Category: Leadership Skills

Rated Feedback Process

Getting feedback on a facilitation process is an important part of ongoing learning, development and application for facilitators. However, people are often reluctant to give critical feedback. And, sometimes, when feedback is given, it isn’t clear whether the feedback is the view of one individual or the entire team. The rated feedback process is a vehicle to help ensure you get quality comments and that you understand the amount of support for those comments.

In the rated feedback process, you ask the group to identify strengths first, being sure to get everyone involved. You then ask the group to identify ways to improve. Note that you do not ask for weaknesses. Instead, you ask for specific ways the session could have been improved. The “ways to improve” terminology serves to keep the discussion constructive using the “Here is what I liked – here is how to make it better” format. In addition, by identifying strengths first, people who are reluctant to criticize tend to be more open to indicating ways to improve.

Once you have identified ways to improve, go back and ask for a show of hands of those who agree with the improvement suggestion. In this way, you get critical feedback, along with ratings indicating the level of support for each feedback suggestion.

EXAMPLE: The table below outlines steps for a sample scenario (a process improvement team facilitating a session on improving their existing hiring process). The team is on the last agenda item – “Review and Close.” They have reviewed the actions that occurred in the process as well as all decisions, issues and actions. They are now ready for detailed feedback on the session itself.

Technique	Rated Feedback	Function: Feedback
1. Describe the activity and purpose. (Note that you may have already done this through the checkpoint.) “We are nearing completion of the entire agenda. The last thing on our list is to evaluate the session, so we can identify what went well and what improvements can be made so the organization can benefit from the process learning we have gained.” 2. Use PeDeQs to describe the general directions. “The way I would like to do this is, we will first identify strengths – the things that we felt went well. We will then talk about ways that the session could have been improved. Finally we will look back at those session improvement suggestions and identify the ones that have strong support for implementing.” 3. Start with strengths. Ask a starting question and use a round-robin technique to include everyone. Check mark similar comments. “Let’s start with strengths. I would like to go around the room starting with Jamie. I would like each person to identify one thing they liked about the process and the way we worked. If someone has already said the thing you like, feel free to say “Ditto No. 1,” and I’ll put a check mark there to indicate another person agreed with the comment. Jamie, get me started. Think about the entire process, starting on day one when we did gifts and hooks, and all the activities we did from documenting the current steps, talking about problems, potential solutions, priorities and our implementation plan. Think about things you liked about the process, the things that went well. Let’s build the list. Jamie, get me started. What did you like about the process? What went well?” 4. Move onto ways to improve. Instead of a round-robin, have participants randomly indicate suggestions. “We’ve talked about strengths. Let’s move on to ways to improve. I would like to open it up. We do not have to go in any order. During this process, there were probably things that you said, “Well, I wish we had done that differently.” Or, “That certainly did not go very well.” There may have been other improvement suggestions you thought about as well. If we had a chance to do this all over again, what would you do differently? What would you suggest to the team that we do differently that would have made the process even better? Who wants to go first?” 5. Go back and review each improvement suggestion and ask for a show of hands for the number of people who support each. If it is a small group you might count the individual hands. If it is a larger group, it might be faster to estimate the percentage that agree. “Let’s go back now over each improvement suggestion. I would like to get a rough indication of the level of support for each one. As I read each suggestion, please raise your hand if you agree with that suggestion. The first one says…how many people agree that this suggestion would have improved the session? That looks like about 80 percent. Let’s move onto the next…”

Curious about terms like “PeDeQs” and the “starting question”? Please review my previous blog entries or sign up for The Effective Facilitator, where this information plus more is taught in depth.

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Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

Did you know that nearly half of all new leaders fail in the first 18 months? That’s according to the Center for Creative Leadership.

Many of them were surprised to discover that what got them there — from working nonstop to sweating the small stuff — isn’t enough to keep them there.

The Problem:

Nine out of ten say they arrive at the top feeling they lack the know-how and tools to succeed. What’s more, most don’t get the organizational support they need — starting with the boss.

