Human Shield in Organizations
I think it is not necessary to emphasize how using people as a shield is a bad way of managing them but unfortunately, it has become an epidemic in growing companies that have not met their point of market fit yet. Most managers, especially the middle ones, use this approach to hide their inefficiency in managing stuff behind their subordinates! Always somebody should be blamed for failures. However, what is the main reason? what is the idea behind this manner? This post wants to refer to a missed vital ring of the chain of agile mindset in working: The Ownership!
So, where does it come from? Why do people run away from taking their responsibilities? There are different reasons for this. The lack of the balance between people’s capacity and expectations, the lack of clarification on tasks and demands; Conflict of interests among different parties involved in a shared assignment due to the severity or a large extension of issues that should be resolved by different skills and accountabilities. We can order an infinite list of reasons that come from different contexts. But in my opinion, there is a trade-off in dynamism with 2 main players including motivation and transparency. Let’s see this principle of the agile manifesto:
“Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.” Agile Manifesto — principle No. 5
Here is a direct reference to motivated individuals. It is clear people need to be motivated to take responsibility but how can we determine it? Is it necessary to run a performance evaluation program to evaluate the people’s efficiency in their tasks? Is it useful? In the best case, it shows us whether they acted regarding their duties and they can cheat on measurement stuff too!
From this perspective, I have come to believe that motivation is a self-deterministic concept and cannot be charged from the outside. As a result, we need to stop giving people candies! They do not need a luxury game room or well-equipped gym account or tickets for the next game in a stadium. Please stop lying to yourself! If we are involved with a structure that is trying to keep managers safe about responsibilities, we need to challenge them. We are here to create value for real end users, not a variety of fake representatives! Use the glass test to find silos and inefficient layers and fire them! I know it is a radical idea but at the same time, it is the only way to redemption! Please review the Twitter’s destiny. De-scaling should happen in the middle thick layers not making them richer and fire the leaves!
Let’s see the problem from another side too. If I am an employee of the team, what should happen to keep my motivation and commitment toward my assignments? I believe, we as individuals need to answer these questions first. Life is too short. We should not make it waste by self-deception!
“I joined the company several years ago, but I feel I am not motivated to continue with them as well as I have started!”
This is exactly the time to go! We need to get changed and put off Batman or Superman capes immediately after this moment!
Finally, how about the Scrum Masters, team coaches, life coaches, and agile coaches roles? I believe our responsibility is focused on the second part more than the first one: Amplifying Transparency!
I cannot count the number of jobs that I have lost or did not accept due to this mission! As a team coach or a scrum master, one of my important responsibilities to the team is bringing them in front of a clean shining mirror (not a black one that comes from fake data about performance and so on!) without any makeup and grooming! I do not care to what extent the managers like this attitude or not because I feel I should take ownership as a coach toward people’s destiny in the team. If there is no effective team, we cannot have a chance to meet the targets. People need to check their motivation on a daily basis so transparency is essential!
Good Luck! Agility is finding the job to be done!
See the Persian Version:
