Something came up on the September 20th Kazi stream about how to maintain your energy level as a change agent, which is incredibly hard at times. And, on a related note, the challenge of knowing when it’s time to leave.
Change Agency is…HARD!
The harsh reality is that every Scrum Master and Agile Coach in any instance, situation, or context is a CHANGE AGENT. You are in a role that is trying to guide folks along a change curve to a new state.
And being a CHANGE AGENT is, in a word, HARD!
There’s no other way to say it. In many ways change agency reminds me of the Energizer Bunny in that you/we need to “bring it” every minute of every day. We have to bring enthusiasm, energy, positivity, engagement, and a can-do attitude every day to our work.
If you find yourself lacking on the energy front for too many days in a row, you have to seriously reconsider your choice of jobs. It’s that simple.
Nathanial Willis posted this in LinkedIn recently:
I asked Steve Denning for advice on how to successfully lead an agile transformation and here's what he said:
- Get a bullet-proof vest and hockey mask because you're going to get beaten and be shot at! (As he laughed)
- Stop communicating over email - do it face-to-face; preferably in a bar. (No seriously)
- Discover your executive leader’s problem. Find a story of how another company solved that problem and share it.
- Focus on the 20% that want to change. Forget about the folks that don't.
I once worked as a coach at a large financial firm that had been “going Agile” for quite awhile. They were one of the worlds largest firms, so the teams and the projects were often distributed.
They had invested in a relationship with a Ukrainian firm to outsource a significant part of their software. This had been going on for a while, so there was integration between internal and outsourced agile team members.
I was pulled in to help the outsourced teams with their understanding of agile practices. You see, even though they “said” they were agile, their behaviors were really suspect and more indicated cowboy and self-centered development.
