Leadership Assessment Points

 

Leadership Assessment Points

From the book, We Can Lead- A Guidebook of Personal Leadership and Self-Coaching , Page no 568

Please study these points and think of an action plan against all these points, where you are now, and what you choose to do to improve those gaps?

Leading Self: Please Rank

1. I have my Purpose clearly defined, and I am constantly examining my Purpose? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest. 1
2. I am driven by my Value and belief. I can rate my value-driven progress at? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest. 3
3. I am Passionate to attain my purpose and thoroughly working on it? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest. 5
4. How far am I to reach the Self Actualization state? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest. 4
5. I am constantly monitoring my Resilience status and I can rate my state is at? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
6. I am Self-driven, and I know how to re-energize myself. I can rate my Motivation state is at? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
7. I am always Optimist and learn from my Setback. I can rate my Positivity state is at? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
8. I invariably seek for New Ways of working. I can rate my Growth mindset state is at? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
9. I am always Curious and ask powerful questions to discover the unknown. I can rate my competence to discover the unique thing is at? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
10. I am learning anything very rapidly with Deliberate practice. I can rate my learning ability? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
11. I continually monitor my Self-state and refine, I invariably look into my Ego and cultivate, I look into my mental Bias and review. I can rate my mental inspection frequently exercise? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
12. I am reviewing Courage state at a certain interval. I take action to overcome the limitation. I can rate my mental inspection frequently exercise? Rate 1-5 scale, 5 is the Highest.
Total

Leading Others: Please Rank

1. I am Empathetic to my companions. I am continuously developing my empathetic skill; I can rate myself at 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

2. I ensure I Trust my companions, I am credible and Trustable, I am continually working on these skills, I can rate myself at 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

3. I Engage my companions, I energize, empower, and encourage my team members, I can rate myself at 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

4. I Coach my companions, I am constantly refining my coaching skills, I can rate myself at 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

5. I am cognizant of Social skill, behavior science, I am working on this to build up my social intelligence, I can rate myself at 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

6. I am great a Collaborator, I am the chief catalyst for a collaborator, I can rate myself in 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

7. I am excellent at Change management, I am a change agent, I work on this topic to strengthen myself, I can rate myself in 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

8. I ensure I create Psychological Safe heaven at the organization, I welcome feedback and take action to enhance my competency, I can rate myself in 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

9. I strive for winning the Heart and mind of my companions, I can rate myself in 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

10. I am a storyteller and I Facilitate, Influence better my companions though this approach, I can rate myself in 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

11. I am Adaptable with the changing scenarios, I am improving, I can rate my current state in the 1-5 scale at? 5 is the Highest

Total

Leadership Skills & Tools: Please Rank

1. How do you want to rate your Ambition skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
2. How do you want to rate your “Willingness to work hard” skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
3. How do you want to rate your Enterprise skill (Creativity, Problem-solving, Teamwork, Communication, strategic thinking ...) on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level? 3
4. How do you want to rate your Astuteness skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level? 4
5. How do you want to rate your Ability to “Stick to It” skill on a 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
6. How do you want to rate your capacity for Lucid writing skills on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
7. How do you want to rate your Imagination skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
8. How do you want to rate your ability to spot the opportunity skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
9. How do you want to rate your Enthusiasm skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
10. How do you want to rate your Capacity to speak Lucidly skill on a 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
11. How do you want to rate your Single Mindedness skill on a 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
12. How do you want to rate your willingness to take risk skills on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
13. How do you want to rate your Ability to take decision skills on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
14. How do you want to rate your Curiosity skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
15. How do you want to rate your Empathy skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
16. How do you want to rate your Skill with Numbers on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
17. How do you want to rate your Capacity for abstract thought skills on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level? 
18. How do you want to rate your Integrity skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
19. How do you want to rate your Ability to administer efficient skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
20. How do you want to rate your Analytical ability skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
21. How do you want to rate your Resilience skill on a 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
22. How do you want to rate your Open-mindedness skill on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
23. How do you want to rate your Adaptability skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
24. How do you want to rate your Learning ability skill in the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the Master level?
25. How do you want to rate your team engagement, empowerment skills on the 1-5 scale? 5 is at the master level?

Evaluate your “Scorecard” and see how often you are following a good process. 

When you achieved Mastery in all these areas your followers will claim you as a Level 5 leader!

AN AWESOME LEADER= f (LEADING SELF, LEADING OTHERS, TOOLS & SKILLS)

Coaching Book which has helped me a lot?

I have been reading a book for the last few days. The name of the book is

The Tao of Coaching: Boost Your Effectiveness at Work by Inspiring and Developing Those Around You by Max Landsberg

This best-selling classic was originally published by HarperCollins in 1996, and is practical, pragmatic, and - like most perfect ideas - seems to be presenting the obvious.

This book is written like a short story and aimed at managers who choose to develop themselves as coaches and mentors.

It gives brief and precise information about the coaching process, the motivation of employees, earning trust as a coach, and mentoring.

It is an incredibly short read, we can finish the book in a couple of hours.

