Leadership and its influence on Agile Coaching

1. Ajit Singh Arora
EMAIL- AJIT.ARORA@HCENTIVE.COM, SENDTOAJIT@GMAIL.COM
PHONE- +91-981-024-8737
LINKEDIN- HTTPS://IN.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/AJIT-ARORA-425A349

2. What are we going to learn?
- Leadership
- Evolution
- New Game; New Rules
- Leadership and Agile Coaching
- The Model
- Coaching Leaders
- Leader to Servant Leader Journey
- 6…1 – words to remember
- Catalyzing agile leaders - for new game with new rules
- Case Studies
NEVER STOP LEARNING, BECAUSE LIFE NEVER STOPS TEACHING

3. The specific takeaways you’ll get-
- Hmmm…some new thoughts about leadership…hopefully 
- Leadership Agile Coaching
- Leader Agile Catalyst Leader
- Create catalyst agile leaders
BE CURIOUS, NOT JUDGMENTAL – WALT WHITMAN

4. Leadership – Evolution
The “Trait” Era
(mid 1800’s -
1940’s)
Behavioral
Theories – The
“Style” Era
(1940’s -1960’s)
The
“Contingency”
Era
(1960’s – 1980’s)
Transactional &
Transformation
Theories – The
“New”
Leadership Era
(1980’s – 1990’s
and beyond)
The “Post-
transformational
” Era/Adaptive
Leadership
(2000’s &
beyond)
Concern
for
People
Concern
for
Results
“CAN LEADERSHIP BE MADE?” VS “HOW LEADERSHIP CAN BE MADE?”

5. Leadership – new game; new rules
Source: Job Satisfaction Index 2015 – Happiness Research Institute
88%
Impact
on the
world
63%
Socially
Respon-
sible
37%Supports
a cause
Barkley advertising agency study on
“the Millennials” (born 1980-2003)

6. Leadership and Agile Coaching – The Model
Mindset, Philosophy,
Culture and Thinking
•Encourages
•Challenges
•Motivates
•Orchestrates
•Engages
•Help reinvent
•Strong feedbacks
Leaders
•Visible and Transparent
•Value Focused
•Business Focused
•Feedback Oriented
•Develop people
•Improve Collaboration
Feedback Feedback
Honesty
Commit
ment
Transpar
ency
Agile
Coach
“SYSTEM SHALL FIND YOUR WEAKNESSES BUT THAT'S THE POINT.”

7. 54%
Inability to
change
org culture
42%
General
resistance
to change
Sustainable Agile Adoption
Version One “State of Agile” survey
Coaching Leaders
Predict-and-Plan
•Future is, indeed,
predictable
•Events & outcomes are
by their nature stable
•Capable of seeing or
predicting all relevant
variables of a future
situation
•Cause-and-effect is
stable and linear
•Work with functional
and departmental silos
•Most big things are
planned ahead of time
Sense-and-
Respond
•Future cannot be
predicted
•Things will change,
unexpected and
unwelcome ways
•Cannot see or
anticipate all relevant
variables of a future
situation
•Make decisions
quickly, and with
limited information
•Make things visible
and transparent
•Know how to give and
receive feedbacks

8. Coaching Leaders
Leader to Servant Leader
• LEADING BY SERVING
• SERVING BY LEADING
THE TEST OF LEADERSHIP IS NOT TO PUT GREATNESS INTO HUMANITY, BUT TO ELICIT IT, FOR THE GREATNESS IS
ALREADY THERE – JAMES BUCHANAN

9. Leading by serving
• An environment in which each person is valued
• Team member’s success, happiness and growth are paramount concerns.
• Enriched and satisfied people contribute excellent results to organization.
Serving by leading
• Model the behavior and actions that will guide the team members
• Hold the vision for the team and demonstrate excellent results through
actions
THE AIM OF LEADERSHIP IS NOT MERELY TO FIND AND RECORD FAILURES OF MEN, BUT TO
REMOVE THE CAUSES OF FAILURE.

10. Coaching Leaders
6,5,4,3,2,1…ignite…here it goes…up, up and up
6 I admit that I was wrong
5 You did a great job/You were fantastic
4 What do you think?
3 Could you please…
2 Thank you
1 WE

11. Catalyzing Agile Leaders
Agile Leader’s Roadmap

12. Leadership and Engagement
Role: Coach-Leader
Principle: Leaders grow other leaders
Psychological Window
Competencies and Products
Role: Process-Leader
Principle: Be a champion of Agile
Process Thinking
Behavioral Window
Organizational Culture & Shared
Vision
Role: Facilitative-Leader
Principle: Foster a culture of trust,
empowerment and accountability
Cultural Window
Organizational Architecture &
Shared Vision
Role: Systems-Leader
Principle: Become obsessed with the
flow of value
System Window
TheAgileLeader’sCompass
AS AN AGILE LEADER, IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHICH WINDOW YOU NEED TO LOOK FROM
FOR A SPECIFIC SITUATION, IN ORDER TO ASSUME APPROPRIATE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

13. Thoughts on leadership styles
•Common style in “Technology”
•Problem Solver
•Technically focused at job
•Effectiveness: Manager has more
knowledge than reportee
•Concerns: Limits the growth of sub-
ordinates
Expert
•Central decision maker
•Manages across individuals, teams
and departments
•Manages across individuals, teams
and departments
•Effectiveness: Organization requires
co-ordination for peak performance
•Concerns: Conflict push upwards –
boss to fix
Conductor
•Teaches agile mindset
•Teaches lean-agile principles, culture
and practice
•Teaches agile product approach -
MVP
Developer of
People

14. Doing Agile
• Rules and Procedures
• Knowledge intellectual
• Skills
• One Truth
Being Agile
• Principles & Values
• Knowledge intuitive
• Beliefs and values
• Multiple truths possible

15. Leader as Developer of People
Teaches lean agile principles, culture and practices

16. Leader as Developer of People
Teaches agile product approach – MVP

17. Leaders; follow Murphy and prepare
yourself

18. Nothing is ever as simple as it first seems
Everything you decide to do costs more than first estimated
Every activity takes more time than you have
It's easier to make a commitment or to get involved in something than to get out of it.
Whatever you set out to do, something else must be done first
If you improve or tinker with something long enough, eventually it will break
By making something absolutely clear, somebody will be confused.
Murphy’s Classics

19. Questions?

20. References
• The Agile Leader White paper – Agile coaching institute
http://www.agilecoachinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/whitePaper-ACI-The-Agile-
Leader-Jan-2015.pdf
• The Evolution of Leadership
http://skeptikai.com/2015/12/08/the-evolution-of-leadership/
• Crisp’s blog - http://blog.crisp.se/2015/11/10/henrikkniberg/what-is-an-agile-leader
• Niranjan Nerlige V - Scrum Gathering SE Asia 2015 talk-
http://www.slideshare.net/niranjannerlige/w-49058920

21. ThankYou