leading high performing teams - pbworksagile-pm.pbworks.com/f/servant+leadership+seminar.pdf ·...

Presenter: Sally Elatta

Becoming a Servant LeaderLeading High Performing Teams

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About the Speaker

• Sally Elatta

• Founder of AgileTransformation.com

• Strategic Process Improvement Coach, Architect, Trainer

• Coached over 20 teams on improving their processes.

• Taught over 1000+ students

• Certified ScrumMaster, Scrum Practitioner, IBM, Sun, and

Microsoft Certifications.

• [email protected]

• 402 212-3211

Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2010 www.AgileTransformation.com2

mailto:[email protected]

Agenda ..

Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2010 www.AgileTransformation.com

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Current Realities and Cost of Disengagement

Overview of Servant Leadership

Who are They and What do they Do?

Transforming to Servant Leadership

The High Cost of Disengagement

• A Watson Wyatt study last year indicated that a company with highly engaged employees typically achieves a financial performance four times better than a company with poor employee attitudes.

• The Gallup Organization estimates that there are 22 million actively disengaged employees costing the American economy as much as $350 billion dollars per year in lost productivity.


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Signs of Employee

Disengagement

• „My Task‟ oriented thinking.

• Conflict with others. Blame game.

• Victimhood mentality. Naysaying

• „Status Quo‟ Thinking.

• Disinterest in actual work. Decreased productivity.

• Absenteeism at work.

• „Just Enough to Keep the Job‟ work style.

• „What is in it for me?‟

• That doesn‟t fit my job description.

• I‟m stuck, what do you want me to do next boss?


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Top Causes for Disengagement

• Management Style

– Command and Control

– Directive, Micro-

Management

• Overworked -

Underappreciated

• No Sense of Purpose

• Not Challenged

• Fear of Job Stability

• Personal Struggles

• Organization Culture

– Fear

– Don‟t make mistakes

– Don‟t ask questions

– Frequent Change

• Performance Struggles

– Don‟t know how to do

my job

– Don‟t like my job


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The Hidden Costs of

Command and Control

• Employees follow orders/direction for the moment but quickly revert to form after a short period due to lack of support for the decision.

• Decisions have to be revisited over and over again after lots of churn and waste due to lack of buy-in.

• Tools purchased are never used (or only used for a short period) due to lack of buy-in.

• Serious damage to company culture, morale.

• Loss of valuable input and ideas from everyone.


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Live Workshop The Leaders We Love

“I LOVED working for …” Have you felt this way about someone? What are the top

characteristics that made you feel this way?

You have 3 minutes


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Quote – Robert Greenleaf


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“ The great leader is seen as servant first, and that simple fact is the key to his greatness”.." -Robert K. Greenleaf

The test: “Are people growing? Are they, while being led, becoming healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely to become servants themselves?”

Quote – Southwest Airlines


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"We are not looking for blind obedience.

We are looking for People who, on their own

initiative,

want to be doing what they are doing because they

consider it a worthy objective.

I have always believed that the best leader

is the best server.

And if you're a servant, by definition,

you're not controlling.”

-Herb Kelleher, Chairman, Southwest Airlines

What is Servant Leadership?

Leading people by setting the vision for them, trusting and empowering them then serving them by removing obstacles and getting out of their way.

Your desire to serve and deliver value is what brought you to leadership, not the desire to acquire more control.

The essence is helping others grow.

You have acquired and taught yourself the basic attitudes/skills needed for working with people.


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How Can You Empower Others?

• I Interviewed some people who work for

servant leaders.

• Asked them „What do these leaders do

that empowers you?’

• I‟d like to share some of the feedback.


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Empathy, Listening, Healing

• “Not afraid of emotion being expressed openly and honestly, not threatened, even if negative, they know how to defuse negativity without whipping”

• “They help the person clarify the reason for the emotion and redirect it to a positive outcome without judging or holding it against them. They don’t fuel the fire, they are calm, non dramatic.”


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Commitment to

Personal Growth, Genuine Interest

• “They allow the person to grow and help them grow through their coaching in a non-threatening way. They have different tools for coaching and encouraging.”

• “They are generous in their encouragement and praise”

• “They are there for me, I can tell them what I’m trying to do, they let me share my thoughts, they wait until I ask them for what I could have done, they don’t just tell me what to do next.”

• “It’s personal one on one caring, they actually care about your well being and personal growth.”


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Mentoring, Coaching

• “Proactive in correctly un-wanted behavior, quick to address the behavior they don’t want to see, so many are afraid to confront it and allow it festers within the team. They address it in a professional non-threatening way. ‘how can I help, I noticed xyz behavior happened, let’s talk about how we can fix this’

• “Give people opportunity to change and encourage change.


