I once heard Stephen Covey speak years ago and the main thing I remembered is that you don’t truly learn until you teach others.  So, throughout this past year, I’ve been able to take the learnings from the materials and adapt them to our needs so that our team could improve their communication skills and continue developing their leadership qualities.

In September of this year, I reviewed the module entitled “Leadership Excellence” which involved John Maxwell, author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and felt our entire team, technical or otherwise, would benefit from hearing some of the key messages John was imparting about the real measures of leaders and what causes people to truly connect and be inspired to follow a leader.   I decided to take the information presented in the video segment and reorganize it to create a condensed version of the learnings and attention span of  our team (under 30 minutes).  Those that attended our lunch hour “non” Techtalk, found it insightful and and useful.

I also reviewed another module called “How to be a more Influential and Persuasive Leader” presented by Kevin Hogan. This module, although similar in terms of overall topic, had a completely different approach and point of view. It really highlighted a variety of tactics people, and also leaders in a workplace, can use to influence behaviour of others (children, employees, potential customers, and hiring managers).  To share this knowledge with our team, I decided to send out daily leadership nuggets by email (less than 1 minute) that team members could read, digest and use as they felt relevant.

A third module I reviewed called “Becoming a Better Communicator (especially in crucial conversations)” presented by Ron McMillan, was also very interesting and involved the strategies master communicators use when having “crucial conversations” with team members.  I actually prepared a half-day workshop for our Support Crew including discussion time, and exercises, and was able to use some of the supporting materials from Ron McMillan’s organization www.crucialconversations.com to analyze the team’s individual and collective strengths in having these types of tough conversation.

The entire “Lessons in Leadership” package is certainly worth the cost and I encourage you to check out http://thebusinesssource.com/ for other products.

UNITY:
At 2Paths, we were concerned about having an us versus them attitude developing between the development team and what might be called “management team” in other worlds. The word “Management” seemed to take on a slightly negative context when spoken at our office, so we decided to expel that word from our vocabulary (as well as the word employee, except where legally required). Everyone here is a team member.  We also realized that our business (and success) is about the people who develop our software solutions (otherwise known as the development team), and that the rest of us are well, like the Support Crew running alongside the runner, making sure they have what they need to be successful and create the best damn software around for our clients.

So, I do believe we have become more unified and we will make sure our words and actions support that (check out our team section of our website to see how we present our team).  As well, when developing HR communications, programs and processes, we’ve made sure to keep this language and terminology consistent, and we’ve tried wherever possible to make sure that we reinforce and emphasize this unity. We meet together each week to communicate one message, we join in the daily scrum to stay in the loop with what is happening, we get team input when hiring and building new programs, and we celebrate and do team building together.  I even sit right in the middle of the development team; a bit of an adjustment after having my own office with a door within the HR department,  but heh! I actually love being “with” the team. If I was off somewhere in a corner, I certainly wouldn’t feel unified with the rest of the team.

SIMPLICITY:
For example, the 2Paths team had been incorporating 360 feedback in their performance review process and no one felt comfortable giving feedback that might impact someone’s final performance score and possibly compensation in a negative way. So, we decided to set up a separate 360 feedback process. I went away and read up on 360’s and how to make them ‘effective’ and brought my draft materials back to the team for feedback.  Until I got their reaction, I didn’t realize how long, formal, wordy,  and yes “corporate” it looked, sounded and smelled.  That was an eye opener. Luckily they did see some basically good ideas in my draft and I went away and tried again this time with better results. I’m pretty sure that the 360 feedback template we ended up using was still a bit complicated and wordy (and I’ll keep working on that) but the process was pretty simple and straightforward. It may not win any HR awards or be written up in any books, but  almost everyone found it of value and want to keep doing it! That is what counts in my book!

TRANSPARENCY:
When I arrived at 2Paths, one of the first things an esteemed colleague told me is that “we put all of our information on the wiki, and we like to have transparency about everything we do”.  Well, once I figured out how to actually  post things on our wiki (our intranet basically), I was totally sold on it. From working with a company that tried to set up an intranet that needed to be able to limit access to information between groups,  and then moving to a company that had a wiki where everything is shared unless there’s a good reason, I was pleasantly surprised.

So, when setting up HR policies, and other programs I have tried my darndest to be clear, open and transparent about what we are doing, why we are doing it a certain way, and how it compares to other companies. Of course there are always some things we need to keep confidential but those are understood by the team.

Another example of transparency is how we share our company vision, company goals and individual goals and rocks with all  team members.  Everyone has an opportunity to hear about and ask questions about what each team member is working on and about the direction we are going as a company.

