The Art of People: Facilitation, Leadership and Team Dynamics

 illustration from www.justontarte.com

In one word, describe for me an exceptional leader.

Perhaps words that come to mind could be courageous, humble, accountable, selfless or perhaps even moral and ambitious.

Are any of these wrong? Of course not. We would like our leaders to display all of these qualities and probably more... ideally.

Now, in one word describe a great facilitator.

Perhaps words that come to mind include observant, listener, and neutral, persuasive as well as courageous and humble. You might also include proactive in that list.

In today’s world of teams and team dynamics, which require cross-cultural, cross generational and gender neutral atmospheres, requiring these teams to work together in a way they have never before experienced can create an often contentious and uncomfortable atmosphere which could have a huge impact on both team and corporate culture!

The need for skilled leadership on these teams has become obvious. What has not been obvious is where we find the folks with the right mindset, disposition and all of those qualities we listed above in order to give our teams and organizations the chance they need to be successful.

One thing is certain; it’s not for lack of volunteers.

Plenty have stepped forward to say, “I want to be a leader.” In an Agile world, some have gone so far as to embrace the mindset that Scrum Master = Team Lead = Management. In other words, “My team will do what I say if they think I’m the one in charge.” This mindset reflects someone who is focused on the role they have, not the goal we are all trying to achieve; this goal not the role focus is one I’ve heard championed by Ellen Gottesdiener of EGB Consulting on many occasions.

In other cases, we may be simply slapping the first hand in the air with a team of their own and a two day certification. We then ask them to expertly display all of those qualities we are looking for atop this article. And by the way, no one reports to you on that team. You simply have to get all of these folks to perform at a high level in a methodology they have never used before and communicate in a way they’re not used to. Easy...

Did I mention this will also reflect in your annual performance review?

I recently ran a workshop for one of the larger national IT recruiters for a group of their clients on the topic “This Doesn’t Feel Agile”. The concept is one of coming together to discuss common issues seen in Agile adoption and walking away with practical ideas for helping to ease that adoption and realize the benefits. I introduce the group to a commonly seen set of problems such as culture, executive acceptance, team acceptance, training, resources, etc. What’s interesting is that culture and training often get to the front of the list quickly.

In discussing these two topics, the ones leading the teams are held in highest accountability. They are evangelists within the company for Agile practices, they are trainers themselves, they help mold the culture and assist in identifying areas of need for the teams and individuals.

So this begs the question, why do we not take more time to ensure we have the right people with the right skills in this role as opposed to assigning it just to say we have that person there?

What could be the result of having the wrong person in that role?

First off, it should never, EVER be a staff manager!

Why? Aren’t they leaders anyway? Not necessarily. It’s true they are people managers, but they may not be true leaders. Additionally, can anyone argue with how placing a staff manager within a team as a Scrum Master or Team Facilitator would skew the overall team dynamics at just about every level?

Let’s say you have someone volunteering for the role. What could the ramifications be of having the wrong person?

·         Poor team dynamics, infighting

·         Lack of productivity

·         Culture of finger pointing and ‘Teflon accountability’

·         Lack of trust

·         Zero communication

But, what if you find the diamond in the rough? What if you get that person that just...well...gets it?

Consider yourself a lottery winner! Some of the outstanding traits we would like to see in our leaders can be taught. Conversely, I have encountered some of the most honestly motivated command and control personalities, who wanted desperately to learn better servant leadership qualities, simply fall back to habits that were too engrained in their day to day personality to truly help their teams. Some to the point where the teams were literally begging to have the person replaced due to their sheer ‘bull in a china shop’ nature.

Good for them for recognizing the need for change but unfortunately some people just aren’t wired that way.

In an Agile Team Facilitation and Team Leadership workshop I held recently, I had a young ‘millennial’ college student attending as an active participant and listener. Not long afterwards she sent me this visual representation of her experience: 

Michelle here outlines 9 aspects of great leadership and facilitation she took away and aspires to apply.

Her long term aspirations include event planning and project management. I’d say she’s on the right course. She’s also seeking to enhance the skillsets she recognizes early on that will make her better long term for her teams, organizational culture and one day her own personal clientele.

A diamond in the rough?

There are a few companies out there who take great pride in grooming their leadership and placing the right people in the right places with the tools they need to be successful. How do you know if it’s working? You can see their culture in everything they do. You can probably list a handful of them off the top of your head.

What is your organizational culture? Do you have a leadership strategy? Are your leader’s facilitators or do they simply manage people?

The long term outcome could be the difference between organizational success and failure.

Who's On First

 

robert woods - April 8, 2014

One of the most famous conversations ever to take place went a little something like this:

Costello: Well then who's on first?

Abbott: Yes.

Costello: I mean the fellow's name.

