As an executive, how to detect when or if the change unravels

As an executive, continually detect when or if the change unravels

Momentum is all around us. For example, our Sun has an 11 year cycle, leading to a peak of aurora borealis activity in the more northern parts of Northern Hemisphere at least, including the UK. I heard on the Radio 5 live today about a commercial flight from Reykjavik to London that did a 360 degree turn so passengers on both sides of the aircraft could see the natural light show.

At the seaside, like in life, the tide is mostly going out or returning in. Momentum for change must increase because as soon as the “foot is taken off the gas,” change unravels. There might be an ebb tide, but there are no breaks. The competition does not take breaks.

And, the premature declaration of victory is the big lie in change . You’re never done.

Extract from Executive Agility Guide

Some approaches for helping to detect the unraveling of change include the following:

• Acting on customer feedback (keep an eye out for the next Xagility podcast release with Matt Selbie)
• Agendashift - particularly the agility assessments
• Agile Kata - through its scientific approach
• Cynefin - the compass to help us understand where to look for an appropriate course of action
• Evidence Based Management - through its balance between direction of travel, key value areas, and key value measures
• Kanplexity - the combination of flow, Cynefin, and (agile) leadership
• Lean Change Management - through its scientific approach
• Qualitative and quantitative measurement - let's not be lemings jumping over a cliff together purely following the data, but let's not have data-less decisions either
• Regular witnessing of customer interactions, so regularly the truth comes out
• Regular witnessing of team member experience, so regularly the truth comes out
• The System of Humane Management - The Collaboration Equation book and The Lean Agile Visual Management Program both deal with this
• The Vanguard Method - through its knowledge acquisition on how the work works
• Viral Change - to make desirable behaviors more noticeable

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John Kotter is also known for his approach to resistance to change. Be kind:

• Embrace sincere resistance to change, treat it as a gift, and ask what we can try.?
• Move people from the change who demonstrate “NoNo” or “LIP service” behavior, regardless of capability, level, or status. If possible, move them as far away from the change as possible; there must still be parts of the organization that don’t need agility yet.
• Move people demonstrating unhealthy internal competitive behavior from authentic agility footprints; there must still be parts of the organization that don’t need agility yet.
• Move people demonstrating an unhealthy addiction to perdition; there must still be parts of the organization that don’t need agility yet, but let’s question whether the organization needs such behavior.
• Move people demonstrating an unhealthy addiction to short-term cost-cutting thinking based on unit costs instead of overall costs; there must still be parts of the organization that don’t need agility yet. Let’s question whether the organization needs such behavior at all.

? Orderly Disruption Limited 2017-2023. Offered for license under the Attribution ShareAlike license of Creative Commons, accessible at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode and also described in summary form at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/, By using The Executive Agility Guide, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by the terms of the Attribution ShareAlike license of Creative Commons.

ps

We're recruiting a panel of reviewers for the executive agility guide, who are either board members, executives, or agilists. DM if interested please, thank you.

Podcast releases this week

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Tim Wigham on leadership, lessons from the Royal Marines, his career and his book "Moodset"

About Tim Wigham:

Tim believes that with strong leadership, a systematic approach, and stable technology, any competent team can achieve excellence. Over the last ten years, he has completely immersed myself in the business of accelerated improvement; supporting leaders and teams in the energy sector, to unlock their potential and exceed their expectations.

He has also focused on accelerating his own improvement in the sport of CrossFit, applying the principles of “acceleration to automatic” in the areas of nutrition, preparation, training, and recovery. In parallel he has read and listened to hundreds of performance related books, while also writing three of his own.

Tim strongly believe that any competent individual or team can unlock full potential by implementing the right system to the point where best-practice is automatic. This requires mindset, method, and "moodset".

Mindset is led by leadership! It involves openness to possibility, openness to objective assessment, openness to coaching, and a belief in better. It includes optimism and resilience in equal measure. Mindset is critical for initiative, then essential for acceleration to automatic.

Adopting Agile Across Borders Glaudia Califano and David Spinks

About Glaudia Califano:

Glaudia started her Agile journey in a Scrum team. Over the years she enhanced her skills and knowledge by taking on different roles and responsibilities across a variety of disciplines such as Scrum Master, Product Ownership, Business Analysis, Service Delivery Management, Agile & Lean coaching.

She has guided organizations along their journeys towards business agility, allowing them to inspect and adapt and focus on customer value. Glaudia has extensive experience in helping organisations break down silos, enabling the creation of a continuous learning environment that encourages communication, collaboration and innovation.

About David Spinks:

David's professional experience spans roles of; Agile Trainer, Agile Coach, Scrum Master, Product Owner, Kanban Service Delivery Manager, Team Leader and Software Developer in a variety of industries, including finance, eCommerce, social housing and education. David is a Kanban University Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT) and Kanban Coaching Professional (KCP), a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) and an ICAgile Authorized Instructor.

He is also the co-author of the books "Mastering Collaboration in a Product Team" and "Adopting Agile Across Borders" published by Apress. David believes in servant leadership, and value environments where empowerment, autonomy and flexibility enable teams to do the best work possible. He is committed to continuous learning and development in myself and others. David is passionate about getting the best out of teams and seeing people reach their full potential.

YouTube videos this week

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You think you're prioritizing already? Think again, prioritize within your capacity.

What could a Kanplexity team achieve in the 12 weeks

Kanplexity is freely available.

What is the primary challenge in switching over to Kanplexity?

How easy is it to run a Kanplexity pilot for the organization?

What are the traits and characteristics of an agile executive?

How does an executive effectively sell the opportunity of agility interally? And, take note that I did not say Agile:).

How will the PAL-EBM course help executives and leaders pursue increased agility?

What kind of time commitments for an executive to egnage with Xagility coaching?

How do Lean UX and Design Thinking influence how executuves fund product development funding in the future?

What does poor or ineffective leadership look like, and what are the consequences of that?