Agile TransformationLeadership Perspective

Kinit Salvi

About Me

20 years of experience in Tech

14 years leading teams

Engineer and tinkerer

Student of things that improve value creation

Agile, DevOps, Servant Leadership, Organizational Psychology enthusiast

Currently lead Enterprise Architecture & Engineering @ Sysco

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kinitsalvi

34%Workers that are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed

to their work & workplace - Gallup

Agile transformation requires a fundamental shift in the behaviors of individuals, teams,

leaders and organizations

Leadership = Ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute towards a

common goal

Motivation

● Suitable for the Industrial Era

● Repetitive & fixed work requiring

mechanical skills

● Suitable for the Information Era

● Creative & evolving work requiring

cognitive skills

Motivation 2.0 Motivation 3.0

Key Leadership Behavior Changes

Focus on the “Why”

Trap Statement: “Our purpose is to deliver 50 story points every sprint and improve by 20% every quarter!”

WHY

WHATHOW

Experiment: Define your team’s purpose & expected outcomes from your customers’ perspective. Even better - Ask them!

I take the specs from the customers and bring them to the engineers

Give Control & Empower

Trap Statement: “If I share my power, the team will misuse or misapply it”

Experiment: Unplug at your next vacation. Let the team make the relevant decisions.

Create Psychological Safety

Trap Statement: “If I allow disagreements and mistakes, there will be chaos and nothing will get done”

Experiment: Invite pre-meeting inputs to avoid group-think and loud voice domination. Embrace diverse opinions & ideas.

DISAGREE AND COMMIT

Practice & Encourage Continuous Learning

Trap Statement: “I am the leader because I am smarter than everyone in my team!”

Experiment: Resist the urge to provide answers, ask probing questions and invite the team to create solutions

Have Empathy

• For yourself

• For the team

• For others

Trap Statements: “If I ask for help, I will be perceived as being incompetent”. “Why can’t the other team get their act together RIGHT NOW?”

Experiments: Create the space to practice new behaviors. Learn about other teams’ challenges. Celebrate learnings and progress. Ask for and offer help.

What minimum viable behavior change will you practice next?

Thanks!

Resources

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwKQqf4ixA - David Marquet - Turn the ship around

● https://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal - Stanley McChrystal - Listen, learn ... then lead

● https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe - Simon Sinek - Why good leaders make you feel safe?

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc - Dan Pink - The surprising truth about what motivates us