February 4, 2012

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Faces of Power in the Organization

January 11, 2012 By David Bland 1 Comment

Faces of PowerThe lines between political science and organizational culture continue to blur. Those who venture into organizations need to become well versed in the dynamics of power. One such explanation of these dynamics is Steven Lukes’ the “Three Faces of Power”.

Three Faces of Power

1. Decision Making – The power to make and implement decisions

2. Non-Decision Making – The power to set agendas and therefore limit what is even being discussed

3. Shaping Desires – The power to manipulate what people think they want

Lukes’ work is an extension of Max Weber’s Three Types of Authority, in which Lukes argues that Weber only focused on the first face of power, Decision Making.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile Adoption, Agile Coaching, Agile Transformation, Enterprise Agile, Leadership

A coach’s moral dilemma

January 11, 2012 By Alex Singh 10 Comments

A fellow coach recently asked me for my opinion on an ethical dilemma — was it morally right for us to show people a new way of doing things knowing fully well that we were setting the group for eventual disappointment. Disappointment in his case is inevitable and will start setting in as soon as the parent company begins assimilating the subdivision and mandating that the latter operate under the parent organization’s restrictive rules and policies. My simple and somewhat glib answer was that we were doing the right thing by helping people get better and were providing them the wherewithal to make informed decisions about their future career. And, if in the end, the employees were unhappy they could take their knowledge elsewhere to an employer who would value their expertise. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile Adoption, Agile Coaching, Agile Transformation, Enterprise Agile, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Top 7 reasons for lack of creativity in an organization

January 9, 2012 By Alex Singh 1 Comment

Summary:

  • Leadership is crucial for defining a shared vision and generating buy-in from employees.
  • C-level managers are responsible for creating a learning organization that values systems thinking, craftsmanship, and team learning.
  • C-level managers must design an organization whose structure, processes, metrics, rewards, and talent align with the organization’s mission.
  • Managers are responsible for creating a well-trained, well-organized, well-managed company. If people require constant supervision then management has failed to do its job.

Last year, the new CEO at a client decided to leapfrog existing competitors by creating an innovative product; a product that would attract customers and cause competitors to play catch-up. A team that included the best developers, in the company, was hand-picked; the business was told that cost was not a concern; and the group was secluded from the day-to-day madness and allowed to focus on getting the job done. Despite this the program was a failure and ultimately the task of innovation was “outsourced.” What happened?

A number of major shortcomings inherent in the existing culture doomed the endeavor from the start; these shortcomings were very visible to outsiders but not to long-term employees. Not all organizations face all of these shortcomings — based on my experience, these are more prevalent in larger organizations.

  • C-level managers not creating a learning organization
  • Lack of a compelling vision
  • Lack of prioritization and understanding of what is truly valuable
  • Org structures and policies that stifle collaboration and communication of ideas, information, and feelings
  • Reward/merit system that punishes innovation and risk taking
  • Overly focusing on utilization
  • Perception that senior management does not walk their talk

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Filed Under: Enterprise Agile, Experience from the Field, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,

Top 11 Books, Videos and Conference for 2011

January 6, 2012 By Scott Dunn, CST, PMP Leave a Comment

I had one of those great, intellectually charged conversations the other day with a colleague and friend, one of those discussions that leaves your mind abuzz. One nugget that came out of it was what books I had read this last year that have had the biggest impact on me as an agile coach and trainer. Here’s the list I shared with him, along with some other tops for 2011:

Must Read
Switch – How to Change When Change is Hard – A great read with lots of science and stories behind how and why people and groups change. Provides a structure to follow in leading change. A must-read for coaches and those leading change efforts.
The Lean Start-up – Eric’s book provides the framework, reasoning and experience on how to swiftly determine the product to build. More than that, Eric provides pragmatic understanding of why traditional businesses and management behave the way they do, and how to deliver measurable, actionable way to change that. A must-read for anyone in IT, product development, management or executive leadership (so, everyone).
Getting Naked – Shedding the Three Fears that Sabotage Client Loyalty – Patrick Lencioni shares what makes real consultants (and consulting) awesome, versus those traditional consulting companies that we all love to hate. A must-read for anyone in consulting or in other ways provides professional services.
I would add The Goal by Goldratt because I loved the use of a fictional story to learn about lean and the theory of constraints, but it hasn’t had the practical impact that the other books above did. Also, I found Mindset – The New Psychology of Success insightful (for clients, myself and even my kids). This book was the core material behind one of the most inspirational talks (a keynote y Linda Rising) at Agile 2011.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Happy (Agile) New Year!

December 30, 2011 By Tiffany Willis Leave a Comment

As 2011 comes to an end, set aside some time to reflect on what you wanted to achieve, and what you did achieve this year.  Then consider whether or not it is important enough to continue striving to achieve in 2012.  In the spirit of Auld Lang Syne and a retrospective, answer these questions for yourself:

  • What went well this year, or what did I do well this year that contributed to my personal, professional and company’s success in 2011?  Celebrate these successes and consider ways to leverage them in 2012.
  • What wasn’t successful and I should try to stop doing or do differently?  Celebrate these attempts, laugh where possible and leverage what you learned in 2012.
  • What changes am I going to make or try in 2012 to improve my results?  Focus on one or two things that you believe are important to try.

