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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Learnings


Earlier in December, I had the incredible opportunity of attending a seminar on Coaching Agile Teams, presented by Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd. I learned quite a bit, not only from the presenters, but from the other attendees. Days later, I gave a presentation on agile coaching to many of my Sogeti colleagues in Colorado (hurrah for Saturday seminars!), where I learned even more.

A short sampling:
  1. Move – Whenever you try to learn something, use your whole body to help you understand. We had many exercises where movement was involved – either trying to talk to as many of the 28 participants as possible, or identifying our opinions through proximity to a “base” – the statement.
  2. Listen – There are several levels of listening. When I am creating my witty or thoughtful response or wondering what I’m going to make for dinner, I’m not listening to you. When I can stay focused on what you are talking about and how it affects YOU, I’m listening to you.
  3. Ask questions – and not just any kind of question. We learned about powerful questions. These promote inspection and reflection. They help open you up to possibilities that may not have even been on your radar before. What was motivating you? What else? What would happen if ----?
  4. Everyone’s right, partially – One of my favorite working agreements from the group. You may not see eye-to-eye with someone, but if you remember that they may have some element of “rightness” in their statement, you can start to work on the problem/issue faster, rather than arguing over particulars.
  5. Have fun – Life’s more fun when you’re able to see the humor in situations. Laugh at your own mistakes frequently. They won't seem so bad.
  6. Learn from everyone – We all have pretty amazing journeys that got us where we are now. We have all gained knowledge along the way.
  7. Learn from yourself – Hmm, Lyssa and Mike gave instructions this way; I can try that too. Hrumph, it didn’t work as planned, but I can try it again, with this modification.
  8. Get help – Practicing agile can be tough, and finding your way in the company of others makes the journey that much more enjoyable.
  9. Celebrate! We all know about celebrating successes, but did you know you can celebrate failures as well? Try it. Yippee! I just broke the build!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Mistakes and High-Performing Teams


“Take Chances! Make Mistakes! Get Messy!” If you’re familiar with the Magic School Bus books and videos, you know this is the rally cry of Ms. Frizzle (science teacher extraordinaire) as she takes her class on incredible field trips – outer space, the Brazilian rainforest, even inside one of the students. No matter where the class journeys, the students face challenges, learn new information (about science and themselves), and return safely home, despite the mistakes and mishaps they face. When a teacher like “The Frizz” can provide a safe environment, where mistakes are okay, students learn faster and to a greater depth than in an environment where mistakes aren’t acceptable.
Similarly, an agile team environment where mistakes and learning are supported provides a safe place for the team to learn and gain knowledge, allowing them to move into the realm of high-performance. In fact, I would argue that a team must face bumps, bruises, and setbacks caused by mistakes and failure before it can become high-performing.
I hope most of you are familiar with Bruce Tuckman’s four stages of team development:
  • Forming: Everything’s new; everyone on the team wants to fit in, so conflict and risk are avoided.
  • Storming: The team starts to focus on the problems they need to solve; things don’t flow well; frustration abounds.
  • Norming: The team has addressed most of the rough spots identified in the storming phase; routines and ceremonies are established.
  • (High) Performing: High motivation and knowledge levels result in high performance; consensus is reached quickly; dissent is recognized by the team as useful.
We all aim to be at the performing stage, but we have to go through the other phases in order to reach that goal. It’s rare (if not impossible) for a team to move directly from forming to performing; that would be like running before you learned to crawl. In order to become a high-performing team, members need work through mistakes and failure, experiencing bumps and bruises. And team members must accept and support each other – even in failure. This supportive environment is the fertile ground from which the high-performing element can take off. Talk about team-building!
So, try something new with your team – take chances, make mistakes, get messy! With team support, you’ll be on your way to high-performance!

-- originally posted in Sogeti's regional newsletter, Life@Sogeti, December 9, 2011