Agile implies change. But people do not want to be changed...

1. Change
Smidig 2014, Oslo
Author
Parent
Consultant
www.crisp.se
Henrik
Kniberg
henrik.kniberg@crisp.s
Organizational
coach & mentor
e
@HenrikKniberg

2. Exercise
Change something on yourself
right now
Change something on somebody
else
right now
Henrik Kniberg

3. Change is hard. And it takes courage.
Henrik Kniberg

4. Example: How to get a 6-year old to clean his
room
Henrik Kniberg
5

5. Bad strategies
Henrik Kniberg
I’ll give you ice cream if
You have to clean up you clean your room.
your room now! Or
else...
Look, I cleaned
your room for you!

6. What is my motive?
Clean room?
Teach him to take
responsibility for his room
... so he enjoys keeping it clean by himself
without me having to remind him.
... so that I save time…
Henrik Kniberg
... well, not really.
... and he learns a
valuable skill for life!

7. First step: change myself
”Coach”-mode instead of ”Authority”-mode
=> Don’t force him to do anything
=> Don’t do any of his work
Henrik Kniberg
MOTIVE
Won’t lose toys
Won’t step on things
More space to play & create
NEXT STEP
Pick up any single item,
decide where it lives,
put it there now
PROGRESS METER
”Look how clean THIS part of the
room is now!”
Pride of work: ”Look at how clean my
room is! Wouldn’t you like your room to
be as clean as mine? I can help you if
you like”
CURRENT SITUATION
Stuff everywhere
No clear space
DESTINATION
Clean room

8. Henrik Kniberg
No! I haven’t finished
color-sorting my socks!
Come on
son, dinner is
getting cold!

9. Experiment results, 5 years later...
Subject #1 Subject #2 Subject #3 Subject #4
Henrik Kniberg

10. Key elements of change
CURRENT LOCATION
Where are we right now?
Henrik Kniberg
MOTIVE
Why do we want to be there?
NEXT STEP
What is the next step
towards this destination?
PROGRESS METER
How will we know if we are
moving in the right direction?
DESTINATION
What is the destination?

11. Causes of resistance
Henrik Kniberg
MOTIVE
Don’t want to be there
NEXT STEP
Don’t see any path
PROGRESS METER
Don’t see that we are
making progress
DESTINATION
CURRENT SITUATION Don’t understand the destination
Don’t see the
current situation

12. Don’t sell Solutions. Sell Problems.
Henrik Kniberg
Forget it
No!
You
should X!
Are you happy
with the
current
situation?
What would you
like to be
different?

13. Ask the right question
(the Art of the Possible)
”Why can’t you” => ”Do you want to? How can you?”
We can’t X
Why not?
Henrik Kniberg
Well, yes!
If you could X,
would you want to?
What would it take to X?

14. Technique: Toyota Kata
Henrik Kniberg
Next Target
Actions
Awesome!
Now

15. Technique: evaluate all options
simultaneously
including status quo
5 = Great!
4 = Pretty good
3 = Acceptable, but barely
2 = Bad! But I may be convinced.
1 = Over my dead body!
Henrik Kniberg
Status quo

16. Patience!
Things usually get worse before they get
better
Performance
Henrik Kniberg
Time
Current
performanc
e
New
performanc
e
Anticipated
path
Actual path
”chaos”
The middle
looks like
failure!
(Satir change model)

17. You reap what you sow
Henrik Kniberg
THOSE guys
need to
change!
Root Cause Symptom

18. Change starts with YOU
Henrik Kniberg
19
Model the
behaviour you
want to see.
PS – Did the change stick?
If people don’t see the point of the change, it won’t stick.