Middle management are key to the success or failure of their Agile teams
They have to step up as Agile Leaders
Middle managers may feel squished between their Agile teams and non-Agile higher management. They may feel powerless. But they are the ones that are instrumental in bringing change.
Changing one organizational process may appear simple. But there’s a lot that makes it hard work. Often, you need to convince higher management. This means you need to:
join forces;
understand why the process exists;
show empathy;
convince people it doesn’t work;
show evidence;
have a good alternative;
experiment locally.
When an organization as a whole hasn’t embraced agility, it’s even harder. When people don’t understand its concept, they will not see how their behavior may be unhelpful.
This is why it is important to educate the organization. Everyone is a stakeholder to create and sustain the products. Everyone should understand that traditional ways of managing an organization and creating products don’t work in complex environments.
Middle managers can do this by teaming up with their peers and challenging higher management. They are the catalysts for successful Agile organizations.