Agile & Lean

Agile Leadership Myth #3: Leaders & Managers will figure out what their agile role is magically

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We have done a huge disservice to leaders and managers, as well as teams.  There are plenty of people that will say we don’t need managers and leaders. People can lead themselves. While there is an aspect of this that may be true, there are a lot of steps to get close to that idea.

This article will explore what leaders and managers need to do to succeed as they get started with agile or to help teams move from individuals to a team or even a high-performance team. It builds on Agile Leadership Myth #2: Self-Organizing Teams Don’t Need Any Help.

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Agile Leadership Myth #2: Self-Organizing Teams Don’t Need Help.

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Self-organizing teams do need help. Self-organizing teams are not instant, automatic, or magically created, despite what is often implied. There is a process to become this type of team, and it is rarely, if ever, a straight line.  The help they need differs from more traditional directive assignments and task management.

To unravel this myth, we must look at what self-organizing means, what teams and managers experience, and what you can do to shift your help to a more ROI-friendly approach!

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Agile Leadership Myth #1: Telling people “You Are Empowered” Actually Works

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A major challenge we run into when helping organizations shift or improve is leadership misconceptions. Agile leadership myths cause a lot of these misconceptions. We need to help avoid falling into the trap of these common myths because they limit our success. A root cause of many of the myths is that people simply don’t know what else to do. For example, Myth #1: ‘telling people “you are empowered” actually works.’  Leaders often don’t know what else to do, other than tell teams they are empowered. We see this with Development Teams, Scrum Teams, Delivery Teams, AND Leadership Teams.

A bit of background — there are many agile leadership myths out there. These myths (or assumptions) limit leaders ability to improve, help others, and succeed. Many myths seem to occur at a nonconscious level, meaning they function like many biases. People are not even aware, consciously, that they are happening.

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Scientific Management does not work

Limit Engagement, Limit Success – Scientific Management Problems

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We require environments where people can provide input and ideas. If we limit engagement, we limit success. We still have organizations that either believe or act like they believe some types of workers are “stupid.” This idea dates back to the ideas surrounding Scientific Management, Fredrick Taylor, and Henry Ford. The concept of the stupid or unskilled worker that I mentioned was common in the early 20th century. In various writings about agile and agile ideas, we often refer to or see references to avoiding Scientific Management, Classic Scientific Management, or Taylorism. These management ideas limit engagement from people, which is going to limit success.

Understanding the past can be quite helpful to see where you might be able to improve today. 

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Proposing Open Space Technology Sessions

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When I am at conferences or events being run using Open Space Technology (learn more about attendee driven conferences), people often ask me “should I propose a open space session?” As we get into the discussion I tend to ask the same core questions:

  • Are you passionate about the topic?
  • Are you clear enough on what the topic is?
  • What would your 30-second pitch and summary of the topic to propose at the marketplace?
  • Are you comfortable hosting the session or, if not, is there 1 or 2 more that might help you?

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Open Space Conferences & Events – Created by Attendees!

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Open Space Conferences, Events, and Workshops are one of my favorites ways to learn. Many people have never had the opportunity to experience an Open Space Event or even know what it is. I hope you can learn more about Open Space and even attend an event and experience the amazingness!

Imagine walking into a large conference or event room with 100 or 1500 people. You look around the room and know only a few people. You see a blank wall with time slots and room names on it. 

I_heart_openspaceTwo facilitators kick the event off. They explain a light structure for success, a few core principles, and create a fun energy in this large room. They invite anyone in the room (including you) to propose a session on a topic that is of value to them. Simply step up to the microphone and propose a session. You can’t imagine proposing a session, but plenty of other people are. The person sitting next to you stands up and heads over to the mic to propose a session. You notice that blank wall of time slots filling up with a variety of session topics! Next thing you know, you are in line proposing a session! Wait – what happened! As the time to propose sessions is up, there is now a large wall (or marketplace) of sessions to choose from. You decide on a session to attend in the 1st time slot and head over to that session ready to learn and contribute! And still a bit surprised that this worked!

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