A couple of weeks ago, I delivered the first version of my Free Your Agile Team talk at Agile New England. Here's a direct link to the video.
I spoke about the problem of a framework-first approach to transforming to an agile culture. I also spoke about the plethora of team-based coaches and the insufficiency of management coaching. (I based the talk on Create Your Successful Agile Project, but I didn't stop there.)
Successful agile organizations change their culture. Everyone, especially middle managers, focus on flow efficiency and collaboration (the subtitle of the talk).
Some of the Q&A was fascinating. I said that we needed to change how people get some of their compensation. I might have left the impression that I advocate only team-based compensation. I do not. However, if we want people to collaborate in teams we need to recognize and reward them for collaborating on the work, offering each other feedback and coaching.
I wrote about some of these issues in a series: Creating Agile HR, Part 1: What HR Does. (Yes, there are 8 parts!)
Here's part of my double-loop learning:
- People want to do something that works.
- Managers and people in leadership positions want to do the right thing. They don't know what that is. Or, if they know, they can't figure out how to do it here.
- I need to write the modern management mindset and the agile management books. I need to take the time to explain more about why managers should not assess the “performance” of individuals and how we can create ease for the teams.
We had a technical issue so you can't see me roll my eyes for the first 30 minutes of the video. You can hear me and see the slides. You don't get the animation.
Too often, managers don't realize that the system they create and reinforce—and the frameworks they impose on teams—imprisons the people. Instead of freeing them to do great work.
If you have questions, please post them here and I will answer them.