Business is complex. As agilists, we know this. We also know that individual mindsets and relationships are what truly build the culture needed for an agile way of working to flourish: A culture that is defined not only by the organizational structure, but also the network of people communicating and working together every day to deliver value.

The relationships are as complex as the business. They have all come with varying degrees of entwinement, trust, safety, care, and implied power. To meet this complexity, we need to structure our business systems to meet people as individuals who create their own unique system when brought together.

In this session, I’ll share how my experience with polyamory — a personal relationship approach that allows for multiple loves, in which every partner is aware that there are other partners and all parties consent — can be a guide for creating a new business ethical model: One built on transparency, explicit agreements, and inclusivity, which ultimately lead to a more humanistic way of working.