Illustrated AgileLen Lagestee is an organizational change coach and blogger at www.illustratedagile.com. As a coach, Len is interacting with large organizations to connect people, revolutionize leadership, deliver results, and humanize the workforce.
A challenge many organizations face when navigating a transformational journey is how to integrate leaders into the change process. The change is often supported (or perhaps mandated) from the top and while they know their organizational culture must function different than what it is today, leaders often don’t realize how they will need to change. […]
In 2007, I had the opportunity to join a team of 12 to climb Aconcagua, a 23,000 foot mountain in the Andes of South America. While returning from setting up a high camp at 18,000 feet, our team encountered a bit of “turbulence.” A fast approaching storm hit the group and in an instant we […]
Have you ever been on a team when everything was “perfect” and conflict was avoided? Decisions were delayed and unique perspectives rarely brought forth. Perhaps you have been on a team with the other extreme – constant debates and collisions between team members were the norm. Conflict or disagreement within a team is inevitable but […]
You may find yourself a part of an organization faced with what may seem to be daunting cultural issues. Bureaucracy and politics are the norm and bloated, unproductive processes has demoralized a good slice of your workforce. Sooner or later, leaders in the company will recognize change must come or they are forced into it […]
One of the common complaints I hear from teams moving to an Agile approach are the number of meetings they must now attend. Planning sessions, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and product backlog grooming are now populating their calendar and they wonder when they will actually have time to work. When statements like this come […]
If your organization has recently started a transformation journey to become Agile or if you were recently hired into an Agile organization, it’s important to acknowledge where you are personally with the change happening around you. Your personal journey through an organizational transformation or immersion into an Agile environment will be a unique experience for […]
The need for visionary, transformational leaders becomes more prevalent every day as our workforce continues to evolve, our businesses adapt to change, and workplace culture becomes more important to our people. People deserve leaders who care and who desire to leave a positive leadership legacy. If you are looking for a couple of additions to […]
At the beginning of last year, I posted Three Resolutions for Scrum Masters to bring in 2012. For 2013, let’s go beyond resolutions and emphasize how you can leverage your Scrum Master role to become an indispensable person on your team throughout the year. Focus on Building Community. I recently wrote about how we should […]
I have written in the past how leaders will need to change how they lead and how organizations will need to be structured differently to stay competitive in the future. The demand for talent will continue to grow and only those who can adapt to these changes will thrive. This may not happen for years […]
Have you ever been assigned to multiple projects or teams at the same time? If so, I’m sure you have experienced the “curse of allocation.” You know how it goes. You are assigned to be 25% on this project and 50% on another one. Let’s throw in 20% to support an existing product and another […]
Teams influence individual performance in many ways. In a previous post, we talked about the Köhler effect – the impact of having team members with lesser skills working with stronger teammates to improve performance. In this case, being a part of a team is providing a positive influence. Another potential dynamic may be affecting your team […]
When establishing your Agile framework, there will often be times when you will need to reconcile how roles should interact with each other. This will especially be the case with roles OUTSIDE of your framework such as with senior leadership and operations. To assist in finding role clarity, a “needs-based exercise” was developed to identify […]