how to be a secret change agent

How To Be A Secret Agent

Chris Farrell

Shawn Button Agile Tour Toronto 2013

change ^

“We believe that change can be instigated and led by anyone.

Lack of power is no excuse for inactivity or for anticipating failure.

In healthy companies people not only lead their peers but also lead their bosses, all without the official sanction to do so”

Tools •  We are going to introduce you to a lot

of tools that you can use to help effect change.

•  We are not going to tell you what

changes you should make.

•  For more information on these tools see the links section at the end of this presentation or come speak to us.

Agenda

•  Introduction (you are here) • Fill in problem worksheets • Working With Your Company • Working With Others • Working On Yourself • References

Change Agent Worksheets

Think of three problems that you see in your organization on a daily basis.

Examples: •  Ineffective practices • Micromanaging boss •  Introducing Scrum •  Improving Collaboration • Making people aware of quality issues

Working With Your Company

What is Culture? Culture is “how we do things around here”

Culture is HARD to Change • “What these [business] needs require are changes in behavior. But “changing culture” is not going to produce them. Culture … is singularly persistent.” – Peter Drucker 1991

You May Not See The Effects

We are more influenced by company culture then we realize

"Cucumbers get more pickled than brine gets cucumbered.” – Gerry Weinberg

Create a “Bubble” of Positive Culture

•  Protect those under and around you from the negative influences of the larger company culture

•  Teach/demonstrate to those around you this new way of working

•  Create adapters to the rest of the company

Be aware that your culture bubble is fragile.

Make Connections Build bridges between those who've accepted the new idea and those who have not Use people who are connectors. Those who seem to have many connections with many others in the organization

Change is War? “The innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new” - Machiavelli

Change is War? (It’s just a metaphor, but a handy way of looking at it)

Be strategic.

Look for the highest value targets to start. There are lots of fronts. Pick one.

Figure out where to put your limited time for best benefit

Battlefield Maps

Identify:

Assess Levels of Influence:

© 2009 BigVisible Used with permission http://www.bigvisible.com/2009/08/agile2009-battlemapping/

Make a drawing of all of the involved people

Team

VP Product Compliance

QA Manager

Config Mgmt.

Program Mgr.

UPO

USM

PO SM

•  Allies

•  Supporters

•  Threats

•  Enemies

IT Director

•  Direct Influencers

•  Indirect Influencers

Evolve the Map:

As you know more

As things change

CIO

Make a Battlefield Map

Identify:

Assess Levels of Influence:

© 2009 BigVisible Used with permission http://www.bigvisible.com/2009/08/agile2009-battlemapping/

Make a drawing of your workplace

Team

VP Product Compliance

QA Manager

Config Mgmt.

Program Mgr.

UPO

USM

PO SM

•  Allies

•  Supporters

•  Threats

•  Enemies

IT Director

•  Direct Influencers

•  Indirect Influencers

Evolve the Map:

As you know more

As things change

CIO

Working With

Others

Changing Others

Immediately get nervous when you hear people saying that they want to “change others.”

Change has to be a collaboration between you and those changing

Understand Others’ Context There is always a reason for a person’s behaviour

Try to understand a resistor’s context. You have to figure out what drives them in order to help them see your side.

A resistor is often someone who is misinformed or who stands to lose with your change.

Adoption Profiles •  Be aware of what type you a

person you're talking to

•  You should focus on those types of people who will accept your message and use them to spread the change

•  Take advantage of the Innovators and Early Adopters

Finding Early Adopters How do you identify early adopters? Run experiments! Plant seeds and see what grows. •  Study groups •  Lunch and learns •  Lean Coffees •  Coding Dojos •  Conferences

Those that come are innovators or early adopters!

Change Fatigue People have different tolerances for change. They will resist your change if this tolerance is exceeded. Give them the space and time they need. Conserve your energy and combat frustration.

People are better at coping with change if they have a hand in creating it.

Communication is Key Most of what you will be doing as a change agent relies on good communication skills. • Powerful questions • Learning to Listen

Powerful Questions Open-ended, provocative questions designed to invite the other person to clarity, action, and discovery.

Examples: • What is an example? • What is possible? • How do you feel about it? • What is missing?

Learn to Really Listen “Listening is the willingness to change” - Dave Pasquesi (via Todd Charon)

• Truly listen • Tune in to non-verbal

communication •  Instead of “but” try saying “yes

and”

External Validation • People want assurance

an idea has validity outside the organization.

• Send out links to blog posts, presentations, conferences, etc.

• Arrange for people to spend time with big jolt visitors.

Exercise #2 Listening

Working On

Yourself

Model the Behaviour “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.” – Ghandi

Building Trust •  In order to get people

to accept your changes they need to trust you.

• Two ways to build

trust: o Show Vulnerability o Create Connections

Show Vulnerability •  Admit when you don’t know

something •  Suppress your ego •  Admit your weakness and

ignorance •  Own your mistakes

This creates authenticity and builds trust.

Create Connections • Be empathetic • Take a personal interest

in people • Give genuine recognition

and praise • Be a Mentor

Seek help • Do not be afraid to

ask for help o Boss, co-worker,

outside people o Pair with others

whenever possible

• Get a mentor or coach

Reflection Make time for reflection. At regular intervals to evaluate what is working well and what should be done differently. This is key to improvement.

Celebrate Success Being a change agent can be very very very frustrating. Celebrate even the small things along the way, instead of being overwhelmed with all the challenges.

Personal Effectiveness Change is hard work. Here are some tools you can use to help. • Step by step • Personal kanban • Pomodoro

Technique

Step-by-step Do things in small manageable increments “Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together” – Van Gogh Helps with frustration. Helps you quickly prove to others it will work.

Personal Kanban

The Pomodoro Technique

“Remember how powerful you are. Never forget the power of the individual to make a difference. Enroll people in that possibility, and change the world, change a community, change your family, change yourself” - Jimmy Carter

Exercise #3 Vulnerability Challenge

Everyone think of a memorable story about themselves If you are comfortable take turns sharing with your group

Resources

Learn Models “All models are wrong, but some are useful” - George E. P. Box

• Learn models: ADKAR, Fogg Behaviour Model, Kotter Change Model, Schneider Culture Model, BEGIN Empowerment Model, Cynefin Complexity Model, and others

How To Be A Secret Agent

Chris Farrell

Shawn Button Agile Tour Toronto 2013

change ^

Links Battlefield Maps: http://www.bigvisible.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/agile2009-mapping-the-change-battlefield1.pdf Lean Coffee: http://limitedwipsociety.ning.com/page/lean-coffee

Coding Dojos: http://codingdojo.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WhatIsCodingDojo

The Pomodoro Technique: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-pomodoro-technique-is-it-right-for-you.html

Powerful Questions: http://www.thecoaches.com/docs/resources/toolkit/pdfs/31-Powerful-Questions.pdf

Active Listening: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening

Personal Kanban: http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/personal-kanban-101