By Christopher Avery PhD, Agile University Trainer for Knowledge Team Leadership
(Note from the editor: Read this fascinating article, then grab Christopher's incredible FREE coaching offer below!*)
Long before the agile tools industry sprang up, there existed a natural performance lubricant I call "personal agility" - an individual's, team's, or culture's natural ability to thrive and easily move forward in fast-changing environments regardless of the tools, methods, and processes.
Don't get me wrong. Agile tools add value. Indeed, they are amazing and the agile industry is an exciting and innovative place! But agile tools aren't the critical factor in high performance. (Oops. There I said it! Now I have to back it up.) Agile adoption efforts worldwide are running smack into the "Ouch!" syndrome because they focus on moving from quadrant 1 (see my matrix) to quadrant 2 by learning tools and processes. But what stops the mechanics from working are the dynamics: Personal agility is missing.
Your focus and your money is better spent moving from quadrant 1 to quadrant 4. That's right. When you say that you value people and their interactions over processes and tools, how much do you mean it? The path to quadrant 3 nirvana is much easier, faster, and more successful by way of quadrant 4.
So what have I learned in twenty years of studying the personal agility of agile masters? In brief:
Personal Responsibility beats Job Accountability every time. When individuals opt-in, engage, and own their actions and consequences, truth happens! You don't need to focus on "driving accountability" when people are owning how they execute.. How do you get those around you to take ownership? There's only one way, to practice it yourself.
Climbing in the same boat together drives mutual coordination. A keen sense of shared responsibility is the single greatest predictor of teamwork, collaboration, and partnering. Agile masters consistently dialog about "what must we do together that is larger than any of us, requires all of us, and none of us can claim individual victory until it is done?" Start asking that question today in each relationship at work and stay in the dialog until you reach powerful shared clarity.
Tapping into the power of peer motivation. Teams perform to the level of their least invested members because they bring everyone down. Always. (That explains why there are so many mediocre teams). Agile masters understand and tap into the abundant intrinsic motivation available in every individual to create win/win/win/win/win. The key question that you can start asking today? "What's in it for you beyond a paycheck?"
Making and keeping agreements that support flow. Agile masters ask for, make, and keep responsible agreements with everyone around them. They also know which key rules of engagement will support their relationships, how to ask for them, and how to police them in order to generate powerful behavioral norms. Practice making ever better agreements about communication (communicating what, when, how, and why) time (time to start, end, deliver, ask for help, reflect, and clean-up messes), and decisions (which decisions are yours, which are mine, and which are ours), and you'll be well on your way to mastering personal agility.
Christopher Avery wants to be your personal agility coach. Accept his privileged invitation to participate on a FREE live 70-minute tele-clinic "Master the Four Magical Skills that Activate Your Personal Agility. Build Any Team Any Time, Generate Abundant Goodwill, Cooperation, Trust, and Get RESULTS." Expect it to be packed with valuable content you can immediately use. And, Christopher will answer your questions and offer a preview of his acclaimed intensive flagship seminar Knowledge Team Leadership. Go now to www.masteringpersonalagility.com
Christopher thanks and acknowledges Ashley Johnson of Gemba Systems who first used the phrase "personal agility" to describe Christopher's research on personal and shared responsibility.
© Christopher Avery. All Rights Reserved.
