A good friend of mine who also happens to be an awesome Agile Coach, asked me for a coaching session to deal with a challenge he was having at work.
The job that he loved and that he drew inspiration from was becoming a drag on his spirit.
On one hand, leadership was expecting him to do things that focused on what many would consider micromanaging and myopic behaviours.
On the other hand, he was determined to convert those expectations into something that better aligned with his Agile beliefs and values related to growing and developing self-sufficient people.
Trying to hold both these objectives at the same time was stressful and making him feel like a “middleman”. Stuck between kowtowing to leadership edicts and doing what he felt was best for his coachees.
We discussed a variety of ideas and tactics to ease his dilemma.
The following suggestions resonated the most with him:
- Focus on what makes you happy over what makes you upset.
- Influence the influencers.
- Nurture a Volunteer Army.
- Engage your Volunteer Army.
- Tap into the power of visual story telling.
Choose Happy
His preoccupation with what upset him took him away from doing what made him happy and gave him joy. Coaching and helping teams improve their ways of working was his magnum opus. Accepting that which he couldn’t change and moving forward to focus back on what he could change was something he could look forward to.
Influencers
His relationship with leadership was not close enough to influence any change in their thinking. So what else could he try? Develop and nurture close relationships with those who could Influence leadership thinking. It’s often not what is being said but rather who’s saying it that makes all the difference. It didn’t matter to him that he wouldn’t get credit for what was being said. He just wanted leadership to heed what was being said.
A Volunteer Army
I’ve always loved John Kotter’s concept of enlisting a volunteer army to help with and sustain change. A volunteer army made up of colleagues across various levels within the organization. Colleagues that want to be a part of the efforts to get others within the organization to see the value of a change and act on it with urgency.
My friend was suffering as a lone middleman. What he didn’t realize was that he didn’t need to suffer alone. That many others may be equally upset with the leadership edicts. He could ask for help from others. Many of whom held him in high regard. What may have begun as a solitary muted voice against the evils of micromanaging can become a concerted movement of deafening voices for change. And, if in the end it fails, then at least there will be the collective satisfaction of trying to do something about it.
Picture The Problem
A picture is worth a thousand words. He was trying to explain his concerns to leadership in words. Words that weren’t conveying the desired message to the leaders. It was frustrating for him. He thought he was being perfectly clear with his choice of words. That’s the problem with verbal communications alone. Complementing words with pictures can increase the fidelity of the message and intent he was trying to convey. Deliver the words and pictures as a story with a beginning, middle and end is better. Better yet, he could visually tell the story with a beginning and middle and then invite the audience to choose an end to the story.
I’m looking forward to hearing what he’s tried, what he’s achieved and what he’s learned.
Most importantly, I’m hoping he no longer feels stuck like a middleman.
Next Chapter Consulting 