to manage or utilize them
• How our perceptions of others influence our actions
• Becoming comfortable with failure as a part of learning
• What genuinely motivates us
• Guiding our inner dialogue to support better decision-making

While we can’t dive into all these techniques here, recognizing their importance is a crucial step. By exploring these areas, we help individuals become better versions of themselves, which in turn strengthens the organization’s agility.

Balancing Outer and Inner Transformation

An effective agile transformation requires us to reduce outer structures while simultaneously building up inner ones. If we focus solely on dismantling the external without nurturing the internal, we risk creating a void that leads to disorder rather than agility.

By investing in the personal development of our people, we equip them with the tools to navigate the freedoms and responsibilities that come with an agile environment.

A Path to Deeper Understanding

For those interested in exploring how to build this inner structure further, I offer deeper insights in the Agile Coach Education (ACE) program. The psychology expert Jens Hilzensauer also supports with his experience and helps implementing these techniques in the field of agile transformations.

Conclusion

Simply tearing down outer structures isn’t enough to achieve true agility. We must also focus on developing the inner structures within our teams and individuals. By doing so, we increase the chances of fostering a truly agile organization—one made up of empowered, resilient, and adaptive minds.

Let’s not just remove the old structures without providing new ones. By building up the inner capacities of our people, we pave the way for genuine, sustainable agility.

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