The reader observes the progress of a young manager, Alex, as he strolls his progress through an organization, learning valuable coaching lessons along the way.

Each chapter focuses on a specific area of coaching, which is then summarized in a textbook format at the end of the chapter.

This book has just 117 pages! an extremely simple and marvelous book for Coaching.

Awesome book about coaching others. The practices may be useful for coaching our self as well. The volume is magnificent because of several reasons:

1. It is brief. Really. 117+ pages about everything we require about coaching.

2. It is intensely practical - each chapter has tested and “hands-on” suggestions we can implement in our career.

3. It is descriptive - each chapter has an awesome before-picture which sets up the reader’s desire for the later chapter. And what is indeed more magnificent - the book is one story about a gentleman in a company and his challenges throughout his career. Good dialogues and stories will make us remember.





Take-Aways

Good coaching means enabling employees to reach at results with direction, not instructing them what to look at.

Coaching yields pay off to the coach, consisting of a better customer and client relationships, a stronger team, a better ardent following, and enhanced self-awareness.

Effective feedback sticks to specific observable facts according to the acronym “AID”: “Actions,” their “Impact” and the “Desired” outcome.

Organize your coaching session according to the GROW acronym: “Goal, Reality, Options, Wrap up.”

Tailor your coaching style to fit an employee’s “skill and will to accomplish the task.”

Determine what factor most motivates your employee and build on it.

Focus your coaching on the Organization's strategic and operational objectives.

If you are being coached, don’t ever get defensive, just express gratitude, and do what the coach says.

Take “voluntary, visible, irrevocable, and specific” steps to accomplish your goal.

When coaching higher-ups, remain positive for the initial few sessions.

20 Lessons

1. “You Can’t Be a Leader Without a Following”

2. “Ask Questions – Don’t Just Tell”

3. “Receiving Feedback Means Active Listening”

4. “Coaching Also Benefits the Coach”

5. “Guide – Don’t Judge – When Coaching”

6. “Organize Your Coaching Sessions Well – Start in the Correct Direction”

7. “Great Teams Overcome Differences in Styles of Working”

8. “Overcome Your Coaching Blocks, or You Will Never Delegate”

9. “Instant Payoff’ Coaching Can Work, Though Only If Delivered Well”

10. Evaluate “Will, Not Just Skill”

11. When an Employee Hesitates, “First Build Trust”

12. “You Can’t Motivate Others if They Can’t See You”

13. “Take Time to Anticipate Cultural Differences”

14. “Know How to Set Up Teams Well”

15. “Use the Power of Questions that Reframe”

16. “Coaches Work with Observable Facts, Not Just ‘Gut Feel’’’

17. “Providing ‘Upward’ Feedback to the Boss Can Have Its Benefits”

18. “Become Eloquent in the Language of Setting Goals”

19. “Mentor Someone and Be Mentored”

20. “The Effects of Your Coaching Can Be Even More Powerful than You Imagine”

Please add if I have missed anything. Let us follow through and create an impact in people's life.

Comments from Sreejith

 

Questions

 

The Scrum Master Guidebook

 

Deep Coaching

 

Scrum Day Bangalore Presentation

 Scrum Day Bangalore Presentation

We Can Lead - Book Chapters Mindmap

 

Book Comments from Balaji

 

Why High-performance teams are self-discipline?

Al teams that have achieved high performance for a long time, are default self-disciplined.

Why ?

Let us learn from few famous quotes

All the self-disciplined teams are naturally self-disciplined.

They have become so over a period of time with great exercise

“Self-discipline equates to self-control. Your ability to control yourself and your actions, control what you say and do, and ensure that your behaviors are consistent with long-term goals and objectives is the mark of a superior person.” Brian Tracy

High-performance team members have self control themselves for the bigger achievement and goals.

“I think self-discipline is something, it’s like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.” Daniel Goldstein

High-performance team members have built their mental muscle over a period of time

“Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It requires you to connect today’s actions to tomorrow’s results. There’s a season for sowing a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which.” – Gary Ryan Blair

A high-performance team does act of cultivation

“Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you can’t control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward.” Napoleon Hill

High-performance team members have good control over their thoughts

“Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear – and doubt. Self-discipline allows a person to feel his individuality, his inner strength, his talent. He is the master of, rather than a slave to, his thoughts and emotions.” H. A. Dorfman

High-performance team members are free to exercise their inner strength and become better

“Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” – Elbert Hubbard

High-performance team win their self first

“Self-discipline is doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done even when you don’t feel like doing it.” Anonymous

A high-performance team does what is needed to be done

“A great way to develop self-discipline is to make it a habit to do the things you should be doing when you feel the laziest. Every time you feel really lazy, do the opposite of what you feel like doing.” Anonymous

A high-performance team does what is essential to be done

“I think self-discipline is something, it’s like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.” Daniel Goldstein

The high-performance team become high performance by doing great things for a long time

“Self-discipline is that mental state of commitment, which gets you performing an activity regardless of your feelings.” Anonymous

“Self-discipline is a self-enlarging process.” – M. Scott Peck

A high-performance team is in self enlarging process

“Self-control is the key to self-esteem and self-confidence.” – Laurance McGraw V

A high-performance team self control themselves all the time

“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves…self-discipline with all of them came first.” – Harry S. Truman

High-performance team win their self first

“Discipline is built by consistently performing small acts of courage.” – Robin Sharma

A high-performance team demonstrate courage in every moment

“Discipline is the ability to control our conduct by principle rather than by social pressure.” – Glenn C. Stewart

The high-performance team follow their principle

“Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.” – Abraham J. Heschel

Every high-performance team members respect themselves first

“We don’t have to be smarter than the rest; we have to be more disciplined than the rest.” – Warren Buffett

High-performance team members are high performer as they are more disciplined.

