What are your best practices for creating a safe and inclusive agile team?

For an Agile leader, few practices to create a safe and inclusive Agile team that helped me are: [a] Walk The Talk: The leader should imbibe the Scrum values Focus, Commitment, Openness, Respect & Courage within one's own self, as well in the teams/organization. This is possible by demonstration of values and not by preaching. If the leader can be transparent, then they can expect the same from the teams, this builds trust as well. [b] Provide psychological safety: Empower teams to make decisions. Promote innovation drives, conduct safe to fail experiments and encourage diversity. Assure that failure is a way of experimentation and not as a debacle. Let teams discuss and celebrate small wins.

Establishing guidelines, clear team norms and expectations for behavior, communication and collaboration is the most crucial step.

Creating a safe and inclusive agile team involves several best practices. Define clear team values to guide behavior and interactions. Actively promote diversity and inclusion to ensure varied perspectives. Build trust and psychological safety so team members feel comfortable sharing ideas and concerns. Facilitate effective communication to avoid misunderstandings and foster collaboration. Celebrate diversity by recognizing and valuing different viewpoints. Additionally, continuously assess and adapt practices to meet the evolving needs of the team, ensuring a supportive and respectful environment

Values are not principles! Values are the beliefs and attitudes that guide our behaviours. Principals are the guidelines derived from those values!

I think defining and communicating shared values and behavioral norms that promote safety and inclusivity within the team. Encourage open dialogue about expectations for respectful communication and collaboration. Leaders and managers should model inclusive behavior and actively promote a culture of respect and belonging. Demonstrate empathy, active listening, and a willingness to address any instances of bias or discrimination.

The more diverse your team, the better products that you will build! This can be said more strongly: the richness created by a diverse group can be the differentiator that makes your products great.

Uma squad multidisciplinar esta ligada a uma mescla de softskill e hardskill, tendo uma diversidade de especilidades técnicas e principalmente habilidades comportamentais, para conectado a um modelo de trabalho ágil, possa criar uma cultura de experimenta??o, inclus?o e qualidade que n?o se abre m?o de todas as entregas.

Promoting diversity goes beyond employing a diverse group of people- it is alsoi important about how you treat them! In case you are talking about inclusion, but are (with your actions) showing that those are just empty words, then some team members may follow suit, and the feeling of safety may be lost.

Do not promote a thing. Any promotion has start and end. Agile journey is endless. Challenges are opportunities. Experiment is the way!

Promoting diversity and inclusion is essential for creating a safe and thriving Agile team. It starts with actively welcoming different perspectives and backgrounds, ensuring that everyone feels valued for who they are. By fostering an environment where diverse voices are heard and respected, you encourage creativity and innovation. It’s also important to be proactive in addressing biases and creating equal opportunities for all team members. When you prioritize inclusion, you build a team where everyone feels empowered to contribute, leading to richer collaboration and stronger results.

There needs to be a balance between psychological safety and accountability. Being free from blame does not imply being free from accountability. Too many companies remove accountability in pursuit of psychological safety, and it destroys their ability to actively deliver value.

Along with competence, empathy is another quality that contributes to trust-building. Empathetic leadership involves being aware of the feelings, opinions, and needs of others as well as their needs for support and problem-solving. Trust grows when empathy is present.

Building trust and psychological safety allows for mistakes, encourages constant communication and exchange, and values individual strengths for a stronger, more resilient team.

Leaders demonstrating vulnerability by being open about a ‘mistake’ aka learning moment in front of the team is essential in my view. Nobody believes the ‘no judgement’ thing till others show they are happy to share lessons in public, leading the way to trust.

Trust is the foundational building blocks of a safe and inclusive Agile team. Team members trust each other to deliver on commitments and hold themselves accountable. Trust is fundamental to Information being shared openly, fostering a sense of fairness and reducing suspicion. Only with psychological safety, team can experiment with new ideas without fearing blame for mistakes, admit mistakes and seek help without feeling judged or punished

Clear, open communication is key to an inclusive team where everyone can share ideas and concerns. Ensure meetings and discussions provide space for all voices. Use techniques like round-robin discussions or asynchronous communication to allow everyone to contribute. Actively listen to all team members, encouraging input from quieter individuals. Make it a point to clarify assumptions and avoid misunderstandings.

To foster effective communication and create a safe and inclusive team, prioritize active listening and empathy. Encourage open dialogue where all voices are heard and respected. Establish clear channels for feedback and ensure transparency in decision-making. Promote a culture of psychological safety by addressing conflicts constructively and recognizing diverse perspectives. Regularly check in with team members to understand their needs and adjust communication practices to support a collaborative and inclusive environment.

A comunica??o efetiva junto a squad esta ligada com os ritos aplicados e a integra??o do uso de ferramentas simples e objetivas que possibilita uma transparência de atividades, indicadores e principalmente comunica??o diária.

