We Can Lead

 The coronavirus pandemic has established an unprecedented condition in front of all of us. This is the moment where we require to demonstrate enormous leadership abilities to surmount these crises situation.

My third book, “We can lead” is a leadership book for all individuals who choose to grow into better whatever they are working out. It is a guidebook that can stimulate to self-analysis and striving to enhance our inner self and serve others to accomplish the same. This book has made me stronger, and I am absolute it will do the same for others. This book will aid everyone to stay strong at this crisis hour.

Please glance inside the book to identify further about the composition.

Look Inside here: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=aCb4DwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Chandan+Lal+Patary%22&hl=en&source=newbks_fb&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Available here: https://notionpress.com/read/we-can-lead

#leadershipskills #leadershipcoaching #selfcoaching #agilecoach #scrummaster #scrummasters #productowners #changeagents #projectmanagers #projectmanager #coaches

What Leaders does during Agile Transformation

Leadership is crucial in any Organizational Agile Transformation.

Adapted from: Wikipedia: Complex Adaptive System

Leadership in Agile Organization is like a Complex Adaptive system leadership. Things are emergence, Patterns are evolving based on the input receiving from the agents.

Agile Transformation starts with Agile Leadership.

Organizations need to pursue business benefits happening owing to Agile ways of functioning.

In the Agile organization, leaders are servants. Leaders are coaches. Leaders are strategists. The operational responsibilities have been delegated to the scrum teams. Leaders facilitate the conversation to assure the bottlenecks are eliminating continuously.

Leaders understand why we are doing Agile Transformation. What value we will receive when we complete Agile Transformation for the whole organization. Leaders are in the driver seat to build an Agile Culture and Mindset changes. Leaders will never pretend that they know everything and think they do not need to learn anything fresh. Leaders will be vulnerable and accept the limitation of their knowledge.

Leaders need to create Cross-Functional, Self Organized, Long live, Agile Teams.The team own end to end product & solution delivery. Leaders coach the team to achieve such a maturity state. Leaders will not interfere in the daily working discussion by micromanaging team member’s activities.

Leaders ensure all the organizational impediments encountered by team members are eliminates at the appropriate moment by deliberately driving these activities. Leaders look for those issues/challenges, gather those, and systematically address those. Some of those challenges are profoundly substantial in nature. Leaders engage in a value stream workshop to understand the product development flow-related roadblocks. They call for a discovery workshop to analyze and get rid of those challenges.

In the Agile Organization where team members start showing self organize, self-driven, cross-functional teams where team members are committed and own end-to-end delivery responsibility, Leaders coach the team to sustain those high-performance team traits. Leaders mentor the team members wherever they identify gaps and room for improvement opportunities are there.

Leaders engage in numerous problem-solving workshops to facilitate teams to resolves different types of issues the team is dealing with. Leaders will not be looking at the status updating and will not act like an action delegating master. Leaders will involve and cocreate the agile organization.

Leaders transform the organization’s culture. Agile culture is more about collaboration and cultivation among people. More concentrated on People’s aspects. Leaders ensure teams and team members are connected in the diverse platforms to demonstrate each other deliverable. Minimize dependencies among each other and Maximize exchange knowledge.

Leaders ensure organizations embrace a more experimental mindset. Encourage team members to gain by experimenting, failing, and sharing and caring approach. Leaders also exhibit the same mindset by walk the talk.

Leaders ensure the Kaizen process is in place. Leaders facilitate many such events to ensure, the great minds are functioning at the team level are prepared to contribute to the bigger purpose in the organization. Leaders will not ask for the ideas and calculate the ideas generated by the team members. Leaders will generate more ideas than their team members.

Leaders lead the organization change management journey. Leaders establish the change is accepted by the whole organization and changes are appearing due to Agile transformation. Leaders are leading from the front and acting as the lighthouses.

Leaders of change must be eager to move first. They exhibit the behaviors and attitudes that are expected of everyone else. Employees watch leaders for consistency between words and actions to look at if they should believe the change is absolutely going to happen. Leaders are self-aware and deliberate.

Leaders create a sense of urgency and importance about the change and demonstrate commitment and passion about getting things done. They offer recognition to those who are performing and operating well.

Leaders energize the team members, motivate them. Leaders identify the right talent, bridge the knowledge gaps if any by providing the perfect environment and training. Leaders establish the trust is in the air. Leaders provide the right supply of resource and assistance to maintain the right momentum and pressure in the ambient.

Situational Leadership® According to Blanchard and Hersey.

Leaders act based on the situation, based on the maturity of the team members, leaders delegates everything.

