The longer I worked in government, the clearer it became that most agile WOW initiatives were doomed to failure.

Agile cannot be grafted onto government organisational structures for many reasons, but a primary blocker is the absence of a single, galvanising stakeholder with the authority, the focus and the ‘social capital’ required to bend ‘the organisation’ (ie. not just a single Department, but the whole of government) to reflect the desired outcome.

(Frequent ‘Machinery of Government’ changes are such an entrenched reality in government that resisting and ‘outliving’ change is an established behavioural trait).

First and foremost, organisational structures - specifically governance and decision making authority - need to be re-thought and redesigned (from scratch - zero-based org design!).

Then culture needs to be addressed in lockstep with a change program to embed the new reality of structure, decision making and accountability.

Only once this is achieved can the (slow) work of enhancing organisational speed and agility commence.

#change #organisations #alchemy #transformation #orgdesign #agility