The Good News:

What it takes to make it a high performing leader can be learned. It’s a matter of picking up new skills and strengths. Most leadership development focuses on building managerial skills such as delegation, team building, communication, performance coaching, etc. However most don’t even touch on what the new leader has to let go of – those things that led to strong performance as individual contributors or team leaders.

To Be An Effective Leader You Need To:

1. Let go of insecurity.
Remember, you were chosen for this job by people who thought you can do the job. Yes, you may feel insecure inside but outside you need to reflect self-confidence both in your presence and purpose, even if it doesn’t come naturally at first.

2. Let go of being the Lone Ranger.
You may have advanced here on your own, but now you are only as good as your team. If you have the right people with the right skills in the right positions, the right things will get done right.

3. Let go of doing it all – all the time.
This may have made you a superstar in your prior position but, at this new level with much more expectations, you’ll burn out. Break the cycle of activity addiction by doing the things that matter and have the most value in your job.

4. Let go of the urge to control everything.
Micromanaging is a sure way to fail. It kills the spirit of competent and committed people. Morale goes down, people get disengaged and mediocrity sets in.

5. Let go of being responsible for everything and everyone.
Foster personal and team accountability for outcomes. It’s done by linking their specific tasks and responsibilities with company priorities. You need to demonstrate the value and importance of what they do.

6. Let go of just seeing what’s on your plate.
An innermost perspective may have served you in the past, but it won’t now. Lead with an outside-in view by understanding what else is happening in both the internal and external environment. Don’t be a modern-day Rip Van Winkle waking up to a world you no longer recognize and manage.

7. Let go of being in the background.
Like it or not, your days of being “low-profile” are over. When you’re a leader you act and speak on behalf of your team, department or organization. Become adept at influencing others whether peers, upper management and other key stakeholders.

Management Success Tip:

Peak performers are often promoted to a managerial or leadership position and then left to sink or swim on their own. Therefore you must take charge of how you “show up-stand up-and deliver” as a leader. It requires you to add new abilities and let go of old ones that won’t serve you well in your new position.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach

Many of my executive coaching clients operate in an environment that is fast paced with multiple priorities. The work is demanding and performance expectations are high. This “3 Minute Action Learning Time Out” helps them take a few moments to slow down and focus on what they learned from a situation. As a result, they can apply this learning to assist them in future scenarios.

Here are the “self coaching” action learning questions that I recommend:

1. What just happened?

2. What did I learn from this experience?

3. What would I do the same or differently next time?

4. How can I apply this insight to other situations?

What other “self coaching” questions can help you learn?

Pam Solberg-Tapper MHSA, PCC – I spark entrepreneurial business leaders to set strategy, take action, and get results. How can I help you? Contact me at Pam@CoachForSuccess.com ~ Linkedin ~ 218-340-3330

Who hasn’t been guilty of overbooking themselves between their personal and professional lives?

But often instead of a feeling of elation for making everything “work,” we feel stressed out and burnt out. Peter Bergman, in his Harvard Business Review blog, shares seven practices to help you say a strategic “no” in order to create space in your life for a more intentional “yes.”

1. Know your no.
Identify what’s important to you and acknowledge what’s not. If you don’t know where you want to spend your time, you won’t know where you don’t want to spend your time. Before you can say no with confidence, you have to be clear that you want to say no.

2. Be appreciative.
When people ask for your help it’s usually because they trust you and they believe in your capabilities to help. So thank them for thinking of you or making the request/invitation. You can leave the door open by saying I can’t do it now, but get back to me at a specific time – that’s only if you mean it..

3. Say no to the request, not the person.
You’re not rejecting the person, just declining the request. So make that clear. You can also explain the reason. Maybe you’re too busy. Maybe you don’t feel like what they’re asking you to do plays to your strengths. Be honest about why you’re saying no.

4. Be as resolute as they are pushy.
Some people don’t give up easily. That’s their prerogative. And your is to be just as pushy as they are. You can make light of it if you want (“I know you don’t give up easily — but neither do I. I’m getting better at saying no.”).

