Communication

What You Need to Know about Leadership, Agile Coaching and Competency

How do we become agile? There is no one path, right way, or best practice.

At TeamCatapult, however, years of research, experience, and data collection have convinced us that investing in leadership mindset is the best way to change an organizational culture so that it can become more agile, innovative, and sustainable.

Leadership is a Craft that Requires Investment and Growth

Our Coaching Agility from Within™ program offers a usable case study to show how building a culture of leadership inspires and compels team productivity and individual accomplishment, both of which are crucial components of product development and organizational growth.

Investing in leadership mindset is one of the most effective and sustainable choices organizations can make—especially as we confront a “new normal” in the global marketplace. Becoming agile is a complex, adaptable problem. Simply investing in agile tools, scalable methodologies, or process improvement tips and tricks results in minimal gains for service and product development. Building a culture that inspires and nurtures team growth and development, however, goes to the very heart of creating a sustainable organization that can navigate change.

Competency Defined

Going beyond Agile Team Coaching certification, means acquiring competency.

Competency:

“The combination of observable and measurable knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes that contribute to enhanced employee performance and ultimately result in organizational success.”

Acquiring Competency

Increased performance outcomes are the direct result of the fact that the competencies of individual coaching, team coaching, mentoring, training, and facilitation help leaders build their range of leadership. At TeamCatapult, we call this “leadership range.” It refers to the ability of individuals to lead from the front and set a clear direction. It also refers to their ability to lead from behind, empowering others to make the move and understanding how to support ideas and create space for all voices to be heard.

Growing Leadership Competency

Physical manifestations of culture can be seen across an organization, in nearly every aspect of how people work, interact, and produce. Culture is socially constructed by the words we use and the behaviors we enact, and although it is emergent (often developing organically), it is surprisingly stable.

For all these reasons, behavior change takes time and requires a fundamental mindset shift. Altering an organization’s culture requires each of us to look at the stories and beliefs that we tell ourselves—the ones that we hold onto that get in our way of learning new ways of thinking, acting, and leading. It also requires us to work together to change the collective narrative. Culture change happens through conversations and the structure of the way we speak and behave together—and it happens from the top down. Growing leadership competency is a cornerstone of creating organizational change.

Cultural Shifts for Change

A comprehensive cultural shift is needed for organizations to create sustainable change. The key to keeping up in a rapidly changing work environment and global marketplace is to scale leadership—and scale in new ways.

Is your organization ready for change?
Start here!

About Leadership, Horses and The Importance of Trust

Weekend Woes Turned In a Lesson in Leadership

We were scheduled to take the horses, Cranberry and Faust, out for the weekend to get fitted for new saddles. Saddles that will fit them better and simply make it more enjoyable for them when they are ridden.

So these plans for the weekend were very exciting. The weather was amazing and all the stars seemed aligned.

Except for one thing…the horses were having nothing to do with it.

We Cannot Make Someone Do Something

No matter what we tried, no matter how long we spent with them, no matter how we asked, they would not get into the trailer.

Horses are well known for their ability to teach leadership. Working with a horse provides an incredible metaphor for leadership. It’s about learning to lead through partnership, relationship, trust and communication – it has very little to do with the words you speak and a lot more to do with the space and relationship you create.

Horses and the Leadership Lessons They Teach

I learned (or re-learned) a familiar lesson this weekend, you cannot make a horse do anything. We have two beautiful creatures who have come to be part of our family but this weekend they were a combined 2500 pounds of, “Nope. Ain’t gonna do that.”

It was super frustrating because we knew what was in store for them. We had this perfect vision of what a great experience we had planned for them. With an outcome that had their best interest at heart. But the thing is, they had another agenda. Their agenda was driven by fear and uncertainty.

Trust Is Earned Over Time

We lost hours, and Saturday was gone. We tried again on Sunday. Even brought in our horse trainer. An expert we were certain would tackle this problem and convince the horses to trust us and let us guide them to a new experience that we were sure they would enjoy.