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Conflict Resolution,

Positive Regard

• “They don’t tell themselves pre-disposed stories. They Go-See for themselves. They make their own decisions by finding out for themselves the root cause of the problem.”

• “They don’t judge someone based on someone else’s opinion. Sometimes it’s political issues, process issues and not the person’s mistake.”

• “They take the people out and de-personalize the situation. Focus on the root cause instead of the drama around it. “


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Transparency , Authentic

• “They don’t spin information, don’t withhold it, they honestly share information so people are informed.”

• “They don’t crucify someone for being transparent, they just help them get it right.”

• “They are real, who they are in front of you is who they are at home or with their friends. They don’t put on faces.”


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Persuasion, Trust

• “They don’t use command and control to dictate what I should, they trust me and the team to make the right decision.”

• “If they want me to take a different course, they know how to ‘gently nudge’ me and persuade me towards the desired action.”

• “They ask lots of questions instead of giving lots of direction, but their questions get the person to really think and sometimes change direction.”


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Authentic, Service

• “Honestly, I don’t ever get the feeling they are my ‘Boss’, they feel more like a coach or even a friend who really cares about you.”

• “I don’t think they took this job because they were looking for power or position, even though they have pretty good positions, I feel they got there because they wanted to help and be of value to the company as appose to ‘create their kingdom’.”


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Shifting from Problem Solver to

Servant Leader

First, you have to ask yourself some really important questions:

Your Role: Are you there to enable teams to act themselves or to direct them on how to work?

Trust: Do you trust that your team has the skills they need to get the job done? Do you trust their judgment? If not, why?

Power: Do you believe that your value to your boss is based on how well you can control the behavior of your team?

Growth: Do you know how to grow people? Do you know how to coach others? Are you personally interested in their growth?


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The Root Causes for

Needing Control

„I’m a Perfectionist‟ – I want things a very specific way and I‟m the only one who can do them that way. I don‟t trust others to do it the same exact way.

„I’m the Smartest One in the Room‟ – my way is really the „RIGHT‟ way so that‟s why I need to tell people what to do.

„I Like the Feeling of Power‟ – I like big titles and lots of direct reports, it makes me feel more important, it fills a need I have for being in control.‟


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It Starts with Trust

Hire the right people, enable them, remove impediments for them and get out of their way!

Create strong ‘Teams‟ not just strong „Individuals‟. Teams help each member grow, individuals only grow themselves.

Give the teams ownership of their own processes, empower them to improve them.

Learn to give up control and the need for directing every step. Understand your role better and what brings value to the company.


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Ask, Don’t Tell!

To begin this leadership style transition, one of the

most important skills is learning how to

ask questions and stop solving problems!

Simply ask “What would you do? What solution

would you recommend? That sounds reasonable,

give that a try and let me know if you need any

help.”

Your role is to empower your teams to reflect, think,

discover and make decisions by themselves.


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Measuring the Effectives of

Leaders

• They shared that if they had to put a scale for

judging their leaders it would be:

1. Inability to take action and make tough

decisions. Fear of doing the wrong thing.

Status Quo thinking. Allowing inefficiencies that

are detrimental to the team.

2. Command and Control style inspires fear, fear

suffocates people, it kills morale and innovation.

3. Communication, interpersonal, team

building skills, managing up, down and

across. Copyright(c) Sally Elatta 2010 www.AgileTransformation.com

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Summary

Educate your leadership and management teams on the value of Servant Leadership and the cost of Command and Control.

Apply the principles of Servant Leadership yourself to your teams.

Giving up control begins with Trust and a better understanding of your leadership role.

Begin asking „Questions‟ instead of giving „Direction‟.

Remember that your effectiveness as a leader is judged on 3 levels.


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Training & Coaching

Training

• Mastering the Art of Facilitation

• Effective/Agile Requirements Gathering

• Servant Leadership

• Real World Agile and Scrum team training + Project Jump Start

• Executive and Business Overview of Agile/Lean

• … More!

Coaching & Consulting

• Project Management Skills Assessments

• Troubled Project Assessment & Recovery

• Agile Project Initiation and Planning

• End to End Project Execution

• Process Improvement Roadmap Execution

http://agiletransformation.com/index.php/training/agile-training/mastering-the-art-of-facilitation/



http://agiletransformation.com/index.php/training/agile-training/effective-requirements-gathering/




http://agiletransformation.com/index.php/training/agile-training/becoming-a-servant-leader/

http://agiletransformation.com/index.php/training/agile-training/real-world-agile-and-scrum/



leading high performing teams - pbworksagile-pm.pbworks.com/f/servant+leadership+seminar.pdf ·...

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