Companies that are slow to change, or at risk of falling behind competitors, do so because their employees don’t feel safe enough to fail. People value safety far more than predictability. For example, imagine there was a casino that always made you whole: It allowed you to gamble and win all you wanted, but if you lost $100, they’d cover your losses. Would you feel comfortable gambling there? Likely so: There’s nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Now imagine if companies provided the same psychological safety to their employees: You can fail here, but we won’t fire you. Instead, we’ll train you and support you so that you don’t fail again. Like the casino, there’s nothing to lose, and it affords you to make bigger-than-usual bets on yourself, or on your teams.
Companies looking to be more agile, however well-intentioned, need to ensure that team members’ safety (mental, emotional, career) is a top priority. Nobody will take on risk if they feel there’s no commensurate reward, and what sort of reward would be required for the risk of losing your job? (Spoiler: Likely none.)
And so, my hot take on “slow” companies; the sort of companies Agilists mock at conferences for being too cumbersome or process-oriented: Perhaps instead there is an institutional fear of failure that needs to be unwound and mitigated at all levels of the organization. Psychological safety, while easy to talk about, is incredibly hard to provide and continue providing. It requires investment – literal dollars spent – and time – sometimes years – to create. And once established, it remains incredibly fragile. Companies struggling with organizational agility should focus on the psychological safety of their teams before they ever debate whether to execute Scrum or Kanban. If the risk is removed, and the right values are encouraged, a willingness to learn will ultimately replace the fear of failure.
Goscin.ski 