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Change Agents Culture Organizational Change

Coaching in Times of Deep Organizational Change

When an organization makes an announcement they are letting people go, how should an organizational change coach respond?

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Culture Featured Incredible Teams

The Togetherness of Agile

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]Sometimes, all you need to do is listen. Stop what you are doing for a couple of minutes and just listen. Can you hear it? If you are striving to create a culture of agility, the sound you’re […]

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Culture Organizational Change Transformational Leadership

So Different…Yet Very Much the Same

I’m writing this in near total darkness during a planned power outage (called load shedding) in a time zone 7 hours ahead of my home in Chicago. Hang on battery…hang on! It’s been almost 8 weeks since I landed abroad to start an Agile coaching assignment. Admittedly, I was nervous. Would I be able to […]

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Change Agents Culture Organizational Change

What Agile Feels Like

After many conversations and observations over the past couple of years, it would seem a substantial number of organizations aren’t experiencing a meaningful improvement after a move to Agile. Sure, stories are being written, work is being done within sprints, and planning sessions are being facilitated. Perhaps a scaled framework has been introduced, full of […]

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Change Agents Culture

Creating an Environment of Confidence

When I enter an organization as a coach, I often find people (and sometimes whole teams or departments) suffering from low confidence. For individuals, this could stem from being in a new role, a history of not being given a chance to speak what is on their mind, or a mistreatment after they made a […]

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Change Agents Culture Organizational Change Transformational Leadership

Help! My Company is Stuck… (Part 2)

In Part 1 of Help! My Company is Stuck, we discussed a few of the stagnating scenarios found when organizations are attempting transformative movement towards greater agility and improved culture. In part 2, we’ll dig into a few of the more challenging situations you may be experiencing. Admittedly, many of these will require a coordinated, herculean, […]

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Culture Leadership

Disposable, Invisible, or Valuable

What do managers really think about the people who report to them? I have been in many conversations with managers about their direct reports and it’s fascinating how the dynamics of the conversation shift based on who they are talking about. Some people are their “rock stars” and when mentioned a manager would often perk up or […]

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Culture Incredible Teams

Becoming a “Move Together” Team

One of the pleasures of what I do is having a front row seat for the adventure people experience as they form and grow into incredible teams. While working with these teams, I am often reminded of a technique groups of mountain climbers will often use. When navigating glacier routes prone to crevices, climbers will […]

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Change Agents Culture Organizational Change

Releasing Organizational Scar Tissue

In a previous post, I mentioned how “scar tissue” begins to form in organizations. This scar tissue forms over time as a workforce becomes numbed or even wounded from negative experiences with leaders and co-workers. Organizational scar tissue is very similar to physical scar tissue as it… Can be long-lasting. Just as a simple scar […]

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Change Agents Culture Organizational Change

It’s Later Than You Think (Organizational Change and Mountain Climbing)

While writing my earlier post about Coaching Pull, I started to use a mountain climbing analogy but after a few edits it just didn’t seem to fit. But it did get me thinking… Having personally climbed a large mountain (or two) and being active in organizational change initiatives, it seems to me there are some […]

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Change Agents Culture Organizational Change

Steps to Invigorate Your Agile Transformation

It’s been a little more than 18 months since we initially launched our Agile transformation and 9 months since we formally moved from being project-based, siloed, and process heavy to become product-focused, collaborative, and agile.  We have made incredible strides throughout our transformation and have countless success stories from our journey – however – we […]

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Culture Organizational Change

Agile, Excellence, and The Dance

When writing the Agile Leadership Principles post and specifically, the principle around the expectation of excellence, I was reminded of a guest post that Seth Godin wrote for Tom Peters in 2010.  One paragraph in particular stood out for me: Excellence means that you’re indispensable. At least right now, in this moment, there’s no one […]