5. Establish a pre-emptive no.
We all have certain people in our lives who tend to make repeated, sometimes burdensome requests of us. In those cases, it’s better to say no before the request even comes in. Let that person know that you’re hyper-focused on a couple of things in your life and trying to reduce your obligations in all other areas.

6. Be prepared to miss out.
Some of us have a hard time saying no because we hate to miss an opportunity. And saying no always leads to a missed opportunity. But it’s not just a missed opportunity; it’s a tradeoff. Remind yourself that when you’re saying no to the request, you are simultaneously saying yes to something you value more than the request. Both are opportunities. You’re just choosing one over the other.

7. Gather your courage.
If you’re someone who is used to saying yes, it will take courage to say no, You may feel like a bad friend. You might feel like you’re letting someone down or not living up to expectations. Maybe you’ll imagine that you’ll be seen or talked about in a negative light. Those things might be the cost of reclaiming your life. You’ll need courage to put up with them.

What causes you the most grief –the enemy out there (an unexpected crisis, others not meeting deadlines) or the enemy within (poor planning, procrastination, lack of assertiveness)? I would imagine for many of s it’s the enemy within – our inability to say no and make it stick.

Management Success Tip:

Even when you’ve said yes, you can change your mind and renegotiate. Find a substitute, change the deadline or scope of the request or whatever might work to keep you in good graces. Remember, things change – projects pushed up; a staff member is out for a month; or a new boss unexpectedly arrives. Life changes and so priorities change. So don’t get locked into I have to do it because I said yes.

How often do you say yes when you mean no? Is it more often in your professional or personal life? What”s the enemy within that’s stopping you from saying no and making it stick? Do you want to get better at it? Let’s talk.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach

Generating ideas and gathering facts are probably the most common functions performed by groups in facilitated sessions. In many sessions, the generating of ideas is crucial to arriving at creative solutions to the issue the team is tackling. We commonly use Brainstorming as the technique for generating ideas.

Brainstorming is an excellent vehicle for collecting a large number of ideas in a short period of time. In a brainstorming session, the facilitator states the objective, sets a time limit and uses a flip chart, or some other vehicle, to record ideas that the session participants rapidly throw out.

As an example, to help a Hiring Process Improvement Team address potential improvements to their hiring process, we will take them through a brainstorming exercise as shown below.

Technique	Brainstorming	Function: Generating Ideas
1. Describe the activity and purpose; be sure to encourage creativity and out-of-the-ordinary ideas. “Our next step is to brainstorm potential improvements to the hiring process. This is important because we don’t want to be constrained by the way we do things now. Instead, we want to come up with creative solutions that can help us find and hire the best people available, quickly, effectively and efficiently” 2. Set a time limit and describe the general directions, with an example if necessary; offer a response format if appropriate. “We are going to take five minutes to do a round of intense brainstorming. I would like for us to go around the room starting with Joe and have each person give me one thing we could do that would move us toward our vision of a great hiring process. If you can, give me a “verb-object” such as “Implement this, Develop that.” “We will probably go around four or more times, so if you can’t think of anything the first time, just say ‘pass.’ 3. Prohibit judgment of any type on an idea. If the idea does not meet the objective, record it anyway. Remind the participants of the objective and keep moving. “Since we want to keep the creative juices flowing, it is important that during this phase we don’t spend any time analyzing the ideas. I will be writing as fast as I can and we will be moving quickly from person-to-person. If you find yourself at any point thinking, ‘That won’t work,’ ask yourself, ‘What will work? How can I improve on it?’ Some of the best ideas start out as impractical suggestions.” 4. Ask your starting question to help the group visualize their answers. “Let’s go back to our list of problems, there are the things we have to fix. Think about things you’ve seen other companies do, things that you have thought about us doing, things we could do to make our hiring process a much better process. Joe, get me started. Let’s build a list of some of the things we could do to improve the hiring process? What are some of those things?” 5. Record responses being sure to use, not abuse, the pen and to manage the recording process. 6. Keep the pace moving. Go for quantity. The more ideas the better. Use a lot of fill-in words if necessary, along with prompt questions and extended prompt questions “Give me more. Who’s next? More ideas, more ideas…What other ways could we improve the hiring process?” 7. End the brainstorming segment when the time limit is reached or when there is a round in which everyone passes. Ask for any last thoughts before closing. “We have reached our time limit. Any last minute ideas to add?” 8. Always follow a brainstorming session with some type of grouping or prioritization activity to highlight the jewels.

