High-performing Tech teams operating with guidance from the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) are transforming the world. More and more organizations are looking to foster operating guardrails and leadership practices to enable the creation of these teams, which have the power to disrupt industries, challenge the status quo, and create products to solve business and customer problems.
This is where Harry Narang, Partner at Skillbook Business Agility and Founder of Unleashed Agile, can help. Narang has advised leading organizations and propelled successful agile transformations for numerous companies to help meet business goals. In this article, he shares five necessary strategies for building strong, agile teams, supercharged with guidance from SAFe, which he specializes in.
- Enable Self-Organization and Collaboration within Organizational and Technology Guardrails
“We want to structure teams along our solution development value streams,” says Narang, “The key is a setup that allows for the team’s effortless collaboration with other groups and stakeholders to enable end customer and business value generation.” Leaders must encourage autonomy in these self-organizing teams, creating a collaboration culture, to unleash the potential of those team members.
- Aligning Our Teams with Strategic Priorities on a Set Cadence
Every eight to twelve weeks, Narang urges business leaders to get in the same room to plan with teams that are helping realize a given business value stream. “In this cadence-based planning, we look at what we’re learning from the market trends and what our customers are saying. We reflect on results and accomplishments and accordingly plan on our next set of problems to solve,” says Narang. The goal here is to build an aligned vision for upcoming work, which supports an organization’s strategic priorities.
- Utilizing Skilled Coaches to Support These Teams
Skilled Product and Agility coaches can foster experimentation and value creation while encouraging teams to step out of their comfort zones. Teams must work on continuous improvement, and the right coach can optimize progress and better implement advanced practices – processes and mindsets that, without a coach, can prove challenging or even impossible. “Coaching has consistently been proven as a differentiating factor in tech team success, similar to how we see in high-performing sports teams,” explains Narang. “Sports coaches do not necessarily play on the team, and they are not better players. They have a skill set in facilitation, growth enablement, problem-solving, and supporting the team in delivering on key priorities”
- Fostering a Culture of Continuous Learning and Growth
“Technology development is accelerating at an unprecedented rate,” Narang observes. “The tools and frameworks that dominate today’s high-tech landscape were virtually nonexistent just a few years ago, forcing teams to adapt in real-time.” This rapid pace demands not just iterative improvements but a deliberate focus on extending the organization’s ‘people runway’—the capability of its workforce to stay competitive in the future.
Narang emphasizes that continuous learning must be strategic, supported by data on emerging trends and evolving skill sets. Research shows that organizations that actively invest in developing a robust people runway—where team members possess the skills to meet future demands—see measurable improvements in innovation and productivity. By guiding individuals to create tailored learning and development plans, anchored in both their career aspirations and the company’s forward-looking needs, leaders can future-proof their teams. This alignment ensures that the workforce remains agile and ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s technology landscape, sustaining long-term competitive advantage.
- Setting time aside for Innovation
Many world-class companies that have succeeded in the last ten years have given employees dedicated time to innovate. “Examples of this include Doordash, which has engineers make deliveries once every few months,” says Narang. “Google is another example; their system devotes twenty percent of their workforce’s time to passion projects, or things outside of an employee’s job description to help Google innovate” If businesses want their workers to innovate and solve business problems, it must be a part of their plan and culture. Narang reminds business leaders that it is not realistic to expect a team to innovate if they’re consistently in a reactive mode, chasing deadlines, running from sprint to sprint, and so on.
Building high-performing tech teams requires intentional strategies that prioritize collaboration, coaching, and a culture of innovation. By implementing the strategies put forth by Harry Narang, organizations can create an environment that nurtures the growth and success of their tech teams.
“Companies would typically start with a few of these options as they build agile practices in their business,” says Narang. “Then, they must commit to a consistent pursuit of ongoing growth and maturity in their teams.”
