Contents
Chapter 1 An Organization at a Crossroads
Complex Challenges Create Urgency for Agility
Reducing Dependencies Makes Change Possible
Not Everyone May Need to Change, at Least at First
Not Everyone Sees Complexity the Same Way
Organizational Change Requires Protective, Progressive Dictatorship
Chapter 2 Forming Teams and Discovering Purpose
Changing the Organization, One Team at a Time
Placing the Customer at the Center of the Change
Turning Customer Needs into Team Purpose
Chapter 3 Shifting from Output to Impact
“What Gets Measured Gets Done”
Goals Are the Solution, and Sometimes the Problem
Leadership, Measurement, and Engagement
Organizational Culture and Transparency
Balancing Internal and External Focus of Goals over Time
Goals and Measures at All Levels
Empowerment Doesn’t Come for Free
Agile Leaders Help Teams to Grow Their Ability to Reach Audacious Goals
Achieving Balance Between the Visible and Invisible
Slow Decision-Making Kills Team Self-Management
When You Discover That You’re the Bottleneck, Get Out of the Way
Decision Latency Can Be Caused by Cross-Team Dependencies
Teams Can Also Cause Their Own Decision Latency
Chapter 5 The Predictable Existential Crisis
New Ways of Working Threaten the Old System
Changing the System to Reward Empowering Others
Replacing Career Paths with Individual Skill Portfolios
Replacing False Certainty with True Transparency
Learning to Trust Bottom-Up Intelligence
Nurturing and Growing an Agile Organization
Organizational Silos Impede Agility and Productivity
Cross-Functional Teams Improve Productivity, but Still Need Support
Specialist “Downtime” Can Be Used to Improve Team Effectiveness
Specialists Work Primarily as Teachers, Coaches, and Mentors, Not “Doers”
Leadership Journeys: Developing Leaders Everywhere
Reward Building Teams and Leadership, Not Silos
Promotional Rewards Lock in Organizational Structures
Performance Reviews Don’t Go Away, but They Do Change Dramatically
Collecting Feedback with a Questionnaire Through an App
Chapter 7 Aligning the Organization
Be Direct and Clear About the Change
Growing Self-Managing Teams Organically
What to Do When Teams Become Too Large
Scale Agility by Removing Dependencies
Consolidating Support and Eliminating Opposition
Expect, Embrace, and Encourage Attrition
Be Mindful of Leadership Styles, and Act Accordingly
Sometimes Your Greatest Critic Can Become Your Biggest Ally
Silent Subversion Is Worse Than Open Opposition
What if Senior Executives Are the Problem?
Replace Status Meetings with Transparency
Be Realistic About How Long the Transition Will Take, and What It Means
Chapter 8 Aligning the Culture
What Makes Changing Culture Hard
Agile Leaders Must First Find Their Own Way
Build Bridges to the New Culture
Don’t Criticize the Past, Just Move Ahead
Build Psychological Safety Through Radical Transparency
Share Success but Take the Blame When Necessary
Anticipate and Overcome Setbacks
Every Organization Carries Baggage; Moving Ahead Means Leaving It Behind
Recognize That High-Performing Teams Are Fragile, and Protect Them
Even the Best Teams Lose Their Focus, Sometimes
Use “Self-Sustenance” as a Measure of Success
Success: When the New Has Become the Default
Agile Journeys Never Really End
Looking Back at the Agile Leader’s Journey
Appendix A Patterns and Anti-Patterns for Effective Leadership