Transitioning to Agile Leadership

AW1
Agile Leadership
6/7/2017 11:30:00 AM
AW1 Transitioning to Agile Leadership
Presented by:
Jennifer Bonine
tap|QA
Brought to you by:
350 Corporate Way, Suite 400, Orange Park, FL 32073
888-‐268-‐8770 ·∙ 904-‐278-‐0524 - info@techwell.com - https://www.techwell.com/

Jennifer Bonine
tap|QA
A VP of global delivery and solutions for tap|QA, Inc., Jennifer Bonine began her
career in consulting, implementing large ERP solutions. Jennifer has held
executive level positions leading development, quality assurance and testing,
organizational development, and process improvement teams for Fortune 500
companies in several domains. In an engagement for one of the world's largest
technology companies, Jennifer served as a strategy executive and in corporate
marketing for the C-Suite. In her career, she has had several opportunities to
build global teams from the ground up and has been fortunate to see how many
of the world's top companies operate from the C-Suite viewpoint.

© The Insights Group Ltd, 2009. All rights reserved.
© The Insights Group Ltd, 2009. All rights reserved
Insights Discovery and Insights Learning Systems were originated by Andi and Andy Lothian.
Insights, Insights Discovery and the Insights Wheel are registered trademarks of The Insights Group Ltd.
.
Transitioning to Agile Leadership:
Understanding your Leadership Style
Beginning the Journey …
Facilitated By:
Jennifer Bonine

Our newest tester…

What Do You Think?
Harvard Business Review 2002
What percentage of business issues are due
to the lack of inter-personal communication
skills not the competencies of the parties?
87%

“All our knowledge has its
origins in perceptions.”
Leonardo da Vinci
Compass Learning Guide – The Key to Personal Effectiveness – Section 1.3

Perception
You will see
the world
differently
from the way
other people
see it.
Page 7

Perception
News Flash: Cmabrigde Uinervtisy Rscheearch
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll
raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid
deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wlohe.
The mind interprets patterns based on past
experience – or on patterns it already
knows

M
R
I
OST
ESPECTFUL
NTERPRETATION
Insights Discovery and Insights Learning Systems were originated by Andi and Andy Lothian. Insights, Insights Discovery and the Insights Wheel are registered trademarks of The Insights Group Ltd.

Interpersonal Communication
According to Albert Mehrabian:
• 7% Words - Literal
• 38% Tone of Voice - Interpretation
• 55% Context, Body Language -
Interpretation
• In other words…
Communication is 7% about WHAT you say
and 93% about WHO you say it to!

How many times do they bounce the
2 basketballs?

© The Insights Group Ltd, 2009. All rights reserved
Insights Discovery and Insights Learning Systems were originated by Andi and Andy Lothian.
Insights, Insights Discovery and the Insights Wheel are registered trademarks of The Insights Group Ltd.
.
Leadership in Color

What is
Leadership?
12

Leadership has been described as "a process of social
influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support
of others in the accomplishment of a common task” For
example, some understand a leader simply as somebody
whom people follow, or as somebody who guides or directs
others, while others define leadership as "motivating and
organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal"
Leadership can
be…

Peter Principle
• The Peter Principle is a concept in management theory
in which the selection of a candidate for a position is
based on the candidate's performance in their current
role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role.
Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they
can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to
the level of their incompetence."
14

Peter Principle
15

Lead by
Example
• Leading by example sounds easy, but few leaders are
consistent with this one. Successful leaders practice
what they preach and are mindful of their actions. They
know everyone is watching them and therefore are
incredibly intuitive about detecting those who are
observing their every move, waiting to detect a
performance shortfall.
• In other words – fill the Keurig when its empty
16

Make Others Feel
Safe to Speak-Up
• Many times leaders intimidate their colleagues with their
title and power when they walk into a room. Successful
leaders deflect attention away from themselves and
encourage others to voice their opinions. They are
experts at making others feel safe to speak-up and
confidently share their perspectives and points of view.
They use their executive presence to create an
approachable environment.
• Or simply be human.
17

Make
Decisions
• Successful leaders are expert decision
makers.
– That does not mean they know everything,
but rather they know how to arrive at a
solution
18

Communicate
Expectations
• Successful leaders are great communicators, and this is
especially true when it comes to “performance
expectations.” In doing so, they remind their colleagues
of the organization’s core values and mission statement
– ensuring that their vision is properly translated and
actionable objectives are properly executed.
• In other words – set boundaries and enforce
with carrots and sticks.
19

Challenge People to
Think
• The most successful leaders understand their
colleagues’ mindsets, capabilities and areas for
improvement. They use this knowledge/insight
to challenge their teams to think and stretch
them to reach for more. These types of leaders
excel in keeping their people on their toes, never
allowing them to get comfortable and enabling
them with the tools to grow.
• In other words – delegate don’t dictate
20

