That’s how we do it
Let’s try something: the best way to discover the culture of an organization is by doing. A practice you can use to recognize the culture in your organization is “that’s how we do it.” This practice ensures that the unwritten rules are made explicit. Once these are explicit, a conversation can take place about them.
- Walk along with one or more teams where the change will start, for example, the teams that will be the first to try an agile way of working. Observe how they work, how they collaborate, what the interaction patterns are, who determines what, what the pecking order and power relations are, etc.
- Name a few questions to which the teams in question will give “that’s how we do it” answers. Examples are:
- What do you have to do to fit in?
- What do you have to do to not fit in? When are you out?
- What don’t we talk about?
- Who or what always gets priority?
- How do we deal with compliments?
- How do we deal with people who are critical?
- What is our reaction when another change is announced?
- What makes us run faster?
- Who actually has the final say?
Invite the teams to discuss the similarities and differences in the answers. Also, give your observations back to the team. You can ask questions such as: what is the strength of the team? What would we like to improve?