“Discipline is the silent force at work that breeds success. It requires only one thing; that you sacrifice time in things you enjoy.” – Anonymous

High-performance team members enjoy what they do

“Never believe a promise from a man or woman who has no discipline. They have broken a thousand promises to themselves, and they break their promise for you.” – Matthew Kelly

High-performance team members are committed and careful about their team members commitment

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn

The discipline team set the goal and accomplish those, else they have not yet disciplined themselves

“Self-discipline is about controlling your desires and impulses while staying focused on what needs to get done to achieve your goal.” – Adam Sicinski

The high-performance team controlled their desire and impulses

“Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them.” – Zig Ziglar

The high-performance team do what they want to do

“All successes begin with self-discipline. It starts with you.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Every individual of the self-disciplined team disciplined

“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.” – Dalai Lama

The high-performance team are full of Happiness

With self-discipline, most anything is possible.” – Theodore Roosevelt

A high-performance team make everything possible

“Self-command is the main discipline.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

High-performance team members have their command on their own self

“Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.” – Lou Holtz

High-performance team design themselves for success

“Great leaders always have self-discipline -without exception.” – John C. Maxwell

All team members in the high-performance team are leaders and they are self-disciplined

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” – Jim Rohn

High-performance team practices daily small discipline like daily standup meeting etc

“Discipline really means our ability to get ourselves to do things when we don’t want to.” – Arden Mahlberg

The high-performance team does what they want to do.

In your coaching engagement do you find such traits among team members? What action we can take to ensure such traits established?

Scrum Master as a Servant Leader

We Can Lead Book

 These 600 pages volume were composed over several years of exploration and reflection to assure that this volume encompasses enough articles for everyone who are willing to scale their leadership skills. When we comprehend this book’s topics, we will set up ourselves to develop into a stronger leader. Please have a look

120+ copies sold

 

Thanks to all my readers, every day almost one copy of "We Can Lead" is able to sell. So far in 6 months of the existence of this book, ~120+ copies have been sold!! Gratitude to all my well-wisher colleagues for making this book famous. Whoever is reading this book, please compose a few words about this book on Amazon. Help me to help the True Agile Leaders to perform outstandingly in their career endeavors.

 Managing Emotional Health:

One of the essential parameters for team performance is ability to deal with emotional balance in the office environment.

What is emotion?

An emotion is a brief conscious experience that is identified by profound mental activity.

Emotions can generate thoughts that can make you physically feel something in your body, and emotions can make your body make you feel something in your mind by influencing the thoughts that you could have.

A feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence our behavior.

Feeling bad does not mean that things are bad, and feeling good does not mean that everything is wonderful. It is a translation of a feeling.

Negative emotions in the workplace can emerge because employees perceive that their opinions and ideas are not being picked up and acknowledged.

Emotions should not control your thinking, your thinking should control your emotions. Emotions are feelings, and feelings are not a definitive measurement of what is good, bad, right or wrong, because feelings are emotions, and emotions are not one of the individual senses, so they are not a mechanism that can be used to determine reality.

Emotions can motivate us to respond to situations. Our emotions may instruct us about our circumstances and the environment we are in, which supports us respond accordingly.

Emotions can convey significant messages to those around us. They may explain to others how we are feeling and what we require in a given situation.

If we look sad, for example, we are telling others that we require assistance.

If we are angry, we are signaling to others that they have crossed our boundaries.

Understanding another individual’s emotions involves much more than just listening to their uttered messages.

It involves being attentive to the non-verbal emotional messages being conveyed.

Think of a situation where you had to speak to someone who was distressed. Describe the situation.

What verbal messages (words) did the person convey?

Empathizing with employees – being able to establish yourself in their emotional ‘shoes’ – can be a significant step toward finding out.

A fundamental component of empathy is the ability to mirror others nonverbally. We can teach ourselves to become more empathetic by mirroring the body positions, posture, tone, volume, gestures, and facial expressions of others.

Because every individual has distinct needs and views, negative emotions in the workplace can never be averted totally.

Effective listening can aid managers in better problem-solve and generate solutions that come closer to meeting everyone’s needs.

When you acknowledge a worker’s perspective, it can deliver an effective signal that although you may or may not agree, and may or may not take action subsequently, you have heard the viewpoint and are taking it into consideration.

Practice acknowledging workers’ ideas and requests.

Workers may not be comfortable providing feedback unless called for it.

