Case study on a transformation of a 100 person department. What I did (that made the difference): 1. Uncover what’s really going on 2. Share observations in a loving and caring way 3. Help people choose their own reality and destiny

1. @MichaelSahota
Transformation Case Study:
Value People

2. About Michael
17 years IT
11 years Agile
STRATEGIC
PLAY®
!

3. @MichaelSahota
Context

4. Context
• 100
person
internal
department
• Delivering
Digital
Media
(websites,
audio,
video)
• Select
via
RFP
process
for
training
and
some
follow-­‐up
coaching
• Working
together
with
Paul
Heidema
• We
are
“The
Agile
Trainers”
• We
have
5
days
to
understand
what
is
going
on
and
co-­‐create
a
plan.
(clock
is
Lcking)
4

5. @MichaelSahota
Why Are We Here?

6. Why Are We Here?
• We
are
guides
on
Journey
• What
is
the
Will
of
the
system?
• “Agile
Enablement”
-­‐
ambiguity
creates
opLons.
• Workshop:
Why
are
we
doing
Agile?
• Agile
is
not
the
Goal!
Agile
supports
the
Why.
6

7. Why
#1
–
A
Quality
Product Why
#2
–
Speed
and
Effectiveness
Why Are We Want Agile?

8. Why
#3
–
Collaboration
Why
#4
–
Empowerment
Note: Agile is not the goal!

9. @MichaelSahota
Discovery

10. Discovery
• Get
the
word
on
the
street
• Capture
emoLonal
stories
with
Lego
• Write
down
exact
quotes
• IdenLfy
Themes
and
back
up
with
data
10

11. Many
Disparate
Pieces
à Don’t
interconnect
Jumble:
Hard
to
figure
out
how
to
move
and
understand

12. Top-­‐down
–
looks
great
BUT
Technically
absurd.
Can’t
change
what’s
built.
“Meets
requirements
on
paper”

13. WALL
Stopping
us.
Feel
constrained.
Impediments.
Green
=
Meetings,
meetings,
meetings
Red
=
Conversation
Gray
=
what
gets
done.

15. @MichaelSahota
Report Out

16. Report Out
• Share
challenging
observaLons
with
compassion.
THIS
IS
KEY.
• Role-­‐Playing
Morpheus
• Invite
execuLves
to
make
a
choice
16

17. @MichaelSahota
Co-Create a Plan

18. Co-Create a Plan
• Stance:
Be
authenLc
and
vulnerable
• We
are
in
this
Together.
• Talk
about
fears
• Use
secret
ballot
for
gebng
direcLon
• Set
direcLon,
not
details
• Failure
to
decide
is
Failure
of
the
iniLaLve
• Write
the
IncepLon
Deck/Charter
Immediately
18

20. Secret
Ballot: How
Many Days
for Tactical
Strategic
Cultural?

21. @MichaelSahota
Transformation Model

22. Transformation Model
• Allow
things
to
unfold.
Star
on
Horizon.
Baby
Steps.
• Don’t
Ever
use
the
word
“TransformaLon”
-­‐
too
scary!
• Complex
AdapLve
Systems
• Grow
leadership
TEAM
• “It’s
all
the
lifle
things.
No
big
event.”
• It
is
hard
because
we
are
making
small
changes
day
by
day.
No
big
TA-­‐DA.
• It
is
hard
and
slow
because
we
are
paying
off
years
of
accumulated
OrganizaLonal
Debt. 22

23. Create an Culture “Attractor”
Who are we now?
Who do we want
to be?
Identify small
safe-to-fail
experiments

24. Lead the Way

25. @MichaelSahota
What Unfolded

26. What Unfolded
• Culture
Reboot
Roadmap
• Teamwork
&
CollaboraLon
Skills
Training
• Temenos
Leadership
Retreat
-­‐
“It
was
scary
at
the
Lme,
but
now
I
see
how
essenLal
it
was
to
our
success”.
• OrganizaLonal
Design
(Culture)
Training
• Crowd-­‐source
decisions
• Agile
Training
(aker
2
months)
-­‐
“Now
I
understand
why
we
waited
to
do
Agile
training.
It
makes
total
sense”.
26

28. Build Trust & Safety (Temenos Workshop)
➢ Great teams are built on
trust.
➢ Take time to value one
another as human
beings
➢ Tell our story
1. Past (Influence Map)
2. Present (Clean Slate)
3. Future (Personal Vision)

29. @MichaelSahota
Key Points

30. Insights
• “It’s
all
the
lifle
things.
No
big
event.”
• It
is
hard
because
we
are
making
small
changes
day
by
day.
No
big
TA-­‐DA.
• It
is
hard
and
slow
because
we
are
paying
off
years
of
accumulated
OrganizaLonal
Debt.
30

31. What I Did
(that made the difference)
1. Uncover
what’s
really
going
on
2. Share
observaLons
in
a
loving
and
caring
way
3. Help
people
choose
their
own
reality
and
desLny
31

32. Contact me for help with this
Phone me: 416.999.3297
Email me: michael.sahota@agilitrix.com
Sign up for my newsletter at:
http://agilitrix.com
I wrote “the book”
on Agile & Culture.