Becoming an Agile Leader, Regardless of Your Role

Becoming an Agile Leader Regardless of Your Role

Johanna Rothmanwww.jrothman.com@[email protected]+1-781-641-4046

http://www.jrothman.com

mailto:[email protected]

© 2016 Johanna Rothman@johannarothman

Some Stories of Inadvertent Leadership

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Common Themes

• See a problem

• Brainstorm solutions

• Involve others

• Experiment

• Create a new reality

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What is Leadership?

• Change something about the status quo

• Collaborate with others

• Create effective change when the situation changes

• Adaptability to achieve the necessary solution(s)

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What Leadership is Not

• Heroic

• Something you do alone

• All action

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Adaptable leaders create effective change when the

situation changes.

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Leadership Requires Courage

• Courage to:

• Take a step for yourself

• Ally with others

• Suggest change with and for others

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Courage is not Fearlessness

• “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

• Manage risks in many ways:

• Socializing ideas

• Trying them yourself

• Developing several options

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Start With Your Mindset

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Carol Dweck, Mindset


Focus on the Possible• When you focus, you

change how your brain works

• When you consider the possible, your expectations shape reality

• Source: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/06207?pg=all

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http://www.strategy-business.com/article/06207?pg=all


Expectations Shape Our Reality

• Expectations shape us

• Everyone on your team has potential—of some sort

• It’s all about mindset

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You live up (or down) to your own expectations.

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Changing Mindset is Challenging

• We often confuse our roles or titles with our identities

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Change is good.You first.

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Have the Courage to Become…

• A T-shaped person

• Someone who questions the way things are

• Collaborative

• Change artist

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Inspect and Adapt to Change

• Ability to solve problems

• Focus on what could be

• Adaptability

• Perseverance and grit

• Leadership

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Inspect

Adapt


How Do You Solve Problems?

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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop


Satir Change Model

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People don’t resist change;They resist being changed.

— Peter Senge

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Ways You Persevere

• Explain the value of the change

• Decide how the change manifests your values

• Celebrate incremental progress

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Agile is Change

• Cultural change

• Project change

• Process change

• Teams might change

• Each person can become a leader in a self-organizing team

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Become a Change Artist

• Invite people to change

• Experiment

• Listen to everyone

• Don’t label people

• Start with the smallest possible change

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Artistry is Difficult

• Requires a particular mindset:

• Let’s experiment

• Let’s learn early (instead of fail fast)

• Let’s learn as we go

• Think Growth Mindset

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Lead from Anywhere

• Your title is irrelevant

• Your actions count

• Adapt: change to fit your reality

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Become an agile leader:

What can you learn here today to consider for your

leadership tomorrow?

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References and Resources

• My questions on createadaptablelife.com

• Pragmatic Manager and other articles on jrothman.com

• Explore more at the InfluentialAgileLeader.com

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http://createadaptablelife.com

http://jrothman.com

http://InfluentialAgileLeader.com


Let’s Stay in Touch

• Pragmatic Manager:

• www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager

• Please link with me on LinkedIn

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http://www.jrothman.com

Becoming an Agile Leader, Regardless of Your Role

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Becoming an Agile Leader, Regardless of Your Role