• Agile Coach

Self-direction: the (forced) salvation for top management

Well, what do you say when a friend drops this big question on your phone? Anyway, it turned out to be an excellent introduction for an in-depth conversation about: the misconceptions about self-organization; the role and position of top management and the empowerment of team members. In this article, I am happy to engage in the same conversation with you and give my views on self-direction & self-organization and what role leadership/management plays in it. Or should play.

What is the difference between self-organization and self-direction?

There are quite a few definitions about self-organization and self-direction. For this article, I will use the following definitions:

Self-organizing:
In self-organization, a team determines how it operates and what it delivers. The goal that team members work toward (the why) is determined by management.

Self-managing:
In self-management, in addition to how a team works and what it delivers, it also determines the goal (the why) that team members work on. So this goes just a step further than self-organization.

In the Scrum Guide, Selforganizing was replaced by Selfmanaging in 2020. In doing so, we shifted a bit in the Agile world. From now on, teams decide what they work on, how they work and when they work on something. In theory, that is.

The biggest misconception in self-organization

What triggered me most in my friend’s comment was, “it seems like it has to become the solution for top management, because they don’t know how to manage teams anymore either.” There is quite a bit of information in that. If it is true that top management also doesn’t know how to manage (knowledge workers) teams anymore, why is that?

In the Netherlands we have always been fairly articulate, but recently this is increasing even more rapidly. There is a very great strength in that. The Rhineland model is full of poldering. Sociocracy, listening to each other’s opinions, is in our blood. But aren’t we getting a bit carried away? Because nowadays we are perhaps more concerned with forcing our own opinion through than with really listening. Listening has become convincing.

Much work has become more specialized. It is impossible for a manager to know everything substantively better than the knowledge workers themselves. Therefore, as a manager, you step into the role of organizational developer or team coach and leave the function of specialist behind. This is not a given for everyone and can certainly be difficult. Yet it is also a strength; because those who are smart hire even smarter people.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

Steve Jobs

The pitfalls of self-organization

On the one hand, teams are more empowered than ever; on the other, work has become more complex. The reflex of management is then apparently: self-organization and self-direction. If teams know it so well and management is at a greater substantive distance, then teams have to figure it out for themselves. Pitfall danger!

Before you know it, the movement of self-organization and self-direction has become the new method of settlement. And that is not at all what is meant by increasing autonomy. Instead, this is about bringing out the best in each other based on mutual respect and trust. This is precisely where the added value of the Agile leader lies.

The valuable role for Agile leaders

The goal of Agile Leaders is to create an environment where teams and individual members are at their best. For this, a number of things are crucial. Such as Psychological Safety, so that team members have plenty of courage to experiment, learn, challenge each other and work transparently. This gives the manager a very valuable role. Ultimate as far as I am concerned, because this is where he or she increases the value of people and thus ultimately the value to the organization. That is true leadership.

To this end, the Agile Leader has the following characteristics:

• A role model: live by and act according to Agile principles yourself.
• Shares his knowledge as a mentor. Where possible content, but also best practices to create teamwork and team spirit.
• Coaches the team as a whole and individuals to accelerate a learning process. Anything to come to the best decisions as a team. Thus increases team dynamics.
• Dares to make sharp choices with the team and the Product Owner. Inspires with vision and clear goals.
• Innovates the way people work together from a holistic view. Sees the organization as a system.

Conclusion

The craving for self-organization or self-direction from management is wonderful when increasing autonomy comes from an intention to get the best out of each other. In which there is therefore absolutely no room for a culture of settlement or shearing off.

Want to know more about how to increase your role as an Agile Leader? Then feel free to call Gert-Jan or very easily make an appointment with him right here.