“Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted onto the battlefield from … any location[. This] allows paratroopers to evade emplaced fortifications that exist to prevent an attack from a specific direction”
Excerpted from Wikipedia
I believe there are certain analogies between being a Paratrooper and being an Agile Coach or Consultant, including having strategic objectives, a purpose of infiltration, a sense of opposition, and a goal or cause that you believe in. However, I am not asserting that, a) implementing Agility at an organization is a declaration of war, b) Agility is a tactical warfare technique, or, c) being an Agile Coach or Consultant is synonymous to or nearly as dangerous a job as a Paratrooper.
Having said that, depending on the environment an Agile Coach or Consultant may sometimes feel like they are actually entering a corporate or political war zone. They are often viewed as outsiders posing a clear threat. They are often in the minority. They are often dropped in to unfamiliar territory. They often have incomplete or incorrect information. They are often surrounded by opposing forces. They are often made a target, either passively or aggressively. They often start with plans, but what makes them successful is their ability to adapt their plans and react to situations. In other words…be agile!
Like a Paratrooper, a Coach or Consultant is often “parachuted” or “inserted” in to an organization or foreign group with a specific mission. It is often to provide a “tactical advantage” and doing so helps a Coach or Consultant “evade emplaced fortifications [well established norms or strong opposition] that exist”, so they can get the job done from the inside and with less opposition.
A Paratrooper should always enter the field with a good understanding of the landscape, environment and situation. Similarly, a Coach or Consultant should also become familiar with the working environment and culture they are about to interface with. Without critical information both would risk the success of their mission and perhaps more. For a Paratrooper a lack of information could be life threatening, but fortunately the threat is not usually life threatening for organizational change agents. It just might be professionally damaging to their career as well as others and their business.
Perform Reconnaissance
To that effect, I believe if you are a Coach or Consultant then you should still perform advance research for your intended mission in order for you to be successful, provide value and create an opportunity for learning and improvement. This means you will need to have conversations with both the leadership of their target (organization) and also with the people doing the work. Here’s why.
Leadership (usually the “paying customer” is management in the organization) should have specific and measurable outcomes they want achieved, and it is critically important for you to identify what those are up front and how they are expected to address their business problems. Meanwhile, the employees (usually the workers or teams) are often directly associated with and intimately familiar with the true needs and system issues, so you must also become familiar with their understanding for perspective. Unfortunately, the first battle is often that workers and their leadership do not align on their expectations and outcomes, and without their alignment you have little hope of true customer satisfaction and helping them collectively solve their real business problems.
As such, to manage expectations and increase chances for success it is critically important for a Consultant or Coach to investigate and identify both the needs of the leadership AND the needs of the employees, and then work to align them before any substantial work takes place. The best approach is to have face-to-face conversations with all the leadership and employees but that can take considerable time in a larger organization. So how do you get a realistic pulse of the company without talking to absolutely everyone?
Assess the Organization
Another option is to conduct a REALagility assessment – either for a team, a group or an entire organization. The assessment is a 10 minute online survey conducted by every individual, and it is designed to uncover the misalignments between what leaders think and what employees think in an organization. The resulting report reveals the soul of the current culture, and it is grounded in real, actionable data to improve on the problem areas unique to the organization. As a Consultant or Coach these insights can be invaluable in helping you prepare for the engagement, identify opportunities, create alignment, and elicit real, meaningful and sustainable change for the organization.
Here is a sample diagram from a REALagility assessment, showing the relative rankings for an organization around five cultural measures. Detailed descriptions and insights for each cultural score are provided in the report.
Conclusion
In summary, I find it immensely helpful to “arm” myself with information prior to a Coaching or Consulting engagement, and these tools have been pivotal in filling that gap. Having early access to information such as this enables insights that might otherwise not be detected until I am on the ground helping the individuals, teams, and leadership tackle their business problems, which saves time, frustration, and money. An additional advantage with leveraging these electronic evaluations is that they provide an opportunity for people to provide ideas, feelings, agreements or disagreements that they may hesitate to share in a face-to-face interview.
There are certainly other tools that are designed to provide insights and information, but I’ve chosen these two because of my familiarity with them, and because of their effectiveness.
Of course, I would never replace good, valuable conversation with tools or data, but I do find these tools provide additional contextual information that further enables me to ask the right questions and have the right conversations early in an engagement. Finally, these tools can also be used as a benchmark for comparison of progress after a period of time has elapsed, which allows you as a Coach or Consultant to measure and be accountable for success.
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Main Image – Paratrooper Public Domain Image http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0420-0907-2418-1546.html Stock Photograph by Department of Defense Public Domain Image Number: 0420-0907-2418-1546
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Kanban System Design® (KMPI)
13 to 14 JUN 2023 (2 days) - Starting Tuesday - Online - David Vicentin
C$1895.00 Register Now- Improve Knowledge Work Productivity -
This 2-day workshop - Kanban System Design (KSD) - also known as 'Kanban for Real Agility®' - provides you with the fundamentals of the Kanban Method® . It is designed specifically for leaders starting their organization on the gentler path towards Real Agility™. This learning event is ideal for you if you are responsible for the delivery of a service. Learn the concepts of flow, pull, classes of service, and learn to deal with interruptions and multi-tasking. Learn the Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban (STATIK) through a multi-step interactive case study review.