Except for one thing…the horses were having nothing to do with it.

Cranberry finally decided she would give it a try on Sunday but Faust made the choice to stay home.

How Do Humans Decide Whom To Trust?

As humans, we are always at choice, even if it doesn’t feel like it. We make choices of ‘this’ not ‘that’, all day long.

I’ll be honest, there were moments during these two days that I was tired, hungry, worn out and just plain wanted the dang horse to get in the dang trailer so we could make the dang appointment we made. I hate being late and making others wait.

The more frustrated I got the less patience I had. And I’m quite certain they could tell!

Are You Impatient with Change?

Where do you find yourself impatient with change? Are there times when you just want to tell your team to ‘get on with it’ or when someone asks why should I do it this way you feel like saying ‘because I said so and I can see so much potential here if you would just do what I tell you to do’.

In organizations leaders can be lulled into thinking that they can make people do something by offering consequences to saying no – like firing someone or not offering them the next opportunity that comes. In reality if people don’t buy into what they are being asked to contribute to they might go through the motions to make you believe they are compliant but oftentimes the real conversation goes underground. They look like they are compliant but the real conversation becomes covert.

Taking Action on Something You Believe In

All the convincing, cajoling or influencing in the world will not make someone take an action they don’t believe in.

Faust was the same way this weekend. He wasn’t ready.

This weekend became a lesson about leadership that I will hold onto. About trust. About what I bring to a situation. About accepting that I cannot change someone’s mind. That it’s not about me, but more about how I arrive as a leader, with horses or with humans. It speaks volumes about my notion that I can make someone do anything…just because I want them to and I’ve laid out this great outcome that everyone should want to be a part of it.

Building Trust Starts with Communication

Leadership is so many things and one of the basics is How You Show Up. Building trust. Learning to communicate. Listening to the other. Getting clear about roles and responsibilities. Setting boundaries. Letting go of my agenda. Inviting others into a conversation. Listening. Seeking to understand the other. Seizing the opportunities from past experiences and learning from them. And as a Team Facilitator, how to honor the facilitation stance.

Enhance Your Leadership Journey With TeamCatapult

If any of this resonates with you, we have many opportunities on the horizon for enhancing your leadership journey. Take a look at our upcoming workshops.

Thanks to Faust and Cranberry, our whole family had a leadership lesson this weekend and I know I’m a better leader today because of it.

What’s your journey stepping stone looking like?

Marsha

How Do You Facilitate for Unexpected and Unplanned Magic?

How is your remote work going?

Are you missing those things you can’t plan for? Are you not having those “spontaneous, fun, informal collisions where a few people pitch and laugh about a crazy idea and then walk up to a whiteboard when they realize they have something really cool?”

Are You, Too, Longing for the Magic of Human Interaction?

The question that came to me recently is “How do you facilitate for unexpected and unplanned magic?”

Virtual work can be better suited for those planning types of collaboration – setting the goal, tracking the progress, talking about risks, prioritizing the work.

Online tools (like Mural, Miro, etc) make that kind of planning work even more productive online than in person when you have to huddle around a white board.

What happens though, is that you can become so efficient and focused on the task that you end up factoring out the human connections and the random creativity.

It’s Not About Productivity, It’s About Connections

What we miss online is the personal connections and the ‘water cooler conversations’.

We can also miss the *sighs* and *laughs* during meetings, especially if everyone is being polite and taking turns speaking, muting while others are talking, and turning off video.

Trust building is different in remote work than in face to face.

There are three types of trust:

Swift Trust is built quickly when people first meet, but it is the more fragile type
Cognitive Trust is built as people demonstrate they are reliable and competent and is stronger than swift trust
Affective Trust is built gradually and replaces cognitive trust as people get to know one another. It’s the strongest and longest-lasting form of trust.

In face to face work,

swift trust is based on benevolence and is built in informal interactions
cognitive trust is built by seeing the work of your team members
affective trust is built by socializing with team members over time.

