THE LEADERS JOURNEY AGILE PROGRAM
“The Leaders Journey Agile Program”
Introducing
Agile Leadership… Leading in an agile organization requires different
skills than managing in an autocratic organization.
COMMON TO AGILE TRANSFORMATIONS
“The Leaders Journey Agile Program”
Introducing
Agile Leadership… Leading in an agile organization requires different
skills than managing in an autocratic organization.
Let's begin by aligning on an important truth:
Leading in an agile organization requires different
skills than traditional management practices!
In this short eBook, I’m going to be sharing my experiences as an agile leadership coach of twenty-plus years. I’ve been doing interviews with leaders just like you for years and…
Here’s what I know…
Agile transformations are achieving limited results. The good news is that there are reasons these results are limited and it's time to begin that important conversation!
Career advancement as an agile leader begins with YOUR AWARENESS of these FIVE KEY MISTAKES.
This short eBook is designed to facilitate your discovery of how these key mistakes or differences influence your organization and YOUR career!
SOUND GOOD?
I will share with you how this awareness is part of a program designed to advance your agile organization and your career through a journey of awareness and equipping to competency.
You will create an action plan to move forward in your agile career and you will learn more about how we can work together in supporting your efforts to become the influencer that leads your organization and advances your career!
Let’s begin to create new awareness!
As I share these key differences, I want you to consider how each one influences your career and organizational culture.
Sliding Scale Example: in this example, your organizational culture
resonates just a little closer to Option #1.
LET’S GET STARTED!
Previously we aligned on an important truth:
Leading in an agile organization is different than
managing an an autocratic authority-driven culture.
Some of the key desired outcomes you should expect of a healthy agile transformation include: employee retention, increased employee engagement, lower transformation costs, marketplace responsiveness, increased communication, innovative and diverse product solutions that address unmet customer needs, iterative delivery of increased customer value, to name a few.
You are still reading this eBook because you agree with these truths!
So, let’s facilitate your discovery of how these following key mistakes influence these desired outcomes as well as YOUR career and organizational culture.
Current State:
The shaded area in the illustration above represents the current limited influence achieved by far too many agile transformations today. Notice the three organization layers in this illustration, most of the influence (results) are achieved at the bottom tier (team level). This is where the Agile Practices (Scrum & Kanban) are providing effective results. The focus of this team level is changing the way we get work done, or process change. It is my observation that most agile coaches spend their time teaching the agile practices. In other words, they are agile practitioners or consultants (giving advice based on experience). Let’s call this “process change”. At the bottom tier the agile iterative delivery practices are effective. The question is, are agile practices enough to influence cultural change?
Notice the shaded arrows in the middle tier of the organization. There is clearly less agile influence in the middle tier. The middle tier is where directors and managers become engaged. In almost every case study during my twenty plus years of agile coaching the directors and managers in the middle tier are NOT very engaged. The needed agile influence is left to the (external) agile coaches and as mentioned they are practitioners and consultants focused on process change. Are you beginning to see a trend here?
Next, have a look at the top tier and as you can see there is even less agile influence if any! This illustration represents the current state of an agile transformation achieving limited results.
DO YOU SEE IT?
Agile Transformations are achieving limited results due to a
lack of commitment to becoming an agile organization.
Future State:
In this future state, we begin to recognize the difference becoming an “Agile Organization” will have on your results.
The agile practices (teams) still influence the bottom tier, but the future state of an agile organization, middle and top tiers are being influenced by internal directors and managers with agile coaching, leadership, and communication skills. I call people in this new role, Agile Leaders!
The commitment to organizational agility is
vital to the success of your transformation.
The above illustration shows the traditional milestones of an agile transformation on the left side. You are likely trying to achieve these using process ability. Here they are listed under the transformation side because they are process focused.
In this future state, we recognize that Leadership, Culture, Business Agility, and Finance are not achieved by process and therefore must be part of a “leadershift” to organizational agility.
Consider the following questions:
The cultural mindset shift to evolve from an autocratic management culture of authority to a leadership culture of influence and innovation.
There are many reasons our current culture manifests as an autocratic management culture of authority. It makes sense that this top-down org-chart structure came from somewhere… right?
Allow me to tell a story about my experience as I entered the workforce. My influencers, my father, and my uncles taught me the following work culture. Go to work! Pay your bills! Care for your family! Do what you are told! Get your paycheck! Go home at the end of the day! Come back the next day and do it again!
Wow…read that part a couple more times. Does any of that sound familiar?
A more important question is… Is there any room for INNOVATION in that mindset? Or, is there any intrinsic value in that culture?
Let’s be fair, those were the days of manufacturing. While the Industrial Revolution was officially from 1760 - 1840.
I think it would be fair to draw a cultural connection from the Industrial Revolution to a long standing and successful period of manufacturing and production.
The experiences from the days of manufacturing and production gave great importance to the value of process and policy. In just the last 10-15 years we have witnessed a powerful shift from the Industrial age to the INFORMATION AGE where change is coming fast! We now live in a digital age. The need to adjust and adapt to respond quickly to your marketplace has become a higher priority than maintaining a consistent process. This presents many challenges for any organization. This is just one of many mindset shifts needed as we lead through influence in today’s organizations.
