Guarantees Leadership Buy-in
I will be building on a few micro-posts I had written a couple of months ago, titled “Things That Make You Go SAFe.” For that reason, this article will based be on the first micro-post, Leadership Buy-In.
The root cause of any failed Agile transformation effort is a lack of leadership support. There are many causes but at the root of them all is leadership, the details of this can be discussed in a different article. SAFe’s design, particularly the way leadership is positioned as a driver of Business Agility is one of the many reasons I got so excited when I came across SAFe; I was enthralled by a design that put my greatest challenge to rest; the inclusion of leadership from inception.
In general, Agile loosely recommends that leadership should be on board for a transformation effort to be successful, but Agile has no blueprint or roadmap to ensure that this actually happens. Agile leaves practitioners to decide how to navigate a journey they have never been on before, without a guide, but SAFe has fixed this. SAFe is the only Agile concept that has created an actual blueprint that navigates how this can be accomplished using any one of several tools: the Leading SAFe training, Implementing SAFe training, and the SAFe Executive Workshop. SAFe has gone ahead to show how to achieve Business Agility, over and above Agile’s mere recommendations. Here are a few ways in which SAFe achieves this game-changing initiative.
SAFe is designed to start from the top; the C-suite. For a SAFe implementation to kick-off, executives must commit to adopting SAFe. This commitment is communicated clearly and consistently. This commitment demonstrates the fact that SAFe is not just another flavour-of-the-month initiative but a fundamental transformation in the way the organization operates. Experience has shown that leadership has the highest influence on the adoption of Business Agility in any enterprise. How this works is, leaders in the enterprise receive appropriate training and education on SAFe principles, practices, and the roles they will play in the transformation. In addition to this, leaders will actively participate in different SAFe ceremonies, workshops, and events. Some of these events include: the Planning Interval (PI) event, Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshops, and other key SAFe activities. Their presence and involvement signals their commitment to the initiative and makes them role models for others in the enterprise.
In a SAFe transformation effort, leaders also provide support and resources to change agents, such as members of the LACE (Lean-Agile Center of Excellence) these are the Release Train Engineers (RTEs), Solution Train Engineers, Product Owners, Agile Coaches, SAFe Practice Consultants (SPCs) etc. These individuals are responsible for driving the SAFe transformation and need backing from leadership.
The leaders in a SAFe enterprise also demonstrate their commitment to the initiative by communicating the rationale for adopting SAFe, emphasizing the benefits it brings to the organization, and the expected outcomes. This communication helps employees understand the significance of the change that is required and reduces resistance.
SAFe transformation leaders are Business Agility advocates who lead the charge by removing impediments; they are proactive in addressing obstacles and impediments that enterprises and teams face in adopting SAFe. This includes making decisions, allocating resources, and providing solutions to issues that hinder progress.
SAFe leaders ensure success by working with the right stakeholders to measure the progress of the transformation effort. They help in establishing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the progress of the implementation. They also commit to regularly reviewing these metrics which helps to ensure that the transformation is on track and enables necessary adjustments.
One of the key roles leadership plays in the pursuit of Business Agility is influencing cultural transformation. Because SAFe isn’t just about adopting Agile practices, it often necessitates a cultural shift. Leaders in a SAFe enterprise actively promote and model the desired culture of collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.
These are just a few of the many benefits that ensuring a commitment from leadership brings to the transformation effort. This is a crucial step which SAFe has been smart enough to capture and is primarily responsible for the numerous SAFe success stories out there. According to the Standish report for 2016, “The most popular framework continues to be the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Compared to previous years, SAFe has gone from 37% in year 15 to 53% this year…over half of respondents say the Enterprise Agile framework they are currently leveraging is SAFe.” This is one of the many reasons why I went SAFe!
16th Annual State Of Agile Report https://info.digital.ai/rs/981-LQX-968/images/SOA16.pdf