 

Apply this guide in your next brainstorming session! You and your group will love the creativity generated from this brainstorming exercise.

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Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

“There is nothing so practical as a good theory”

Kurt Lewin

This post is my fourth in a series on what I call Leadership Story Work, which is a way leaders and others can dramatically increase their effectiveness and authenticity through working with their deep personal stories.

In this post I will summarize core ideas reflected in story work. Understanding these ideas can enrich our experience oF stories.

How we Co-create our Reality

The fundamental notion underlying story work is that we co create our social reality through the stories we tell ourselves about our interactions with one another and the world. This idea flows primarily from two places

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle posits that we cannot measure all of the properties of light at the same time. When we look at the wave properties, we cannot see the particle properties, because one kind of measurement screens out the other. What we observe is a function of the instrumentation we use. So, if we use instrumentation to measure waves, what do we see? Waves. There is a very real sense in which what we have chosen to observe is what we see. In other words, we co-create our experience of the world by how we interact with it and what we tell ourselves those interactions mean.

Similarly, The Observer Effect in physics refers to changes our observations make on the phenomena we observe. We cannot observe something in a totally removed, objective manner. When we observe something, the act of observation modifies what we are looking at. As soon as we enter a field of observation, we become part of it and help shape it. Thereby, we co-create our experience of what we are seeing.

Examples from the Social Sciences

During the 20^th Century, every major discipline, from Philosophy to Physics to Biology developed its own applications of this participatory view. Three examples from the social sciences are:

Social Constructionism suggests that we largely construct our social reality and its meaning through the stories we tell ourselves about our experiences.

In like manner, Symbolic Interactionism suggests that we are not simple, linear stimulus response creatures. We are stimulus-interpretation-response creatures. Our experience of reality has as much to do with our interpretation of events as it does with the events themselves.

Chris Argyris Ladder of Inference is a model of how we think that demonstrates how the instrument of our mind selects from around us the data that we actually see, then decides what the data means, reaches a conclusion, and decides what to do. Our conclusions and actions are based as much on how we have sorted the data and the meaning we have given it as they are on the data themselves.

Where do our screening frameworks, interpretations, ascribed meanings, and attributions come from? Social Constructionism suggests that they come from our internal narrative–from our stories. If you want to learn something about your story and your deep inner self, pay attention to how you interpret situations and react to them, especially situations that you experience in some way as threatening or high stakes. Therein, your story is at play. What you are telling yourself, what you are doing, and what you are feeling, particularly in very challenging situations, are windows into your deep personal story.

Time after Time, Good after Bad

Two other key ideas reflected in Story Work are important to mention:

How we think about and experience time:

The Traditional Linear View of Time: We usually talk about time using a linear model. We think about sequences of events that comprise our lives to this point. We talk about “timelines” and seem to believe that our major life experiences fall neatly onto these lines in a linear sequence. Our previous experiences were a long time ago, and we are very distant from them now. What happened in the past is over.

Some traditional approaches to coaching reflect this linear view of time, and some go so far as to suggest that, if we talk about the past rather than just the present, what we are doing is not coaching. Coaching is not about the past. We don’t deal with it; we only deal with the present.

A Systemic View of Time: Story work reflects a very different way of thinking about and experiencing time. Story work’s view of time is more akin to Faulkner’s, who said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

In discussing his book, Loving Grief[1], Paul Bennett suggests a different, more systemic way to think about time. Rather than being linear, our experience of time, and some would say time itself, are more like the rings in a tree. We start with a core and grow around it; we build on our experiences rather than moving away from them.

