Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
We've Moved
We've Moved
Walking Their Talk, Sustainability, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sustainability

I saw this wonderfully courageous and informative post by Sabine Canditt the other day where she wrote about Sustainable Scrum. 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-scrum-responsible-choice-sabine-canditt-x0gef

After just completing a The Week program facilitated by the amazing Ann-Marie Kong, it touched my heart.

That said, I wanted to highlight one comment reaction/interaction between Sabine and Erich Bühler 

Erich said—

Thank you for bringing this approach into the world! Scrum does provide an iterative approach for teams to create value, but its scope is limited to the product level and struggles with dynamics across the whole organization for several reasons.
Without updating the underlying business and financial model at a strategic level, Scrum alone cannot transform organization-wide sustainability.

Sustainability
Short-takes, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sandy’s Take
Sandy’s Take
Short-takes, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
Coaching, ACGW, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building. 

But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind—

  • Making + taking the time.

  • Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching.

  • Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are coming from.

  • Meeting them where they are.

  • Listening; reflective listening; building metaphors together.

  • Connecting with their language, not yours.

Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

Personal Thoughts

2021 Scrum Alliance Board Candidates

It was an amazing sight for me the other day.

The Scrum Alliance announced three candidates for their 2021 Board. What was amazing and perhaps overdue is that the slate was filled with three wonderfully diverse women. Two of which I know very well and one whom I have heard great things about.

What is that old expression—we have an embarrassment of riches.

I just want to say that I envision a world where all three of these wonderful women could and would be on the board at the same time. They’re ALL great candidates.

But, there can be only 1

I don’t often do this, but I want to highlight one of the candidates because I’m just enamored with her “essence” and I have a more personal connection to her. That candidate is Aanu Gopald.

I first met Aanu in 2017 when she attended one of my first Certified Agile Leadership classes in Dallas, TX. To be honest, she was a “force of nature”. Strong, skilled, passionate, bold, thoughtful, courageous, and experienced. She brought a level of engagement to the class that I greatly appreciated.

She then showed initiative by asking me to co-teach a couple of the CAL classes with me and to be one of her mentors for her CEC (which she has since earned). In both cases, I learned a lot about Aanu, her diversity and inclusion passions, and how sincere she is about bringing agility to others.

Aanu struck me then, and even more so now, as a “rising star” in our agile and Scrum communities. She fiercely and fearlessly walks her talk and brings her passion around agility to her Dallas community, her beloved African communities, and to everyone she touches. She seems to have limitless energy around developing herself and all those around her. She is, in a word, a role model for us all.

Annu often calls me Uncle Bob, which is a term of endearment and respect for her. I simply call her Annu but with equal respect for her journey and intentions.

In order to get to know her better, here’s a link to her personal statement on the Scrum Alliance website.

I’m going to cast my vote for Aanu. And I’d encourage you to consider doing the same. And if the universe answers and she’s elected to the board, I’m incredibly excited to see what sort of “disruption” she brings to things ;-)

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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Thank you, Josh Anderson

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Let me start by saying Josh is going to hate this. He really doesn’t like it when I celebrate, appreciate, or applaud him. Is it humility, shyness, or something else? We’ll never know. So, I apologize for it in advance, Josh. 

I was listening to the 173rd episode of the Meta-cast today where Josh and I are talking about “hard bits” in our leadership and agile journeys. And something struck me…hard!

Josh is a great partner. He…

  • Listens to me and injects really wonderful points when I’m taking a breath;

  • Has grown SO MUCH over the 10+ years of the Meta-cast;

  • Takes feedback like a sponge (a good thing) and importantly, internalizes it and acts on it;

  • Is patient with me and respectful of me (no easy task);

  • Has wonderful agile chops and experience to share. He’s just so well-rounded!

  • A courageous agile leader who walks his talk (when so few do)…always;

  • Is committed to his family and makes them central in his life;

  • Shows vulnerability all of the time, admitting his mistakes and humanness;

  • Allows me to have the perception of control in the Meta-cast, when he really is the producer.

Bromance

Yes, I have a bromance with Josh Anderson. And it’s because of how real, genuine, and nice he is.

Beyond everything, Josh is kind and genuinely cares for others. Joshua Anderson, my life is so much richer because of you and I appreciate you each and every day.

Now, if I could only get you to regularly plan for the Meta-cast…

Happy birthday, Josh (8/18), stay agile my friends, and stay agile Josh,

Bob.

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Leadership Transformation - Changing our Stories from the Inside-Out

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Leadership Transformation - Changing our Stories from the Inside-Out

It’s hard for me to admit sometimes, but you can teach an old dog (yours truly) new tricks. But I’ve discovered that I am “teachable” at least some of the time.

I’ve been on a journey of new learning over the last few years related to—

  • Developing my Certified Agile Leadership (CAL-I) class;

  • Developing myself as a Leadership Circle Profile coach;

  • Receiving training in ORSC – Organization Relationship and Systems Coaching.

Not only have I been learning, but I’ve been reflecting A LOT. Much of the learning has been changing me from an inside-out perspective. And some of that reflection has led to this article.

Specifically, it’s been inspired by my LCP instructor and coach, Shahmeen Sadiq. In a very short period of time, she had a profound effect on my thinking.

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The Absence of Information might be the most Important Information

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The Absence of Information might be the most Important Information

I’ve been encouraging and emphasizing the importance of mastering their listening and observing skills to leaders for decades. I often speak of the “lost art” of the powerful, open-ended question. Once asked, then we need to do something magical. Shut up and listen.

But listen differently—

  • To what’s said;

  • To tone/intonation;

  • To body language; and

  • To the emotional field.

