Coaching in Times of Deep Organizational Change
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
10M ago
Throughout our careers, it’s almost inevitable that an organization we are a part of undergoes a period of meaningful change. These changes vary in intensity – from small organizational design tweaks (a re-org perhaps) to large-scale modifications to the way an organization works (a cultural transformation). Lately, it seems we are hearing of more and more companies undergoing a change also announce that people being let go. Sometimes the number of people impacted is quite large. When a change requires a reduction in the number of people working at the company, I consider these deep changes ..read more
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A Whole New Solar System
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
1y ago
In preparation for an upcoming post on designing organization without barriers, I would like to take a little detour to share a few thoughts on everyone’s favorite subjects…leadership and management. More specifically, what does the future hold for them? Part 4, titled “Designing a Future-Proof Organization,” will begin to introduce a few concepts, themes, and principles for those who influence how work gets done in their organization. To prepare us for that dialog, we need to take a deep look at foundational beliefs we hold sacred and are often afraid to talk about, let alone change. Please ..read more
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Let’s Talk About Change Fatigue
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
“I’m tired of change…when will this just go away?” For those on the front lines of an organizational change I’m sure you’ve heard this a time or two. Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself. A typical response is, “It never ends. Look how fast the world is changing…it’s here to stay.” This statement doesn’t make people feel much better. I can see why people feel this way. Many have endured countless change mandates (as described in Change or Else! and Get on Board or Get Out). Others have seen change initiatives come and go and the latest request to change is just another thing to endure. And man ..read more
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To Remove Organizational Silos, Start Here
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
This is part two of a four-part series on Organizational Silos. You can find part one here. Look for part three, “Designing Organizations Without Silos” and part four, “In Practice, Removing Real World Silos” soon. In part one of this series on organizational silos, we discussed what siloed organizations feel like and how fractures form: seeded through poor personal behavior, incubated in our relationships, and reinforced in the design of how to work together. We also learned about how organizations might traditionally attempt to remove their silos – mostly by implementing organizational desig ..read more
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How Organizational Silos Form
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
This is part 1 of a 3 part series on Organizational Silos. Look for part 2, “How To Remove Organizational Silos” and part 3, “In Practice, Removing Real World Silos” soon. They sneak up on us with a whisper but resonate loudly for decades. It can be hard to explain how they form and even harder to undo them once they have taken hold. We don’t plan for them and we don’t mean for them to happen. But they do. Organizational silos. After many years of coaching organizations of many shapes and sizes, much of the dysfunction in these companies can be traced to the formation of silos, the in ..read more
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On Having the Tough Conversations
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
Throughout our coaching journey, scenarios are encountered when we will be called upon to have an uncomfortable conversation. It’s not if it will happen, but when it will happen. There’s a good chance it happened to you already today. Someone is not allowing others to speak. Someone else is dominating the airspace of their team and restricting the flow of ideas. Someone has a blind spot or a capability gap that is impacting the health and productivity of their team. There is unresolved tension between team members. Coaches are ..read more
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Meeting Them Where They Are
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
As coaches, we will be encountering and interacting with people all day long. At least I hope we are. And all of these people are on a journey of change just like ourselves. Some just starting out, some who have been on it for a while and some who don’t want anything to do with the journey. The expectation is for you, the coach, to have an impact on each person by transferring hope, knowledge, and experience to them regardless of where they are or where they’ve been. Some will be eager to interact with you while others will shy away. So we will need to learn how to “meet them where t ..read more
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How to Assess an Organizational Change Coach
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
One of the things I am often asked about is how should we assess the performance of a coach. Some days I wonder this about myself…“Am I living into my full potential? What kind of impact am I really having?” To answer this question, it’s important to first define the North Star of what a coach should aspire to. While you will have something different, here is what I use: “A fellow human with the ability to create an environment of hope and possibility, the energy to inspire others to visualize a new future, an approach to guide them along a journey towards this new future, and finds deep ..read more
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…But Your Kids are Going to Love it
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
Our role as change catalysts often involves introducing fresh thinking about how the nature of work is evolving and how people in organizations will need to evolve along with it. These ideas can sometimes feel radical to folks as we bump up against the comfort of the status quo and the gravitational pull of “this is how we’ve always done things.” Recent coaching experience with a team provided a valuable lesson about pushing boundaries and facing resistance. This team was asked to re-think how the organization should develop and grow their people given the new way of working emerging fro ..read more
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The Far-Reaching Impact of Leaders
Illustrated Agile
by Len Lagestee
4y ago
Recently, someone very close to me had to leave a leadership position at their company due to health reasons. This person invested deeply in the relationships of her team and created deep and long-lasting bonds with them. She inspired them, cherished them, cared for them, and fought for them. She empathized with them and created an environment for them to be themselves. All of this while in a level of pain that very few knew about and would be debilitating to most others – I know it would be to me. Shortly after it was announced that she would not be returning to work this email arriv ..read more
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