Succeeding with Agile

Define Performance

Organizations and organisms evolve to fit their environments. According to the principle of selection, those traits most likely to help an individual or group survive in the organization will be the ones retained. It is the organization’s leaders and managers who define what traits help groups or individuals survive. If agile values such as openness and transparency lead to survival in the form of promotions and public praise, those behaviors will be the ones individuals select.

Leaders and managers can exert a great deal of influence in how they define successful performance. For example, they define the organization’s attitude toward trade-offs between short- and long-term performance. An organization that favors long-term ...