Even then, many may hesitate, suspecting that the call for feedback may not be fully genuine and that they may anger managers by speaking out. One approach to avoiding negative emotions in the workplace is to safeguard that workers feel that their feedback is valued and respected. Offering and accepting feedback can help establish effective relationships between managers and workers. This makes it effective for managers to actively elicit feedback whenever opportunities present themselves.

Make a point of touching base with each individual who works under your supervision. Ask them if there is anything you could do that could be helpful to them or improve the way they are able to do their job.

The way we feel about or react to individuals in the workplace is impacted by our explanations of their behavior.

When it comes to ourselves, we are much more likely to find external explanations for negative behavior and internal explanations for positive behavior.

We engage in listening to understand when we genuinely seek to figure out not just what individuals say, but also what they actually mean. When workers are distressed or dealing with mental health issues, it is not unusual for them to say things that do not really reflect what they truly mean.

Giving someone the safety and the space to express and then clarify or amend what they express can give you a much better chance of understanding their perspective.

Asking open-ended questions to solicit additional information and refraining from interrupting can promote communication better.

Communication and interaction in the workplace are complex and demanding, and it requires substantial energy to maintain a standard that reflects our goals. It can take place that in our minds we have the best intentions, but our behavior is not quite able to keep up.

When we interact with a distressed employee, it is natural to try to understand what is motivating their negative emotions and reactions. We can often be quite accurate when ascertaining the causes of and contributors to other people’s positive emotional states. One of the traps we may fall into, however, when dealing with negative emotions in the workplace, is making simplistic and judgmental interpretations.

Judgmental interpretations are generally inaccurate, and practically always completely useless. Taking the time to develop a non-judgmental understanding of workers, their behaviors, and their reactions to situations are pivotal to dealing with them adequately.

Reflective (or active) listening can be an effective communication method that involves the following two elements:

1. Listening to and understanding what workers are saying, thinking, and feeling.

2. Reflecting and paraphrasing the feelings, thoughts, and opinions we hear back to the other person in our own words, to make sure we have understood their message correctly.

In order to more precisely understand employees’ messages, it helps managers to not only pay attention to what a worker is expressing but also to read non-verbal signals.

Reflective listening can be fundamental for effective communication and effective workplace relationships:

- It can help establish rapport and respect.

- It can encourage understanding between individuals.

- It can demonstrate recognition and acknowledgment, which may prompt others to continue communicating and share their experiences, problems, and feelings more candidly.

- It can provide reassurance that someone is willing to support and to view things from another perspective.

- It can help avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.

- It can help reduce defensiveness, resentments, and false assumptions that occur through misunderstanding.

When we observe a worker who is distressed (e.g., owing to personal problems, mental health difficulties, coworker conflicts, performance issues), we may encounter a diversity of emotions ourselves: fear, anger, frustration, guilt, pity, or helplessness.

It is absolutely reasonable to have these emotional reactions, but they can interfere with our ability to effectively respond to a distressed worker.

Our own emotions can have an influential impact on our attention, perception, thoughts, and behavior. Emotions can be the motivating force behind our actions and can determine whether we respond effectively (by providing assistance or support) or less effectively (by avoiding a situation).

All these whatever describe above we can try and mature ourselves as a team member to deal with an emotional state as a manager or as an employee at a workplace. It takes a lot of practice over a period of time to strengthen emotional dealing. 

Building Agile OKR for a Tribe, an Example

How can we gear up for the forthcoming period by using OKR?

OKR is Objective and Key Results.

OKRs have two vital parts: The objective we choose to accomplish and the key results, which are the way we measure achieving the objective.

OKRs is to fix a definite business issue team is facing.

OKRs should be translated from the strategy, drive the achievement of the vision, and be in alignment with the overall mission.

An objective is a concise statement summarizing an explicit qualitative goal designed to drive the organization forward in the desired direction.

Basically, it asks, “What do we want to do?”

A Key result is a quantitative description that measures the accomplishment of a given objective. They are not tasks, they represent results.

If the objective is to asks, “What do we want to do?” the key result is to asks, “How will we recognize if we’ve reached our objective?”

Objectives and key results are the yin and yang of goal setting. Two sides of a coin.

Objectives are the substance of inspiration and distant perspectives. Key results are more mundane and metric-driven.

The challenge, and ultimately value, of key results, is in compelling a team to quantify what may appear to be unsure or ambiguous words in the team objective.

We must balance with key results is creating them difficult enough to force an acceptable arrangement of intellectual sweat to accomplish, but not so challenging as to discourage the teams because they appear impossible

More frequent goal setting has a positive impact on financial results. Deloitte reports that companies that set quarterly goals were nearly four times more likely to be in the top quartile of performers.

Google divides its OKRs into two sections, committed goals, and stretch goals.

Committed objectives are tied to Google’s metrics: product releases, customers etc.

Stretch objectives reflect bigger-picture, higher-risk, more future-shifting ideas.

Through OKR, the team has to established alignment among all the various roles and align with other team's OKRs.

To apply OKR and start the Journey let us do a workshop to come up with Tribe Mission, Vision, and Strategy. OKRs are supposed to be a mix of bottom-up and top-down.