Abbott: Who.

Costello: The guy on first.

Abbott: Who.

Costello: The first baseman.

Abbott: Who.

Costello: The guy playing...

Abbott: Who is on first!

Costello: I'm asking YOU who's on first.

Abbott: That's the man's name.

Costello: That's who's name?

Abbott: Yes.

Costello: Well go ahead and tell me.

Abbott: That's it.

Costello: That's who?

Abbott: Yes.

Was it clever simply because it was funny?

No, it was funny because people have actually found themselves in a conversation exactly like this one at one point or another and understood the absolute frustration!

Abbott made the assumption that what he was saying made absolutely perfect sense. If you watch the video here, you can see the growing frustration by Abbott attempting to comprehend why in the world Mr. Costello doesn’t get this plainly worded explanation.

In my work as a Scrum Master, Team Facilitator and Project Manager I have sat in on more of these exact conversations than I care to remember. I have looked on as our technical guru’s attempt, in what they consider plain English, to explain the reasons for the back end table and code adjustments they need to make while the product owner looks on as if they were listening to someone attempt to describe the theory of relativity in mandarin Chinese. You know, that eyes squinted, mouth half open look of “heh?”

The results?

Everyone walks away with a false sense of productivity and then complains when what was expected was not delivered. Developers insist acceptance criteria were unclear and business ownership insists IT only builds what IT wants to build. So... ‘Who’s on first’ here?

Breaking the Language Barrier

Part of the success in man’s ability to break the sound barrier was recognizing there was one to begin with.

First we need to have everyone in the room recognize that we have different jobs for a reason. That being said, this is no different than having a room full of folks who all simply speak a different language. Imagine that exact scenario, would we walk into a planning meeting assuming everything we were about to say would be even remotely understood by the folks attending?

Of course not!

We would immediately start looking patiently for opportunities to help them gain a better understanding of what we needed to get across. We would in turn, hope they would have the same patience with us as we attempted to understand what it was they needed us to comprehend.

Understand from the outset that there are simply different languages spoken here; different mindsets. Both sides need to have the patience to take the time and explain, to the best of their ability, using simplest means possible, in order to get across their point and then look for absolute signs of confirmation of understanding on the other end. Verifying multiple times if needed.

But I’m Not A Good Self-Explan..a..tioner..

In some cases we may simply have enough self-awareness to understand we sometimes don’t explain ourselves well.

Congrats!

It takes humility to come to that conclusion. Conversely, get some help explaining! This is where some of the Scrum Master, Project Manager and Team Facilitators come into play. This is also why you can’t simply slap that label on anyone with the spare time.

More than once I have found myself in the position of playing translator between someone speaking “IT mandarin” and “business Swahili”. It’s not an easy job and not for the thin skinned. Often, you aren’t merely translating; you are facilitating two sides of a heated debate. Part of the debate having to do with lack of understanding and the other part having to do with actual difference of opinion.

A highly skilled facilitator will assist both sides in three ways:

1)      Both individuals should walk away with a much better understanding of the language spoken by the other person.

2)      A decision based on mutual agreement should be formed because of that improved understanding.

3)      Future discussion should flow much easier now that we have found a common ground to work on.

Slapping someone with a Scrum Master certification (not that there’s anything wrong with having a CSM) does not make them qualified to get those kinds of results. It may only add a different language into the confusion. Whomever takes on this dubious task must understand that this is an extremely important role played for both the team they help and the business they are working for. Appreciation will often be sparing but results will be outstanding when done well!

This person should take the time to know their teams as individuals and as a whole. This will better equip them for the difficult discussions that will inevitably take place and get results faster.

So....who’s on first?

I’m going to procure for myself a brand new tee-shirt that simply says, “Have the conversation.”

If the question involves lack of communication, lack of understanding, lack of information or lack of planning. The answer is, have the conversation.

If retrospective sounds like a broken record of “we didn’t have enough acceptance criteria” or “it didn’t get accepted because we were missing something.” The answer is, have the conversation.

Every time I hear one of the above sentiments I am fully prepared to rip open my button up ‘business casual appropriate’ dress shirt and, in a very Superman-esque way, display my tee with pride.

Does anyone involved NOT want to be successful? No, or course not. We all want the same things; a) to enjoy who we work with, b) who we work for and c) what we work on. Then why are we so averse to taking the time to regularly collaborate on what we consider success?

And I don’t mean just a one-time meeting to create a pseudo checklist (which will probably change before we walk out of the meeting room). What I’m talking about is real, meaningful conversations on a regular basis to ensure we are doing the right thing at the right time.  

It’s not micro-management...its micro-collaboration; the distinct difference being respect, trust, understanding and outcome.

Who’s on first. It’s a statement not a question.

See...that wasn’t so hard now was it?