 

Now consider what you’ve done, learned and will try relative to the challenges you know are ahead in 2012.  Planning or strategizing for the nearest challenges in the New Year relative to what you accomplished and learned in 2011 will provide some guidance on the first steps you should take.  Additionally, here are three things for you to consider as you begin to think about the work ahead:

Alignment – Is there alignment between your customers needs and what you are delivering?  Is there alignment or agreement on goals?  Is there alignment between your personal and professional goals and what the company needs to be successful?

Transparency – Be open, honest and respectful in communicating and delivering what needs to be accomplished, why it is important to accomplish and how it will be accomplished.  Alignment is not possible without transparency.

Success – What does success look and feel like to you?  Create your vision of what success feels like and work with your team, your management and your peers to create a shared vision of success to help guide the organization.

I have often found that creating a shared vision of success for a team provides a compass for a team as well bringing the team together to work collaboratively towards a goal.  Understanding the organization and your client’s needs begins the necessary step of aligning priorities, and determining how best to meet the challenges.  Finally supporting and enabling transparency helps create an environment where the team can self-organize, where the learning process is valued in determining how best to solve a problem and collaboration can be improved, ultimately improving delivery.

 

Filed Under: Agile Coaching, Collaboration, Experience from the Field, Leadership, Project Management

Top 10 Ways to Help Your Clients

December 21, 2011 By mfortunato Leave a Comment

Top 10 Ways to Help Your Clients – adapted for Agile coaches from Edgar Schein’s 10 Consulting Principles

Edgar Schein is a former MIT professor at the Sloan School of Management and author of numerous books on organizational development, the consulting process as well as other subjects. Schein’s work is based on over forty years of consulting experience. He is also generally regarded as the originator of the term ‘organizational culture’.

Schein views the consulting process as essentially a ‘helping’ relationship between the consultant and the client. He gauged each interaction with a client by the degree that the relationship had been helpful and whether or not the client felt helped.

I found Schein’s list of ten tips on creating and maintaining a helpful client relationship to be directly applicable to our work as coaches and essential to helping us create and maintain great relationships with our clients. I have included Schein’s list below along with one additional tip and a bit of personal commentary.

1. Always try to be helpful – Coaches have to know when to help, how to help and learn to see what the client is really asking.
2. Always stay in touch with the current reality – this could be the most important principle because it is really about being mindful. Staying present and aware of what is happening here and now is one of the most fundamental skills that a coach should develop and the key to performing well with all of the other principles listed here.
3. Access your ignorance – asking ourselves what we really know vs. what we think we know is an important exercise for coaches and one that can help keep us grounded and in touch with what is happening now. In other words, question your assumptions.
4. Everything you do is an intervention
5. It is the client who owns the problem and the solution
6. Go with the flow – if you remember principles one through three you should have not trouble with this one
7. Timing is crucial –Finding the proper moment to bring up a sensitive subject is crucial to building and maintaining a helpful relationship with your client.
8. Be constructively opportunistic with confrontational interventions – there are times when clients are more likely to respond to intervention. Be patient and wait for the right time. Any questions see principles two and seven.
9. Everything is a source of data; errors are inevitable – as Schein says, we all make mistakes. We, as coaches, have to accept the fact that we make mistakes and do what we tell our clients to do – learn from them.
10.  When in doubt share the problem – this one is about coaches helping each other, which is something that we do continuously at Big Visible.

I really like this list and find it helpful to refer back to it occasionally. However, I would like to add one of my own…

11) Set expectations up-front and adjust as necessary – your personal preferences and coaching style and that of your client’s will contribute to the specifics of this conversation, but suffice it to say that open, authentic, conversation about expectations is essential at startup and throughout the process.

Filed Under: Agile Adoption, Agile Coaching, Collaboration, Experience from the Field, Leadership Tagged With:

The ScrumMaster ’3 step’ Dance.

December 11, 2011 By Mike Dwyer 2 Comments

The other day, someone asked.  “So how do I do this servant leader role ? How do I develop self-organized teams,  not use command and control, and still have the capability to meet organizational expectations?” It’s not the first time, in fact it may be the most persistent question asked over the past ten years.  I don’t have a silver bullet answer, but I can share with you what I found worked for me and I share with the people who come to my classes.  I call it the ScrumMaster ’3 Step’ Dance.  It’s not hard to do, the difficulty is in finding a rhythm that suits you.

Step 1. Lead from the front using the leader part of servant leader. Use this when the team is lost, going off the rails or about to run back into the burning barn of traditional project management.  As soon as the team gets their bearings, starts being honest with themselves, or chooses not to get burned again, move immediately one step back and to the side.

Step 2. Coach from the side. Be there on the sideline giving support, offering suggestions and providing guidance. Shift to Socratic method.  Once the team gets their confidence back, take another step back, moving behind the team.

Step 3.  Mentor from the rear.  look for patterns, learn how the team(s) are moving ahead through their challenges so you can lead them when they ask for help.  Remember you are now a firemen always ready to go when the team rings the bell.  When you get to the fire you’ll know which steps to take.

Filed Under: Agile Coaching, Agile Transformation, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,
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