Agile Leadership Myth #2: Self-Organizing Teams don’t need any help.

How did we arrive at this situation in which so many people believe that self-organizing teams do not need help? The fact is, self-organizing teams do need help.

Self-organizing teams DO need help!

What teams can experience: Teams might not know exactly what kind of help they need or how to describe it. This can be especially true if they have a manager-led team and are told what to do and when to do it. I hear teams say, “We don’t need managers,” but they often mean that they don’t need managers telling them what to do.

What managers can experience: Managers are often put in a position of shifting from being experts and telling teams what to do to some new approach that is unclear to them. They may not know precisely how to help a self-organizing team. I call this clumsy management. It is not that they are doing it on purpose; they happen to be bumping into things when trying to help. Managers are sometimes told to “stay out of the team’s way,” so they become disengaged and unsure how to reengage. The fact that a manager may not be sure how to help a self-organizing team does not mean that help is not needed.

The reality is that teams need help, but they need the right kind of help, and they need leaders, managers, agile coaches, and help from within the team to continuously improve to get to and maintain high performance. One of the initial challenges around this topic is that we are not all on the same page with the words and phrases we use. We need to understand words like self-organizing team and manager before we try to unravel some of the confusion on teams needing help.

What Does Self-Organizing Mean?

 

 

Manager vs. Leader

The terms manager and leader are often pitted against each other. Managers are frequently disregarded as a relic of the past and seen as unnecessary. While there are instances where managers are not needed, most organizations are not setup (at this point), to transition all management to teams. But, here is where we can miss the point. Management is not, by its existence, bad (or evil). You certainly may have experienced a ‘bad manager’, but if you step back and look at what was ‘bad’, you might realize that the person was good, and they were just doing the best they could at the time. Perhaps they were following policies or the cultural norm. That does not excuse it, but if they have the opportunity to change or could see options to improve – would they?

While a leader may or may not be a manager, we generally expect managers to be leaders. Yet, we don’t train managers to be leaders. We promote them and say, “Good luck!”  Then, we are surprised when they struggle. It is a sad state of affairs.

What do self-organizing teams need?

Self-organizing teams need an environment and the space to succeed. They must continue learning new ways to improve their team relationship to create and maintain Antifragile Relationships.  Relationships that improve and benefit from conflict (healthy). Managers need someone who will engage with them to help them be the best they can be or help them exceed everyone’s expectations. I suppose that seems a bit lofty, but that is the goal. Managers need to help teams reach new heights, not by telling them what to do, but by tapping into the vast knowledge that the creative and intelligent people they work with have – hence, managers need to be leaders as well.

Where can you start?

Start by making sure people understand what the terms mean. Is everyone on the same page? If not, use this as a discussion to find out what they mean to people. What are the differences and similarities?

Consider what new concepts you can introduce to a team to help them become more antifragile. There are a lot of ideas out there, and sometimes they are introduced as “the way” to lead or “the way” to be a team member. Most often, the approach, tool, idea, or tactic used is simply the one you know. However, different options help people see different angles through different lenses. Don’t look to pick one way, instead look at various concepts that you can introduce over time based on what you see and hear as needs.

Perhaps the most straightforward place to start, as a manager becoming a leader is this – ask yourself these questions every time you are considering solving a problem for the team:

Ask yourself the hard questions!
“Do they really need me to solve this, or do I need me to solve this?” – Sounds a bit silly, but who are you doing this for? If you say the team never steps up, is that because of them or you? You might need to change to help them change.
“If I solve this, will it help the team grow?” We see this repeatedly: When the manager owns the issue, they own the issue! Teams will not be accountable or responsible if you end up being the problem solver.
“What does the team need from me to start solving issues like these on their own?” Remember not to simply tell a team, “You are empowered;” that is another myth, and it does not work.

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3 thoughts on “Agile Leadership Myth #2: Self-Organizing Teams don’t need any help.”

  1. Really a worth read! True that self-organizing team has the power to take crucial decision when needed. When team members start taking responsibility and accountability as an entity instead of as individuals, it will make one step clear and closer to being part of a great team.

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  2. This article certainly rings true! Management and leadership should go hand in hand in my book however, seldom do and as mentioned individuals are often thrown into a role without the appropriate skills. You have provided some valuable guidance and I would only add, if you need support as a team member or manager, ask for it!

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