Psychological Saftey in Spotify Model is built-in.....

People are very much sensitive to power and hierarchy within an organization or within a team.

The act of fear in the hierarchy is ages old story.

Most individuals are completely conscious of where they land in the power hierarchies at work. After joining any organization or team, everyone looks into the power map and relative position where they are. This creates a map of how far and how much they should maneuver. With whom they should ally and with whom they can debate!

their position shapes their attitudes of how safe it is to take interpersonal risks within their team or group

research shows that those with a lower position in a group or department generally enjoy less psychologically safe than those with higher status

This drives them less likely to check with others when they are dubious about something, more frightened that mistakes will be held against them, less adequate to bring up tough problems, and less certain that others value their skills

Though the leaders often preach empowerment, they may be uninformed of the fear generated by disparities in rank or status and, accordingly, may not do sufficient to safeguard that a message of empowerment is expressed in a psychologically safe environment.

Fear has long been adopted as a mechanism for retaining control

If people lower in the rank are afraid of those who have power, it continues to infer that they will act what they are expected to do.

Hierarchically embedded fear is not so natural to shrug off or change with psychological safety just because it is a wonderful thought.

Fear in those with subordinate roles leads to an inclination to conceal one’s tentative thoughts.

When individuals in authority speak authoritatively and speak first, it usually appears in greater self-censorship by others, even if this was not the initial purpose. Likewise, without meaning to, managers often reduce willingness to participate in meaningful dissent by seeking approval, rather than a genuine search, of their views.

Why tolerate such a situation especially in the knowledge industry where rapid ideation and implementation are need of the hour.

The beauty of structural change which proposes by Spotify enables Psychological Saftey built-in into the system.

In the normal Hierarchical model, we have seen top-down command and control leadership is built in.

Due to the character of the structure itself but in the Spotify model, the shift of power to capability building and People to value generation line is different.

Decouples people-leadership tasks, generally implemented by one manager into two sets of tasks implemented by two different managers, each of which is equally significant ( Chapter Manager & Tribe Manager).

One boss(Chapter Manager) provides and makes decisions about one set of objectives (such as employing and terminating, promotions, training, and competence building);

The other boss(Tribe Manager/Leader) makes decisions about another set of things (such as prioritization of goals and work, regular administration of task execution, and quality assurance).

Because the two roles are so distinct, there should be less need for the power struggles, tensions, and conflicts often encountered in more conventional structures.

Importantly, even though, the two managers—one of which we’ll call the “capability leader,” the other the “value-creation leader”—have to admit on a volume of situations: who and what to deploy to projects, initiatives, and business units, for example, and how considerable these individual and other resources are going to cost. (Value-creation leaders must compensate for them out of their budget.) - Mckinsey

What do you say? Have you seen such instances?

Organization Change Operation for a Fresh Drive?

My friend recently joins an organization as a Change Lead! New Position different office and unique change manager!

We were informally reviewing what are the factors we should study out and how can we set ourselves for success.

He takes up an assignment to know further about his new organization, to understand further about them so that he can position himself better.

He was a part of the team which is performing satisfactory, it seems. My friend wants to know the stuff “as it is”, so that he can perform the desirable change management proposal. To function better in the organization he has to recognize the as-is state of the team culture & Organization culture.

What he was using is called “The Cultural Web”, which identifies six connected elements that help to make up what Johnson and Scholes call the “paradigm”–the pattern or model–of the work environment.

I was not cognizant about this model, but when he was explaining, I felt wow, that is how it can help individuals to set themselves initially in a structural way which is a marvelous approach.

What precisely are all these factors to look upon?

1. Stories and Myths: Lookout all the previous and current stories going on within the organization about the organization? Note down all these points without analyzing anything. Just collect as initial days. More is better. Through these incidents try to capture organization values, beliefs, etc, and why with how part.

Collect & Write about 20 pages on these stories & Myths. It will provide remarkably valuable insight.

2. Rituals and Routines: Observe and Collect daily actions and behaviors of individuals within the organization. Participate in numerous informal and formal meetings and note down different levels of discussion, roles in how people behave, exchange, and exhibits.

3. Symbols: The visual representation of the company; how they show up to both employees and individuals on the outside. It includes logos, office spaces, dress codes, and sometimes advertisements. How the organization and team feel about the symbols, logos, and colors.