Build Tribe OKR. Each team within a Tribe can build and present their OKR. OKR workshop is the best activity to do inter-team collaborations and minimize dependencies. 

OKR for Tribe Lead:

Objectives: Ensure all the product release for all the customers are happen on time with quality and expected satisfaction

Key results:

Ensure > 90% end-users’ collaboration

Ensure >4 end-users’ satisfaction rating

Ensure >95% features acceptance in each release

Ensure 0 defects in each release

Ensure >4 team satisfaction

Ensure <5% attrition in Tribe

OKR for Scrum Team:

Objective: Deliver all the 4 releases planned for this year

Key Results:

Deliver 10 key major features in each release.

Deliver all the 10 features in each demos to collect feedback.

Complete quality target with 0 defects.

Ensure end-users’ satisfaction with greater than 4 from 1 to 5 scale, 4 being the highest

Product acceptance has increased >80%

Objective: Ensure maximizing team happiness and best learning experience for the whole year

Key Results:

100% collaboration in all the challenging assignment

Achieve >4 scores in team happiness index

Achieve >4 scores in best learning expansion

File at least 2-4 patents from the team

Write at least 2-4 technical papers in various journal

OKR for Scrum Master:

Objective: Ensure all the scrum team members are followed by the scrum practices to ensure smooth value delivery

Key Results:

100% coaching for all the scrum events

Ensure end-user satisfaction with greater than 4 from 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the highest

4-5 new ideas for improvements in retro meeting

100% end-user participation in product co-creation

OKR for Product Owner:

Objective: Deliver all 4 releases planned for this year with all the required features

Key Results:

Ensure end-user satisfaction with greater than 4 from 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the highest

Achieve 100% end-user participation in product co-creation

Ensure end-users acceptance grows >90%

Ensure Product features usages grows >90%

100% Support team to discover product features and customer personas

OKR for a People Manager:

Objective: Ensure all the required skills and capabilities are 100% available within the team

Key Results:

Ensure skills gaps are addressed within a minimal timeline

Ensure several learning events happen within a team for a month

Build learning backlog with many items collected from feedback and improvement items

Ensure technical capabilities are growing continuously, technical capability in a team is >3 in 1-5 scale

Ensure team and end user’s satisfactions are >4 in 1-5 scale.

Ensure <5 % attrition in Tribe

One of the biggest strengths of OKRs is their emphasis on a shorter cycle.

More frequent review cycles lead to rapid learning, increased opportunities to make progress, and even a feeling of winning at work

Monitor OKRs: We don’t set OKRs as a yearly target and review at the end of the year!!, but must monitor those during the each quarter. Let us Score our OKRs and communicate the results with the entire organization.

OKRs do not expire with the completion of the work. It needs ongoing review and refines dynamic changes happening.

Here are some retrospective questions for closing out an OKR cycle:

Did I take care of all of my objectives? If so, what helped me with my progress?

If not, what hindrances did I come across? What action I should take?

If I were to rewrite an objective accomplished so far, what would I revise?

What have I learned that might transform my approach to the next cycle’s OKRs?

Do you know enough about your colleagues?

 Let us study our colleague’s working personalities?

It is better as a Team member we understand our colleagues better.

Observe all the team members at your team and try to discover how each one’s dominating personality is.

We have to appreciate the way individuals have developed into it. Let us align with the style.

The Inspector: Serious, formal, and proper. This personality type places considerable emphasis on tradition and old-school values. Patience, hard work, honor, and social and cultural importance are all cultivated by the Inspector. They are reserved, calm, quiet, and noble. These traits result from the combination of Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. They appreciate a systematic life. They like matters to be well-organized and pay a considerable deal of attention to detail. When things are in disarray, people with this personality type may identify themselves as incapable to relax until they have set everything straight and the work has been completed.

The Counselor: This personality type oozes creative imagination and magnificent ideas from every pore. They have a distinct, usually subtle, way of looking at the world that is not consistently realized. This personality type will never accept anything at the surface level or withhold to countenance a better way to approach problems. While they are introverted by nature, individuals with this personality type are capable to establish strong, meaningful connections with other individuals. They enjoy helping others, but they also need time and space to rejuvenate.

The Mastermind: They are are true introverts. This personality type tends to be relaxed, reserved, and comfortable in their own company. They are generally self-sufficient and choose to work alone than in a group. Socializing significantly drains the energy of this personality type, causing them to need to recharge. They are more attentive to big ideas and theories. When examining the world, they frequently question why things happen the way they do. Uncertainty is the enemy of the Mastermind. They shine at developing plans and strategies for every probability.

The Giver: They are eternal people-pleasers. They are extroverted, idealistic, charismatic, vocal, highly principled, and honest. This set of traits ensures that they can generally associate with others of varying backgrounds and personalities. They rely more on intuition and feelings, occupying more in their imagination than the real world. This can be troublesome, for the individual themselves and those around them. They have wonderful people skills and are often expressed as warm, affectionate, and supportive. Not only are individuals with this personality type great at encouraging other individuals, but they also derive personal satisfaction from serving others.