We also hold quarterly “clearing house” meetings for the whole team. Basically anything goes in terms of topics to raise, and everyone participates. If people have questions about why we are doing something, are concerned about the office karma, or just want to make some suggestions, we do our best to get it out on the table (or floor) and hash it out and get to some kind of decision, action item or commitment from the team.  I could go on about this value for a while but I’ll stop now. Transparency is one of the keys to building trust in a team.

ADAPTABILITY:
One example from 2Paths was my HR workplan this past two quarters. I had a bunch of work set out for me in terms of policy reviews, HR documentation, etc. but the team felt it was important to start having clearing house meetings regularly. We also had some changes to our roles that needed to be addressed.  Working through these required time, conversations, and some meetings, and of course delayed me in completing some items on my “plan”, but the time was well worth it and we haven’t let issues remain unaddressed or festering. That’s what people remember, not the policy changes I wrote up.

NOTE to reader: I am not professing to be completely agile, sometimes I do revert back to my previous mindset,  but yes, I can honestly say that I have “drunk the agile koolaid” as my fellow 2Pathians would say.

As you can probably tell, the opportunity and ease of being “agile” can be limited by the level of standardization, size of company, and complexity of organizational structure and employee base.  This isn’t too different than the challenges I’ve heard expressed about scaling agile software development for large projects.

So, can an HR team (of one or more) despite its structure actually ply its trade so that they are able to apply the  agile approach (used by many forward thinking software developers)  to HR development and support? Yes, I think so! It  just takes focus on a few key values or principles that are inherent in “going agile”. These values are:
-Adaptability
-Transparency
-Simplicity
-Unity

Know them, memorize them, believe in them when you think about your HR role; and then live them whenever you think about creating something new, or in how you go about your day to day responsibilities.

If in doubt, check out my other blog “Agile HR at 2Paths” for some example of how this really can work.

UNITY:
Unity can be applied or practiced in many ways  but one example is actually believing we are one team, no us versus them. If you have different functions in your company or levels of employees, think about how they support one another, rather than who has more control or power; and then make this belief a reality through actions, language you use, and how decisions get made. If you can’t get the whole company to behave this way, then at least try to influence the teams you do work with most. Perhaps the rest will see the benefits and follow your lead.

SIMPLICITY:
My biggest takeaway has been this: you don’t need to make something complicated just because others do. I have read numerous articles and books about how to create and implement various HR programs and for the most part I believe we often try to do “too much” and get caught up in our HR speak.  In the end, we create something that no one likes, understands, or reads and all our time, efforts and energy are for naught.  Building HR practices in an agile environment has forced me to shed my ‘big company’ mindset (even though I didn’t think I had one) and take a stab at being more simple, more concise, and yes, I’ll admit it, less wordy (this blog doesn’t count).

TRANSPARENCY:
OK, this is a really important one for us HR folks to think about and take to heart. We often think that because we see people’s compensation details, and hear a lot of confidential information and conversations, that our world is shrouded in a veil of secrecy, and we sometimes like to keep an air of mystery about our HR world and what we do and why.

This really isn’t necessary and doesn’t increase our credibility with our team and organization. It actually does the opposite as people often think we are off in our own little HR world and not in touch with what is really going on.   Be clear, be open,  and explain why even if the why is not what people generally want to hear.  At least they’ll understand a bit better.

ADAPTABILITY:
One of the fundamental concepts in agile is the use of continuous output using short iterations so that the client sees and can use some working software early on in the project. This also allows for early feedback, reprioritization if necessary, and often changing requirements based on the client gaining a better understanding of what they really need once they get their hands on a working tool.

As far as practicing adaptability within HR, I believe it can be done by being open to feedback from others, and also being able to refocus energies and time based on team and company needs. For instance, even if we HR folks are accustomed to doing things a certain way, or believe strongly in what the best way is, it’s really important to get feedback and possibly adapt your approach to gain commitment and buy-in from the team.  As Patrick Lencioni says in “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” (my recent fave book), we don’t all have to agree and gain consensus, but we do need to be able to gain commitment. That means  getting everyone to come to an agreement on an approach they can live with and that will bring about the results we want. The end result may not be perfect in the eyes of some HR gurus, but it may very well be the best approach for your team.

Another opportunity for demonstrating adaptability in HR, is to be flexible and aware of what is going on around you. Often we have a certain cycle of work through the year of HR work that keeps us busy (for example, perf reviews, salary reviews, bonuses, etc . or recruiting) and generally don’t stray unless a major policy violation  occurs or they sky is falling and we have to downsize or layoff suddenly.  However if we don’t keep our ears open and stay in contact with the people in our organization, we will miss what we really should be working on.  Perhaps it’s addressing a work  team conflict,  team disatissfaction with a certain hiring decision,  or confusion and lack of understanding about a company  communication.  It might mean getting out of our comfort zone (and our offices with doors)  to deal with the issue at hand but if you can actually get in there  and help resolve it, you will be showing your value as an HR person to the people who matter.

