Ten Principles for Evolving Teams and Organizations
Principle 1 – Clarify Purpose: Ensure that everyone understands who the organization or team is serving, why and to what end, so that everyone is able to focus and unite their efforts on achieving that purpose.
Principle 2 – Develop Strategy: Develop a strategy to guide value creation, so that everyone shares a common direction, and strategy is adapted as necessary to achieve the purpose.
Principle 3 – Focus on Value: Focus your daily work on value delivery, so that the stuff that needs doing to achieve your purpose is done.
Principle 4 – Sense & Respond: Identify, prioritize and respond to impediments and opportunities, so that you can adapt or pivot as necessary and improve where you can.
Principle 5 – Run Experiments: Run experiments to address complex challenges, so that you learn how to move closer to where you want to be.
Principle 6 – Enable Autonomy: Free individuals and teams up to create value as autonomously as possible, so that you can deliver value fast and avoid unnecessary dependencies.
Principle 7 – Collaborate on Dependencies: Co-create and evolve a coherent system to deal with all dependencies, so that you deliver value fast when dependencies cannot be avoided.
Principle 8 – Invest in Learning: Support everyone in developing their competence and skill, so that their contribution remains valuable and the organization can evolve.
Principle 9 – Intentionally Develop Culture: Collaborate on fostering a cooperative culture where everyone can achieve their fuller potential, so that you build and maintain an engaging and productive work environment.
Principle 10 – Build Shared Mental Models: Invest in building shared mental models, so that everyone can engage in meaningful dialogue about what’s happening and what needs to be done, and in the process deepen their understanding of how the organization works, what it does and why.