The Craftsman: This personality type is generally defined by rationality and logic but is also able of spontaneity and enthusiasm. People with such personalities are results-oriented. When there is a problem, they choose to rapidly understand the underlying cause and resolve some type of solution. They are generally described as quiet, but with an easy-going attitude towards others.

The Provider: This personality type is thoroughly social, born of a need to interact with others. This desire to make others happy usually results in popularity for the provider. They generally tend to be the cheerleader or sports hero in high school and college. Later in life, they advance to revel in the limelight. They are primarily focused on organizing social events for their families, friends, and communities. They expect their kind and giving ways to be acknowledged and appreciated by others. They are sensitive to the needs and feelings of others and are good at responding and providing the care that individuals need. They want to be liked by others and are easily upset by unkindness or indifference.

The Idealist: This personality type prefers not to talk about themselves, especially upon first meeting a strange individual. They prefer spending time alone in quiet places. This personality type can become lost in their imagination and daydreams. This sometimes leads to the type of people drowning in the depth of their thoughts, fantasies, and ideas.

The Performer: They are an Extroverted, Observant, Feeling, and Perceiving personality, and are generally seen as Entertainers. Born to provide amusement and distraction to others and to monopolize the limelight, They love to hold court in a group. They are thoughtful explorers who enjoy learning – and sharing what they learn with others. They live for the company and typically have strong interpersonal skills. They are cheerfully and fun, and will never decline the opportunity to be the center of attention.

The Champion: This personality type is profoundly individualistic. Champions are not followers and care little for the status quo. Instead, they aim toward creating their structures, looks, actions, habits, and ideas. They do enjoy the company though – assuming it is the “right” company – enjoying strong intuition when it comes to themselves and others.

The Doer: They live for social interaction, drawing strength from feelings and emotions. They enjoy logical processes and reasoning, provided this does not stand in the way of freedom in thought and deed. Theory and abstracts will not retain the attention or interest of a Doer for long.

The Supervisor: They set a great deal of emphasis on traditional values. These include organization, honesty, dedication, and dignity. This personality type believes thoroughly in doing what they believe is right and socially acceptable. People with this personality type enjoy spending time with other individuals. They have strong verbal skills and interacting with others helps them feel energized.

The Commander: Their Primary concern is to focus on and managing external circumstances with logic and discipline. Once this has been achieved, intuition and reasoning take effect. This personality type will always relish the opportunity to take charge. They live in a world of possibilities, often viewing challenges and obstacles as great opportunities to push themselves. They have a natural gift for leadership and never shirk from making decisions. Options and ideas will be quickly yet carefully examined.

The Thinker: They are highly respected for brilliant theories and unrelenting logic. This makes sense, as this personality type is arguably the most logical of all. People of this personality type lack interest in practical, day-to-day activities and maintenance.

The Nurturer: This personality type is constantly ready to give back, and any generosity received will be returned threefold. The people and things an ISFJ believes in will be upheld, and supported with enthusiasm and unselfishness. This makes this among the warmest and kind-hearted personality types. Harmony and cooperation are important to them, and this type is likely to be sensitive to the feelings of others.

The Visionary: This personality type relishes the opportunity to discuss theories and facts in extensive detail, needing little encouragement to set the world to rights.

The Composer: They are fun to be around and very spontaneous. This makes them the appropriate companion to tag along with an activity, planned, or unplanned. They look to live life to the fullest and embrace the present. This ensures they are always keen to encounter a new experience or make a discovery.

Once you figure out your team members better, it would be easy to get along with them.

Agile Thought Webnairs: 23rd October 2020

 

AgileThought Virtual Community: Agile Heard Around the World | AgileThought

My session with BBA and BCA student

 Today I had a session with 70 students from BBA and BCA stream. my topic was Product Development Strategy. It was an interesting session spending time with students and answering their curious questions. 

Uploaded the presentation here

Product Development Strategy

Comments from a participants:

Farmer Family Performance appraisal in a Village!

Once upon a time there was a farmer, his name was Panduraja!

He has 5 children, Jhooti, Bheema, Arjoona, Nakooola, Shooyaya!

Some of them are educated, some are only matriculation pass!

They had multiple acres of farming land. They have a large house with ponds and many domestic animals to looks after. Initially, they had a struggling life but over a period of time, they stabilized themselves.

But the Farmer Panduraja was in worry! Every year they discussed how they should share their profit. They have their own family but they reside together on the same premises. Most of the initial year they had a quarrel and tussle with the money distribution.

They had an expert professional friend who also happens to be their distant relatives and well-wisher. His name was Kris, who is a Ph.D. in Agriculture and professor HOD in a nearby college.

Every year this is a nightmare challenge for Panduraja,

How can he distribute the profit among his children so that they stay motivated and energized.

They should not break up their property and leave the premises where they reside together.

Panduraja often chats with Kris. Kris recommended using the Bell curve system to distribute wealth and profit.

Kris read that somewhere, and they tried for a few years. But it did not work out as it created a quarrel and division among his children.

All his children are working for a common goal. Their proficiency is different, and core competencies are diversified.

Nakooola was remarkably talented at selling the crops, milk, eggs, and poultry meat.

Jhooti was excellent at cultivating lands and growing crops.

