Global Consulting Firm
Over the course of three hours, Jon Kern and I (John Turley) spoke with two people in a global consulting firm about the real, tangible ways in which agile is flourishing in their customer engagements, the tangible benefits this brought, and the (in our experience) unusual conditions that created a context in which this could happen.
In this short Exemplar, we will attempt to outline these things, providing insights into how teams and organizations can be agile and do agile, using a familiar and rather hackneyed phrase.
Agile Flourishing
As we learned about how the teams engage with customers from early in the sales cycle through delivery, we recognized a value in the manifesto for agile software development being lived in repeatable, well-understood ways. (The definition of "agility flourishing" is to be living the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto.)
Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
Many teams talk about being more human and “person-centered.” Few truly are.
They offered two key examples that illustrate what it means to prioritize interactions over processes:
One client approached this consulting firm, requesting more and better PowerBI reports. Of course, this is a solution to a problem and perhaps not even the optimal solution. Typically, most consultants would attempt to guide the client toward a deeper understanding of the problem they were trying to solve.
Interestingly, this Exemplar shows that the team managed to do exactly that. They successfully opened up the conversation, helping the customer reconsider their assumptions and engage more openly, collaboratively, and creatively. They took the risk of having difficult conversations upfront and, in doing so, expanded the opportunity to co-create meaningful value together.
This stands as an important example in a world where improving collaboration is often talked about but rarely achieved.
Another compelling case is their work with an existing client over the course of a year, which resulted in them being invited to speak with 80 senior leaders. Tasked with inspiring these leaders to see their business differently, the consulting team delivered a session that, according to the attendees, brought about a paradigm shift in how they perceived their organization and its challenges.
These examples highlight the impact of deep human interactions. But what makes such interactions possible? What allows teams to engage at this level?
Agile Conditions
One of the challenges in fostering true agility is finding a balance between structure and adaptability. Many assume that agility means either rigidly following frameworks or improvising without guidance. However, there is a 'third way'—one that exists between these extremes. This third way is about creating "just enough" structure to support meaningful, emergent ways of working while maintaining the flexibility to sense and respond to evolving needs.
How did this team create a context that supported the emergence of the deeply complex sense-making that allowed powerful relationships to develop quickly?
It was not by following a process. One of the things they emphasized repeatedly was that it was about being human with other human beings. Our sense is that this approach is the antithesis of a transactional relationship. However, to recreate these conditions intentionally, we need to go deeper—to see more clearly, so that we can act with purpose.
Here are some themes we identified:
Humility
Courage
Vulnerability
Radical curiosity and a willingness to both challenge and be challenged
An unusual degree of psychological and conversational complexity
Paying attention across multiple different “windows” simultaneously
Listening to understand, attentively, deeply
When combined, these elements create the conditions for agility to flourish—not just as a methodology but as a way of working and thinking.
Practices That Enable These Conditions
While themes provide the foundation, there are also specific practices that bring them to life:
Building a Social Container – Establishing adequate psychological safety so deep conversations can emerge.
Bringing the Heat – Creating moments of challenge and tension that lead to new insights.
The “Red Thread” – Maintaining coherence in how interactions and discussions evolve over time.
Sensing and Responding – Moving beyond rigid planning to an adaptive, emergent approach to decision-making.
Conclusion
Putting individuals and interactions over processes and tools is a complex undertaking.
There is nothing new in saying that we all need to sense and respond in complex situations rather than predict and plan as we might in complicated ones. In complex environments, processes, workflows, and frameworks are of limited value. And often, we think this means that we need to make up what we’re doing as we go along, treating every situation as if it were entirely new.
What we hope this Exemplar shows is that this is not the case. That there is a ‘third way’—one that exists between rigidly following frameworks and making up our ways of working as we go along. This third way is something that can be recognized, done intentionally, scaled, and repeated. It is not about rejecting structure but creating just enough structure to support meaningful, emergent ways of working.