4. Control Systems: Collect all the points through which the organization is getting controlled? The quality system, customer base, products, cash flow, etc how all these elements control the whole organization or different teams. These give valuable insights into the organization flow. How about the teams, team members getting punished, or recognized by whom for what? etc

5. Organisation Structures: Read out the prevailing organization structure. Unwritten power and influence that some members may exert, which likewise indicates whose contributions to the organization are most appreciated by those above them. Where the power centers, why, and how those influence the numerous decision making.

6. Power Structures: Note who are the individuals, are those who hold the strongest influence over decisions and commonly have the ultimate say on significant actions or changes.

Now he has gathered all the intelligence, So what?

As he is a Change agent into the new ambient, by integrating this system of analysis, he can identify himself and will be adequate to break free of ritual and belief systems within a company to achieve real change and innovation.

Whenever there is a fresh initiative that can start we need to address most of these below areas. The below areas are vital as this is how organizations operate. This is what culture is about.

For example, there is an initiative from Projectized organization, we have to move to the Productized organization. This is a new change organization that is willing to bring in to overcome some of the anti agile practices and raise the business agility in the delivery team.

1. Stories and Myths: What are the numerous challenges “projects based” approach experiences, What new stories we can bring into? How can rewrite some of the old stories with a new productized concept? Internally and externally what are the new development due to productized approaches can bring into.

2. Rituals and Routines: The projects based funding, execution, etc, what are numerous routine is going to transform when we move into the productized approach? What the platform we have which can communicate these changes in ritual and routine, explains betters. Who are the individuals who are responsible to bring those changes in rituals and routines?

3. Symbols: What are the new colors, logo for in product-based approach will look like. How do we advertise and brand within the team environment? The change from Project to product approach should have an original look feel and transmit some clear message.

4. Control Systems: What is the formal and informal approach to the new change. The pilot of the productized approach in a certain team, how the progress will be presented by whom etc information needs to be presented. How the decision will be taken and by whom need to highlight.

5. Organisation Structures: What will be the structure of the productization initiatives. Who are the core team members and who will make the pivotal decisions? A formal and information structure of the team members serving to fulfill some of the activities.

6. Power Structures: Who are the investors in this productization drive. How success will look like. Who drives through this approach?

This provides a structural thought process on how to roll out the change management plan for an initiative where success will be high as we are aligning with the organizational cultures.

All these aspects need to look into when we introduce fresh changes to the organization.

In this procedure, we are also taking care of the present organizational culture

As the cultural paradigm influences and is influenced by the six inter-relating factors of the model, each aspect should be considered in terms of mapping out and designing the necessary changes (Johnson et al, 2011).

Understanding the dominant culture permits consideration of whether or not change can be accommodated within the culture of any given labor ward. Alternatively, if this is not possible, a shift in culture is definitely required (Johnson et al, 2011).

It also allows identification of what is problematic about the existing culture, indicating the type of change required and highlights aspects of culture that act as facilitators or block change (Johnson et al, 2011).

We all can try this? see how this approach enables us to become better whatever we are working on.....

3 Model in these 3 Guidebooks

 

Why feel uncomfortable is the best way forward?

Am I in my comfort zone?

My colleagues suggest I should not be.

As an when I growing older my mind seeks a comfort zone.

Comfortable team members are enemies for the high-performance team! They would like to be a comfort zone due to many reasons!

I am higher satisfied with Maslow’s bottom 3 layers from hierarchies of needs.

I have been to Top of the Hierarchy for some moment, Now I am Ok with the bottom 3 layers of the Maslow hierarchy of needs. A comfortable team member will say!


This is the query that invariably shows up to my mind. Am I in my comfort zone?
The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone. - Roy T. Bennett

I request my colleagues what are they doing to come out from this comfort zone

Am I turning into stronger physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically, family, etc? For the last couple of years?
“We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.”–Ray Bennett

My companions, say

If I am in my comfort zone, I might have not been seeking something unique. Without working out the fresh initiative, life is going on and everybody around me is happy, including myself!

I checked with my colleagues; they are refusing this fact that they are doing anything not new. Everything is new to them on a routine basis!

When I investigated, if they are learning anything new, are those good enough to stay relevant, looks like they are 100% convinced that yes they are participating in a new initiative and they are progressively learning something original by sitting at comfort place!
“When was the last time you did something for the first time.” Anonymous

If I am in my comfort zone, I might have not creating new friends in my office or outside of my office. I reviewed with many of my team members; they denied these facts that; they do not have a new friend. They acknowledge that yes; they have many friends on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and regular these volumes are growing. They confess that they are part of many WhatsApp groups.

Are we able to get the benefits of our wisdom owing to different friends/networks/groups we are part of? are we exploring some different wisdom from our different friends? The answer was positive!

