Coach Dan's Blog

Empowered teams self organize around a shared objective, and optimize themselves around achieving it. That all starts with team members who feel empowered, and frankly... that starts with you!  “I want you actively to train your people on how to think for themselves” - Eiji Toyoda "Think more like a gardener, less like a general." - General Stanley McChrystal It's often faster to solve the problem instead of challenging people to stretch and grow. How you interact with your team tells them a lot about how empowered they are to self-organize and optimize. Every interaction is a chance for you to help a person feel empowered. The next time you interact with a team member, challenge them to decide...  Are your team members... ...asking for permission? Instead of "Yes" or "No" ... try: "What would you say if I was asking you for permission to do this?"  "How does this help you to achieve your team's shared objective?"  "How ca...

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The most important people in any company are the ones who make valuable things for your customer. In our complex world, very few things can be done without the help of teammates, partners or other critical helpers. Take a moment and acknowledge the people who help you create and deliver value. Showing genuine appreciation for the work others do to deliver value for your customer is proven to increase productivity and reduce mistakes! Coach’s Challenge for next week - Keep track of how many times you  genuinely  share appreciation for someone at work.  Grab a scrap of paper or a sticky note and make a mark for every time you genuinely tell someone you appreciate what they do.  Are you surprised (pleasantly or not so much) by the result? A genuine “thank you” costs you nothing, but can make someone’s day.   Two tips for showing appreciation   Highlight the outcome, not just the task … “I appreciate what you did to help build that feature for our users”  ...

  An open, letter to leaders, from a candid agile transformation coach. Dear Leader, I am writing you to share some observations I've made as I've supported leaders through all kinds of transformations for almost 20 years now. I attempt to be candid and direct in sharing these observations.  For some of you, they may be challenging to read. They may make you feel uncomfortable.  You may think “he’s talking about someone else.” That’s fair.  If you do have that reaction, I might suggest that you pause for a few moments and ask yourself: 'where is this reaction coming from?'… We can't improve if we don't inspect! So, without additional fanfare or disclaimers - 6 (candid) observations that I hope leaders learn as they begin (and continue) a transformation.  Observation 1 - Don’t say you want to change, if you don’t really want to  change . "The road to perdition has ever been accompanied by lip service to an ideal."- Albert Einstein It’s pretty easy to sa...

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I   was dutifully going through my LinkedIn notifications this weekend and stumbled upon a quote shared by Daniel Abrahams.  Now mind you, I don't know who Daniel Abrahams even is, (someone I linked to in the past liked what he had to say,) but I have to tell you - the quote gave me pause.   "Sometimes what people teach us is who we don’t want to be."  -  Link to original post What a powerful statement.  I mean, I always knew there are people I interact with who can be.... challenging... and I tend to reflect on those challenging situations to see what I can learn about myself.   It's what people who have a growth mindset do!  Something about that quote, however struck very close to home for me.  It made me wonder what people were learning from the interactions they have with me.  Are they "seeing" the agile mindset being personified when they interact with me? Do they see me challenging teams to solve their  own  pro...

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