Becoming skilled at active listening. The Center for Creative Leadership defines active listening as having the follow 6-components—

  1. Paying attention;

  2. Withholding judgment;

  3. Reflecting;

  4. Clarifying;

  5. Summarizing; and

  6. Sharing.

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Fireside Chats with the Moose

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In 2019 I was invited to do a fireside chat at the AgileDev conference in Vegas. The idea was to invite—

  • A wizened vet from the agile movement,

  • Someone with deep & broad experience, and

  • Someone with some opinions to share.

Check, check, and check. And have some folks ask them questions. About anything. I think the idea was borrowed from the Agile Conference where they had invited some incredible agile folks into these sorts of sessions.

There were some “ringers” in the audience, thank you Chris Murman, and some of the questions made me quite emotional. There may have even been a few tears.

Fireside Chats

As part of my Agile Moose Herd activity, I recently had the idea to do a Fireside Chat once a month and see what the interest level was and value might be. An experiment if you will…

So, to that end, I invite everyone & anyone to come to A Fireside Chat series with Bob Galen. Bring what’s on your mind from an agile perspective, Ask Me Anything, and we can see where the conversation goes. As my buddy Josh Anderson likes to remind me, I’m rarely (never) at a loss for words.

Hopefully, we can have some rich discussions and a bit of fun while doing so. I’d be honored if you could join us…

Schedule

  • October 8th

  • November 11th

  • December 9th

Please note: each chat is limited to 10 attendees so that the discussions can be more focused & personal. If you’d like to join me, please register here to attend one or more chats.

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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Superpowers

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Superpowers

I can’t remember when I first heard someone talk about their superpowers. Perhaps within the last 5 years, so it’s a relatively recent notion for me.

But when I heard them say it, it made immediate sense to me. The sense that each of us has some sort of extraordinary strengths that we’re often not aware of. Something that makes us special. And surprisingly, something that we often unaware of and/or don’t leverage in our lives.

Dede Henley defined superpowers this way in Forbes—

A person’s super power is their particular genius: the specific, unique and specialized skill that they bring to the workplace. It is their secret sauce.

A super power isn’t a skill but a perspective, a mindset, a way of working that enhances everything you touch. It’s unique, like a thumbprint, part of your brand. It is that quality that causes others to say, “You know who would be great for this…?” or “We should go to so and so. They would know exactly what to do here.”

Super Power Discovery

I think the hardest part though is discovering what your superpowers are. And not what you think they are. Often, because we often lack self-awareness, we presume the wrong things.

Again, from Dede’s article, I’ve modified these slightly, but here are three questions she suggested you use to help identify your superpowers—

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Leaders…Are you Kind?

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Leaders…Are you Kind?

I read this short post by Cristin Hernandez on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kind-leaders-cristin-hernandez/

And was inspired by it.

Cristin offered the following list for leaders:

  • A person can be kind and still be pragmatic.

  • A person can be kind and still earn respect.

  • A person can be kind and still be ok with not pleasing everyone.

  • A person can be kind and still be credible.

  • A person can be kind and still have deeply candid discussions.

  • A person can be kind and still be committed to company goals.

  • A person can be kind and still make difficult decisions.

And she alluded to today’s leaders need to be moving towards a view where vulnerability, bringing one’s whole self, personalization, transparency, and yes, kindness are more practiced skills.

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Read Me

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I was talking with my friend Josh Anderson on our Meta-cast the other day and he brought up the notion of having a “read me” file which contained information for his team about him.

Mostly the idea is to share collaborative information to make it more transparent and easier for his team members to 

  • Generally, understand him and get to know him;

  • Know how to get his attention;

  • Figure out how he processes information;

  • Share some personal information.

I believe part of the genesis of the idea comes from collaborative projects and repositories like GitHub. https://www.makeareadme.com/

Josh shared his ReadMe with me and I found it quite useful.

I also found this article which has quite a few examples from real people - https://hackernoon.com/12-manager-readmes-from-silicon-valleys-top-tech-companies-26588a660afe

And I thought I’d give it a go for myself. While it isn’t exhaustive, it does make transparent some of my tendencies…

Here’s my first attempt at a ReadME

I’ll let you know in a later post whether it seems as if this level of transparency and insight helps people “connect” with me better.

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

 

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My Imposter

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My Imposter

I was coaching another agile coach the other day and the topic of her insecurity in taking on new things came up. For example, a client had asked her to develop an agile leadership class to deliver as part of improving the overall performance of their leadership team.

What was interesting is that she was “frozen”. She didn’t feel that she could do it. Her mind was in a continuous state of analysis paralysis around how much information there was that needed to be shared and how she really didn’t have the experience and skill to design and deliver it.

I went on to share that it sounded to me as if she had Imposter Syndrome. And, as a way of potentially breaking thru the freeze, I began to share my own experiences with it.

My Imposter Journey

First, let me say this. I feel like an imposter every day. Yes, really. Even now!

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Defining Moments

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Defining Moments

It was 2001 and I was working at Lucent (Bell Labs) here in Raleigh, NC. In their Optical Networking (Telecomm) group.

In September of that year, the attacks on NYC, Pentagon, and Pittsburg occurred. I was working when it happened and I remember with dread watching both of the World Trade Center towers topple in succession. It was terrible and I’ll never forget it.

I’d moved to North Carolina from the Northeast and I’d spent ~10 years of my life working with FinTech clients in NYC. For example, I’d worked with Cantor Fitzgerald folks for years and lost quite a few friends and colleagues there.

A few months later, the Telecomm bubble burst. Which meant firms like Alcatel, Nortel, and Lucent laid off thousands of workers. I was but one of those on the list.