In remote work,

swift trust is based on qualifications (who are you and why are you on this team?)
cognitive trust is based on reliability (can I depend on you to do what you said you would do?)
affective trust is based on benevolence and is built when there is social content built into task-based communications and there is space created for informal and interpersonal reactions.

Bringing Affective Trust to Online Meetings

If your team has the swift trust and cognitive trust but is missing aspects of the affective trust, here are some ways to bring more of that into online meetings.

Make a request that everyone be off mute (as much as possible – use common sense to balance background noise) and on video. We want to hear the sighs, laughter and interruptions! This is what we’re often missing the most with the mute button. That and waiting for someone to unmute so they can speak.

Normalize ‘collisions’ – 2 or more people talking at one time. They will happen! When it does say your name and sort out who speaks first.

Start with a check-in – ask everyone to speak and share something personal. You can make it fun or edgy and you might build the practice over time. (I very seldom start any meeting, regardless of the topic, without a check-in anymore. I find it totally shifts the space when people can share some personal, even if it’s that they had a great morning and they are ready to get started with the day.)

Create space and an activity where you welcome the ‘crazy ideas’. You might save 15 min at the end of a planning meeting – divide people up and send them into pair breakouts where they can chat about some idea or inspiration that is based on the conversation they just heard in the large group. Ask them to share the ideas on a board or back in the large group.

Bringing Affective Trust Into Your Remote Workspace

Taking It one step further, you can bring affective trust into your remote workspace! Here is how.

Create a random channel in Slack for sharing personal stories or what happened over the weekend
Introduce off topic collaborations
Brainstorm crazy ideas and schedule impromptu opportunities to hear about them

Ways to Create Space of Unplanned Magic

Unplanned magic takes a bit of… planning, for the facilitator, that is!

IDEA: Hold a ‘crazy idea’ day. Plan an informal gathering, and bring your favorite beverage! Then everyone gets 10 minutes to pitch their ‘crazy’ idea.

In principle, you’re looking to build in *space*, slack time in current meetings – or create a new gathering – so you can bring the personal chit chat and connections into the conversations.

Leaders and facilitators will need to create the space and go first, especially if any of this is new to others. You might also need to help others understand why you’re creating the connection time.

To learn more about Virtual Team Facilitation, read this.

The Coaching Conversation with Marsha Acker

This past Spring I was asked to be on The Coaching Conversation Podcast with host Salah Elleithy of SparkAgility. As Salah stated himself:

“I had a wonderful conversation with Marsha Acker. Many insights emerged on facilitation, coaching, balancing the being and the doing, self-awareness, listening, dialogic leadership and coaching as a core leadership skill.”

Biggest takeaway: it all starts with self-awareness!

Give it a listen!

Here are a few takeaways from the conversation.

How Can You Tell When a Conversation or the Team is Stuck?

You might not realize when a conversation is stuck. However, there are several indicators that might hint at this.

Indicators for a ‘stuck conversation’ include the following.

Stuckness can be heard

Hearing the same conversation over and over

Stuckness can be felt and seen

Drained energy
Body language
Disengaged team members

I look at the behavior of the team and how the conversation is unfolding. My job as facilitator is to help the team see it themselves; they need to realize they are stuck.

I love using the metaphor of a mirror.

I can hold up a mirror to the team for them to see it but the goal is that I want the team to hold the mirror themselves. So that they can notice they are stuck.

In other words, team members need to grow the muscle of seeing their patterns.

Groundhog Day Conversations: What Are They?

A Groundhog Day conversation is when you find yourself having the same conversation over and over again. You think you have resolved it one day, only to find yourself having the same conversation a week later. . These conversations lead nowhere, go nowhere and accomplish nothing. Yet they happen over and over again.

As soon as you notice this phenomenon, ask yourself: “What part am I playing in these conversations that make them Groundhog Day conversations?”

Whether you are part of a team, or a manager – what skills will you need to go beyond these Groundhog Day conversations with your team members?

This is a life changing conversation to have with a mentor or coach!