La comunicación clara y abierta es clave. Me esfuerzo por utilizar un lenguaje que todos entiendan, evitando términos que puedan confundir o dejar a alguien fuera de la conversación. También soy consciente de elegir los canales adecuados para cada tipo de mensaje, ya sea una conversación rápida, una reunión más formal o un simple intercambio de información. Establecer un espacio común donde toda la información esté accesible, como un wiki o un repositorio, nos mantiene a todos en la misma página y ayuda a evitar malentendidos. Además, me aseguro de que el equipo participe activamente en la escucha y la retroalimentación, fortaleciendo así nuestra alineación y cohesión.

Facilitation has to happen outside of meetings as welll. In fact, it may as well be just as important outside, as inside of meetings. Looking after the shy members of the team, and connecting them to the right stakeholders in the organisation, in order to help them succeed in their work, is a true sign of a facilitating leader ;)

Vielfalt und Inklusion gewinnen an Kraft, wenn sie aktiv erlebt werden. Eine integrale Perspektive betont interaktive Massnahmen wie Teambuilding-Events, die kulturelle Hintergründe einbeziehen. Beispiel: Veranstalten Sie einen ?Kultur-Tag“, an dem Teammitglieder ihre Herkunft oder Interessen kreativ pr?sentieren. Diese gemeinsamen Erlebnisse st?rken das Verst?ndnis füreinander, f?rdern den Zusammenhalt und inspirieren innovative L?sungen durch unterschiedliche Sichtweisen.

Celebrating diversity and inclusion is very much different than just having it. You may have diverse people in your team, but you may only be thinking about one set of preferences / holidays/ types of recreational activities / etc. What one team member may need, the other may be trying to avoid, and what makes one happy, may make the other one not so much. Especially when trying to reward your team, you should keep that in mind: A night at a top-bar may be nice for you, but others may prefer: - A quiet grill party - A picknick at the central park - A retreat in the nature Don't go for what's easy, try to give some effort. This will come in handy, when diverse ideas pop up during work discussions and debates.

There can't be a final practice, or the best practice. This is what is wrong with Agile transformation efforts world wide. Do not believe you'll do X, spend Y and voila, you're Agile.

Organize cultural events and activities that celebrate the diverse backgrounds of team members. Implement recognition programs that highlight and reward inclusive behaviours and contributions. Ensure that team celebrations and activities are inclusive and considerate of all team members’ preferences and traditions.

My idea of a safe & inclusive agile team is where individuals feel confident to express or experiment, while also listening & being supportive of the team members. One thing that I find useful is to keep enough time and let the team members get to know each other via in person meet ups or a virtual coffee where people talk about each other & not about work. The next step is to establish ways of working with the team, where team also commits to a conduct collectively. Lastly, call out instances whenever there is a threat to safety or inclusivity but gradually enable them to support each other and work with a shared purpose.

In my experience, creating safe and Agile team is accelerated when leader focuses on :- 1) Making every voice count and is heard 2) Appreciate the variety of perspectives 3) Avoid decision making in silos, include the team members 4) Help team create "Working agreements" 5) Celebrate together, help team connect better as human beings

I believe that striving for diversity in team composition, including diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. A diverse team can bring different insights and ideas to the table, fostering innovation and creativity. Also, Create an environment where team members feel comfortable taking risks, sharing ideas, and expressing concerns without fear of judgment or reprisal. Encourage open communication and constructive feedback. we must offer training and resources to increase awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics. This can include workshops, seminars, and discussions on unconscious bias, cultural competency, and inclusive language.

Promoting a safe and inclusive agile team in renewable energy involves fostering open communication and diverse collaboration. For wind energy, encouraging diverse perspectives in turbine design enhances innovation. In offshore projects, ensuring equal participation in substation planning creates an inclusive environment. Onshore substations prioritize safety through collaborative testing. Grid connection projects value diverse expertise for robust solutions. Distribution networks promote inclusivity by involving varied voices in feasibility studies. Overall, an inclusive agile approach in renewable energy fosters a culture of safety, innovation, and collaboration.

He aprendido durante mos a?os de experiencia que un equipo agil seguro e inclusivo no se construye de la noche a la ma?ana. Es un trabajo del día a día, a través de peque?as acciones consistentes. Por ejemplo, recuerdo una ocasión en la que un miembro del equipo compartió una idea fuera de lo común. En lugar de descartarla, el equipo la acogió y, al final, esa idea abrió una nueva vía de trabajo. Estas experiencias me ense?an que cuando un equipo se siente seguro para hablar y actuar, el potencial colectivo se multiplica. También me esfuerzo por recordar que la inclusión no es solo una meta, es un proceso continuo de aprendizaje y ajuste, donde todos crecemos juntos.