If I am in my comfort zone, I might have not active to undertake something new. Most of the time I will find excuses not to do anything new. Once I checked with a few of my colleagues, they decline to say that is not like that. They always accept new opportunities! People who are in a comfort zone, they are scared to accept a new assignment, as it will challenge them. They are not ready to shake up their existing setup. They are happy as happiness is one of the fundamental driving forces for them. Life should be in balance & that is their belief. Why run behind the rat race?


If I am in my comfort zone, I will be in the Relax zone in the Flow model. I have the ability but I love to take the low challenging assignment, else I will get worried or anxious which I do not want. I love to be in my control zone!

If I am in my comfort zone, my worth has not substantially advanced in the last couple of years. As I am benefiting the comfort benefits my other benefits are not thriving. My mental peace has improved. My skills and competence have not substantially enhanced. My life has become more or less predictable. I know what we will happen next and how to control them. Though I am in a routine trap. I will be taking precisely the same route, same bus, same building, same people, same technology, same routine.

If I am in my comfort zone, you will read the same book, same newspaper, same food, same restaurant, same friend. My taste will less like to alter. I am more or less happy with whatever I have. if someone suggests me to try different, I will become philosophical and defend this the best approach in this world

If I am in my comfort zone I become scared, I get fear; I appear weak; I am a bit pessimistic, my mental strength is not very powerful. I have some story that has produced me weak or make me ok with the present state.
“The only thing that is stopping you from where you are to where you want to go is your comfort zone.” – Dhaval Gaudier

If I am in my comfort zone, I am not developing my passion, I do not have a substantial purpose in my life. Some of my colleagues in the routine rut they are illustrating how passionately they are living & doing the routine again and again. They are appropriate at arguing to justify there is nothing much to be done. They are already living at the highest peak in the world.

If I am in my comfort zone, I have full control of my life. I do not let go of my control. Everything takes place with super prediction. Because for so many reasons my mind does not oblige me to explore. I am holding everything tight to my heart.
The desire to live within our comfort zone and to be in control all the time is a denier of a fulfilling life that excites. Let go. - Assegid Habtewold



Let us make ourselves Uncomfortable! Disturb ourselves a bit, Shake ourselves a bit, Challenge ourselves a bit, Make us uneasy a bit......

What Leaders does during Agile Transformation

Leadership is crucial in any Organizational Agile Transformation.


Adapted from: Wikipedia: Complex Adaptive System

Leadership in Agile Organization is like a Complex Adaptive system leadership. Things are emergence, Patterns are evolving based on the input receiving from the agents.

Agile Transformation starts with Agile Leadership.

Organizations need to pursue business benefits happening owing to Agile ways of functioning.

In the Agile organization, leaders are servants. Leaders are coaches. Leaders are strategists. The operational responsibilities have been delegated to the scrum teams. Leaders facilitate the conversation to assure the bottlenecks are eliminating continuously.

Leaders understand why we are doing Agile Transformation. What value we will receive when we complete Agile Transformation for the whole organization. Leaders are in the driver seat to build an Agile Culture and Mindset changes. Leaders will never pretend that they know everything and think they do not need to learn anything fresh. Leaders will be vulnerable and accept the limitation of their knowledge.

Leaders need to create Cross-Functional, Self Organized, Long live, Agile Teams. The team own end to end product & solution delivery. Leaders coach the team to achieve such a maturity state. Leaders will not interfere in the daily working discussion by micromanaging team member’s activities.

Leaders ensure all the organizational impediments encountered by team members are eliminates at the appropriate moment by deliberately driving these activities. Leaders look for those issues/challenges, gather those, and systematically address those. Some of those challenges are profoundly substantial in nature. Leaders engage in a value stream workshop to understand the product development flow-related roadblocks. They call for a discovery workshop to analyze and get rid of those challenges.

In the Agile Organization where team members start showing self organize, self-driven, cross-functional teams where team members are committed and own end-to-end delivery responsibility, Leaders coach the team to sustain those high-performance team traits. Leaders mentor the team members wherever they identify gaps and room for improvement opportunities are there.

Leaders engage in numerous problem-solving workshops to facilitate teams to resolves different types of issues the team is dealing with. Leaders will not be looking at the status updating and will not act like an action delegating master. Leaders will involve and cocreate the agile organization.

Leaders transform the organization’s culture. Agile culture is more about collaboration and cultivation among people. More concentrated on People’s aspects. Leaders ensure teams and team members are connected in the diverse platforms to demonstrate each other deliverable. Minimize dependencies among each other and Maximize exchange knowledge.

