Want Business Agility? Start with Your Managers-Agile 2021

Too many organizations think they can reap the benefits of business agility with a framework or tools. However, frameworks and tools don't change the organizational culture. Instead of forcing managers into silos, what if we focused on creating collaborative management teams? We can change what we reward, support managers as they change their roles, and create business agility.

Transcript

1. Johanna Rothma
   n
   
   @johannarothma
   n
   
   www.jrothman.com
   Want Business Agility?
   
   
   Start with Your Managers
   

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2. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Desire for Business Agilit
   y
   
   Promise: Better! Faster! Cheaper!
   2
   

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3. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   “Transformation”
   :
   
   Train the Teams in an Agile Framewor
   k
   
   Agile Center of Excellence
   3
   

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4. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Managers Did Not Change
   • Every functional manager maintained
   their own goals, cascading down to
   each perso
   n
   
   • Focused on ef
   fi
   ciency, not
   effectiveness
   
   
   • “Failure is not an option
   ”
   
   • High organizational WIP
   4
   

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5. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Agile “Transformation” Failed
   .
   
   No Business Agility.
   5
   

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6. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Don’t blame the managers.
   
   
   They are part of a greater system of work.
   6
   

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7. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Ef
   fi
   cient vs. Effective
   • Ef
   fi
   cient means we remove the waste
   from our work.
   
   
   • Effective means we choose the most
   valuable work
   fi
   rst.
   
   
   • Choose most valuable work in the
   project portfolio
   7
   

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8. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Project Portfolio Shows Overarching Goal (or Not)
   • Instantiate strategy
   :
   
   • Which customers do we serve
   ?
   
   • Which problems do we solve
   ?
   
   • Choice of where to invest each team’s
   time and focu
   s
   
   • When managers commit to a team,
   they reduce organizational WIP
   8
   

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9. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Managers Create & Re
   fi
   ne the Culture
   • Paraphrase of Schein
   :
   
   • How people treat each othe
   r
   
   • What people can discus
   s
   
   • How the manager and organization
   rewards peopl
   e
   
   • Structure and rewards at all levels
   de
   fi
   ne the culture
   9
   

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10. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Lewin’s Equation: B= f (P,E)
    • Each person’s Behavior is a function of
    the Person and their Environmen
    t
    
    • Psychological safety for mistakes,
    concerns, challenge
    s
    
    • Trust with colleagues, team
    members, & manager
    s
    
    • What behavior do managers reward
    and tolerate
    ?
    
    • Organizational policies & procedures
    that help/hurt work
    10
    What we can
    discuss
    How we treat
    each other
    What the
    manager &
    organization
    reward
    

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11. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Environment == Culture
    11
    What we can
    discuss
    How we treat
    each other
    What the
    manager &
    organization
    reward
    

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12. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    What Does Your Organization Reward?
    • Only individuals? Resource ef
    fi
    ciency
    thinkin
    g
    
    • Some individual, some team-based
    rewards? Flow ef
    fi
    ciency thinking
    12
    

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13. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Rewards Reinforce a System
    13
    

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14. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Resource Ef
    fi
    ciency Culture Creates
    • Increase organizational WIP
    
    
    • “My” work (cooperate, not
    collaborate
    )
    
    • Reinforce expertis
    e
    
    • Information hidin
    g
    
    • Reluctance to experiment
    14
    

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15. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Flow Ef
    fi
    ciency Culture Creates
    • More experimentatio
    n
    
    • Learn Early (not “Fail Fast”
    )
    
    • More collaboration (not just
    cooperation)
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16. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    How Long Do Teams Wait for
    Management Decisions?
    16
    

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17. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Resource Ef
    fi
    ciency: Increases Management WIP
    17
    

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18. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Resource Ef
    fi
    ciency Effect for Managers
    18
    Independent goals make collaboration di
    ff
    i
    cult
    

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19. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Policies Often Prevent Agility
    • Standardizing on boards or tooling for
    team
    s
    
    • Insuf
    fi
    cient workspace for a tea
    m
    
    • Not training when the work changes
    (technical or interpersonal skills) for
    all team
    s
    
    • Too-long duration decisions based on
    estimation, not cycle time or forecast
    s
    
    • Performance management
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20. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Want Business Agility?
    • Create adaptable and resilient
    management practice
    s
    
    • From “Ef
    fi
    cient” to “Effective” to
    reduce WI
    P
    
    • Flow ef
    fi
    ciency thinking at all level
    s
    
    • Reward (management) collaboration,
    not individual “performance
    ”
    
    • Measure & reduce management
    decision time to reduce WIP
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21. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Modern Management for Business Agility
    1. Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization.
    
    
    2. Build empathy with the people who do the work
    .
    
    3. Build a safe environment
    .
    
    4. Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal
    .
    
    5. Encourage experiments and learning
    .
    
    6. Catch people succeeding
    .
    
    7. Exercise your value-based integrity.
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22. © 2021 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Let’s Stay in Touch
    • Pragmatic Manager:
    
    
    • www.jrothman.com/
    pragmaticmanage
    r
    
    • Please link with me on LinkedI
    n
    
    • Modern Management Made Easy:
    https://www.jrothman.com/mmme
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