You will need to realize what part you’ve been playing in these conversations as to why they keep happening, and then be willing to work on yourself to improve and change the conversation!

Listen to The Coaching Conversation Podcast for the Full Interview

If you have a few minutes, we encourage you to listen to The Coaching Conversation podcast, not just this episode, but others as well. Put link to the podcast here, also.

There is always room to grow, improve and learn no matter what level of leadership experience you have.

Having skillful and meaningful conversations is something that can, and needs to be practiced by those in leadership positions.

Have you ever had Groundhog Day conversations?

Why We hold Check-in and Check-out as a Sacred Space

The Practice of Check-In: How Voicing and Listening Create Opportunities for Deeper Engagement

by Kari McLeod and Marsha Acker

Check-In Time!

What did you learn yesterday?

What is something you’re committing to the team today?

What do you need from the team today?

These are versions of the questions we ask during the Check-in for the second day of our TeamCatapult Agile Facilitation class and our Agile Facilitation and Coaching Intensive.

We asked it this Tuesday at the start of a Virtual Intensive we are leading for an organization. We met on Zoom and we used a virtual circle to visually connect our participants, our learners.

It was the most moving Check-in I have ever witnessed.

The first participant who checked in bottom-lined her key take-away from the day before. She then committed to being as present as possible for the day. She told us that the events of the previous evening were weighing heavily on her. She said that it was difficult to imagine being at her computer, in training for most of the day. She is concerned for the nation. She then asked for grace and patience from the rest of the class because she was bound to be distracted.

Her openness, her rawness set the tone for the Check-in.

Making Space

How do we as facilitators, coaches, and trainers make space for what is happening in our world while helping participants get as present as possible?

We at TeamCatapult hold the Check-in and Check-out as a sacred space.

It is the way we invite our learners to be present.
It is one of the ways that we create a strong container for our participants to connect and build trust.
It is one of the ways we create safety for them to learn, share, fail, and learn more.

We have been holding these opening spaces at every meeting and for every class since we started our work. And we have felt that these spaces have been even more important in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering the protests, riots, and the resulting law enforcement and political reactions and responses following George Floyd’s death, it’s clearly even more critical to be attuned to the need for that space.

Opportunities for Deeper Engagement

Going back to the Check-in on Tuesday, our participants held our opening circle, our Check-in, as a sacred space. They were vulnerable. They were as present as they could be. I had tears in my eyes. After everyone had checked in, one of my colleagues paused and acknowledged all of the emotion that was in the space. And then we introduced the agenda.

Bringing Our Whole Selves To Work

In the remote, working environment, we are breaking through the old narratives that there is a “work self” and a “home self.” We now bring our whole selves to work.

Everything that we are watching in our society today, and the personal impact it has on us, comes with us into the workplace. Pretending that it doesn’t or creating artificial barriers prohibits collective intelligence and authentic engagement. It drains people rather than engaging them.

Facilitating a Check-In

Purpose: The concept of Check-In comes from dialogue. Its purpose is to allow everyone a chance to speak. It’s also an opportunity to listen deeply to what others are saying and it allows everyone a period of transition from what they were doing before to connecting to one another and getting present to the work ahead.

The prompt:

Have a question or a prompt for Check-in like:

What’s your state of mind?
How are you feeling?
What do you want to say to become more present?
What do you want to let go of?

You can also make the Check-in about the topic of the meeting:

What are you hoping to take away from today?
What are your thoughts about ____.

The process:

People share, but in no particular order and no need to call on each other.
Speak when you are ready.
Really listen to what’s said and not said.
Allow for uninterrupted Check-ins. (Ask the group to allow everyone to speak without comments or cross talk until you’ve heard from everyone.)

When you’ve heard from everyone then open up the conversation to questions and comments.

This process that we hold as a sacred space is a practice that you can implement right now, at your next meeting. By doing so, you’ll find that the practice of Check-In honors everyone’s voice and develops the skill of listening…both create opportunities for deeper engagement.