Leaders ensure organizations embrace a more experimental mindset. Encourage team members to gain by experimenting, failing, and sharing and caring approach. Leaders also exhibit the same mindset by walk the talk.

Leaders ensure the Kaizen process is in place. Leaders facilitate many such events to ensure, the great minds are functioning at the team level are prepared to contribute to the bigger purpose in the organization. Leaders will not ask for the ideas and calculate the ideas generated by the team members. Leaders will generate more ideas than their team members.

Leaders lead the organization change management journey. Leaders establish the change is accepted by the whole organization and changes are appearing due to Agile transformation. Leaders are leading from the front and acting as the lighthouses.

Leaders of change must be eager to move first. They exhibit the behaviors and attitudes that are expected of everyone else. Employees watch leaders for consistency between words and actions to look at if they should believe the change is absolutely going to happen. Leaders are self-aware and deliberate.

Leaders create a sense of urgency and importance about the change and demonstrate commitment and passion about getting things done. They offer recognition to those who are performing and operating well.

Leaders energize the team members, motivate them. Leaders identify the right talent, bridge the knowledge gaps if any by providing the perfect environment and training. Leaders establish the trust is in the air. Leaders provide the right supply of resource and assistance to maintain the right momentum and pressure in the ambient.


Situational Leadership® According to Blanchard and Hersey.

Leaders act based on the situation, based on the maturity of the team members, leaders delegates everything.

Why does Organizations choose to invest in YOU?

It is not requisite that you have excellent skills and knowledge; if you not are saleable!!

Others should also discover you, and they should get an interest in you.

And you should be useful to them! You develop an interest to those fishermen so that they move behind you to catch You!!

“Hiring people is an art, not a science, and resumes can’t tell you whether someone will fit into a company’s culture.” – Howard Schulz

Some of the outstanding factors which you can be ready with so that organization grabs you!

The organization chooses to invest in you based on the track record you have with the execution of a substantial scale critical program. Do you have any?

A track record is a key motivator for businesses or organizations to acquire you!

You have potential skills and knowledge which are profoundly significant in the forthcoming market and relevant to the prevailing technology trend.

You also have some indicator that you have exercised those skills and knowledge. The more hot the skills are, the higher demand you can create.

The organization is thinking long term by utilizing these skills they will build products and solutions and generate a lot of wealth.

They seek the opportunity and anticipate the potential use of those products and solutions which you will be capable to generate and will establish an impact on the same for the organizational bottom line.

“Dating and hiring have a lot in common.” – Scott Wintrip

What particular problem you will be solving for the organization. How significant is the problem for the organization, How efficient you are to solve those problems? How complex those problems which only you can solve?

Have you dealt with such problems earlier and how is wisdom? what is feedback from the people who have benefited from your service?

What is the unique strength you are bringing about this problem where the organization is searching for the solution?

You also require to ready with the proposal if the organization ask, what are the distinct way your skills and competencies can serve? What alternative approach you can apply to figure out these problems, etc?

If you have any failure in your current track record, that again benefits you to sell yourself to the organization, every experience affects.

You need to aware about your competitor and come up with a better proposal than your offering, which is unique and nobody has such a solution, you can bargain with the organization better

You should be capable to present your offering for 1 mins pitch, 20 mins pitch, and 1 hrs pitch about your key attributes and services flawlessly.

You should have business acumen about making wealth, how to exercise your skills and knowledge to build up the business.

What are numerous cultures, countries, and challenges you have struggled with, stronger is the story, they more attractive the story is, they will generate into more curiosity about your offering, so what is your selling story?

what is your current demand of yours in the market, can you show someway statistics to persuade? 

Organizations may pick up you and amalgamate with some other remarkable team members who have complimenting skills and establish a greater solution and service which you alone can not produce

“You need to have a collaborative hiring process.” – Steve Jobs

Organizations may take you, train you, and strengthen you for a grander mission, they have seen something which with limited investment can expand.

Are you warm up? are you watching at the horizon and strengthening yourself for those powerful people who can grab you?

Transformation is more or like a sales process!

Have you also realized the same? Transformation and Change is lot like selling product and service?

Whatever we do in Organization business transformation is something like a sales process. Some of the techniques that salespeople use which as a transformation change agents we also apply.

What do you think?

Let us understand what do salespeople do in the sales process?

You will discover many parallels in the sales process and transformation and change management process.

Individuals do not buy because salespeople have a solution and customers need the solution. Sales do not work that way. It is much deeper, bigger, and confusing! A lot of emotional than logical drives.

