r10 hosted a well-received webinar on “How organisations are using an Agile Mindset to stay ahead in the changing world of work”.
The attendees submitted questions during the webinar around cultural changes, remote working challenges and lessons learnt. In a series of blogs, we are sharing the answers by r10’s People Advisory experts and presenters, Beth Cooper and Jo Flint. You can watch the webinar here.
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Webinar Question #1: To “become awesome” you need confidence/motivation – each individual is different and has differing expectations – how do you think we should address our culture to set the positive mindset?
Absolutely, and that’s why intrinsic motivation is so important to an agile mindset. Unlike traditional methods that think that people need to be managed and controlled in their work, an agile mindset recognises that we work in a knowledge economy, where we use our brains rather than our hands. We should be encouraged to think for ourselves and we are motivated when given ownership and set goals for ourselves, within the context of what the team or organisation wants to achieve collectively. An organisation isn’t a faceless ‘blob’ but made up of each of these individuals and to be successful, we need everyone’s brains to solve the problems we are facing.
If we are used to being told to ‘do’ and not ‘think’, this can impact on self-confidence and we switch off that part of our brain because there has been no reward for using it. However, that doesn’t mean that given the right environment and encouragement, we are not able to grow and find our contribution is valued. Trust in the ability of your people, not the processes to control them.
It is useful to see cultural change in four different dimensions – the individual, the team, the organisation, and leadership. Leadership is where the tone is set to enable the change required. Therefore, recognise your role as a leader and the autonomy this gives you. Be a role model for the mindset you wish to see. Use it to inspire and motivate others, including showing that you care. Leadership doesn’t have to be about a job title but how you behave towards others. You may need support in doing this, whether through an external facilitator working with you and your team, or a coach that can help you make the change you want to see.
A positive mindset does not mean that we will always see agreement and consensus. It’s often easy to dismiss what we see as negativity in others because they’re not thinking like us. We need to challenge ourselves on this and be truly open to feedback. Psychological safety is paramount. We need to feel comfortable to express our views, both positive and negative, and for these to be probed so we can make things better for all of us.
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Do you have a question? Get in touch!