“Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire us to give the best of us. When we try to explain why they are so effective, we generally talk about strategy, vision or powerful ideas. But the reality is…
Category: Culture
Can we not play tug of war, please?
Have you encountered individuals who demanded to have templates to follow when you try to roll out agile? And if you don’t provide one, then you’re deemed not to know the process well? These kinds of individuals use their resistance…
You want us to do what?
Have you experienced either of these scenarios? The teams had “agile transformation” before, but those experiences left a sour taste in their mouths. They have “seen it all” and thought agile is nothing but a hyped up word, and they…
There are more than fight or flight options, aren’t there?
Let’s consider a different scenario: the executive management team was excited about agile and actively encouraged the company to go agile. They had taken the company on an 18-month agile transformation journey. They focused on being agile and wanted to…
Read More There are more than fight or flight options, aren’t there?
How do I know they are working hard? (Part 2)
Leadership Memo 2020-4 Last time, we were addressing this question: “How do I know that my employees are working instead of slacking off, watching Netflix all day?” We talked about trust being the most important. Trust the people who work…
Would you think that “blasé, nonchalant” are the synonyms for resistance?
Continuing with the same topic that I started, let’s consider one last scenario: He was the head of product development, and he never outright said no to agile. He thought agile is a development thing, nothing to do with him.…
Read More Would you think that “blasé, nonchalant” are the synonyms for resistance?
Flip flop on the road to nowhere
Continuing with the same topic that I started last time, let’s consider another scenario: This time, the CEO was very enthusiastic in the beginning when I told him what an agile organization meant. He liked what I told him, and…
Pride and ego, a sure recipe to block improvement
Let's consider a scenario: This one company hired me as head of program management to roll out agile. When I tried to set up cross-functional teams for better delivery, my boss, the Chief Product Officer (CPO), told me that my…
How do I know they are working hard? (Part 1)
Leadership Memo 2020-3 “The art of leadership consists in bringing and keeping people in the highest performance levels, and this happens when people are in the best state of personal well-being.” - Daniel Goleman I think we can all agree…
Do we need HR professionals in an agile world?
You may have noticed that in the past couple months, I have been writing about how to bring performance management and reward & recognition more aligned with agile values and principles. You may also notice that in many of my…