As a salesperson, you don’t modify individuals’ buying habits or factors. What you can do is precisely discover the customer and then pursue to establish a sense of urgency. A lot of buying is performed owing to momentum. It is vital to discover those “real” reasons or factors as to why a prospect would buy now, subsequently, not at all or never.

Selling is not onetime events, it is like establishing a relationship first. People choose to buy from a trusted, experienced individual. Sales are figuring out a problem that is continuing on in customer life. The customer some time recognizes and sometimes not conscious of the problem. Also, the impact of the problem, If they are familiar also, they are not capable to identify whom to seek advice. The customer is not able to trust someone.

End users ready to grant any prices, if it is matching their needs. The customer always does not invariably think about the low price, they seek value, if they are convinced, they will spend any price or prepared to stretch most of the time. The product or solution should make their life better.

Great sales happen when salesmen exactly discover what customer pain points are. They never explain product features or benefits. First, they understand the customer pain points and slowly explain what could be the offering. The customer chooses. Customer needs to be comfortable to buy service from you and you have the end-to-end solution ready which a customer is looking for.

“All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to those people they know, like, and trust.” --Bob Burg

People always choose to purchase from the best, they prefer to feel proud that they have bought from the finest. They look for the credible product and solution which they can proudly share with others. They want to feel best in front of their friend and family members.

Great salespeople understand the pain points of the end-users, they walk with the customer, to consider the customer pain, empathize with them. They observe the customer better before they recommend any solution. The great salesperson asks better powerful questions to grasp the deepest desires of the customer. Together they sail the journey for a common customized solution. This becomes a memorable moment for the customer which they share gladly with other companions.

The cardinal rule of sales is to consistently make it about your consumer. Let them talk, let them share, let them get the attention, let them feel proud, and grant them to receive attention, then only relationship will expand, they will feel like to be with you and share their deep concerns with you.

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates

Greta salesperson, talk less and listen more. They are mindful of the moment and circumstances. Maybe as a salesman, you know a lot, but end-users do not have expertise like you. So salesmen come down to the customer level and serve.

Great salesperson builds a contract with the customer, Initial with a psychological contract and over a period of time a business contract which results in a successful sale. Initial great salesmen build a shared goal, in which both customers and salespeople work together. Most successful sales happen when all these state steps follow.

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” – Mary Kay Ash

A great salesperson is optimistic, confident, positive, smiling, and in good emotional control. People love to work with such a personality. They have a good sense of humor. Those salespeople quickly connect with the customer and the success rate for them is remarkably high. They do not criticize or bad mouth about competition or others.

“I like to think of sales as the ability to gracefully persuade, not manipulate, a person or persons into a win-win situation.” – Bo Bennett

Buyers also don’t want to hear about your product or service. Good salespeople know this and incorporate the product or service they’re selling into a broader story that has an arc and finishes with the customer receiving what they choose.

Agile Coach Job available....

When I google search Agile Coach role, the latest this turned out at Linked in Section with the Price tag in it!

When we debate about ROI from this role….

If I am an employer, what do I do to sustain this cost?

If I am an employee, what do I do to sustain this cost?

As an Agile coach, this calculation has to be performed well ahead before the interview commences, and we have to be 120% confident in our offering!

Some applicants who showed up to claim that, I have 20 certifications, I can provide better training, I can facilitate, I have done blah blah transformation in ABC and EDF companies. Ask me any queries I can respond etc.

Most of the time, employees when gave hypothetical scenarios during the interview, recognized that those candidates, certainly knows many things, how do we differentiate, who will win this money? We can not permit everyone this offer anyway, particularly one will accomplish this.

An employer is constantly wondering, how can we legitimize a suitable candidate?

One day Employer meet one gentleman who demonstrated that he can do follows...and he is worthwhile of the budget...

a) I can rapidly identify barriers and dependencies across teams and support. [He suggested his own model drive those where he already accomplished these in the previous stint]

b) I can instantly establish what will bring the greatest value from the delivery units. [He introduced his own model to drive those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

c) I can quickly Diagnose and bring forth and resolve impediments that remain within and outside of the teams’ area of influence. [He suggested his own model drive those where he already obtained in the previous stint]

d) I can quickly Identify and influence others in order to stay aligned up, down, and across the organization. [He suggested his own model drive those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

e) I can quickly Support the teams' adaption and administer the agile and lean thinking to their situation, and support them challenge the existing environment. [He submitted his own model to stimulate those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

f) I can quickly Serve as an adequate change agent who is both motivating changes and driving it to take effect at the delivery teams. [He proposed his own design to guide those where he already obtained in the previous stint]