Invest in
Relationships
• Successful leaders don’t focus on protecting their domain
– instead they expand it by investing in mutually
beneficial relationships. Successful leaders associate
themselves with “lifters and other leaders” – the types of
people that can broaden their sphere of influence. Not
only for their own advancement, but that of others.
• In other words – care.
21

cheerful reflective concise
challenging
caring
assertive
enthusiastic determined
firm
factual well-argued reliable
accommodating objective active steady
fun
sensitive
accurate tactful driving constant structured harmonious
strong-willed
purposeful
convincing
cautious
calculating
amenable
persuasive patient influencing
diplomatic
logical sociable
outgoing courageous
co-operative
forceful
conventional
optimistic
mobile
friendly
stable consistent
decisive
correct
loyal calm daring
analytical engaging
exactimpulsive realistic
Page 12

challenging
caring
assertive
firm
fun
sensitive
strong-willed
purposeful
convincing
cautious
calculating
amenable
diplomatic
logical sociable
outgoing courageous
co-operative
forceful
conventional
optimistic
mobile
friendly
stable consistent
decisive
correct
loyal calm daring
analytical engaging
challenging
caring
assertive
firm
fun
sensitive
strong-willed
purposeful
convincing
cautious
calculating
amenable
diplomatic
logical sociable
outgoing courageous
co-operative
forceful
conventional
optimistic
mobile
friendly
stable consistent
decisive
correct
loyal calm daring
analytical engaging

Color Worksheet
• Circle as many words on the paper that
describe you
• Can circle as many as you want or as few
as you want
• Circle only the words that describe you or
you would use to describe you
• ……..Count up how many of each color

Insights Discovery Color Energies
Competitive
Demanding
Determined
Strong-willed
Purposeful
Sociable
Dynamic
Demonstrative
Enthusiastic
Persuasive
Caring
Encouraging
Sharing
Patient
Relaxed
Cautious
Precise
Deliberate
Questioning
Formal
Aggressive
Controlling
Driving
Overbearing
Intolerant
Excitable
Frantic
Indiscreet
Flamboyant
Hasty
Docile
Bland
Plodding
Reliant
Stubborn
Stuffy
Indecisive
Suspicious
Cold
Reserved
Fiery
Red Energy
Sunshine
Yellow Energy
Cool
Blue Energy
Earth
Green Energy

Let’s Talk Colors
Do
it NOW
Do it
TOGETHER
Do it
HARMON-
IOUSLY
Do
it RIGHT

Topics:
þ Agile Leadership
þ Building Trust
þ Building High Performance Team Members
þ Leading Productive Meetings
þ Corrective Action Plans
2

© 2008 - 2012 Leffingwell, LLC, Scaled Agile, Inc. and Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 4
Agile Leadership

Servant Leadership
“Good leaders must first become good servants”
– Robert Greenleaf, the father of Servant Leadership
A servant-leader knows that their own growth
comes from facilitating the growth of others, who
deliver the results.
Fons Trompenaars, Ed Voerman. Servant Leadership Across Cultures.

Exercise
Who are the two people that have influenced
your character the most?
4 Can be historical figure or living person
4 What qualities do you admire most about
them?
4 Discuss with partner.
Timebox:
5 minutes

The Servant Leader:
.
4Listens to and supports team members in decision-
identification and decision-making
4Understands and empathizes with others
4Encourages and supports the personal development of
each individual
4Persuades, rather than uses authority
4Thinks beyond day-to-day realities
4Looks for where he/she could help without diminishing
others’ commitment
4Builds Trust with followers

Building Trust
Trusted
Advisor
Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy
Self-Orientation
=
Source: David Maister, Charles Green, Robert Galford. Trusted Advisor

Start the Chain
Reaction…Servant Leadership spreads virally “by example”. Scrum Masters ignite
the
process. In turn, team members are eager to help and serve others.
Scrum Master
Other teams in the program
Product Owner
Other SMs
in SoS
* Fons Trompenaars, Ed Voerman. Servant Leadership Across Cultures.
.

Building High Performance
Team members

Building world-class teams
4 T-shaped people have
4 a deep interest and expertise in
one area
4 branch out into many different
areas of knowledge
4 The 10-year rule

Building world-class
teams
Panic Zone
Learning Zone
Comfort
Zone

Leading Productive meetings

The Five Dysfunctions of a
Team
Teamwork is the ultimate
competitive advantage.
But, many teams are
dysfunctional
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni

Identifying Trust in
Teams
39© 2008 - 2012 Leffingwell, LLC, Scaled Agile, Inc. and Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
4 Conceal weaknesses and mistakes
from one another
4 Hesitate to ask for help or offer help
outside their area of responsibility
4 Jump to conclusions about the
intentions and aptitudes of others
without attempting to clarify them
4 Waste time and energy on
managing behaviors for effect
4 Dread meetings and find reasons to
avoid spending time together
4 Admit weaknesses and mistakes
4 Ask for help and accept questions
and input about their area of
responsibility
4 Give one another the benefit of the
doubt before arriving at a negative
conclusion
4 Focus time and energy on important
issues, not politics
4 Look forward to working as a group
4 Take risks on offering feedback