This KSD course, (formerly known as Kanban Management Professional 1 - KMP I), is the first of two courses towards the Kanban Management Professional (KMP) credential. The KSD is the prerequisite to the Kanban Systems Improvement course (KSI). By completing both this course (KSD) and the KSI, participants can earn their KMP credential with Kanban University®.
Key Benefits
- Participate in a Kanban simulation for immersive learning
- Design your service's Kanban board with guidance from our Kanban experts
- Start your Kanban adoption and in evolving your system
- Earn 16 PDUs | 16 SEUs
- Obtain your Kanban University® KSD certificate
- Completion of this and the KSI class will earn you the Kanban University® KMP credential
- Get a profile listing on the Kanban University® alumni page
- We are a Registered Education Provider with Kanban University® and PMI®
- Taught by and overseen by Accredited Kanban Trainers (AKT's)
EXCLUSIVE: Free "Kanban for Managers" e-book written by BERTEIG consultants!
Download the recommended reading by "David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael":
Essential Kanban Condensed
Please register using a corporate email address, for corporate loyalty program discounts.
Read MoreLocation:
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Date:
Tue 13-Jun-2023
Wed 14-Jun-2023
Time:
09:00 AM to 05:00 PM (EST)
Trainer:
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Kanban System Design® (KMPI)
26 to 27 SEP 2023 (2 days) - Starting Tuesday - Online - David Vicentin
Early-bird Discount! C$1795.00 C$1525.75 Until 12-Sep Register Now- Improve Knowledge Work Productivity -
This 2-day workshop - Kanban System Design (KSD) - also known as 'Kanban for Real Agility®' - provides you with the fundamentals of the Kanban Method® . It is designed specifically for leaders starting their organization on the gentler path towards Real Agility™. This learning event is ideal for you if you are responsible for the delivery of a service. Learn the concepts of flow, pull, classes of service, and learn to deal with interruptions and multi-tasking. Learn the Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban (STATIK) through a multi-step interactive case study review.
This KSD course, (formerly known as Kanban Management Professional 1 - KMP I), is the first of two courses towards the Kanban Management Professional (KMP) credential. The KSD is the prerequisite to the Kanban Systems Improvement course (KSI). By completing both this course (KSD) and the KSI, participants can earn their KMP credential with Kanban University®.
Key Benefits
- Participate in a Kanban simulation for immersive learning
- Design your service's Kanban board with guidance from our Kanban experts
- Start your Kanban adoption and in evolving your system
- Earn 16 PDUs | 16 SEUs
- Obtain your Kanban University® KSD certificate
- Completion of this and the KSI class will earn you the Kanban University® KMP credential
- Get a profile listing on the Kanban University® alumni page
- We are a Registered Education Provider with Kanban University® and PMI®
- Taught by and overseen by Accredited Kanban Trainers (AKT's)
EXCLUSIVE: Free "Kanban for Managers" e-book written by BERTEIG consultants!
Download the recommended reading by "David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael":
Essential Kanban Condensed
Please register using a corporate email address, for corporate loyalty program discounts.
Read MoreLocation:
Online
Date:
Tue 26-Sep-2023
Wed 27-Sep-2023
Time:
09:00 AM to 05:00 PM (EST)
Trainer:
-
Kanban System Design® (KMPI)
12 to 13 DEC 2023 (2 days) - Starting Tuesday - Online - David Vicentin
Early-bird Discount! C$1795.00 C$1525.75 Until 28-Nov Register Now- Improve Knowledge Work Productivity -
This 2-day workshop - Kanban System Design (KSD) - also known as 'Kanban for Real Agility®' - provides you with the fundamentals of the Kanban Method® . It is designed specifically for leaders starting their organization on the gentler path towards Real Agility™. This learning event is ideal for you if you are responsible for the delivery of a service. Learn the concepts of flow, pull, classes of service, and learn to deal with interruptions and multi-tasking. Learn the Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban (STATIK) through a multi-step interactive case study review.
This KSD course, (formerly known as Kanban Management Professional 1 - KMP I), is the first of two courses towards the Kanban Management Professional (KMP) credential. The KSD is the prerequisite to the Kanban Systems Improvement course (KSI). By completing both this course (KSD) and the KSI, participants can earn their KMP credential with Kanban University®.
Key Benefits
- Participate in a Kanban simulation for immersive learning
- Design your service's Kanban board with guidance from our Kanban experts
- Start your Kanban adoption and in evolving your system
- Earn 16 PDUs | 16 SEUs
- Obtain your Kanban University® KSD certificate
- Completion of this and the KSI class will earn you the Kanban University® KMP credential
- Get a profile listing on the Kanban University® alumni page
- We are a Registered Education Provider with Kanban University® and PMI®
- Taught by and overseen by Accredited Kanban Trainers (AKT's)
EXCLUSIVE: Free "Kanban for Managers" e-book written by BERTEIG consultants!
Download the recommended reading by "David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael":
Essential Kanban Condensed
Please register using a corporate email address, for corporate loyalty program discounts.
Read MoreLocation:
Online
Date:
Tue 12-Dec-2023
Wed 13-Dec-2023
Time:
09:00 AM to 05:00 PM (EST)
Trainer:
Berteig Consulting
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