Global Consulting Firm
Over the course of three hours, Jon Kern and I (John Turley) spoke with two people in a global consulting firm about the real, tangible ways in which agile is flourishing in their customer engagements, the tangible benefits this brought, and the (in our experience) unusual conditions that created a context in which this could happen.
In this short Exemplar, we will attempt to outline these things, providing insights into how teams and organizations can be agile and do agile, using a familiar and rather hackneyed phrase.
Agile Flourishing
As we learned about how the teams engage with customers from early in the sales cycle through delivery, we recognized a value in the manifesto for agile software development being lived in repeatable, well-understood ways. (The definition of "agility flourishing" is to be living the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto.)
Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
Many teams talk about being more human and “person-centered.” Few truly are.
They offered two key examples that illustrate what it means to prioritize interactions over processes:
One client approached this consulting firm, requesting more and better PowerBI reports. Of course, this is a solution to a problem and perhaps not even the optimal solution. Typically, most consultants would attempt to guide the client toward a deeper understanding of the problem they were trying to solve.
Interestingly, this Exemplar shows that the team managed to do exactly that. They successfully opened up the conversation, helping the customer reconsider their assumptions and engage more openly, collaboratively, and creatively. They took the risk of having difficult conversations upfront and, in doing so, expanded the opportunity to co-create meaningful value together.
This stands as an important example in a world where improving collaboration is often talked about but rarely achieved.
Another compelling case is their work with an existing client over the course of a year, which resulted in them being invited to speak with 80 senior leaders. Tasked with inspiring these leaders to see their business differently, the consulting team delivered a session that, according to the attendees, brought about a paradigm shift in how they perceived their organization and its challenges.
These examples highlight the impact of deep human interactions. But what makes such interactions possible? What allows teams to engage at this level?
Agile Conditions
One of the challenges in fostering true agility is finding a balance between structure and adaptability. Many assume that agility means either rigidly following frameworks or improvising without guidance. However, there is a 'third way'—one that exists between these extremes. This third way is about creating "just enough" structure to support meaningful, emergent ways of working while maintaining the flexibility to sense and respond to evolving needs.
How did this team create a context that supported the emergence of the deeply complex sense-making that allowed powerful relationships to develop quickly?
It was not by following a process. One of the things they emphasized repeatedly was that it was about being human with other human beings. Our sense is that this approach is the antithesis of a transactional relationship. However, to recreate these conditions intentionally, we need to go deeper—to see more clearly, so that we can act with purpose.
Here are some themes we identified:
Humility
Courage
Vulnerability
Radical curiosity and a willingness to both challenge and be challenged
An unusual degree of psychological and conversational complexity
Paying attention across multiple different “windows” simultaneously
Listening to understand, attentively, deeply
When combined, these elements create the conditions for agility to flourish—not just as a methodology but as a way of working and thinking.
Practices That Enable These Conditions
While themes provide the foundation, there are also specific practices that bring them to life:
Building a Social Container – Establishing adequate psychological safety so deep conversations can emerge.
Bringing the Heat – Creating moments of challenge and tension that lead to new insights.
The “Red Thread” – Maintaining coherence in how interactions and discussions evolve over time.
Sensing and Responding – Moving beyond rigid planning to an adaptive, emergent approach to decision-making.
Conclusion
Putting individuals and interactions over processes and tools is a complex undertaking.
There is nothing new in saying that we all need to sense and respond in complex situations rather than predict and plan as we might in complicated ones. In complex environments, processes, workflows, and frameworks are of limited value. And often, we think this means that we need to make up what we’re doing as we go along, treating every situation as if it were entirely new.
What we hope this Exemplar shows is that this is not the case. That there is a ‘third way’—one that exists between rigidly following frameworks and making up our ways of working as we go along. This third way is something that can be recognized, done intentionally, scaled, and repeated. It is not about rejecting structure but creating just enough structure to support meaningful, emergent ways of working.