Look in the Mirror
Focus of this post…
A Book Review by Pete Behrens of Untapped Agility: Seven Leadership Moves to Take Your Transformation to the Next Level by Jesse Fewell
Author: Jesse Fewell
I could feel an inherent connection the first time I met Jesse Fewell. Although now many years later and with our paths crossing in many different ways, I realize that it may not just be me. It appears that everyone who intersects with Jesse’s world appears to feel that same connection. Jesse’s energy and passion is not just infectious, it’s downright contagious. And that is a dangerously good thing during a pandemic.
The reason I bring this up is that not only is Jesse a very competent Scrum Trainer and Coach and an excellent Agile Leadership Journey Guide, he has an inherent knack of understanding and connecting to people in organizations. Given this, I believe you will find Jesse’s stories illuminating and valuable, regardless of your leadership or agile transformation experience.
Jesse Fewell, ALJ Guide
Book: Untapped Agility
Untapped Agility simply lays out a series of typical steps leaders take to increase organizational agility, the significant barriers they face when doing so, and the pivot required to not only address or avoid those barriers, but more fully align, engage people in the organization to accelerate change and value delivery.
Jesse provides straight-forward advice for leaders to consider as they embark on their own change journey, whether that be an agile transformation, or a digital transformation due to COVID-19. Because the advice Jesse provides is not specific to capital “A” Agile methods and approaches, but rather to lower case “a’” agility - the ability for an organization to adapt to meet changing market conditions.
Value: Look in the Mirror
There are many valuable reasons to read this book. I also see it as an excellent complement to the Agile Leadership Journey Awareness Workshops & Practice Programs we offer. However, I will poke on one of the moves Jesse illustrates in the book - Look in the Mirror.
I have been leading and guiding organizational transformations for over 20 years, some on my own as a leader and many as a coach walking along side organizational leaders. One thing that I have come to realize is the importance of leaders to be the change they want to see in their organizations (yes, I hijacked a great quote from Ghandi).
Too many times I have been party to transformation initiatives that leaders “led” but didn’t participate. They checked it off their list. They mailed it in. These leaders “transform” others and the system, they don’t need to transform themself. Needless to say, these
transformations didn’t transform much of anything.
The entire foundation of the Agile Leadership Journey can be sourced from this key principle - If a leader is seeking a change in their organization, they must be the first to learn and model that change. I recall a senior leader close to retirement in a large healthcare organization sit through multiple Scrum Team workshops that I led over the course of a few years because he knew that if he made it a priority, everyone would make it a priority. And he didn’t just sit in the back of the room on his computer, he was active, engaged and fully present with even the newest hires in the organization. It was a powerful message, and one that no trainer can give alone. I thanked him and let him know how valuable his engagement was. We saw this transformation positively impact their product delivery with over 5,000 people across 3 continents.
