When Agile Becomes Fragile

As the former CEO of two international companies that embraced cultural and team differences, I am amazed at how many companies still struggle with the concept of emotional safety within their organization. Psychology Today noted in January 2023 that emotional safety is critically necessary – and widely misunderstood. In this article, Dr. Helene Brenner noted three key points as to why emotional safety was important. These were:

• Emotional safety is a basic human need and an essential building block for all healthy human relationships.

• Emotional safety is the visceral feeling of being accepted and embraced for who you truly are and what you feel and need.

• Feeling chronically emotionally unsafe causes intense psychological distress—and, often, greater isolation and more difficulty reaching out.

Dr. Brenner goes on to point out when you don’t feel emotionally safe, you feel emotionally threatened, which causes the same bodily reactions as feeling physically threatened. You “freeze.” You hold your breath and tense your body. Alternatively, you may go into attack mode. Or you may shut down. Brain studies have shown that social rejection activates the same pain centers in the brain as getting physically injured. To your brain, physical and emotional pain are practically the same thing. And if you can’t get back fairly quickly to feeling safe and accepted, you’re essentially living in a state similar to constant physical threat.

In my experience, individuals often experience fear when they find themselves at odds with someone in a “superior” position within the organization (I hate this word, but many organizations still use it!) In some cases it can come from someone in a senior management position that disagrees with a suggestion, process or direction. I have seen leaders shake the mighty management pyramid, sometimes causing a rattle that reverberates from the top, down to its base! When this occurs, team members shut down, fearing public ridicule, and often job security. Some companies lend lip service to the Agile method but fail to embrace it at all levels within the organization. When this happens, Agile becomes Fragile!

Why does this occur? Sometimes it is a lack of understanding of the Agile framework by leaders within the organization. This lack of understanding may cause them to be intimidated by "subordinates" (hate this word too) within the typical management pyramid paradigm. It can also be leadership is afraid that by “spreading the decision-making process”, they may be perceived as losing part of their authority within the organization.

Of course, a seasoned leader knows nothing can be further from the truth. One mark of a true leader is an individual that surrounds themselves with capable team members that have a clear understanding of the end game and are willing to put themselves on the line to make it happen. These successful managers also lead by example, embracing and supporting their teams while removing obstacles and barriers to their success. This allows individuals (teams) to expand within their self-actualization goals while supporting the needs of the organization. This propels the organization forward! (Another article is forthcoming about the inverted management pyramid.)

We are all aware of the management philosophy “praise in public; criticize in private.” It simply means that when you have something positive to say about a team member, make sure others are aware of the praise, but if you are issuing a correction or reprimand, handle it one-on-one.

It’s a long-standing mantra in management circle. It is said the tactic dates back as early as 35 BC and has been embraced by people like Catherine the Great and Ronald Reagan.

I prefer to take this a step further and say, “praise in public; coach in private.” Coaching does not mean the manager loses anything in the manager/team member relationship or that the manager demonstrates weakness. Rather it sets the stage whereby the manager can better understand the behavior of the team member and the reason why the behavior was exhibited in the first place. Coaching also sets the stage for mutual trust and lays the groundwork for understanding.

We have all heard the proverb, "With great power comes great responsibility ", popularized by Spider-Man in Marvel comics, films, and related media. Introduced by Stan Lee, it originally appeared as a closing narration in the 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15 and was later attributed to Uncle Ben as advice to the young Peter Parker.

As a leader, we must always understand we are just as responsible for our behavior (perhaps more so, if we are leading by example), as those team members entrusted to our care within the organization. By publicly “calling someone out”, sometimes giving way to narcissistic tendencies, we demonstrate our own weaknesses, instead of those of the intended target. To resort to a basic east Tennessee euphemism, we easily demonstrate who is the real south end of the north bound mule.

On the praise side, praising in public pumps up the self-esteem of the worker being praised because the person is being shown off as an example of desirable behavior in front of his or her colleagues. It’s also a great way to demonstrate to others what desirable behavior looks like. Praising in public, therefore, serves as a teaching tool.

On the criticism or coaching side, handling it privately avoids the converse situation: an employee being publicly shamed in front of his or her peers. This can create resentment and damage morale—not only for the employee being criticized but also for others!

Let’s revisit Abraham Maslow's theory of self-actualization for a moment. Dr. Maslow contends individuals are motivated to fulfill their potential in life. Without digging into this too deeply, self-actualization is typically discussed in conjunction with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which posits that self-actualization sits at the top of a hierarchy above a series of "lower" needs.

Maslow contextualized his theory within a hierarchy of needs, which consists of five levels:

1. Physiological needs: These are essential for survival, including food, water, shelter, warmth, and sleep.

2. Safety needs: The need for security, stability, and freedom from fear.

3. Love and belongingness needs: The desire to form social connections and relationships with friends and family.

4. Esteem needs: This includes both self-esteem (based on achievements and abilities) and recognition from others.

5. Self-actualization needs: At the pinnacle of the hierarchy, this need drives individuals to pursue and fulfill their unique potentials.

To Maslow, self-actualization is the ability to become the best version of oneself. Maslow stated, “This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.”

I could take this further. However, I think you see where this is going. To be a fully Agile environment the hierarchy of needs must be allowed (and supported) from the bottom up and not just from the top down.

Let’s look at this another way. What is the most important asset of any organization? Is it some process or application your organization has, that is better than your competition and puts your company on the map? Is it some nifty widget that will allow you to launch a new spacecraft? Perhaps it is a newly patented product that your organization touts as being the next great invention of all time! I am sure all of these are important.

But, unlike the universe where God spoke it into existence, these things didn’t just appear. There were people that put their thoughts into ideas and ideas into processes, procedures, control systems, and patents. If people were not allowed to innovate and someone in the leadership pipeline decided to squash an idea, would these successes have occurred? As the reader, I’ll leave the obvious answer to you.

Truly remarkable companies allow their teams to innovate, make mistakes, fail early, and learn from those mistakes. All of this takes place without fear of ridicule or reprisal!

Allow me to give you an example from my own life. Many years ago, a very bright, young, technologist was hired as a Senior Software Engineer for the world’s largest minicomputer manufacturer. This young man was idealistic and this new position supporting U.S. Area, Europe, and GIA for Digital Equipment Corporation was a dream come true. Two months after being hired, he met Ken Olsen, the CEO of DEC at “The Mill”. This twenty-year-old was in awe of the great CEO that started a huge company in his garage and never looked back. To his surprise, Ken Olsen stretched forth his hand and introduced himself. Stammering out an appropriate hello, the young man asked the CEO what the secret for his massive success. The older man smiled and in two sentences summed it up. These words would never be forgotten. “Mike, it is the people of Digital that represent our greatest success and our greatest asset, not our technology. Welcome to DEC!”

Yes, that was me and the first sentence of that reply has become the one by which I measure all successful companies. Look at your own organization. Don’t let Agile become Fragile! Don’t lose sight of your greatest assets! Be the truly remarkable company you are destined to be!