The illustration above provides you with a few more leadershifts for you to consider.
How many of the items on the left resonate with you?
Consider the following questions:
When you depend on process ability to manage or grow your organization you achieve the potential of the process
When you depend on leadership ability to grow or lead your organization you achieve the potential of the people
It’s not hard to recognize why we depend on process so often. Connecting with the potential of people takes a lot of time and energy. It’s so much easier to just tell someone what to do!
While that’s true… what is the result of depending on process and policy instead of people?
Failing to connect will result in a culture of people just doing enough to keep from getting fired!
The level of energy people are willing to put into their work is directly related to how connected they are to their leaders.
Now we need to ask, who are the people with internal influence in the middle and top tiers? Who has already developed relationships? The illustration above reminds us that the influencers in the middle and top tiers are the internal VP’s, Directors, and Managers.
Let’s look at this another way. Consider the agile iterative delivery practices Scrum and Kanban. While these practices are based on empirical thinking and allow us to go far beyond traditional workflows, they remain process frameworks focused on delivery.
Don’t get me wrong here… The agile practices are GREAT, but are they enough? Are the agile practices alone enough to change your organizational culture?
Consider the following questions:
The future behavior of effective leaders and managers looks more like coaching than it does managing. More like connecting than directing.
A coach will encourage you to think about your results, they will not tell you the answers. They will hold a belief in you until you believe in yourself. A coach will allow you to borrow their belief in you until you develop your own confidence. This is what management practices look like in an agile organization!
Agile leaders create a culture of innovation through a less directive environment of encouraging others to think into their own results. Agile leaders make the mindset shift from directing to connecting!
As you develop your ability to lead through coaching skills (Agile Leadership) your influence and your effectiveness will increase with everyone you encounter.
The ability to coach is quickly becoming the new management practice
for professionals at all levels. Coaching is now considered an essential skill
of management and leadership.
Please do not misunderstand me here. There are clearly times when giving someone direction is necessary. I am not talking about limiting our ability to help others through teaching and sharing experiences. I am referring to an overall mindset shift to encourage those we lead to think into their own results. THIS IS WHERE INNOVATION LIVES! This is where people take responsibility for their own results!
Using this illustration, consider how much of your time you spend coaching. How about consulting, teaching, or managing? (use a piece of paper if necessary and draw a circle for each)
As you do this exercise think about how your daily routine may change. Personally, as I made this leadershift, I found my day to be much more fulfilling finding ways to serve my teams success instead of micromanaging their results.
I promise, once you learn and adopt these new coaching skills you begin to lead from influence instead of authority.
The future state of management practices will look more like a leader
who coaches than the traditional manager.
Consider the following questions:
Are your management practices…
Externally contracted agile coaches who teach your teams the agile practices…
OR
Equipping your internal leaders, directors, managers with the leadership, coaching, and communication skills required to effectively lead in an agile organization!
We could also say here… OUTSOURCED or OWNERSHIP?
I remember a few clients ago I started a directors and managers weekly standup on Thursday mornings. This was a teeth-pulling effort to generate engagement from the middle tier. I remember the day when I asked, “Who owns the Agile Transformation?” After getting past the usual crickets answer of silence, the response I got was not surprising – “The Agile Coaches DO!”
This middle tier standup provided a platform for some great questions…
What have you done this week to connect with your teams? (crickets).
How do you measure your team’s agile maturity? (more crickets)
No wonder we were having trouble getting middle tier engagement let alone support from the top tier!
You tell me… What’s your experience? Sound familiar?
Good news! A year later we had made a complete turn around and the results were impressive. This was my first proof of concept (POC) in this key difference of Internal vs. External.
These new results were a direct outcome of shifting the engagement (ownership) to the directors and managers.
I’ll share an example of one such leadershift achieved over the upcoming year. The organization wanted to scale using SAFe. At this point the division was up to 20+ external agile coaches! A proposal was made that these plus ten new SAFe Program Consultants (SPC) coaches were to lead the scaling efforts.
Having earned enough influence over the past year I was able to make a bold proposal. I proposed we start with a small group of directors and managers, get them SA, SPC, or RTE Certified, and coach them to standup the first small Release Train.
The results were amazing! The engagement was unlike any other in the organization. Believe me, there were plenty of other groups with external coaching to compare results with.
Let’s look briefly at the financial influence this difference #5 had on the organization. I was initially contracted as what they called the Tower Coach. The expectations of this role were to align the coaching efforts to a common goal, consistent messaging, training and so on. You get the picture. When I arrived, there were thirty plus agile coaches across the group. Consider the cost if an agile coach (USA) receives on average $18K - $25K / month. For thirty externally contracted coaches… THAT’s $9MM!
When I left, there were three coaches supporting twenty-seven very capable directors and managers… Consider the savings!
