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.

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1. Johanna Rothma n @johannarothma n www.jrothman.com Want Business Agility? Start with Your Managers
2. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Desire for Business Agilit y Promise: Better! Faster! Cheaper! 2
3. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman “Transformation” : Train the Teams in an Agile Framewor k Agile Center of Excellence 3
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
5. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Agile “Transformation” Failed . No Business Agility. 5
6. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Don’t blame the managers. They are part of a greater system of work. 6
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
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
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
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
11. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Environment == Culture 11 What we can discuss How we treat each other What the manager & organization reward
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
13. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Rewards Reinforce a System 13
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
15. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Flow Ef fi ciency Culture Creates • More experimentatio n • Learn Early (not “Fail Fast” ) • More collaboration (not just cooperation) 15
16. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman How Long Do Teams Wait for Management Decisions? 16
17. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Resource Ef fi ciency: Increases Management WIP 17
18. © 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Resource Ef fi ciency Effect for Managers 18 Independent goals make collaboration di ff i cult
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 19
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 20
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. 21
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 22