I have a colleague, agile coach, change agent, and friend who recently shared a story with me. It got me thinking about his situation from multiple perspectives.
But before I get into that, let me share a little context first.
Paul, not his real name, was leading an agile transformation in a company. He didn’t have a lot of positional authority, but he felt he was integrated sufficiently with senior leadership in technology and product to make things work.
He was unexpectedly invited to a meeting with his boss last week and he was fired. It was a complete and utter surprise.
The party line was that his role was being made redundant because they were taking another approach to their agile transformation (another model, framework, philosophy). But the abruptness of the dismissal belied that claim.
Paul felt that, in hindsight, he hadn’t been meeting organizational expectations around the transformation, but at the same time, nobody had had the courage to give him any clear feedback to that effect. Nor any mentoring or coaching to help him better achieve the organization’s goals.
My reactions
First, it made me sad. Sad for Paul that he could be treated so callously.
But sadder still for the organization’s leadership. Sad that they could conduct themselves in this fashion. Sad that they had behaved so badly and abdicated their leadership responsibilities to their employees.
Sad that they had lost a great coach. And sad that everyone who remained behind had to deal with a leadership team that didn’t have the courage or skill to give congruent, honest, and radically candid feedback. Nor walk their own talk from an agile principles and values perspective.
But it also occurred to me that Paul may have been partially at fault for not sufficiently leveraging his “spider sense” in the first place.
You see, as a change agent, things aren’t always as they seem.
Spider Sense
Paul didn’t have a seat at the leadership team table. He thought this didn’t matter and that he could be successful without it. Unfortunately, it did matter.
Often, not included in relevant meetings and discussions, Paul trusted that his reporting structure and direct boss would well-represent him and include him when appropriate. Unfortunately, he shouldn’t have.
Paul didn’t sense that everyone was holding him personally accountable for change. He thought they were in it together. That leadership had his back and was partnering with him. Unfortunately, they didn’t have his back.
Paul thought leaders could handle the truth when he gave them hard feedback. This proved to not be the case.
Towards the end, things got quiet. Paul was trying to get feedback and simply couldn’t. He seemed to be out of the loop and getting increasingly marginalized. Unfortunately, this is never a good sign.
Wrapping Up
I wrote this first as an homage to Paul. First to empathize with his situation and to (unfortunately) normalize it. But also, to help him in his future journeys of establishing his role and sensing the landscape.
I’m also writing it as a warning to anyone and everyone who is involved in a high-stakes agile transformation (read that as anyone reading this ;-). Here are some things to consider in developing your Spider Senses—
Things aren’t always what they seem. Especially if you’re in a high-impact / high-risk role. You need to be looking deeper than the superficial, developing high-intensity sight and radar to properly sense your cultural landscape.
Get (ask, inquire, plead, beg for) feedback from a wide variety of sources. Don’t take “things are great” or “happy silence” for an answer!
Reflect often on not just what you are being told or hearing, but on the actions and behaviors around you. These are much more important indicators than people’s words. For example, are the leader’s behaviors really changing along with your transformation?
In other words, continuously grow your observational and reflective abilities, your spider sense if you will. And learn to close your eyes and trust it.
Paul, I’m positive that you will land in a much better place with a much-improved spider sense.
Stay agile my friend,
Bob.