g) I can Partner with Leadership to build up a comprehensive enterprise Agile transformation roadmap, Coach stakeholders on identifying Business KPIs to measure progress towards achieving business outcomes. [He introduced his model to drive those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

h) I can quickly Help raise awareness of the benefits and impacts of Agile adoption throughout the organization to create a supportive environment for Agile adoption. [He presented some of the techniques he has come out to obtain this goal]

i) I can quickly Bring transparency to Business and IT organizations about development and increase trust. I can rapidly identify trade-offs between short and long-term benefits to drive a shared vision between the Business and IT organizations. [He suggested his own model stimulate those where he already obtained in the previous stint]

j) I can instantly evaluate the team maturity and enable them to work out the upgrade the maturity of teams, I can Observe and engage with individual team members to pinpoint opportunities to improve Agile performance [He designs his own model to drive those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

k) I can immediately influence mind-set and behaviors, including those of senior leaders for new changes [He introduces his own model to drive those where he already obtained in the previous stint]

l) I can quickly Assist the teams with the identification, collection, and reporting of agile practice metrics and measurements for Value generation for all the stakeholders [He proposes his own model to drive those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

m) I can quickly Organize and participate in agile events, contribute to communication sites,tools, deliver presentations to stakeholders across the organization [He propose his own model to drive those where he already accomplished in the previous stint]

n) I can quickly help to Progressively evolve the ways of working across the enterprise to assure the fulfillment of business and customer value [He proposes his own model to drive those where he already achieved in the previous stint]

Employers were thoroughly thrilled with his claim and gained confidence that yes, this individual is innovative in his approach and he will be competent to drive the transformation initiative for the context that the organization is operating.

Will you dismiss this individual? if you are not biased, racist or under the pressure of lobbyism, nepotism....and so on. ;-) yes sometimes it happens, life goes on.....Someone else will pay this amount..As you are capable...Keep upgrading our skills...

How can I grow into a Better Assessor?

My companion throws this conversation in one of our chat. She wants to assess a couple of High-performance teams.

How can I do that in the shortest span of time? What is the focus area I should have so that I can thoroughly identify various gaps if any, the team is having?

What we have discussed.....

It is invariably suggested that if you are structured, detail-oriented, and organized, you will receive benefits as an assessor role!

You as an assessor should be able to influence and persuade others easily. So all the traits which will make you a better influencer will prepare you successful in extracting out the intelligence covering inside the carpet!

As an assessor, the biggest question is, how swift the assessor can establish trust and relationship with the team? So that resistance during assessment can be lessened. Increased information inflow can be fetched.

Any agile coach before they commence the journey, conduct an introductory assessment, where they gaze the present condition at the trench! To create a “to be” state.

As an assessor, we have to pick up an independent view, not by biased with anything.

As an assessor, we should be able to examine original ideas or things. During discussion distinct types of information will inflow, the assessor should not get confused with the ambiguity. Need to fetch more and more information to get rid of uncertainty.

Assessors should be able to retrieve intelligence as many diversified origins as feasible, This facilitates to inhibit the Assessors from encountering prejudices in their understanding such as tunnel vision.

The credibility of the assessor plays a significant role, in dealing with the assessment. People read with whom they are interacting. People will admit quickly if any comment and recommendation come from a well-reputed expert in that domain if he/she is an assessor.

Assessors ask the appropriate question, Assessors are excellent at articulating the questions which can bring out the appropriate information. Through the questioning skill, the assessor will challenge the individuals for reflection and receive insight.

Assessors are having good Emotional balance, they can rapidly establish rapport with the team. The team automatically feels part of the assessment. Assessor creates an environment that is safe and information could be utilized positively for improvement.

Assessors are having a growth mindset where they are ready to learn and transform if it is essential for the assignment. They have an eye of observation. They can record all the happening and note it down.

The assessor is full of confidence, as an assessor, he/she is deep into the subject which he/she is assessing. The higher and better teams assessor is assessing with a learning attitude he/she will be able to drive the assessment meeting in a better manner.

As an assessor, one of the finest skills is the intelligence to connect with the individuals in a better way. They are remarkably thorough in communication, an absolute skill to develop into an awesome assessor.

As an assessor, they have to be an excellent listener. As a result of that, they could able to catch even the minutest of detail shared by the team members and use for the benefit.

The ability to decide is one of the key skills of the assessor. They can rapidly come out with action items. The team will find confidence as the assessor can immediately conclude what to be performed and action items.

An assessor is a great leader. They exhibit all the outstanding leadership skills. As a result of that, they can run the assessment meeting better.

