This post is about aligning structures, behaviors, and beliefs for Agile success, and was inspired by several teams suffering delivery breakdown although self declared “agile teams”
When organizations embark on their agile transformation journey, they often focus on adopting new practices, frameworks, and ceremonies. However, the most successful transformations recognize a fundamental truth: System = Structures + Behaviors + Beliefs.
True agile transformation isn’t just about changing what we do—it’s about coaching the entire system to achieve alignment between its core components.
Understanding the System Triangle
Every organization operates as a complex system comprised of three interconnected elements:
Structures are the formal and informal frameworks that govern how work gets done. This includes organizational hierarchies, team formations, reporting relationships, governance processes, decision-making frameworks, and even physical workspace design. Structures create the boundaries and pathways through which information, decisions, and value flow.
Behaviors represent the observable actions, interactions, and practices that occur within the system. These encompass daily rituals, communication patterns, collaboration styles, problem-solving approaches, and response mechanisms to change and challenges. Behaviors are often the most visible manifestation of organizational culture.
Beliefs form the underlying foundation—the shared values, assumptions, mindsets, and mental models that drive decision-making and shape perspectives. These include beliefs about leadership, customer value, quality, risk, innovation, and what constitutes success. Beliefs often operate below the surface but exert tremendous influence on both structures and behaviors.
The Alignment Imperative
The challenge most organizations face isn’t adopting agile practices in isolation—it’s achieving coherent alignment between structures, behaviors, and beliefs while embracing agile values and their empirical nature.
Consider a common scenario: An organization adopts Scrum ceremonies (new behaviors) while maintaining traditional command-and-control hierarchies (old structures) and continuing to believe that predictability and detailed upfront planning are paramount (misaligned beliefs). The result? Surface-level agile theater without meaningful transformation.
Agile values—individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan—require fundamental shifts across all three system components. The empirical nature of agile frameworks demands that we embrace transparency, inspection, and adaptation as core operating principles.
Why We Need to Coach the System
Traditional change management approaches often target individual components in isolation. They might restructure teams without addressing underlying beliefs about autonomy and self-organization. Or they might train people in new behaviors without modifying the structures that incentivize old ways of working.
System coaching recognizes that sustainable transformation requires a holistic approach. When we coach the system, we:
Address Root Causes, Not Just Symptoms: Instead of repeatedly fixing the same problems, we examine the systemic patterns that create those problems in the first place.
Create Reinforcing Alignment: We ensure that structures support desired behaviors, behaviors reflect stated beliefs, and beliefs are compatible with agile principles and empirical working methods.
Build Adaptive Capacity: We develop the system’s ability to continuously evolve and respond to changing circumstances—a core requirement in today’s volatile business environment.
Enable Emergent Solutions: Rather than imposing predetermined solutions, we create conditions for teams and individuals to discover what works best in their specific context.
Practical Approaches to System Coaching
Coaching the system requires deliberate intervention across all three components:
Coaching Structures: This involves examining and evolving organizational design, governance models, funding mechanisms, performance measurement systems, and decision-making processes. We might transition from project-based funding to product-based investment, flatten hierarchies to enable faster decision-making, or redesign workspaces to promote collaboration.
Coaching Behaviors: This encompasses developing new ways of working, communication patterns, and interaction models. We facilitate the adoption of empirical practices like regular retrospectives, transparent planning, continuous integration, and customer feedback loops. We also help teams develop skills in conflict resolution, facilitation, and collaborative problem-solving.
Coaching Beliefs: Perhaps the most challenging aspect, this involves surfacing and examining underlying assumptions, facilitating mindset shifts, and helping people develop new mental models. We engage in conversations about psychological safety, servant leadership, customer-centricity, and the value of experimentation and learning from failure.
The Empirical Advantage
Agile’s empirical nature provides powerful tools for system coaching. Through regular inspection and adaptation cycles, we can:
• Make the invisible visible: Transparent practices reveal systemic dysfunction and improvement opportunities
• Create fast feedback loops: Quick experiments allow us to test changes safely and learn rapidly
• Build on evidence, not opinion: Data-driven decisions help overcome resistance to change
• Embrace iterative improvement: Small, incremental changes are less threatening and more sustainable than dramatic overhauls.
Overcoming Common Obstacles
System coaching isn’t without challenges. Organizations often resist examining their fundamental beliefs, and changing structures can threaten existing power dynamics. Some common obstacles include:
Belief System Resistance: Deep-seated assumptions about how work should be done can be difficult to surface and address. Creating safe spaces for honest dialogue and providing concrete examples of alternative approaches can help overcome this resistance.
Structural Inertia: Existing structures often have powerful stakeholders invested in maintaining the status quo. Building coalitions for change and demonstrating quick wins can help build momentum for structural evolution.
Behavioral Inconsistency: People may understand new behaviors intellectually but struggle to implement them consistently. Ongoing coaching, peer support, and positive reinforcement help embed new behavioral patterns.
The Path Forward
Successful agile transformation requires patience, persistence, and a systems mindset. As system coaches, we must:
1. Assess the current state across all three components—structures, behaviors, and beliefs
2. Identify misalignments and their root causes
3. Design interventions that address multiple components simultaneously
4. Create feedback mechanisms to monitor progress and adapt our approach
5. Celebrate progress while maintaining focus on continuous improvement
Remember, we’re not just implementing agile practices—we’re coaching living systems to become more adaptive, responsive, and effective. This requires us to embrace the same empirical mindset we’re trying to instill: observing outcomes, learning from experience, and continuously adapting our coaching approach.
Conclusion
The formula is elegantly simple yet profoundly challenging: System = Structures + Behaviors + Beliefs. When these three components align with agile values and empirical principles, organizations unlock their potential for sustainable transformation.
As system coaches, our role is to guide this alignment process with patience, skill, and deep respect for the complexity of organizational change. We’re not just changing how people work—we’re helping entire systems evolve into more human-centered, adaptive, and successful versions of themselves.
The journey isn’t easy, but the destination—an organization that truly embodies agile principles at every level—is worth the effort. After all, in today’s rapidly changing world, our ability to coach systems effectively may well determine which organizations thrive and which merely survive.
Agile Ways 