Coach Dan's Blog

We've all been on the receiving end before. You're in a conversation, and you just know the other person isn't listening to you. Oh sure, they are nodding in all the right places, and making "interested" sounds here and there. They answer your question, but you can just feel they weren't really interested in what you had to say. You get a response but leave the interaction feeling... not great. Why is actually listening so hard? I will be the first to admit - I'm not a good listener sometimes.  There are times when I've got a deadline that's not related to the conversation I'm having.  Sometimes I'm wondering what the dog is barking at, or what conversation is happening in the next cubical over. Sometimes my IMs start blowing up. Once in a while I 'already know' where this conversation is going and I know what I'm going to say next, so I time-share my brain off to other topics. Sometimes I'm just tired and over loaded and st...

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I keep hearing the term "servant leadership" lately.  I think like many things, the concept of servant leadership is easy to talk about  - and hard to achieve.   I wanted to start off with a "generally accepted definition" of servant leadership, so I Googled it.... and got 26,800,000 results....  YAY ! So what IS Servant Leadership So I did a little research and found that the concept of servant leadership was introduced by a guy named Robert Greenleaf in 1970.  In his essay titled " The Servant Leader " he describes it like this (emphasis added by yours truly): “A servant-leader focuses primarily on the  growth and well-being of people  and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader  shares power , puts the  needs of others first  and  helps people develop and...

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  I was doing some reading on the topic of "servant leadership" last week, and I rediscovered an article in  Harvard Business Review  that I'd read a couple years back.  In it, the author explores the concept of leaders serving the people they lead rather than trying to exert control.   The author really highlights the point that the true value managers bring to an organization is not necessarily being a gatekeeper or order-giver, but rather creating an environment where team members (people actually creating value the customers consume) are enabled and empowered to innovate, solve problems, grow and improve.  This, of course, helps us all to create a culture that reinforces an   agile mindset !  Key Excerpts from the article ,  How Humble Leadership Really Works   "When you’re a leader — no matter how long you’ve been in your role or how hard the journey was to get there — you are merely overhead unless you’re bringing out the bes...

  The  first  shared agile principle is - “Our highest priority is to  satisfy the customer  through early and  continuous delivery of value.” - The Agile Manifesto When was the last time  your  team... talked about  your  customer?  Who is your customer?  Is  everyone  on your team working for the same customer? Is the work you're doing  today  creating value for your customer?  How do you know? How will the work you do today help to  satisfy  your customer? If your customer saw the top of your team's backlog,  would they agree  it's important and valuable? Is your team regularly engaging with the customer to inform the product direction? In the hustle and bustle of our day, it can be easy to lose sight of the "why we're doing this." Take some time this week, and invest in your team.  Talk about who your customer is and what problem you're solving for  them ...

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...