Rather than saying, “If we talk about the past, it’s not coaching,” story work’s view of time would say, “Because they are so intricately intertwined, we can’t talk about the present without talking about the past”—because we experience, interpret, and respond to today’s events through lenses we have created, through the lenses of our stories.

Perhaps people who say, “we deal with the present, not the past” or, “We don’t talk about the past” are drawing a false dichotomy. Our life experiences are part of one organic, systemic whole rather than being “what was in the past and what is in the present.” Like Jesus said about the poor, “Our stories we always have with us.” They are part of what makes us who we are.

How we frame “negative” experiences. There seems to be a belief in some coaching and consulting circles that the best way to deal with our negative, less pleasant experiences is not to deal with them. If we focus on them, we tend to reinforce them, get stuck in them, and give them more power. Appreciative inquiry means looking at and talking about only the positive.

This way of thinking about being appreciative is reminiscent of the old saying “Denial is more than a River in Egypt.” It attempts to screen out many of our experiences and thereby runs the risk of blocking opportunities for some of our deepest learning and growth.

An alternative view is that, paradoxically, denying “negative” experiences actually strengthens their grip upon us, keeps us from reframing them, and closes the door to our learning to appreciate them more deeply. However, being honest about them can be a source of release and wisdom.

When we learn to see and speak the truth about all of our experiences, we come to deeply appreciate and reframe them. When that which had been un-discussable becomes discussable in a productive way, we are set free.

In my experience, the most powerful leaders, teams, and organizations are not those who report only the positive and who never experience stuck places, dark nights of the soul, “negative” things. Those experiences are part of the human condition. The most powerful leaders are those who embrace their negative experiences, go through them, learn from them, and come out much stronger on the other side.

A key aspect of story work is learning to see, acknowledge, and reframe all of our experiences—both negative and positive.

 

Summary: When we fully embrace our stories, reality is not objective, cause and effect are not linear, the past is not past, and the negative is not negative. They are all sources of grace that help us come to terms with the human condition so that we do not deny it but, rather, appreciate it anew. They become, paradoxically, routes to transformation.

 

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The three previous posts that lead up to this one were:

 

The Presence and Power of Stories

Leadership for our Era

Examining your Own Story

 

These three posts are summaries from the preface and Chapter One of my upcoming E Book, Unleashing the Power of your Story. Today’s and my next several posts will each be a summary from the remaining chapters of the book. Today’s post is a summary of Chapter 2: Context: Larger Ideas and Meaning

Steve is a senior executive coach and consultant. He has developed and successfully uses a powerful approach to leadership coaching, Creating your Leadership Story, which enables leaders to make deep, lasting improvements in their leadership effectiveness in short periods of time. He and a group of partners created a breakthrough educational program, Coaching from a Systems Perspective, in which you can significantly enhance your abilities as a systemic leadership coach. See http://SystemsPerspectivesLLC.com

If you would like to learn more about systemic approaches to leadership or story work, feel free to call or email Steve at:

Steven P. Ober EdD

President: Chrysalis Executive Coaching & Consulting
Affiliate: Systems Perspectives, LLC
Office: PO Box 278, Oakham, MA 01068
Home: 278 Crocker Nye Rd., Oakham, MA 01068
O: 508.882.1025 M: 978.590.4219
Email: steven.p.ober@gmail.com
www.ChrysalisCoaching.org

Leadership Blog: https://staging.management.org/blogs/leadership

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I know I should delegate but: “I can do it faster…He won’t be able to get it done on time…she’s bound to make some mistakes.”

These are things I’ve been hearing frequently from overworked, stressed out managers. I jokingly mentioned, in a recent presentation, if there was something in the air that’s causing this outbreak of “I must do it myself if it’s going to get done right.”

Leaders, who are reluctant to delegate, can usually come up with what they consider logical explanations for their stand. But these explanations are based on fears of letting go and of losing control. What they don’t realize is that while they’re busy “doing it all themselves”, they are falling further behind.

Of course there are times when we and we alone “own” the project or task. But how often is that the case? The real problem with delegation I have found lies not with the person being delegated to but rather with the one who needs to delegate.

