The document outlines the concept of catalytic leadership, emphasizing the importance of fostering relationships, culture, and change to effectively lead agility transformations in organizations. It identifies key reasons for failures in agile projects, primarily linked to organizational culture, resistance to change, and lack of support, and offers practical strategies and frameworks, such as liberating structures, to facilitate leadership and enhance organizational dynamics. The content encourages individuals at all levels to assume leadership roles and create conducive environments by building trust, supporting communication, and empowering team members.

2. Define Catalytic Leadership
Relationships of Leadership, Change, and Culture
Leadership Concepts to Support Change:
1. Anyone
2. In the Small
3. Environment, Support, and Trust
Some Byproducts

3. A show of hands…
Who has had trouble with…
• Having people follow you as you tried to introduce ‘Agile’?
• Keeping good people as you went through change?
• Getting people to initiate change?

4. What is
Catalytic Leadership?

5. Catalyst :: an additional substance
that through its participation
increases the rateof a
(chemical) reaction and with
less energy
Wikipedia Definition (paraphrased)

6. inferring…

7. Catalytic Leadership
increases the rate of ____
with less effort

8. Fill in the _________Adoption
Transition
Transformation
Metamorphosis
Transmorgrification
…

9. … being able to
lead change
is important
because…

10. Agile Transformation
is
strategic in
nature.
(Transition, Adoption, etc.)

11. Top 5 Reasons Agile Projects Failed
Company philosophy/culture at odds w/core agile values
Lack of experience w/agile methods
Lack of Management Support
Lack of Support for Cultural Transition
External pressure to follow traditional waterfall processes
Ability to Change Org Culture 55%
General Resistance to Change 42%
Pre-existing non Agile Framework 40%
Personnel w/Agile Experience 39%
Management Support 38%
Sources: VersionOne State of Agile Survey 2016
Culture

12. • These same reasons have shown up!
• Just some mild shuffling around in percentages and
order.
• Consistently at the top is inability to change
organizational culture
Sources: VersionOne State of Agile Surveys 2010-15

13. “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.”
- Peter Drucker

14. Decisions  Habits  Culture
Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change,
Richard Nelson & Sidney Winder, 1982

15. Most organizations don’t make fully rationale decisions
those decisions are unknowingly steeped in their habits.
Evil is committed
by
the well-meaning
The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg

16. Decisions  Δ Habits  Δ Culture

17. • How do we lead this change?
• How do I begin to take action?
• How do I do this when I am not the CIO or other
executive?

18. "The only definition of a leader is
someone who has followers.”
- Peter Drucker

19. This means anyone can be a leader.
Corollary: you only have the authority
granted to you by others;
meaning you have constraints imposed
by their willingness

20. “It’s often easier to ask for forgiveness
than to ask permission.”
- RADM Grace Hopper

21. Start with decisions where
permission is unnecessary.

22. For meetings you conduct, could you do ANY of these?
• Post purpose and agendas in room
• Send these out in the invite
• Make these agenda items questions to answer vs bullet point lists
(“In what way will we measure the impact of this solution?”)
• Send out read-aheads before meetings
• Create a parking lot for off-topic items
• Use time-boxes on particular discussion points
• Use exercises vs free-form discussion
• Provide a visual means for seeing progress during the meeting
(Checklist, Meeting Kanban, pile of index cards with the topics on
them)
• Solicit input ahead of time for the agenda and find out concerns
• Use the invite lines: Required, Optional, FYI (that it is occurring)
What of these are synergistic? Which ones require another
one to be in place?

23. When learning information from another, could you
do ANY of these?
• Ask open-ended questions (Turn yes/no questions into --
what options do you think we have?)
• Ask about what things are most important
• Repeat/paraphrase what you heard and ask if you have
it right?
• Listen for changes in HOW the person tells you the
answer, not only what they say
• Be mindful of your own facial expressions or body
language

24. Something to remember…
Leadership in a traditional sense
tends to view it in terms of linear
transactions and roles, not organic
relationships between people
exerting influence.
-Gerald Weinberg
(paraphrased)

25. • In 1 min, by yourself, write down in WHAT WAYS my
examples (for learning info from another or
conducting organized meetings) may exert influence.
• Now pair up and for the next 2 min share and refine
your answers.
• Get into groups of 4, share your answers and select &
prioritize what you feel are the most important
reasons.
• You have 4 min. Elect a spokesperson
• Lastly, your spokesperson will share the top answer
that has not been previously selected – AND – if any
the other answers were previously selected.

