high trust - low performance, the sinister side of agile

High Trust - Low Performance, the sinister side of agile.John Clapham, Kainos

Its official! Agile teams are high performing; they self-select, self-organize and self-regulate, high trust leads to phenomenal results.  But there is another, almost sinister, side to the equation, something every business fears; that agile conceals or invites poor individual performance.  This is the fear that stalls adaptions, discourages change, and causes behaviors to creep back towards command and control.Despite Agile theories, teams can be surprisingly slow to call out negative behaviors.  So how can you spot under performance in an agile environment?  Perhaps even more challenging; how do you do something about it?

High trust - low performance, the sinister side of agile.

@johnC_Bristol - @KainosSoftware

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sybrenstuvel/2468506922/

Why does low performance even matter?

1. It’s common.

2. It’s highly detrimental.

2. It’s highly detrimental- To the team

2. It’s highly detrimental:- To the team- To the business

2. It’s highly detrimental:- To the team- To the business- To perception of agile

2. It’s highly detrimental:- To the team- To the business- To perception of agile- To the individual

3. It spreads, quickly.

4. It could be you.

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We’ll look at:- What is under performance?- Why is agile susceptible?- What can we do?

What is under performance?

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Goofing, dossing, slacking, bunking, skiving, shirking, hooky, compiling, procrastinating, goldbricking, cyber-slacking, buying more post-its.

Adding value in ways people don’t understand?

A need for support and development?

People who don’t measure up to expectations?

People who don’t measure up to your expectations?

Today we’re interested in:- Can’t do. (Capability)- Won’t do. (Conduct)- Consistently. (Possibly with concealment)

Today we’re interested in:- Can’t do. (Capability)- Won’t do. (Conduct)- Consistently (possibly with concealment)

…but not the occasional hangover

How do organisations typically approach performance?

The performance management circus…

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- Fixed, cascaded targets.- Infrequent review.- Solutions, not problems.- Measure individual in isolation.- Subjective measures.

Time passes until…

Judgement.

- One person’s opinion- Dubious Evidence- Covers many months- Inconsistent across reviewers

The third deadly disease: “Evaluation of performance, merit rating or annual review”

- Deming

“I love my annual review” - No one.

“I love my annual review”- No one. Ever.

Muddles different concerns:- Performance management- Personal development (Learning)- Business goals- Development Feedback- Remuneration

The process tends to:- Reward conformity.- Anchor thinking.- Reduce motivation- Use a ton of time.

Why is agile susceptible?

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To be useful conventional review relies on a present reviewer, setting, seeing and understanding outputs and value.

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No managers, no referees.

Engagement often drops during change…

Engagement often drops during change...…making reduced performance more likely

“…Nothing helps people do their best, despite their short comings, as much as group pressure and a team environment”

- Schwaber & Beedle

…but people can be slow to call out under performance.

Why?- Don’t know what’s expected of others

Why?- Don’t know what’s expected of others- Somebody else’s problem (e.g manager)

Why?- Don’t know what’s expected of others- Somebody else’s problem (e.g manager)- Conflict Avoidance - in many guises.

Why?- Don’t know what’s expected of others- Somebody else’s problem (e.g manager)- Conflict Avoidance - in many guises.- Personal benefit

What can we do?

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“…adequate performance gets a generous severance package”

-Netflix

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Create a culture where under performance is: - Unlikely - Identified quickly - Raised - Dealt with.

Positive frame: Create a culture where performance is:

Create a culture where performance is: Described

Identified Raised

Evolved

Create a culture where performance is: Described

Identified Raised

Evolved

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Unlikely

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+

Bring together self interest and business value.

How do you build a great agile performance appraisal system?

Don’t.

Build a system to encourage high performance:- Hire well- A great welcome- Clear sense of purpose - Good leaders and coaches

Beware surveys: Happiness != Engagement

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Who coaches the coaches?

Separate personal development feedback and appraisal feedback.

IdentifiedQuickly

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Regular, real time, plain speaking feedback

True 360 feedback – peers, stakeholders, leaders, and more.

“Think about what you need to accomplish, and make sure others know and understand.”

- Drucker

Self select goals together, carefully.

Make goals and results public.

“With a little creativity, there is every reason to believe that we can design for each employee a place to positively present her strengths, her skills, her accomplishments and her aspirations.”

– Marcus Buckingham

Use tools as feedback drones to improve mastery.

Remember the simple things:

Remember the simple things:- Role model

Remember the simple things:- Role model- Be clear and follow up.

Remember the simple things:- Role model- De clear and follow up- Give support

Raised

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Avoid the stigma – is it bad performance, or just misaligned?

“Think of what you owe others, make sure others know what you expect.” - Drucker

Let the team be anti bodies:- Coach behaviours - Understand what does/doesn’t contribute

positively- Encourage open discussion- Know they can call in (effective) support

Dealt With

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“Feedback not blame fuels high performance”- Sukhwant Bal

Be ready to learn why what you see as under performance isn’t.

Grow or go?

Summing Up…

Agile and new methods demand changes to the way we think about performance.

They thrive on trust, but trust may be deliberately or inadvertently abused.

Empowering teams means people taking responsibly for their own performance.

…and a commitment to encouraging and supporting others.

This requires a clear sense of purpose, and open discussion of goals and performance.

Don’t we owe that to ourselves and our teams?

Thanks!

@johnC_Bristol - @KainosSoftware

Further reading…

About Kainos; what they do, why, and careers:https://www.kainos.com

Tom Grey, CTO on the importance of being Agile:https://www.kainos.com/beltech-highlights-importance-agile-tom-gray/

My blog:http://johnclapham.wordpress.com/

Experience DevOps workshops:http://web.experiencedevops.org/

References…Seven deadly diseases of managementhttps://www.deming.org/theman/theories/deadlydiseases

Drive – Dan Pinkhttp://www.danpink.com/books/drive

The Essential Drucker – Peter F Druckerhttp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48016.The_Essential_Drucker

Agile Software Development with Scrum – Ken Schwaber Mike Beedle (The black book!)http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Agile_Software_Development_with_Scrum.html?id=lO3XLgAACAAJ

What if performance management focussed on strengths? – Marcus Buckingham http://www.gfcbusinessconnect.com/2014/02/23/what-if-performance-management-focused-on-strengths/

References…Scarf in 2012: Updating the social neuroscience of collaborating with others.http://www.davidrock.net/files/09_SCARF_in_2012_US.pdf

How Google use OKRhttp://www.businessinsider.com/googles-ranking-system-okr-2014-1

From Performance Management to Leading Performance - Kati Vilkki, Esther Derbyhttp://www.agilealliance.org/files/8613/8151/8040/From_Performance_Management_to_Leading_Performance.pdf