So, just to summarize, the four values that are part of the AGILE philosophy of software development are:
-Adaptability
-Transparency
-Simplicity
-Unity
And the answer is “yes!”. HR can adapt its approach to delivering value and service to the company and the people who work there and become more agile and hopefully more effective and integral to the organization, big or small.

Later I discovered that we had a copy of the book in our 2Paths library so I grabbed it for my regular train commute home.  Once into the first chapter or so, my first thought about this book was “I have so been part of workplaces like this” and my second thought was “ I can’t put this book down until I’m done.  Basically the book is told in story fashion with a very dysfunctional fictional team in a fictional company that is turned around by a new leader who shares the five dysfunctions with them and works with them to build a healthy team. The cool thing is that I could  almost picture the characters or put faces on them from people I’ve known or have worked with.  Not at 2Paths of course but elsewhere in my past!

The five dysfunctions  teams fall prey to include (in order of importance):
-absence of trust, fear of conflict,  lack of commitment,  avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.   Doesn’t this sound just like the makings of a bad relationship you might have had at some time, personal or otherwise?

In Lencioni’s second book “Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, I was really struck by a comment on the third page of the book. Lencioni states “In the course of my career as a  consultant to executives and their teams, I can confidently say that teamwork is almost always lacking within organizations that fail, and often present within those that succeed. ….. So why do so many leaders foucs most of their time on other topics like finance, strategy, technology and marketing? “  My opinion is that it’s not only hard to measure as Lencioni points out but it’s also hard because it involves real human interaction, emotions and showing vulnerability, the latter which we have learned not to show at work.

The other main takeaway and learning I got from Patrick’s second book is this. I was always under the impression that achieving consensus was the end goal to getting commitment from others. Lencioni disagrees.  He says “commitment requires clarity and buy-in.   Buy-in does not require consensus. Members of great teams learn to disagree with one another and still commit to a decision.” So in a nutshell, you can still disagree but be able to commit to something as a team. That is very cool and I have changed my approach to trying to get commitment to things from our team at 2Paths.  You don’t have to love an idea, you just have to agree to commit to something in order to move forward.  Go Patrick go! Can’t wait to read more of his books.

So, having just started working at 2Paths in July, I was pretty excited when I heard we were going to have a summer team event. When I listened to everyone’s ideas for a perfect team activity, I started to get a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Things like hang-gliding, white-water rafting, rock climbing and mountain biking were suggested. Now these activities might seem average to you, but you have to understand that we have a pretty active team of people here at 2Paths who just love to be outdoors and on the go. We aren’t talking a bunch of beginner enthusiasts going out for a day of fun; instead we have a health mix of beginners, pros and those who will do just about anything.

Initially the plan was to head up to Squamish for a half day of rock climbing up a real mountain, however, despite weeks of sunny weather, we were in for rain on our planned event day. And the following day ended up being the day of the huge rock slide on the Sea to Sky highway which closed the highway for several days. So, being the flexible, easy-going group that we are (really?), we decided to head indoors to the Edge climbing centre in North Vancouver. After some initial confusion and delays, we were all outfitted to go climbing.

Now, I have never climbed indoors or outdoors, so I had no idea what to expect. A couple of days earlier, I’d learned that the word “belay” meant having someone hold your rope as you climb up and I’d also heard about “auto-belaying” which we were supposed to do. After watching a few people head up the wall (including a very talented 8 or 9 year old next to me), I gave it a go. I have to say it was actually easier than I expected provided I used my whole body and stayed close to the wall. Jumping down got to be fun on the auto-balays after a couple of tries. The team broke off into smaller groups with some of the more experienced climbers belaying for others. Some of the team also decided to go without any equipment on the steeper cliff faces using just their strength and some soft mattresses below. It was a pretty relaxed, quiet team event but we all got a chance to chill out away from work, and while we were only there a few hours, it seemed like we’d been there all day. Time actually slowed down for a while. Amazing!

Once we’d all headed up the walls a number of times and got our fill of climbing and sore arms, some of the team headed back to the office and the rest of us headed to the nearby Pemberton Pub for some cool beer and appies. For me, this part of the day was the best as I really got a chance to hang out and get to know the people on our team better. Plus the beer and food was pretty good too!

I’m not sure exactly what we’ll be doing for our next team event but I do hope that the planning goes smoothly and that the weather works for us and that we have more opportunity to do something ‘active’ as well as time to hang out and socialize. I’m in for anything provided there is a beginner version, except for maybe hang-gliding.