Viewing entries tagged
Vulnerability

I was wrong

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I was wrong

As I reflect on my 40+ career, with over half of it in leadership roles, I think about things that I did that made me different and potentially more effective than most leaders. 

One thing that stood out is related to my reflective nature.

If you’ve ever worked with or for me, you’ll know that it’s quite common for me to have a strong initial reaction or opinion to something. Imagine that.

Then, upon ongoing reflection…

I’ll come in the next day and say—

You know, I thought about your idea more

And you know what, I was wrong. I want to support your approach (idea, strategy).

The notion that I’m not stuck on my ideas I think opens up the creative process for folks. It creates safety and the knowledge that (over time) I can be open-minded 😉

I experienced that this level of vulnerability, my willingness to admit I was wrong, opened up my culture.

The key message here is for leaders. When was the last time you said to your teams, your peers, your boss, or yourself—

I was wrong, you have my full support, let’s do it your way?

Stay agile, my friends,

Bob.

BTW: It’s not always easy to say it, so I need to practice in the mirror each morning.

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Lost Art of Asking for Help

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Lost Art of Asking for Help

I’ve been involved in agile for ~20 years and I’ve noticed a consistent anti-pattern that never seems to change.

People wait too long to ask for help!

I’ve noticed it in my coaching. By the time I usually get called into a situation where an organization is attempting to implement agile is, dare I say it, things are off the rails. Sure, a part of me thinks that’s a good or normal thing. But that’s the revenue generation part of me.

The principled agile coach part of me always wishes that they had reached out earlier. That it would have saved so much aggravation and frustration, wasted time & effort, and ultimately cost.

But it’s not just as a coach. It also applies to my leadership experience too.

If a project was off-track or a commitment would be missed, I usually found out at the last minute. Far later than when I could have actually helped or done something. I always work hard as a leader to create safety for bad news, to be approachable, and to be grateful for it. Very hard. But it still shocked me how often folks wait too long to share something with me. I often wonder, what did I have to do to create the culture where sharing challenges was rewarded, was the norm, and not feared?

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