The Fail-Safe Way To Delegate

Delegation, if done right, is a both a time management and leadership development tool. Here are 7 tips to delegate effectively. It will make you a better time manager and a better leader as well.

1. Delegate early.
Make an effort to delegate the task early to avoid unnecessary pressure. This allows the person to better plan the task.

2. Select the right person.
Ensure that the person has the time to take on the responsibility. Assess the skills and capabilities of your staff and assign the task to the most appropriate person. Make sure the person has the training and resources to succeed.

3. Communicate the rationale.
Identify the reason for the task and how it will contribute to the goals of the company or department or team. Also, point out how the delegated task could benefit the person. Remember a routine task to you may be a new challenging task to your subordinate.

4. Set clear goals and expectations.
Be clear and specific on the parameters – the what, why, when, who and where- and the amount of authority – what she can decide and what you must decide, etc. You might leave the “how” to them if they are experienced. Or ask how they might go about handling the task so you can identify any missteps right from the start. so you can . Confirm and verify task goals and expectations.

5. Delegate the entire task.
This gives the person the responsibility, increases their motivation and avoids ambiguity in accountability. Otherwise, different people will have different ideas about who does what when.

6. Don’t just drop it.
Request regular updates or progress reports especially if it’s a large or new assignment. That way you can catch problems or mistakes early and provide assistance when necessary.This will also give you a comfort level that things are going as planned.

7. Evaluate results.
Did the person meet the set expectations? Did the task get done accurately, on time, on budget If so, recognize the person’s performance. This will reinforce both yours and the person’s confidence in their abilities. If it didn’t, then analyze the cause of insufficient performance and coach on how to improve. But don’t throw in the towel. Remember, most of us learn more from our mistakes than successes.

Management Success Tip:

Delegation is about more than just taking work from you and giving it to someone else. It’s about getting work down in the most efficient manner using the resources you have available. Yes, sometimes a staff person can actually get better results than you. In addition, delegation is about valuing people and allowing other to develop by giving them increased responsibility and authority. That’s what makes an effective leader.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager.
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

 

For any CxO or company seeking to adopt or scale Agile for their software development groups – get ready for some organizational soul searching! The mindset and processes of Agile reflect back your culture, your enacted (not espoused) Theory of Management, and the structural inefficiencies of your org chart…and these are just the beginning!

Culture Clash

Culture is the oxygen of your organization. You are swimming in it, nurtured by it, yet it remains invisible. Ask any new employee to describe Culture and you will get a sense of the constraints it places on the organizations ability to change and adapt. Adopting Agile methods to “upgrade” your product development process, speed up cycle time, and generate flow and suddenly that squishy, amorphous mist (Culture) condenses into a brick wall. What is going on here?

Culture is the container that holds all the dilemmas of your organization in dynamic tension. It is the fairy dust that allows your to be:

BOTH Competitive AND Collaborative

BOTH Controlling AND Creative

BOTH Focused AND Flexible

BOTH Simple AND Complex

BOTH Relational AND Actionable

BOTH Results-oriented AND People-oriented

The contours and interactions between these dynamic polarities make up your Culture, and to a large part your organization. When Agilists come to stay the Culture dynamics shift and the whole system groans…audibly.

Suddenly “red flags” show up everywhere. Your “Greatest Fear,” which normally lurks in the basement, begins walking the halls in broad daylight. As soon as these new methods begin producing change, the promise of Agile, the downside extremes of the polarities become visible, providing fodder for resisters and those being forced out of their comfort zone.

Theory X or Theory Y

This squeeze is most obvious in your management team, many of whom have been promoted due to their functional/engineering expertise or excellence. Do you know how they view the developers they manage – widget or creative genius? How do they define their role – benign dictator or all-star coach? Are they ready – willing and able – to look in the mirror of their leadership and confront their weaknesses and leadership skill level? Are they able to consider their obsolescence? And if you’re planning on scaling Agile, how high up does this personal reflection need to go? All the way to the top?

