If you are reading this, chances are you are a change agent who has seen too many transformations stall or fail to deliver the outcomes everyone expected. Executives, stakeholders, and even team members are asking: “Is Agile really delivering the promised value?”
You are not alone. I have seen it time and time again. As a change agent, you often find yourself caught between Agile’s high expectations and the harsh realities of adoption.
Let me know if this sounds familiar:
You have implemented Jira, you are running sprints, you are holding the Scrum ceremonies — and yet your ability to deliver has not meaningfully improved.
If you are nodding your head, you are in good company.
Research from McKinsey, Bain, and BCG shows that an alarming number of transformation efforts fail, and they consistently point to the same root cause: behavioral change.
“72% of companies with failed transformation programs identify employee resistance and behavior as the major barrier.”
The Misconception: Process Alone Does Not Drive Transformation
Where most organizations fall down is that, although Agile practices and tools are designed to create behaviors that enable speed, adaptability, and customer focus, this shift does not happen automatically. It takes deliberate effort, ongoing reinforcement, and leadership focus to make those behaviors stick.
Process Adoption Is Not Enough for Agile Transformation
If there is anything we have learned from the past few years of trying to transform organizations, it is this: process adoption alone is not enough. Rolling out frameworks and tools does not automatically translate into a culture where priorities are clear, decisions are made quickly, and teams collaborate fluidly across silos.
This is why so many organizations experience the pain of “we have implemented Agile, but nothing feels different.” The ceremonies are happening, the tools are in place, yet the outcomes of faster delivery, greater adaptability, and higher quality never materialize.
The Iceberg Metaphor of Transformation Still Holds
The iceberg metaphor might feel overused, but it remains the perfect way to explain this dynamic.
Above the waterline are the things you can easily implement, govern, and control: processes, frameworks, and tools. This is why organizations naturally start here.
But the bulk of the iceberg , the part that actually determines whether you achieve your desired outcomes, sits beneath the surface: behaviors.
By behaviors, we mean the specific, observable actions people take every day: how they make decisions, how they collaborate, whether they raise risks early, whether they stick to priorities, or get distracted. These are the true levers that determine whether agility becomes real in your organization.
Join our upcoming webinar, September 10th at 12PM ET - "Measuring Behavioral Change: A Signal of the True Impact of Transformation" to learn more about this transformation iceberg. Save your seat here.
Call to Action for Change Agents
So now what? The reality is that agility has never been more critical than it is today. With AI transforming markets at an exponential speed, disruption is arriving faster than ever. Organizations will need agility not just to thrive, but to survive.
Change agents need to seize this opportunity. AI is the burning platform, the catalyst for change. It is the wake-up call that can ignite a shared mission of transformation across every level of the organization. This is the moment for change agents to step forward, align stakeholders around a common purpose, and make sure agility is not just a set of ceremonies, but a true enabler of speed, adaptability, and customer value.
Start Making the Invisible Visible
With behaviors being the most common barrier to sustainable transformation, one of the best ways to ignite change is to bring them to the surface and shine a spotlight on them. We need to make them visible, because you cannot change what you cannot see. When behaviors are visible, we can spark strategic conversations, link them directly to outcomes, and generate the momentum needed to make change real.
How to Do It
The good news is that, by their very nature, behaviors are specific, observable, and repeatable , which means they can be measured and made visible.
This is exactly why we created the Behavior Signals Assessment.
It is a lightweight, evidence based way to measure behaviors that enable agility, adaptability, and customer focus are actually happening on the ground.
We do this through an assessment built around evidence-based behavioral criteria for each key behavior. We present clear, observable descriptions of what it looks like at different levels of maturity. Participants then select the description that most closely matches what they observe most often in their day-to-day system of work. This allows us to move beyond opinion and quantify the presence of behaviors with real data that can be tracked over time.
Some examples of behaviors assessed in the template include:
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Decision Making: There is clarity on who makes decisions, they are not second-guessed or endlessly escalated, and they happen quickly enough to keep work moving
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Priority Clarity: There is a single, visible source of truth for priorities, plans are coordinated across teams, and teams can confidently say “no” to work that does not align
Who Provides the Input
And who better to provide this insight than the people living inside the system of work every day? They are closest to the reality of how decisions are made, how priorities are followed, and how collaboration actually happens. By capturing their perspective, we get an honest, ground-level view of whether the transformation is creating the conditions for agility to take hold.
And this is not just about understanding the current state; it is about generating actionable insight. When leaders have visibility into behavioral patterns, they can respond faster: reallocating SMEs, clearing systemic blockers, and reinforcing the habits that actually move the needle.
And this can all be done without having to wait for telemetry. The behavior measures can be used as leading indicators.
What to Do with the Results:
Once you have visibility into behavioral patterns, you can:
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Target High Impact Improvements: Pinpoint where friction is highest and focus on the change levers, such as people, process, and system, that will make the biggest difference
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Enable Alignment: Share organization-level insights with senior leaders to spark focused conversations about where strategy execution is breaking down
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Deploy Coaches Where They Matter Most: Place Agile, product, or leadership coaches where they can have the highest impact
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Identify Quick Wins for Teams: Co-create lightweight improvements with teams, clarify priorities, and remove blockers
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Track Change Over Time: Reassess quarterly to monitor behavioral shifts and compare progress across teams, ARTs, or portfolios
Check out our upcoming webinar on September 10th, at 12PM ET, to learn more and see it in action.
Here is what you will learn:
- How to measure behavioral change now and determine if your investment is delivering results.
- How to assess whether the key behaviors required for agility are happening on the ground, and whether the system is reinforcing or undermining them.
- How to gain immediate visibility into delivery patterns that create inefficiency, without waiting for lagging metrics, so you can take proactive and targeted action.
For Whom: Leaders and Coaches
Please register for the event here.
Transformation Requires Measuring Behaviors
Many organizations roll out Agile frameworks, tools, and ceremonies, yet see little change in delivery speed, adaptability, or quality. The reason is simple. Processes sit above the waterline, but outcomes are driven by what sits below it. Behaviors. How decisions are made, how priorities are followed, and how people collaborate. Without intentionally shifting and reinforcing these day-to-day behaviors, Agile becomes theater. With AI accelerating disruption, agility is now essential for survival.
The Behavior Signals Assessment makes the invisible visible. Using evidence-based behavioral criteria, people inside the system of work select the descriptions that best match what they observe most often. This turns observations into measurable leading indicators. Leaders can then target high-impact improvements, align strategy and execution, deploy coaches where they matter most, capture quick wins with teams, and track change over time. In short, you move beyond process adoption and create the conditions for real agility and measurable business impact.