BOOK A CALL

February 21, 2021

Engagement Model

By Russ Lewis. Published online February 21, 2021

Engagement Model for Digital Transformation / Agile Adoption

Consultancy template for improvement and organisational development work

A proven approach used by external consultancy firms. This engagement model is appropriate for internal improvement initiatives and Centres of Excellence. As an embedded coach or improvement lead, it’s important to realise you are effectively providing a consulting service to  your colleagues and consulting tools like this one are really effective.  

1. Co-Inquiry

Understand the current situation and opportunities.

Managers and workers know the problems that exist. Working with an empathetic and objective 3rd party makes it easier to prioritise what really matters.

2. Co-Design​

Define specific outcomes that make a measurable impact.

Measure what matters then nobody has to guess what may work. Whether it's revenue, retention, or defect rate, data is the key to controlling product development.

3. On-going Support​

Coach, educate, advise, and support staff.

Achieving product-market fit is a process of countless small questions, experiments, and decisions. Staff are more confident of success if they can count on regular support from experts during the first iterations.

4. Accountability​

Support to maintain commitment to strategic goals.

Once a product performs in the market it becomes a cost centre to be managed. The 3rd party lens reminds management its strategic drivers and the measures needed to reach that position.

Potential starting points – for engaging teams and their managers

Decide who are your real clients

Many teams mistake enablers or other departments for clients, since that’s where their money comes from.  They are both stakeholders, but it’s the final, external, consumer that’s your client. A fair test of the true client is there’s no longer a business if you remove them. This concept is tough to grasp if you’ve always called intermediaries clients, which is why it’s a great topic to get people engaged at the start. Remember, it matters less what you decide, than you have a discussion, explore your disagreements, then reach a shared definition.

Determine what specific value your team brings to the greater organisation

This is also harder than it seems as people think in terms of role or department function. If you are a testing / QA team, then your value could be to protect users from failure. Finding bugs may be one of the ways you do that, it relates to HOW, not WHAT you do. Remember, value is what someone gets in return for what they give up (not always money).

Anti-patterns to beware of

We’re so special, we can skip the first steps

You can take all the shortcuts you like, but it will take you longer to see measurable results if you do. If you want to be smart and accelerate your transition, go straight to the place of greatest learning, personally. That’s what step 1 is all about, increasing awareness and understanding. 

Delegating change

The cartoon classic “I don’t want to change, I want all of you to change” makes the point that employees pay more attention to the actions of their leaders than their words.

Categories:
Tags:
Newsletter signup

    Recent Posts

    Ways of Working: 5 improvements for leaders

    Most ways of working still rely on functional hierarchy, where managers make decisions and workers do the work. Managers know they can't change this work structure, but they can transform its effectiveness without asking for permission and without needing a budget. Before exploring the changes that transform the way people work, we need to recognise […]

    Read More
    Manage tensions if you want an agile transformation

    Today’s challenge is that traditional management approaches, where managers tell people what to do and how to do it, are not as effective as they once were. Agile transformation takes years, but changing management’s focus from people to tensions could be a better solution. It is simpler, faster, and considerably more cost-effective. Management is the […]

    Read More
    Collaboration versus simplification for organisational change

    One of my favourite books on organisational change is ‘Who Moved my Cheese?’ It’s short, and mice looking for cheese to eat is an appealing analogy. It’s a model for managers because it covers four theoretical outcomes of change. Those outcomes are: what happens if I (or we) do, or don’t make this change, what […]

    Read More
    12 signs that using 'ambidexterity as an agile transformation model' is not my original idea

    You see, I thought I was the first agilist to make the connection between agile transformation models and organizational ambidexterity. Certainly, it seemed original when it emerged in conversation with my supervisor. In fact, it was Dr Alireza Javanmardi Kashan’s idea (better make it 13 signs), but it came from our conversation so we said […]

    Read More
    What is contextual ambidexterity?

    Contextual ambidexterity is a culture that expects exceptional performance in both innovation and operation, overturning the illusion that it is either/or. Contextual ambidexterity is agile for managers.

    Read More
    The Future of Agile Leadership

    Introduction The future of leadership is Agile There are many different types of leadership styles and not all work well in every situation. The most popular method, the "Command and Control" style which has been dominant for centuries, may be on its way out as research shows that this type of leadership does not foster […]

    Read More
    October 3, 2020
    The Agile Confessional - Episode 1, Russ Lewis

    What a priviledge to be the inaugral guest in Giles Lindsay's latest podcast adventure. We had great fun and it was a real blast! "Welcome to The Agile Confessional, a podcast that shares fun confessions from people who’ve spent a large part of their career working in the agile world. Hear the mistakes they made […]

    Read More
    February 21, 2021
    Agile Delivery is a challenge for organisations like yours

    Achieving Agile Delivery is the toughest challenge of an executive career, no matter if it’s called digital transformation, adoption, or DevOps. The reality behind the highly-polished powerpoint decks and magazine stories is that despite fortunes being spent over many years, Agile is ‘out of reach’ to many leaders and managers. The evidence shows that challenges remain unresolved in many […]

    Read More
    April 28, 2023
    Collaboration versus simplification for organisational change

    One of my favourite books on organisational change is ‘Who Moved my Cheese?’ It’s short, and mice looking for cheese to eat is an appealing analogy. It’s a model for managers because it covers four theoretical outcomes of change. Those outcomes are: what happens if I (or we) do, or don’t make this change, what […]

    Read More
    1 2 3 11
    linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram