Knowing me, Knowing you - Agile Business Conference

Knowing me, Knowing you
Agile Business Conference, London, Oct 2013
Irwin Fletcher
Stephen McAinsh
Some background on us…
• Calba
– Specialists in change for business and IT
• agile, lean, kanban and cmmi
– Coaching & Facilitated Workshops
– Inhouse and online training
– Hands-on support
• Presenters
– Stephen McAinsh, Agile Coach
– Irwin Fletcher, Agile Coach
• Qualified Hypnotherapist
Backlog
The basis for highperformance
teams
Being agile by
knowing what makes you
and others tick
Motivating and
leading across
cultures
Leading
In teams
Vision, Purpose, Role Identity
Feedback, Reward,
Learning, Sharing
Training & Adequacy
Performance
Controls, Tools &
Practices
Managing
Values, beliefs
& motivation
I
Can’t
Do
Skills & capabilities
That
Behaviour
Environment/infrastructure
Alignment
Here
Work values
Moral
Identity
Work
Values &
& Beliefs
Values
beliefs
Personal(ity)
Skills & capabilities
Cultural (group)
Behaviour
National and/or
organisational
Environment/infrastructure
Moral:
Personal set of absolute values used as a guide to know “right” from “wrong”
when violated, we tend to take drastic action. Whistleblowers exemplify this.
Work:
Guide us through work as applied to individual work habits and styles
Personal:
Inherited traits and our own unique experience/worldview
Cultural:
National norms refereed by specific organizational culture
Beginning Alignment
Identity
• How will we do it?
• Are we aligned?
Values, beliefs
& motivation
Skills & capabilities
Behaviour
Environment/infrastructure
Define the teams
‘Work Values’
Agree a team charter
Answer the Big Questions
Identity
• Why do we exist
• What is our deeply desired
future,
• What do we do,
• How will we do it,
• Are we aligned?
Values, beliefs
& motivation
Skills & capabilities
Behaviour
Environment/infrastructure
Lets try an example…
Identity
Values/Behaviors
Mission and Vision of the team for the specific project
What we value in our team. Meeting and communications
etiquette for the team. Specific ways of working.
Part II - Software of the mind
Moral
Work
Personal
Cultural (group)
National and/or
organisational
*Geert Hofstede: Cultures and organizations
Being agile by
knowing what makes you
and others tick
X marks the spot
Statement A
Statement B
X
X
X
1) What ‘triggers’ you to act?
Pessimist?
10%
Avoidance
Likes
meeting
deadlines
30%
Realist
20%
Good at
general
business
30%
Optimist
10%
Towards (the pull of the goal)
2) How do you know what ‘good’ is?
Problem
Solver
20%
Internal
Manager
40%
Seek assurance
from several
sources
35%
Ditherer
5%
External
3) How do you approach a task?
Believe in the right
Good at
way to do things, Adapting and updating
Follows process
existing processes
40%
20%
Interested in the
Why not the How.
Starter, not always a
finisher
40%
4) Leading self and others
In it for
themselves Helper
3%
7%
Potential Leader
Influencer
75%
15%
Know what needs done
Y
N
Y
Y
Know what others have to do
N
Y
Y
Y
Find it easy to tell them
N
Y
N
Y
5) Do you prefer to work alone?
Want to work alone and
will want to have sole
responsibility
20%
Strongly prefer being in a
team and sharing
responsibility
60%
Like to manage
others and have
control and take
responsibility
20%
6) How do you manage change?
Distrust
Change
Like stability with a bit of
variation
10%
Job
Change
(years)
> 10
55%
7
3
Change is
fine
Change for
the sake of
change
25%
10%
1-2
<1
7) Do you prefer details or the big picture?
Details then
Big Picture
Specific
Details (Inductive Thinker)
5%
10%
Big picture
then details
(Deductive Thinker)
75%
Big
Picture
10%
8) Time Traveler
Spontaneous and
flexible. Often late for
meetings, lives for
the moment
50%
Structured, list maker
and on time for
meetings and plans
for the future
50%
Supporting and serving
Match their most prevalent dimensions then lead.
Training course illustration:
External: I’ve heard a lot of good comments about this training course and I
don’t see any problem in letting you have the time out for this. You should be
able to check your progress with the others on the course. When you get back
we can have a review and we can talk about any changes in how you work
based on the course.
Internal: I am glad you feel you need training it his area, no doubt you will
know quickly if its is right for you when you read the syllabus. Let me know
and we can sort out dates.
Why did they do that?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
They don’t care because they
don’t understand the need.
It is not their priority.
They don’t know what they are
supposed to do.
They don’t know how to do it.
They think your way will not work.
They think their way is better.
There is no reward or recognition
for doing it.
They think they ARE doing it.
There are positive consequences
for not doing it.
Fournies, F. F. (1999) Why Employees Don’t Do
What They Are Supposed To Do.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
There are negative consequences
for them from doing it.
They anticipate a negative
consequence.
There are no negative
consequences for poor
performance.
There are obstacles beyond their
control.
Their personal limits prevent them
from performing.
It is not possible.
They have personal problem
Hiring - Scrum Master
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Inwards
Procedural
Follower
Individual
Stability
Towards goals
Outwards
Options
Influencer
Manage others
Change
Little chunk
Big chunk
Short term
Long term
Hiring – Transformation Lead
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Inwards
Procedural
Follower
Individual
Stability
Towards goals
Outwards
Options
Influencer
Manage others
Change
Little chunk
Big chunk
Short term
Long term
If agility became a person…
We have come to value:
Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools
Working software over
comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over
contract negotiation
Responding to change over
following a plan
That is, whilst there is value in the
items on the right, we value the
items on the left more.
http://agilemanifesto.org
Virtual Teams
Motivating and
leading across
cultures
Virtual Teams
Identity
Identity
Identity
Values & beliefs
Values & beliefs
Values & beliefs
Skills & capabilities
Skills & capabilities
Skills & capabilities
Behaviour
Behaviour
Behaviour
Environment/infrastructure
Customer & Users
Environment/infrastructure
Onshore Teams
Environment/infrastructure
Offshore teams
Virtual Distance is a new term coined to describe the distance-related factors that
affect us most in the Digital Age.
Thought Experiment
Technology is the cause not the solution
• We can consider that the internet has been a primary driver
in todays globalisation
• We know though that physical distance can create barriers to
communication even with technology-enhanced collaboration
tools. Here are just a few examples:
– 30 meters was found to be the physical limit for face-to-face communications
in the mid-1950s, when telephones were available to bridge geographic
distance.
– Half a century later, in 2004, studies found that people cooperate less,
deceive more, and are less persuaded when just the “perception” of physical
distance increases.
– Ethical choices and emotional attachment are both heavily influenced by
physical closeness.
Technology is the cause not the solution
• We can consider that the internet has been a primary driver
in todays globalisation
• We know though that physical distance can create barriers to
communication even with technology-enhanced collaboration
Trust is a willingness to believe that
tools. Here are just a few examples:
another will perform a task, even
– 30 meters was found to be the physical limit for face-to-face communications
though
are were
no guarantees
in the mid-1950s,
whenthere
telephones
available to bridge geographic
distance.
– Half a century later, in 2004, studies found that people cooperate less,
deceive more, and are less persuaded when just the “perception” of physical
distance increases.
– Ethical choices and emotional attachment are both heavily influenced by
physical closeness.
National cultures
Moral
Work
Personal
Cultural (group)
National and/or
organisational
USA
India
China
Russia
UK
Typical partners
and/or suppliers
Working with global teams
Quick Decisions,
Flat Organisations
Mostly independent,
“I” not “We
India
China
Russia
USA
UK
Show of hands
Success orientated,
Driven (Masculine)
Working with global teams
Quick Decisions,
Flat Organizations
Mostly independent,
“I” not “We
Success orientated,
Driven (Masculine)
India
No - employees expect boss
make decisions and to give
direction
No – employees expect a
‘paternal’ employer and getting
on based on relationships
Yes – moderately and perhaps the
long history of asceticism tempers an
underlying drive somewhat
China
No – employees are managed
through sanction and
hierarchal authority
No – employees committed to
the organization but not
necessarily the people
Yes – strongly success orientated and
work trumps leisure
status and top down
mandates
No – employees rely on trusted
relationships to get information
and do their work
No – most professionals are expected
to has a modest standard of living and
understate their achievements
USA
Yes – employees and
managers expect participate
and be consulted
Yes – employees expect to be
self-reliant and to display
initiative. Merit is rewarded
Yes – strive to be the best they can be
and display and talk freely about
success and achievement
UK
Yes - employees expect ‘fair
play’ and to be treated in
some way as equals
Yes – employees expect to think
for themselves and to have their
privacy respected
Yes – people have a clear
performance ambition beneath the
modesty and understatement
Russia No – employees expect role
Geert Hofstede: Cultures and Organisation:
also The Hofstede centre
Long Term or Short Term thinkers
Long term views?
India
Yes - Pragmatic culture. Time is not linear, and thus not as
important as to western societies. Typically forgiving a lack
of punctuality, a changing game-plan based on changing
reality. rather than playing to an exact plan.
China
Yes – Very. Persistence and perseverance are normal.
Relationships are ordered by status and the order is
observed. Not probabilistic thinkers.
USA
No -American businesses measure their performance on a
short-term basis, with profit and loss statements being
issued on a quarterly basis. This also drives individuals to
strive for quick results within the work place. There is also a
need to have the “absolute truth” in all matters.
UK
No - planning horizons tend to be short and business
particularly is very focused on short term quarterly goals and
quick results.
Geert Hofstede: Cultures and Organisation:
also The Hofstede centre
Each has significant differences
120
100
80
UK
60
CHINA
INDIA
40
20
0
Hierarchy
Individualism
Masculinity
Long term
Succeeding with Virtual Distance
• Research into virtual distance indicates Trust
and 2 additional factors for successful virtual
teams
Trust
Role and Goal Clarity
Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors
Uniting the Virtual Workforce: Karen Sobel Lojeski:
Lets try an example…
Identity
Role and Goal
clarity
Mission and Vision of the team for the specific project.
Values
Integrity
What we value in our team to build trust. These lead to
behaviors.
Capabilities
Confidence
Any specific capabilities the team will need to acquire or
resource.
Behavior
Consistency
Meeting and communications etiquette for the team. Specific
ways of working.
Environment
Reliability
Work and breakout space, communications systems, tools.
Creating the Team ‘Brand’
Identity
We exist to create a xyz system and achieve the project goals
pqr. Key players, photographs, outside activities pet hates…
Values
We deliver value to the business. We will be open to others’
opinions, acknowledge others’ achievements, apologize when
things go wrong, and be a high performance team.
Capabilities
Be prepared to learn and share skills and work outside our
main subject area is we see the need. We will use a team skill
matrix to identify learning opportunities.
Behavior
Etiquette: 1 day max before response on email, let others
know if you can’t make a meeting, offer help, let others know
if you are struggling, update charts in real time.
Environment
Email for document transfer, complex areas requiring thought,
Teleconf for regular meetings, Video conf for major issues and
Sharepoint for collaboration
To wrap-up…
•
•
You need to understand yourself before you can understand others!
Remember the importance of people when undertaking an agile
transformation, or any change
• Further information available, including:
– Organisational Alignment Self-Assessment
People
Traits, Behaviours,
Competences, Skills
Solution
knowledge
Processes
& Tools
Sector
knowledge
Hughes, B. (Ed.) (2004)
Further reading
Books
NLP Business Masterclass: Second edition
David Molden, Publisher: FT Press,
Print ISBN-10: 0-273-70790-6
NLP FOR PROJECT MANAGERS: Peter Parks
Publisher: British Informatics Society Limited
Print ISBN-13: 978-1-906124-68-7
Cultures and Organizations: Geert Hofstede
Publisher: Profile Books. Print: ISBN:1-86197-543-0
Uniting the Virtual Workforce: Karen Sobel Lojeski:
Richard R. Reilly Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Print ISBN 13: 978-0-470-19395-2
Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: Terri Morrison; Wayne A.
Conway. Publisher: Adams Media.
Print ISBN 1-59337-368-6
Articles
Offshoring: What can go wrong? Norman Maltof:
Journal: IT Professional, vol 7, No 4 pp 29-45
Offshore Outsourcing of IT Work, Client and Supplier
Perspectives: Mary C. Lacit; Joseph W. Rottman
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
How to get in touch…
Stephen McAinsh
e: [email protected]
m: 07531 014076
t: @agilescot
Irwin Fletcher
e: [email protected]
m: 07501 973410
t: @AsIrwinSays