Define Catalytic Leadership
Relationships of Leadership, Change, and Culture
Leadership Concepts to Support Change:
1. Anyone
2. In the Small
3. Environment, Support, and Trust
Some Byproducts

A show of hands…
Who has had trouble with…
• Having people follow you as you tried to introduce ‘Agile’?
• Keeping good people as you went through change?
• Getting people to initiate change?

What is
Catalytic Leadership?

Catalyst :: an additional substance
that through its participation
increases the rateof a
(chemical) reaction and with
less energy
Wikipedia Definition (paraphrased)
inferring…

Catalytic Leadership
increases the rate of ____
with less effort

Fill in the _________Adoption
Transition
Transformation
Metamorphosis
Transmorgrification
…

… being able to
lead change
is important
because…

Agile Transformation
is
strategic in
nature.
(Transition, Adoption, etc.)

Top 5 Reasons Agile Projects Failed
Company philosophy/culture at odds w/core agile values
Lack of experience w/agile methods
Lack of Management Support
Lack of Support for Cultural Transition
External pressure to follow traditional waterfall processes
Ability to Change Org Culture 55%
General Resistance to Change 42%
Pre-existing non Agile Framework 40%
Personnel w/Agile Experience 39%
Management Support 38%
Sources: VersionOne State of Agile Survey 2016
Culture

• These same reasons have shown up!
• Just some mild shuffling around in percentages and
order.
• Consistently at the top is inability to change
organizational culture
Sources: VersionOne State of Agile Surveys 2010-15

“Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.”
- Peter Drucker

Decisions  Habits  Culture
Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change,
Richard Nelson & Sidney Winder, 1982

Decisions  Δ Habits  Δ Culture

• How do we lead this change?
• How do I begin to take action?
• How do I do this when I am not the CIO or other
executive?

"The only definition of a leader is
someone who has followers.”
- Peter Drucker

This means anyone can be a leader.
Corollary: you only have the authority
granted to you by others;
meaning you have constraints imposed
by their willingness

“It’s often easier to ask for forgiveness
than to ask permission.”
- RADM Grace Hopper

Start with decisions where
permission is unnecessary.

For meetings you conduct, could you do ANY of these?
• Post purpose and agendas in room
• Send these out in the invite
• Make agenda items questions to answer vs bullet point lists
(“In what way will we measure the impact of this solution?”)
• Send out read-aheads before meetings
• Use time-boxes on particular discussion points
• Use exercises vs free-form discussion
• Provide a visual means for seeing progress during the
meeting (Checklist, Meeting Kanban, pile of index cards with
the topics on them)
• Solicit input ahead of time for the agenda and find out
concerns
What of these are synergistic?

When learning information from another, could you
do ANY of these?
• Ask open-ended questions (Turn yes/no questions into
something like -- what options do you think we have?)
• Ask about what things are most important
• Repeat/paraphrase what you heard and ask if you have
it right?
• Listen for changes in HOW the person tells you the
answer, not only what they say
• Be mindful of your own facial expressions or body
language

Something to remember…
Leadership in a traditional sense
tends to view it in terms of linear
transactions and roles, not organic
relationships between people
exerting influence.
-Gerald Weinberg
(paraphrased)

• In 1 min, by yourself, write down as many reasons
as you can think of as to WHY my examples (in
learning info from another or conducting organized
meetings) may exert influence.
• Then pair up and for the next 2 min share and
refine your answers.
• After that, get into groups of 4, share your answers,
select, & prioritize what you feel are the most
important reasons.
• You have 4 min. Elect a spokesperson
• Lastly, your spokesperson will share the top answer
that has not been previously selected.

A show of hands…
For the exercise technique just used, could you…
• Introduce this in a meeting you attend?
• Suggest this as a way of ‘brainstorming’ ideas?
You just experienced a
Liberating Structure
called 1,2,4,ALL

For the next two slides,
record each concept you can
do where permission is
unnecessary.