This becomes a real bear trap when the consultants troop in and begin training everyone in the development organization to self-organize, manage their own work, decide how much they can do each sprint, and even how to do it. Cross-functional teams!?! There goes my turf, but not without a fight! Changing priorities every two weeks, who is in charge here – I set the priorities around here! Your greatest risk of “sand in the gas tank” or a “stick in the gears” comes from the managers who used to have authority, respect, power, control, and a reason to exist.

As Agile squeezes managers of people and project aside, a new dilemma arises – Flatten the organization or Lead with new skills and actions. At this point you may want to re-read the previous section on Culture. Perhaps the biggest challenge of scaling Agile comes with the shifting roles of those managing product development. To be successful they must adopt the Servant Leadership required to support the sprinting development teams. As they speed up and new processes reduce the “friction” created by waterfall and project management the previous value of management can become waste and be wrung out of the system. The new Theory of Management that Agile requires is only now being written. In fact, the ink isn’t even dry.

Structure Follows Function

If you are not dizzy yet, contemplate this last piece of the puzzle. When organizational culture shifts and management is reorganized what happens to structure? Think PMO, Portfolio Management, Centralized Strategy, design and business analytics, functional silos! Is this the time to call McKinsey, PWC, BCG…do you need to spend the money on the big guns of the consulting industry? Agile doesn’t work like this…remember, that is why you wanted it in the first place.

Agile is fundamentally about learning your way forward, minimal structure, and Just in Time planning. This is not a structure that can be designed by external draftsmen, posted on the wall of the CxO’s office, and “rolled out” to an unsuspecting organization. The biggest process change in adopting Agile is the process of organizational development. It becomes downright biological, you have to grow into this new way of working. Even more distracting is that it follows the rules of quantum physics (emergent and self-organizing) and networks (Hubs and connections determine information flow). How on earth can you “manage” something so organic, so alive??

Hear we look to the leaders in operating in unpredictable environments – the US Army War College. In environments that are volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) you need everyone to be confident in their ability to assess the situation, set up some really smart experiments to test the water, and take small steps forward to see what works. This is not the time for a gigantic change initiative because you cant predict what kind of change you need.

How ironic that the only way to adopt Agile is using Agile!!

So, Dear CxO, are you ready for the roller-coaster ride? Are you prepared to explain this to the functional heads of your executive team and your peers (because they will get sucked into the vortex as well)? Are you ready to herd [cat]tle with only a few sheep dogs (who are the ones doing the on-the-ground thinking and reacting)? That is what you’ll see when you look in the Agile Mirror on your wall.

 

Dr. Carol Mase is an executive coach who challenges leaders and their organizations to think differently about the world and how they can achieve their fullest potential. Her unique background applies the principles of business, biology, psychology, and physics, to all levels of the organization. She has worked as an entrepreneur, consultant and pharmaceutical executive introducing fresh ideas that produce innovation and adaptive change. She can be reached at Carol.Mase@CairnConsultants.com or 215-262-6666.

 

As a coach to ambitious, pro-active leaders, I often find they quickly embrace change themselves but don’t know how to bring along their colleagues or staff. So how do you get everyone on board the change train that is gaining speed and heading out of the station?

In Seven Truths about Change to Lead and Live By, Rosebeth Moss Kanter, presents Change Agent” Bumper Stickers”. These are sayings which act as guides for leaders engaged in the effort of setting a new direction, orchestrating innovation, establishing a culture or changing behavior.

Here are four of those truths or “bumper sticker”s and tactics to make them operational.

1. “Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.”
Resistance is always greatest when change is inflicted on people without their involvement. Enthusiasm and commitment results when people understand the reasons behind the change and see it as a benefit tot them as well as the company.

Tactic: Let people see the advantages of the change. Answer the key questions on their mind: What do I gain? What does this mean to me and for me? How can I make a difference? Then get them involved. Although the decision about the specific change has been made, those who are e affected can have input in its implementation.

2. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”
A clear destination is necessary to guide the journey of change. Many change efforts falter because of confusion over where we’re going and why we’re going there. If people don’t understand where they’re headed then any change will seem dangerous. It’s like walking off a cliff blindfolded.

Tactic: People don’t mind changes in the game if they just know where they are going, what the new rules are and how to score points.Provide them with a road map. It must be like a lighthouse – a bright and focused beacon that guides everyone’s work. If people don’t understand precisely where they are headed and how to get here, then it’s only sheer luck that they will succeed.

3. “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”
Big goals can seem overwhelming. The magnitude of the problem, the difficulty of the solutions, the length of the time horizon and the number of action items can make change feel so complex that people feel paralyzed and nothing happens.

Tactic: By dividing a big change into small steps, change will seem less risky. People can then focus on one step at a time and feel they’re not being asked to take that big leap off a real or imagined cliff. Also, shoot for some quick wins – low hanging fruit so that people can experience success. Momentum will build and the journey is underway.

4. ”Be the change you seek to make in the world.”
Leaders must embody the values and principles they want other people to adopt. This famous Gandhi quote reminds us all — that one of the most important tasks is personal: to be a role model, exemplifying the best of what the change is all about

Tactic: Go inside before you go outside. Answer these questions: How is this change initiative a leadership opportunity for you?” In other words, how can I show the way or help others in this time of turmoil?

Management Success Tip:

Remember, people are being moved from their comfort zone to a new place. While some may zealously embrace the change, most get very uncomfortable when things start to feel different. Therefore people must understand the reason for change; the process of change; and their role in change. If not, anxiety mounts, trust declines and rumors fly. The next thing you see is the change effort not taking hold. And the conclusion by leadership was it not a good idea or good program. Is that accurate? Or was it how the change was managed?

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• Copyright © 2013 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

Few facilitators truly understand the power of the pen. When facilitators don’t record what participants say or when facilitators record their own words and not the words of the participants, we are abusing the power of the pen. Abuse of the pen can very easily lead to participants dropping out, participants arguing with the facilitator, and participants not buying into the overall result.

How does the facilitator prevent abuse of the power of the pen? Here are two ways:

1. Write 1^st, Discuss 2^nd

One of the ways a facilitator prevents abuse of the pen is to write first and discuss second. Consider the following:

• If what is said is incomplete, you should write it.
• If what is said can be improved upon, write it.
• If what is said is not the answer you were looking for, write it.
• If what is said is obviously wrong, still write it.

By recording what is said, you, as the facilitator, are implicitly saying, “Thank you for making a contribution.” It is vital to positive group dynamics that this happens regardless of whether the contribution was good, bad or indifferent. Each time you record a contribution, you are saying “thank you.” If you stop saying “thank you,” they may very well stop contributing!

2. Write What They Said, Not What You Heard

While writing first and discussing second is important for empowering the participants, an equally important empowerment technique is to write what they said, not what you heard. Facilitators often make it a habit to listen to a participant’s statement, then transform what is said into words more “acceptable” to the facilitator. Why change the words?

• Some facilitators indicate they change the words to summarize the idea.
• Others say they transform the words to promote clarity.
• And, still, others say they are just trying to shorten the comment to make it easier to write.

Whatever the reason for changing a participant’s words, the potential negative impact on empowerment may far outweigh the benefit, as described below.

• If you try to “clean up” the speaker’s words by writing words he or she did not say, you, as the facilitator, are implicitly saying, “You don’t know how to speak; let me speak for you.”
• Over time, less assertive participants will tend to get lazy and look to you to “make all their words better”; more assertive participants will tend to compete with you to come up with suitable words for the other participants.
• In addition, rewriting comments in your own words decreases the likelihood that participants will be able to understand what was meant after time has passed. This effect is a result of you using words and expressions in ways that are familiar to you, which might not be the way the participants express these same ideas.
• Finally, writing your words can decrease ownership of the result by the participants since the words are yours, not theirs.

These are just two of several techniques for using, not abusing, the power of the pen. Interested in learning more? Take Leadership Strategies’ course, The Effective Facilitator.

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Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.