Creating Safety for Leadership

Safety is a popular topic in the Agile space that comes up when we have conversations about what it takes to create an environment where Agile can take root and thrive.

When we talk about transforming organizations, we talk about things like creating a safe environment where people feel that they have the agency and support to run experiments in order to get better at working together and delivering value for the customer. This conversation often centers around teams and the individual team members, but rarely do we take the time to consider what safety looks like for leadership. Aren’t they at risk as well?

There may be leaders in your organization who are supporting or sponsoring the transformation effort, but what if it doesn’t take? What impact will it have on them? When it comes to organizational change, we know leadership has to adjust their approach as well, but this conversation often focuses on how the things they learned to do under a traditional model will get in the way of a successful Agile Transformation. We tell them what not to do: we tell them to leave the teams alone to figure out how to self-organize, we tell them to be supportive and let go of many of the practices that helped them reach their leadership position. It may come across as though we are simply taking things away from them, and this language of loss is unlikely to leave them feeling like they are operating from a place where they have the agency they need and the support they need to begin running experiments that will help them learn to grow into the Agile leaders we want and need them to be.

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile Senior Consultant, Tim Wise, and Dave Prior explore:

• What it means to create safety for leadership
• What Agile Transformation asks of leaders and the risks they face
• How leaders can begin moving toward an approach that demonstrates adopting an Agile mindset
• What types of behavior are needed to foster a safe environment for the teams and team members to employ Agile practice to deliver value for their customers

 

Links From This Podcast

• Turn the Ship Around – David Marquet
• Team of Teams – General Stanley McChrystal
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
• Speed of Trust – Stephen M.R. Covey
• Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink
• The Responsibility Process – Christopher Avery
• Jordan Peterson
  • 12 Rules for Life
  • Podcast
  • YouTube
• Agile Day Atlanta

Contacting Tim

• Email: tim@leadingagile.com
• LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/tim-wise/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwise/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/timswise

Contacting Dave

• Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com
• LeadingAgile: http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrsungo
• Personal blog: http://drunkenpm.net

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Feedback/Questions

If you have comments on the podcast or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com

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