Some other
Liberating
Structures
TRIZ /
List what you can do to get worst possible result
Doing any of that? (be brutally honest)
Create actions to eliminate these behaviors
Appreciative Interviews /
Have another tell a story of something most proud of…
What made that possible?
Five Whys /
Ask why at least 5 times
Gets to root-cause
Lean Coffee /
Generate topics of interest
Prioritize
Openly Discuss in a timebox
Decide on actions to take
Vote to continue or dismiss
WINFY /
You generate what you need
ID who you need it from
Get unambiguous responses
from providers
The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures – Lipmanowicz & McCandless
Open Space /
Get a space
Create an invitation
Right people
They create topics
Right time
Over when over
Only thing that could happen
Law of Two Feet

Some Fearless Change Patterns
Fearless Change and More Fearless Change – Manns & Rising
discuss the ideas at Brown Bags as everyone enjoys food
find an interested Guru, convert them, so they are on Your Side
get a Champion Skeptic,
someone that is a critic on the inside
create a Big Jolt by giving a well-known person
an invitation to present on the topic
periodically reflect to have an Evolving Vision
Piggyback on other ideas, work, or meetings to get the idea heard
show Sincere Appreciation to those that help you
show your passion as an Evangelist
find the Go-To Person for different critical issues
where you need help
Advertise Your Successes

16How many of the sixteen did
you record?

approaches as
these low effort
Think of

= lower riskand

• Cultural Anthropology’s diffusion mechanisms
• Technological innovation’s adoption mechanism
Rely on…
not

occur in
that you will lead
The changes
Environment
Support
Trust
Where did that come from..?

Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.

Environment ∆s
climate and structures,
Examples: the set of
communication paths, authority for
decisions, safety for open
discussions

“Leadership is the process of creating
an environment in which people
become empowered.”
-Gerald Weinberg

Support ∆s
beyond infrastructure needs…
how communications are conducted
and how resulting decisions are
allowed to play out

• Cognitive Empathy
• Curiosity
• Commitment
• Communication
• Work to understand
other’s point of view
• Ask questions; look for
root-cause (not blame)
• Follow-through on
decisions
• Stories and dialogue
about change and
alignment

Trust ∆s
how decisions are congruent with opening
vulnerability between co-workers, and
between co-workers and supervisors
(granting authority), which improves the
climate

“Leadership is a two-way street,
loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect
for one's superiors; care for one's
crew.”
- RADM Grace Hopper

Trustor’s
Propensity
Trust
Perceived
Risk
Risk Taking in
the Relationship
Authority
Benevolence
Integrity
Factors of
Perceived
Trustworthiness
Outcomes
Model of Organizational Trust
“An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust”; Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman;
Academy of Management Review; 1995; page 715 (available at JSTOR)
Vulnerabilty

Creating Better Trust:
Small (low risk) assignments
Promises made (integrity)
Congruence with stated intention (benevolence)
Decisions made and not over-turned (authority)

Environment
Support
Trust

PART I:
• We’re going to divide up and represent 3 levels:
development team, middle management, and
executives
• Each of these will further be divided into 3 different
exercises:
• Piggybacking on other initiatives or agendas
• TRIZ
• Meeting their Needs
• Refer to the papers with level + specific exercise
details

PART II:
• Our objective is to understand how we can lead
change at these 3 levels in applying the Agile
Principle:
“Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of
work not done – is essential.”
• Think in terms of environment (structure &
climate), support (decisions and how they are
communicated), and trust (opening mutual
vulnerability/dependency on the results)
• You will have a 12 minute time box to perform what
is on your instructions.

Debrief
What were
your ahas?

Trustor’s
Propensity
Trust
Perceived
Risk
Risk Taking in
the Relationship
Authority
Benevolence
Integrity
Factors of
Perceived
Trustworthiness
Outcomes
How Fearless Change & Liberating Structures Fit
“An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust”; Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman;
Academy of Management Review; 1995; page 715 (available at JSTOR)
Small Changes
Lower
Advertise
Successes
Just Do It
Ask for Help
WINFY
Sincere
Appreciation
Use a
Champion Skeptic

Environment
Support
Trust
Open
Space
Five
Whys
Appreciative
Inquiry
More On How Fearless Change & Liberating Structures Fit

• Opens up more engagement
• Uses our normal networks to spread ideas
• Improves culture, trust, and ultimately change at a
natural pace
• Helps people align with purpose

Paul M. Boos
http://paulmboos.com
paul.boos@excella.com
@paul_boos
703-307-4322 (mobile)
Games for Agility, Learning,
and Engagement (GALE)
Agile Dialogues
Snowbird
Collaboratory

What questions do you have?