Business Guide - brought to you by APL Media • Wednesday 15 February 2023


IT, technology & communications • 9 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE


Organisational agility can stop culture debt weighing you down


Kindred is helping organisations overcome culture debt through effective structures, agile practices and adaptive behaviours


Have you ever heard of ‘culture debt’? Just like technical debt in IT, culture debt can be costly in terms of time, money and resources. Leſt unmanaged, culture debt creates unnecessary complexity, stifles innovation, limits growth and negatively impacts employee engagement. Culture debt is the negative


impact an organisation’s existing culture has on its ability to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. The idea behind culture debt is that the accumulation of processes, behaviours and working practices that develop over time can hinder success if they don’t evolve to align


with current and future needs. Organisational agility, on the


other hand, is the ability of a business to rapidly and effectively respond to change. It’s an objective, a mindset and a continuous journey, aimed at accelerating the creation of business value. This is achieved by transforming


organisations from highly controlled to more agile environments that are fundamentally assisted by digital tools and ways of working, and are capable of managing complexity. It produces organisations that can continuously assess and improve their operations, processes, results and, ultimately, their cultures.


So how do you build organisational


agility? According to Kindred’s co-founder Michael Docherty, an organisational agility journey is best started at a small scale. “In our experience, organisations tend to start their agility journey by doing at least one of three things: shiſting mindsets, experimenting with ways of working or redesigning their systems,” he says.


SHIFTING MINDSETS Establishing agility as a core element of your organisation’s culture requires intentional effort. Start by educating leadership on the concepts, advantages and defining traits of agility and self-management. Consider organising immersion experiences and sharing real-life examples to broaden perspectives and inspire new thinking. Develop a compelling vision and a set of achievable goals that form the foundation for the organisation’s agility journey. And provide support to address and overcome obstacles to agility, like psychological safety.


EXPERIMENTING WITH WAYS OF WORKING To cultivate organisational agility, a focus on experimentation and innovation is essential. Encourage teams to trial new practices, assess


their outcomes and refine their approach through controlled and safe experimentation. By providing guidelines and allowing teams to themselves determine the most effective tools and tactics, such as Scrum, Lean and Kanban, organisations can foster an adaptive and innovative culture. And, by encouraging the acquisition of new skills and knowledge, and providing the necessary resources and support, employees can work productively and adaptively. Through continuous experimentation, evaluation and improvement, organisations can drive better performance incrementally, becoming more agile over time.


REDESIGNING THE SYSTEM Hardwiring agility into the operating system is essential for organisational agility. Cultivating a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration requires a transition from traditional hierarchies and siloed processes to cross-functional teams and decentralised decision- making. Adapt structures and systems to support agility, streamline resource management, align critical skills and shared capabilities and prioritise a customer-centric approach. An agile approach


Kindred is a boutique management consultancy


helping organisations to change the way they change, so they


can adapt and perform in today’s uncertain world.


Get in touch to start your organisational agility journey.


to decision-making empowers organisations to quickly respond to changing circumstances and make the best decisions for their business. Organisational agility is a long-


term solution for managing culture debt because it helps businesses continuously adapt to change, proactively manage and evolve their culture and achieve long-term success. An environment that is agile,


adaptive and able to continuously improve prevents culture debt from accumulating, allowing businesses to get on with innovating, growing and flourishing. So, take a moment to reflect on


your own organisation and think about where culture debt might be holding you back. By starting your journey towards organisational agility, you can get ahead of your culture debt and set your business up for long-term success.


For more info


Visit: wearekindred.co.uk E: hello@wearekindred.co.uk


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