AGILE took off in the early 2000s in the IT world, though it became a major thing in the project management and development world around 2015. Many view it merely as a methodology or a management approach that involves breaking processes or projects into phases and stresses continuous improvement, collaboration, and feedback. AGILE, however, is not just an action. It is also a quality. One may even say it is a philosophy, which, according to its manifesto, positions a higher value on individuals and interactions, responding to change, and customer collaboration. Replace a customer with a member, and you have a recipe or description of a fine-functioning political party. Let us take a closer and more critical look at what it means to be AGILE for political parties.
RESPONDING TO CHANGE
Political parties are constantly responding to and addressing the changes. Parties offer new policies and solutions to current problems and challenges. They are or at least should be researching their voter base and broader social groups to grasp the change in opinions, demands, and positions and to adjust their narratives. Parties that fail to respond to change and execute flexibility in their approach risk becoming irrelevant for their supporters and therefore lacking leverage to execute policies. It is extremely important, however, to stress the difference between valuing responsiveness to change over change in itself, since one thing is for sure – political parties should not change their values and founding principles because constant changes on this side of the spectrum equal populism.
COLLABORATION
Politics is all about collaboration. It all starts from a collaboration of like-minded people forming and acting within a political party. Party members collaborate to create the best possible policies, solutions, campaigns, and strategies. Members and staff collaborate with volunteers and supporters to maximize the reach and share of voice. Party representatives collaborate with other parties to form coalitions, with experts and bureaucrats across the fields to govern, etc. Collaboration is an essential key for politics and political operations.
INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS
AGILE philosophy values individuals and interactions over processes and tools. This does not mean that processes and tools are completely unimportant or irrelevant, but just if put on a scale, individuals and interactions should outweigh them. Politics should also be primarily about people. Many newly established parties or political start-ups have this revelation in their DNA. Often, however, more established parties get drawn into processes to maintain their equilibrium among its many institutions, representatives, centers of power and decision-making. Of course, processes and institutions provide the basis for democracy in general, but also for democracy and transparency in political organizations. Here, political leaders and staff could really use the AGILE philosophy and approach to make sure that while democratic processes are intact, individuals and their interactions are still a core aspect of their respective political party.
BE AGILE!
After reading this article or getting acquainted with the AGILE approach, many political party actors can say, “I have been doing all these for ages and did not know that it is called AGILE”. At least that was my first reaction when two years ago, while still a secretary-general of a political party, I entered a course on AGILE approach to team and process management as part of a lifelong learning initiative of the EU. If that is the case, good for you, but make sure you do not stop at the first conclusion and still deep-dive into the AGILE philosophy.
One thing each political party for sure can implement from AGILE – feedback! We often say that content is the king, but so is feedback. Make sure you get and analyze feedback from party members, supporters, and staff. The normal cycle should be – implementation, feedback, change, implementation. And this cycle is constant. This readiness to listen and change makes politicians compassionate and political parties effective and successful. Political parties operate under complicated and ever-changing circumstances. AGILE philosophy allows its followers to work autonomously but with coordination.
Political parties, as any organization strive to perform better, often meaning in the most effective manner. Effectiveness, however sometimes means involving fewer people in the decision-making process in order to fasten it; this approach can cause meaningful damage to open procedures, transparency, and democracy. Another potential risk for political parties is constant change. Unlike responsiveness to change discussed above, changing an organization’s core values, positions, and pillars will most likely lead to mistrust of members and supporters, loss of identity and the beginning of populist politics. Organizations understanding such risks strive to form their own checks-and-balances system.
With AGILE it is easier to hit this target – transparent values, targets and rules known to all process participants – while allowing for faster ideation, implementation, feedback, and change. Often you do not need new fancy tools, applications, or experts, but rather to change the mindset of leaders and main actors, thus leading to the organization as a whole. Embrace the change and feedback, and be AGILE in the political world!