Bheema takes care of distributing the cattle, goats to the city, and buying and selling those.

Shooyaya was taking care of the farming, fishing, and exporting fishery commodities.

Jhooti also was taking care of the account part with his father and track the balance sheet.

Everyone is contributing to some of the other aspects and occasionally when crops fail but other services take care of their profits.

All the five brothers do daily standup and monthly progress with the Panduraja.

They reskill themselves as the market changes, need changes. Ther wife also takes care of the textile and other handlooms, handmade items e.g. pottery, etc.

The million-dollar question is how do Panduraja distribute the prosperity which will cause everyone happy?

Kris comes out with One team approach where there will not be any bell but team outcome with impact-driven measurement. They have to increase the outcome and strengthen the bottom line. Based on the numerous feedback mechanisms from various stakeholders, the final amount will differ. Their fundamental wealth distribution calculation is more or less fixed, the % variation of wealth distribution is not substantial. There will be a special monitory award for exceptional performance.

e.g. once there was a bumper production of Mango and Nakoola could export mangoes abroad with his contact at a special price. That attempt has fetched significant profit, and he got special monetary gain. Due to crop failure one year, everyone takes the loss amount, but due to the fish & poultry market, they could all get the benefit of this.

They watch out on a periodic basis and manifest on what they should promptly do to minimize the damage and maximize the profit.

So with the Kris guide, Panduraj could able to balance the equal distribution of wealth looking at the performance award one was doing better to expand the business outcome. Special recognition of monitory distribution happens when such spike benefits happen when the performance was done by going beyond the defined boundary.

This ownership model was working fine with the farmer family.

Now, Panduraja extended such a model with other families of the village. It motivates all the family members to put in their finest effort as they are merely gaining the profit. If they suffer a loss, it is absorbed by the other gains avenues. Now it has been one decade they are following this model.....

This Self-driven, Self-organized, shared purpose, outcome & impact, Value generation, one team-driven mindset enabling them to maximize the profit margin. Shareholders are also happy as they get their due service.

Do you think there is no conflict, no dispute, it is always there, but they are resolving all these to stay relevant in the market.

After Panduraja died, they keep Kris & their mother as their final authority to take the final call for any decision making. It was a democratic approach, but decision-making was taken by the Kris and their mother based on the data.

High Performance Team Skills?

What are the key skills we should watch for when we coach for a team?


From a lot of research, it has been inferred that a team to arrive at a high-performance state, exhibits many remarkable skills among team members.

When we coach a team, we can fine-tune those skills. We can watch for the present state of these skills and we can highlight to the team members to enhance those on many distinct occasions.

These skills will facilitate the team to function better. There is an intrinsic drive to upgrade these skills, as these skills will make those individuals stronger individuals in a process.

The team will traverse through many challenging assignments, but these skills will polish through better teamwork.

The team members can measure themselves at definite intervals how well they are performing against most of these skills.

They can determine actions to advance these skills.

Though it is not so easy to radically transform these skills in a short span of time but with devoted effort, we should seek to enhance these.

Xebia Meetup

 

Are your teams driven by Theory X leaders/managers?

This is the lastest story one of my coaches' companions was sharing in a conversation. She was experiencing this situation in her context. And discussing what can be done?

Douglas McGregor, a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1950s and 1960s.

In his 1960 book, The Human Side of Enterprise, McGregor proposed two theories by which managers recognize and address employee motivation. He attributed to these opposing motivational methods as Theory X and Theory Y management. 

Each considers that the manager’s role is to coordinate resources, consisting of individuals, to best benefit the enterprise. However, beyond this commonality, the attitudes and assumptions they embrace are altogether distinctive.

According to McGregor, Theory X management considers the following:

Work is naturally distasteful to most individuals, and they will seek to avert responsibility whenever feasible.

Most individuals are not enthusiastic, have little ambition for responsibility, and choose to be directed.

Most individuals have a limited aptitude for creativity in dealing with organizational problems.

Motivation occurs entirely at the physiological and security levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Most individuals are self-centered. As a result, they must be strictly controlled and often coerced to achieve organizational objectives.

Most individuals resist change.

Most individuals are gullible and unintelligent.

Most individuals gravitate toward prejudice and racism because of their attachment to ancient and conventional assumptions about individuals in general.

Most Individuals can still be heard saying things like “there will always be chiefs and Indians,” even though that kind of dialogue is becoming less familiar.

Essentially, Theory X assumes that the fundamental origin of employee motivation is financial, with security as a powerful second.

Under Theory X Manager, one can take a hard or soft approach to obtain results.

Theory X managers tend to be autocratic and controlling and feel it is up to them to ride people and drive them to perform their work (boss as a “Commander”). Once you acquire a powerful position it is much easy to exercise the power! 

You might have noticed such X management style, powerful organizations may discover that following it is inevitable owing to the volume of individuals that they operate and the rigid deadlines that they have to meet.

Have you come across such occasions? as a Coach what you have been investigating?

Theory X Leaders’ approach culminates in aggression, deliberately low productivity, and intense employee attrition. 