Building Trust in Teams
ØFormal approaches
üPersonal history
üTeam effectiveness exercise
üPersonality profiles
ü360-Degree feedback
üExperiential team exercises
OR
Ø Work based approach
ü Commit to short focused goals where
you focus on results and build trust through work

Scrum Master as Coach
Moving away from
4 Coordinating individual
contributions
4 Being a subject-matter
expert
4 Being invested in specific
outcomes
4 Knowing the answer
4 Directing
4 Driving
4 Talk of deadlines and
technical options
4 Talk of doing the optimal
thing
4 Fixing problems
Scrum Master behaviors become coaching behaviors when…
Moving towards
4 Coaching the whole team towards
collaboration
4 Being a facilitator
4 Being invested in the team’s
overall performance
4 Asking the team for the answer
4 Letting the team find their own way
4 Talk of business value delivery
4 Talk of doing the right thing for the
business right now
4 Have the right Story, State, and
Strategy
Lyssa Adkins. Coaching Agile Teams.

Daily Scrum (standup)
MeetingIn the Daily, 15 minute Scrum, Scrum Master helps the team
efficiently share knowledge, status and commitments.
4 Start at the same time every day
4 Timeboxed to 15 minutes max.
4 Run in front of a BVIR
4 Use simple structure:
Opening
Team member report
Brief discussion
Closing
Meet after
1 min
0.5 – 1.5 min
0 – 1.5 min
1 min
as much
as needed…
Set positive and productive tone for the meeting
The three questions
Questions, clarifications
Set productive tone for the day
Discuss issues that require more time

Make results visible with BVIR

Effective Agile Meetings
Efficient face-to-face communication is facilitated by simple tools
4 Always have sufficient whiteboards, flipcharts,
markers, stickies and… camera to capture the
content
4 “…there is a linear correlation between
design workshop effectiveness and the amount
of whiteboard space” *
* Adapted from Larman and Vodde, “Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile
Development”

The 3 + 1 Questions in
More Depth
4 What did I do lately (yesterday)?
–Early story completion? Or a DBT cycle of a story?
–Completion of a known dependency?
–Resolving someone’s blocker?
–Changes in interfaces, design, or infrastructure?
–New experience, process, practice?
4 What I’m going to work on now (today)?
–Someone’s dependencies on me?
–My dependencies on the others?
–Expectation of early story completion, or a DBT cycle?
–Start from the end: what is the expected tangible result
4 What’s blocking me?
–Did I change the story/task order?
–Not a blocker but risk or difficulty or a slow-down factor?
4 Am I landing my piece in this iteration?
–Landing all my stories?
–All fully implemented, tested, deployed, etc?

Working Agreements
Working agreements facilitate conflict management. Have them. Keep them
visible.
As a participant on this team, I agree and
acknowledge that:
4 I am committed to the team’s objectives and goals
4 I respect other people opinions, even when they
contradict or conflict with mine
4 If we cannot reach unanimity, I will seek and support a consensus
decision
4 I will at all times avoid blocking my team from
moving forward
4 Whether or not team decision coincides with mine, I will do my best
implementing it

Avoid this at any cost

Continuous
ImprovementAgile teams continuously adapts to new circumstances and improves
the methods of value delivery
4 Understand where you are
4 Foster the culture of “improving everywhere”
4 Use retrospectives as summary points but not
a limitation
4 Amplify learning
4 Actively engage with other SMs to drive
improvement on the program level

Corrective Action Plan

After we determine we have a problem,
what’s next?
a. Ignore it - the problem may go away
b. Blame it on another team
c. Blame it on the business owner
d. Blame it on another program
e. Create a Corrective Action Plan
Answer:
e. Create a Corrective Action Plan
Houston, we have a
problem. Houston, we
have a
problem...

Corrective Action Plan
What is a Corrective
Action Plan anyway?
Corrective – A different course
of action
Action – Active steps we can
realistically accomplish
Plan – Organized, purposeful,
accountable, measurable
©

Effective Corrective Action Plans
1. State the new problem (the
selected root cause)
succinctly
2. Brainstorm a solution. Divide
into discrete activities.
3. Establish accountability
4. Specify measurable results
5. Set achievable deadlines
6. Monitor progress

Effective
Corrective
Action Plans
Value =
Why
How
Source: David Hussman. Dude’s Law, inspired by Ohm’s Law: I=
V/R

Exercise –
Corrective
Action Plan
Build Your Corrective Action Plan
4 Pick the top root cause
4 Build a corrective action plan. This will
create your program improvement backlog items
4 Prepare to present your results

Committing to Action & Personal
Reflection:
• As you continue your journey, think about:
•What did I discover about myself as a
leader?
•What do I appreciate about the styles of
others?
•How will I adapt my behaviour to get better
results?
•What is my key action?

Jennifer Bonine
jbonine@tapqa.com

Transitioning to Agile Leadership

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