Coach's Challenge - Who do you want to be?

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 problems, rather than solving problems for them?
• Can they see me celebrating failures (and therefore lessons) as opportunities to build better products and teams?
• Do I make people feel like they are just as important (if not more so) as process when we look for ways to improve how we work?
• Am I showing up in a way that makes people feel like they are empowered to make decisions and do what is best for their customer?

Thinking about that quote reminded me that while it matters what I say, it matters more that my actions and interactions reinforce the values and principles that we all agree are important.  How I show up every day reinforces the culture that we want to build.

That leads me to my challenge for you. 

Consider how you are showing up, just like I did.  As a leader, are you interacting with your teams, peers, partners and stakeholders in a way that tells them that you are agile?  That you believe in our shared values and principles?  That by embracing them and acting on them, we can help them be more effective, efficient and engaged as they strive to serve our customers? 

Take a few minutes and reflect on your actions. 

Are you...

• Encouraging your team members to self-organize within their cross-functional team?
• Growing problem solvers, and supporting team members as they resolve impediments and challenges themselves instead of swooping in and being the savior?
• Challenging the cross-functional teams to find ways to work more effectively and efficiently together as a team?
• Creating an environment where your team members feel empowered to innovate, not only to improve the cross-functional team's results, but also the way they work together?
• Advocating that your teams use data to make decisions just as effectively as you would, rather than asking for your permission?
• Noticing when your team members embrace the values and principles, and then publicly celebrating those moments?
• Asking your peers and partners to let our cross-functional teams self-organize around their prioritized backlogs, and remove impediments that the team can't remove themselves?

If you're honest with yourself, you've probably got an opportunity to improve the way you reinforce the environment around our teams.  We all have opportunities to improve how we show up.  We all have to continually challenge ourselves to make a space for our people so they can truly embody the culture we say we want to have.  

Make a conscious decision to show up differently. 

Pick one thing, and experiment. 

• Celebrate failures and lessons learned in all-hands meetings.
• Ensure that your team member's objectives (definition of success) are the same as the cross-functional team that they are a part of.
• Ask what they helped their team accomplish, instead of asking what they accomplished.
• Challenge a team member to resolve an impediment themselves instead of solving it for them.  
• Ask team members what they should be working on next instead of assigning the work.  

Pick one thing, and then observe.  Are your team members leaning into their cross-functional teams?  Are they showing up differently?  Are they helping their team become more effective, efficient and engaged?  Do they feel safe making decisions?  Can you see them applying creativity and ingenuity to help their teams achieve their results better?

We have to decide to change.

I regularly get to facilitate a session we call "Agile Leader Onboarding" with managers and leaders who are
new(er) to the concept of Agile and agility.  It's not a class, but more of a conversation about the mindset and frameworks, and how as managers and leaders, we play a pivotal role in creating an environment where our people can really be agile.  Invariably, someone in these sessions asks "This is great, when do our leaders, managers and partners start doing this?" 

If we're all waiting for someone else to start being agile, empowering and challenging our teams and partners to work together differently... it's hard to imagine us ever changing at all. 

Each of us has to decide how we want to be.  Do we believe in this mindset and am I a part of helping us make it real here?  What do we want people to learn from us?  What's stopping us from showing up in a way that helps us achieve the culture we want to create?  If you're waiting for someone else to change first - well then are you really leading?  

Go out and BE agile today!