X Leaders believe Team members are rare to find reward or gratification in their work, so a “carrot and stick “ technique will contribute to be more fruitful in persuading them.

McGregor’s name for this kind of management is “management by control.”

Theory X management hinders the fulfillment of higher-level needs of Maslow’s Hierarchy chart because it doesn’t acknowledge that those needs are significant in the workplace. 

As a result, the particular way that employees can seek to find higher-level needs at work is to seek further compensation, so, predictably, they focus on financial benefits. 

While money may not be the most efficient way to self-fulfillment, it may be the only way feasible. 

The Theory X-oriented principal reduces the channels for innovations in work strategies and weakens the amount of group experience established.

Theory X Manager will design rigid organizational arrangements and controls based on established authority. He will employ careful control, give specific instructions, demand complete conformity, and will use threats of firings or economic sabotage to provoke the work done.

In a study reported in the Social Behavior And Psychology journal, researchers found employees’ motivation starts with encouragement from managers. If employees are led by Theory X managers in the work then team members will not be capable to engage properly!

What are some of the coaching aspects we can explore?

a) Let us talk with the leader X about the Situation Leadership style, as everything is situationally specific, those traits can be explained and practice. 

b) Let us explain the Complex system and traits of complexity and why Leaders have to behave differently in a complex system.

c) Let us talk about the Agile Cultural context and model. How people's aspects have been considered. 

d) Let us explain Extrinsic motivation factors and how leaders can explain those?

Let us talk about the outcome and Impact not only meeting the deadline.

All these have to be practiced and see what new outcome appears in Team.

Strengthening Self-Organizing Cross-Functional Scrum Team

A cross-functional team is a group of individuals with diverse functional expertise working toward a shared objective.

According to the Scrum Guide, a cross-functional team is a team that is organized around a product, a defined portion of a product, a service, or a customer value stream, and must include all competencies needed to accomplish their work without depending on others that are not part of the team.

What are the challenges of establishing such a self-organized cross-functional scrum team?

a) Silos mentality( BA, dev, test, Support )

b) Communication issue( BA, dev, test, Support )

c) Competency issue( BA, dev, test, Support )

d) Alignment issues( BA, dev, test, Support )

e) Conflicts are very high ( BA, dev, test, Support )

f) Ownership and commitment challenges( BA, dev, test, Support )

g) Mindset issue ( BA, dev, test, Support )

h) Collaboration issues ( BA, dev, test, Support )

i) Blame each other

j) Trust deficit, etc

How do we minimize these? Any structural approach we have to consider?

Look at any team and we will see a mixture of behaviors and personalities. Sometimes the individuals in a team can be complete opposites of each other and there will be conflicts; Other times there will be synergy in the team.

The ‘process’ part of the team will be very dependent on the behavior preferences that team members display.

The management psychologist Dr. Meredith Belbin was one of the first people formally to identify the different roles that people play in teams.

He recognized that in teams there are individuals who take action-oriented roles.

Some team members are more people-focused and others more cerebral.

Effective teams are made up of different types of people and they consist of different types of roles.


The mix of role types that play in a team determines their effectiveness.

These roles are

Shaper, Coordinator, Plant, Resource Investigator, Monitor Evaluator, Specialist, teamworker, Implementer, Completer Finisher

Although there are nine team roles, this doesn’t mean that a team needs nine individuals in it to be effective. Individuals will tend to have more than one preferred team role, so will generally occupy more than one role in the team.

When we look for a cross-functional self-organized high-performance scrum team, which evolves after a long cycle of the experiential exploration, we require to look at these 3 factors how effectively it has been matured.

When we recruit team members, if we can balance with these 3 factors, it would be advantageous for them to grow into a high-performance team, as the team will be apt to resolve any challenges they come across.

When I encounter the best scrum teams, I could certainly locate the traces of all these roles in a team.

I could able to trace who is Plant? who is matching the role of coordinator? etc. I start improving if these roles are missing.

When we start coaching, we also nurture these roles, based on what are the gaps, and what can be done to minimize those gaps.

This is a very good structure provided to structurally do team coaching and look for an opportunity.

All the challenges listed initially will slowly resolve when we have all these 9 roles developed and depicted with the scrum team.

We mostly look for a Scrum Master who is having a mixture of all these roles

[ A ‘teamworker’ is generally co-operative, easy to get along with, perceptive, and diplomatic. They are good listeners and are able to smooth over areas of friction within the team. They help keep the team together, particularly during times of stress or pressure.

A ‘shaper’ likes to challenge and drive things forward, enjoying the pressure and the reward of overcoming obstacles. They are able to identify patterns in discussions and in work undertaken and use this to push for change.

A ‘resource investigator’ is likely to be enthusiastic and charismatic, communicating well with others. They are able to explore opportunities, develop contacts, and instigate relationships.

The ‘implementer’ is reliable and well-disciplined, often conservative, and efficient at getting the job done. The implementer is able to reliably turn ideas into practical actions, and strategies into defined and manageable tasks.

People who fulfill the co-ordinator role are generally confident and responsible. They functionwell as a chairperson, helping to clarify goals and establish priorities. They encourage others to make decisions by delegating appropriately. ]