Have you ever thought, “If I could just avoid all this bureaucracy, I could get things done?” You’re right. Too many organizations think they’re helping the teams when those very practices make work more difficult to accomplish. Sometimes, all you need to do is stop demotivating people from doing the work. Innovative organizations don’t just innovate their products—they innovate their processes.

Do you ever feel caught between what your manager wants and what your team needs? Too much of what passes for management or leadership pushes people away instead of creating an engaging environment.

Do your managers think “agile” is something teams do? If so, they might buy and “install” an agile framework or tools. However, those frameworks or tools don’t create an agile culture. Instead, we can change how we reward managers. Instead of personal deliverables, we can reward managers for reducing their decision time, being servant leaders, and clarifying the purpose of the work. When we do, we create a culture where agility can thrive.

Do you ever wonder where the time goes? The team thinks they can finish features faster, but the features often take longer than they expected. Or the team spends the last 80% of the time finishing the last 20% of the features. Then, they all learn no one uses those features. Or the management team wants everyone to create innovative products and services in a too-short time. Why? Because they want to go to the next project in the project portfolio. A real culture of innovation means shortening the learning time, in the team, for the product strategy, and with the corporate strategy. The faster we can learn, the faster we learn what does work for whom—and what doesn’t work for whom. We can use shorter feedback loops to focus on delivering what our ideal customers want and need. We can avoid doing work they don’t need. If you’ve ever been surprised by how long the work takes, the value of that work to the customers, or how to make time to innovate, learn to see and measure your feedback loops.