This is the initial POC into the new role of Agile Leaders. Directors and managers equipped with the agile coaching, leadership, and communication skills needed to achieve cultural influence in the middle and upper tier of their organization.
While the financial case study is important to consider and clearly saving millions of dollars in transformation cost is a game changer. The greater value here is in the increased ENGAGEMENT! For the first time in my twenty plus years as an agile coach, the frozen middle was ENGAGED in their (ownership) transformation.
Consider the following questions:
I have spent the next several years doing pilots with clients to prove out this theory. I am happy to share additional case studies with you if you would like to reach out to me as you learn more about the program.
Has your awareness changed? Do you have a different perception of agile leadership? Are you looking at your organization or agile transformation differently?
I want you to start thinking of yourself as an Agile Leader.
Easy... You are a leader in an agile transformation, RIGHT?
Next, I want you to think of your agile transformation as a journey from traditional autocratic management practices of authority to a leadership culture of influence and innovation.
If you really want to see the benefits of agile you will see this as a cultural “leadershift” to organizational agility.
Developing agile teams and changing the way you get work done is just the beginning!
My experience has proven to me repeatedly that agile practices alone are NOT ENOUGH to achieve the goals you have for your career and for your organization!
I have given you a lot to think into. You are likely considering many different possibilities at this point and may be wondering what the best way forward is for your career or your organization.
At the beginning of this eBook, I promised you we would create an action plan to help you move forward in your agile career and to learn more about how we can work together in supporting you in becoming the influencer that changes your organization!
All transformation begins with NEW AWARENESS
NEW AWARENESS creates DESIRE and when desire moves to INTENTIONAL ACTION transformation happens!
As we progressed through this eBook you have been circling the numbers to indicate how these differences influence YOU and YOUR ORGANIZATION.
ACTION PLAN
Bring your selected scores forward and create your action plan! Use the illustration above and circle your score to help you see your current state indicating your next steps!
You Got This! Spend some time thinking into both your desire
for your career and for your organization.
I promised you an opportunity to work together.
Be intentional about your future! You are in the right place.
The stage is set! It’s time for you to start your Leaders Journey!
Strap in… your awareness is about to expand.
Here we go!
Through intentional action this will be your Leaders Journey! I invite you to learn more about the Leaders Journey Agile Program.
The CORE TRAINING of this program will guide you through
AWARENESS & EQUIPPING to COMPETENCY
INTERNAL INITIATIVE
I am dedicated to equipping leaders, directors, managers, and coaches – JUST LIKE YOU! If you are ready to put in the work, then I would like to work with you.
Agile Transformation through Masterminds
One of the challenges we all face is how to message this new awareness to our co-leaders and peers. I CAN HELP WITH THAT!
I’ve been doing interviews with leaders just like you for years, resulting in the development of a series of awareness resources.
My awareness resources combine to provide you with an effective strategy to leverage increased awareness and the advancement of your organization’s culture and ultimately, your career.
So, here’s where you start!
Use these complimentary resources to raise your awareness and start this conversation with your leaders!
Get on a strategy call with me, and in addition to answering all your questions, I will share recent case studies and cost analyses that confirm how you can position your organizational culture and career to accelerate the iterative delivery practices of agile.
How?... through an internal initiative of AWARENESS and EQUIPPING to COMPETENCY. Ready to achieve; increased engagement, lower transformation costs, employee retention, and marketplace responsiveness. Advance your career and culture by participating in masterminds designed to equip leaders with agile coaching, leadership, and communication skills.
Without question… we need to talk.
I know this is important to your career. I know this is important to those you lead. Without question, this is important to your organization!
What’s NEXT? I’ve spent years developing and proving this program. If you are ready to take intentional action and put in the work, then I want to work with you!
Take Intentional Action Today!
Positioning organizational culture and your career to accelerate the iterative delivery practices of agile is worth talking about.
I’m doing it differently and the results are worth talking about! Even better, the results are from people JUST LIKE YOU… their results are worth talking about!
I will share recent case studies and cost analyses with you that will confirm that you can achieve increased engagement and lower transformation cost.
All transformation begins with NEW AWARENESS! I have been doing interviews with leaders JUST LIKE YOU for years and have developed a series of awareness tools.
We all know the conversation about how organizational culture influences our agile delivery teams is a hard conversation to get on the calendar. I CAN HELP WITH THAT!
These complimentary awareness resources have two intentional purposes. (1) to raise your awareness. (2) to provide you with tools to start this conversation with you leaders!
I’m Thomas – keep elevating your thoughts! Use this link to get your complimentary awareness resources.
Thomas Bookhamer is a well-respected, highly sought-after, professional coach in the agile and leadership communities. His career of over 25 years has included coaching thousands of people from all over the US and worldwide.
His passion is coaching and mentoring others on how to move forward on their Leaders Journey.
He strives to live out his belief that values should be reflected in your behavior, and that everyone should think into their life’s purpose and allow it to define their goals.
He believes that we should all strive to reach our own potential and not the potential prescribed by others.
When you meet him, you will come to know that he believes in YOU.