26. A show of hands…
Could you…
• Introduce this in a meeting you attend?
• Suggest this as a way of ‘brainstorming’ ideas?
You just experienced a
Liberating Structure
called 1,2,4,ALL

27. For the next two slides,
record each concept you can
do where permission is
unnecessary.

28. Some other
Liberating
Structures
TRIZ /
List what you can do to get the worst possible result
Doing any of that? (be brutally honest)
Create actions to eliminate these behaviors
Appreciative Interviews /
Have another tell a story of something most proud of…
What made that possible?
Five Whys /
Ask why at least 5 times
Gets to root-cause
Lean Coffee /
Generate topics of interest
Prioritize
Openly Discuss in a timebox
Decide on actions to take
Vote to continue or dismiss
WINFY /
You generate what you need
ID who you need it from
Get unambiguous responses
from providers
The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures – Lipmanowicz & McCandless
Open Space /
Get a space
Create an invitation
Right people
Right time
Over when over
Only thing that could happen
Law of Two Feet

29. Some Fearless Change Patterns
Fearless Change and More Fearless Change – Manns & Rising
discuss the ideas at Brown Bags as everyone enjoys food
find an interested Guru, convert them, so they are on Your Side
get a Champion Skeptic,
someone that is a critic on the inside
create a Big Jolt by giving a well-known person
an invitation to present on the topic
periodically reflect to have an Evolving Vision
Piggyback on other ideas, work, or meetings to get the idea heard
show Sincere Appreciation to those that help you
show your passion as an Evangelist
find the Go-To Person for different critical issues
where you need help
Advertise Your Successes

30. 16How many of the sixteen did
you record?

31. approaches as
these low effort
Think of

32. = lower riskand

33. • Cultural Anthropology’s diffusion mechanisms
• Technological innovation’s adoption mechanism
Rely on…
not

34. Cultural Diffusion
Direct
Indirect
Forced
Mechanisms
Contagious
Expansion
Stimulus
Types

35. occur in
that you will lead
The changes
Environment
Support
Trust
Where did that come from..?

36. Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.

37. Environment ∆s
climate and structures,
Examples: the set of
communication paths, authority for
decisions, safety for open
discussions

38. “Leadership is the process of creating
an environment in which people
become empowered.”
-Gerald Weinberg

39. Example Environment Questions:
What stands in the way of change in terms of -
• team size?
• how management conveys direction?
• what happens when mistakes are made?
• rewards to people?

40. • In 1 min, by yourself, write down the environmental
concerns you have within your organization to
introducing change.
• Then pair up, review what you came up with and see
what is similar. You will have 2 min.
• After that, get into groups of 4, share your answers and
select & prioritize what you feel are the most important
concerns. Also refer to your handout, select a liberating
structure or fearless change pattern that the group feels
they can use to begin improving the environment with
respect to the top concern.
• You have 4 min. Elect a spokesperson
• Lastly, your spokesperson will share the top concern and
possible method to change it.

41. Support ∆s
beyond infrastructure needs…
how communications are conducted
and the resulting decisions

42. • Cognitive Empathy
• Curiosity
• Commitment
• Congruence
• Work towards shared
mental models
• Ask questions; look for
root-cause (not blame)
• Follow-through on
decisions
• Conversations and
dialogue about change
and alignment

43. Trust ∆s
how risk taking, and thus opening
vulnerability, between co-workers, and
between co-workers and supervisors
(granting authority) improves the climate

44. “Leadership is a two-way street,
loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect
for one's superiors; care for one's
crew.”
- RADM Grace Hopper

45. Trustor’s
Propensity
Trust
Perceived
Risk
Risk Taking in
the Relationship
Authority
Benevolence
Integrity
Factors of
Perceived
Trustworthiness
Outcomes
Model of Organizational Trust
“An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust”; Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman;
Academy of Management Review; 1995; page 715 (available at JSTOR)
Vulnerabilty

46. Trust-Building Examples:
Small (low risk) assignments
Promises made & kept (integrity)
Congruence with stated intention (benevolence)
Decisions made and not over-turned (authority)

47. Environment
Support
Trust

48. PART I:
• We’re going to divide up and represent 3 levels:
development team, middle management, and
executives
• Each of these will further be divided into 3 different
exercises:
• Piggybacking on concerns
• TRIZ
• Meeting their Needs
• I’ll pass out papers with the level + exercise & some
explanations on how to do the exercise

49. PART II:
• Our objective is to understand how we can lead at
these 3 levels in applying the Agile Principle:
“Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of
work not done – is essential.”
• Think in terms of environment (structure &
climate), support (decisions and how they are
communicated), and trust (opening mutual
vulnerability/dependency on the results)
• You will have a 12 minute time box to perform what
is on your instructions; the sheet has some time
guides.

50. Debrief
What were
your ahas?

51. Trustor’s
Propensity
Trust
Perceived
Risk
Risk Taking in
the Relationship
Authority
Benevolence
Integrity
Factors of
Perceived
Trustworthiness
Outcomes
How Fearless Change & Liberating Structures Fit
“An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust”; Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman;
Academy of Management Review; 1995; page 715 (available at JSTOR)
Vulnerabilty
TRIZ
Small Changes
Lower
Advertise
Successes
Just Do It
Ask for Help
WINFY
Sincere
Appreciation
Use a
Champion Skeptic

52. Environment
Support
Trust
Open
Space
Five
Whys
Appreciative
Inquiry
More How Fearless Change & Liberating Structures Fit

53. • Opens up more engagement
• Uses our normal networks to spread ideas
• Improves culture, trust, and ultimately change at a
natural pace
• Helps people align with purpose

54. What questions do you have?

55. Paul M. Boos
http://paulmboos.com
paul.boos@excella.com
@paul_boos
703-307-4322 (mobile)
Games for Agility, Learning,
and Engagement (GALE)
Agile Dialogues