The articulating report also is an art which every assessor should have, Conveying vital message which can be conveying factual information, the tone should inspire trust and credibility, as well as express a service orientation.

I am certain all of us have received benefits for this discussion.

Let us grow into a better assessor so that we can come up with a better plan for those high-performance teams. Please share your experience.

Have you thought about these Organizational Challenges?

Top few challenges every leader will discover during software product development.

Let us play any roles in software product development organization, we will notice a scaled version of these challenges.

With our wisdom and intelligence, we need to curtail these challenges to make the organization more agile.

Either you are running your startup or you are leaders in established product development organizations or you are working for some product companies as a supplier, you will encounter these typical challenges causing substantial damage to the end to end product development flow.

If you can, with your expertise can lessen these organizational challenges, everyone will become extremely glad and kiss for your services.

I know you know all these but still sharing…..

a) Rapid Technology advances, as a result of this related change impact in everything e.g. competency, tools, process, etc. How smoothly we can surmount those shifts? What should be our tech strategy to handle such challenges? Such Changes?

b) The customer has many choices: Today’s customer has wide options as there are many solutions. How rapidly we can understand the need of the customer and implement solutions? Most of the time, we do not have the proficiency to pinpoint the customer desire, frequently we are in hurry assuming we know what customers prefer. How can we address such challenges?

c) Time to Market: Everyone wants lightning-fast solutions, as a result, there is always push, how swiftly we can complete the solution and reach the market to capture the largest pie? From concept to cash, how swiftly we can develop the desirable solution, which the customer is looking for. The acceleration with minimal damage!

d) Waste in the system: The large legacy organization has evolved a lot for several decades, as a result of that there is a lot of waste in the system, which is unnoticed or communities are ignoring as it will disrupt the healthy flow. With courage, how can we call out outdated processes, people, tools, etc issue to wipe out these clogs in the pipeline? Of course, a potent lobby will try to kill the voice as a when raise!

e) A swift change in the expectation from the consumer: Software product development is delicate, once the customer handles the systems, unique ideas take place. Difficult to convey what absolutely is the desire, as a result, there is invariably a better way to consume the feature. So the transformation in features is persistent, How swiftly we can incorporate those changes considering, all aspects like Architecture, design, code, test, and release including people’s competency?

f) Right acceptance criteria: What is an acceptable quality that looks like? It should work fine, yes it is working, but is this the optimum quality? so establishing the benchmark quality which is periodically changing is also a challenge. How can deal with these?

g) There are always challenges with people’s competency vs the demand in the organization. How swiftly we can ramp up and ramp down people demand? How rapidly we can mobilize individuals in numerous assignments? How rapidly we can channelize funds? How can we stabilize the emotional state of the team members? What is the best way to balance & managing about people loading and engagement looking at the business challenges And human side?

h) Infra needs, as tools and technologies are emerging, many open sources or license software is in abundance in the market, how can we deal with all? whom to trust as security and vulnerability is again a challenge? are we paying more or we have a better option?

i) Distributes team challenges, when we have common code base use by 5 different teams in 5 different countries, managing end to end product development, deployment has its own challenges. Though there are many guidelines written but context-specific has to recognize. How fast we can minimize friction in the system?

j) Product Team appraisal also plays a significant role in building or breaking the team culture. Some organizations not ultimately established what could be the best way to recognize, appraise new-gen team members. Some time heroic culture has been advocated which could be the need of that juncture, some time team cultural building ignored. How can we single out and recommend the appropriate appraisal system desired for that unique context?

k) Heavy thick large top hierarchical layers sometimes impede the execution speed. As everyone prefers to rationalize their existence, they introduce new work into the system which may not enable the team to operate better. How can we diagnose and recommend optimum structure?

l) Product development life cycle management is yet using the legacy sequential system. As the transformations are immense and amends, these will rock the whole fundamental IT project/program management operation, people do not dare to touch those portions. This legacy process itself will inject much waste into the system in the form of process, people, tools, etc burden will dump of the execution team.

m) Welcoming changes attitude from top to bottom layers is missing. Sometimes businesses are complacent with the prevailing stature, they are not open to exploring new situations, the entire ecosystem feels “we know it all”, we are the best" mindset. How can we coach such an organization and adjust for the forthcoming times?

n) Rigid, monolithic, legacy architecture with Legacy people cause deterioration to the adaption with new ways of working. How to transform such a legacy of engineering culture? As today’s customer wants rapid development with lighting speed feature deployment.

There could be many more, these are vital few, Some are Structure related, Some are people, some process, some are technology-related.

Competent Coach!!