Setting your team up for agile and success
- Richard
- Apr 18, 2020
- 4 min read
When you're implementing agile, you are going to run in to people who can't wait to jump on board, people who blatantly oppose it and everything in between. Let's zoom in on these situations.
The spectrum.
If you look at the different levels of engagement when it comes to embracing agile, an important factor to take in consideration is the individuals motivation. As such, I've laid it out in a small graph. On this graph I've not shown every possible person, instead I've focused on the most important and impactful ones. Your team might have combinations from the different persons I'm describing, nevertheless this blog should help you get on your way.
The personas.
Each person shown on the graph has reasons to be where he or she is. Let's explore potential reasons and behaviours.
When you look at these personas, you could cheer if you have people like Gary in your team and be discouraged by people like Lee and Carol. But let's look at it from a different perspective, where we try to see who can benefit the most from the changes you're bringing. If you manage to get Lee and Carol on board, they are the ones who will show the greatest improvements, so in a way you should cheer if your have these personas in your team.
How to handle each persona.
So now we've identified our team-members, which is great. Next up is to come up with a plan to get everybody on board with the same goals, motivations and mindsets.
First up is Gary. This is someone you will definitely need to talk to. He will be very eager and will take the lead and start running while the rest isn't ready yet. In other words, Gary needs to be slowed down, without hurting his motivation. Usually this is achieved by teaming up with him, to brainstorm ideas and explaining the direction you're going and why you're taking baby steps towards this goal. Explain the importance of the team, that you appreciate him and his motivation, but that you need him to be patient and help you get everybody on his level.
Sue is easier. She won't start running and won't hold back either. She might be sceptical when you introduce 'all those meetings', so be wary of this. Sue will easily gain motivation when you bring her aboard your change team. Explain the idea of agile, of the small feedback loops and how that will help her, the team and the product. Tell her that agile is all about being flexible, and so you can be flexible on how to implement it, on how to do the ceremonies. This should most certainly help her feel confident her work isn't being hurt, and thus motivate her to be agile.
Fred has some issues that need to be addressed, but maybe not by you. Sure he has motivational issues, and this is someone that needs to be looked after before he falls down the negative side of the scale. But he'll join the agile ceremonies and follow the behaviour you want, as long as you ask him. Personally I'd say Fred should be brought to his managers attention, and who knows. Maybe agile will bring him back up.
You might not expect it, but Alice might be the hardest person to work with. She might not realise it yet, but she might not even want to work with your company any more. And then she's also not willing to accept change, she's not seeing the reality surrounding her because her memory and emotions are fooling her. There's not much you can do here, but to ask that she follows. Hopefully this will open her eyes for the better, if not it could push her over the edge towards the exit. This might sound like a serious case that will need a lot of your attention, while it is very serious, your attention is better spent elsewhere. Remember your circle of influence.
Maybe you're going to need a little help on handling Lee. Try talking to him and explaining that you're hired to do a certain job. Of course you're willing to accommodate him as much as possible, but you can't just not do what your hired for. Explain that you understand how he feels, but that you do ask him to keep his opinions to himself for the sake of the team. If Lee doesn't step up, have this conversation with him over and over again, invite his manager if needed. Once the agile train starts moving, it might open his eyes, and this will bring you the best return on investment you can get as an agile enthusiast.
Carol is similar to Lee in that you need to ask her to not openly express her opinions. She will be easier to convince to give it a try then Lee, because she is motivated to do everything for the company. Let her know that you'll be counting on her expertise a lot, because even though you know your agile ways, she knows the company and its products. Together you will make the strongest possible team in finding the perfect blend, specifically tailored to your company and products.
If you managed to move the pieces around as described and shown above. You have now set the team and its individuals up for success in their agile transformation. You might wonder why you don't want everyone to go to the top right corner of the spectrum, but that is just unrealistic. Hopefully, when the agile train starts moving the people on your team will shift in that direction. Make sure to reflect on this during your retrospectives as you start moving.
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