Agile Doesn’t Work Without Psychological Safety

When organisations implement agile, they often revert to technical processes and tools because cultural considerations are difficult to put into practice. It's easier only to pay lip service to the human side and then move to processes with measurable and observable indicators that give the illusion of agile.

Start by framing agile as a cultural rather than a technical or mechanical implementation. Be careful not to approach culture as the completion of tasks. Culture can't be completed.

Meet with your team to identify vulnerable behaviours they think are vital to success. For example, asking questions, giving feedback or expressing different viewpoints. Then, identify positive response patterns for each behaviour, such as thanking someone for pointing out vulnerable behaviour.

Document the behaviour and response pairing and display them in your meeting room. Create a printed job aid of the list that team members can carry with them.

When you've jointly created a list of vulnerable behaviour/response pairings, pick one to practice.

If a gap appears between the vulnerable behaviour, the response it should receive and the team leader's own behaviour, the dissonance will breed cynicism and lessen credibility.

If a leader tries to model the behaviours and publicly acknowledges mistakes, the team will make progress.

Set time aside in a meeting to review what went well and what could be improved.

• Discuss the quality of the team's interactions.
• Identify potential threats to openness.
• Ask if they felt included in the process.
• What was the most vulnerable behaviour they engaged in?
• How did the team react to it?
• Did you hold back on anything because you didn't feel safe?

Scrum meetings are daily coordination meetings where team members review the backlog, identify problems, and prioritize tasks. They are short meetings used for reflection.

For example, if a team faces a complex issue, they pose a question about the problem and ask the team to come prepared to the next scrum meeting to discuss it. This allows the team to clarify their thoughts and encourages divergent thinking.