“I want you to end every sentence with a question
mark, do you think you can do that? Why?
Maybe because it’s a small and easy step towards empowerment and it’s also fun?”
In this post I would like to present a
magnificent technique I frequently use with scrum teams and with managers as
part of an agile coaching towards developing an agile mindset. Whenever I feel
the need to emphasize the experience of empowerment while at the same time add
some fun and value to the team without dealing with too much ego risks and
project risk, I turn to this fun technique.
Well, like many other techniques we use in
agile coaching, this one, I believe can also be used with our kids at home or
with anyone else. You’ll be amazed how fun and creative it becomes.
First thing first, What is empowerment ?
In one sentence, we can define empowerment as a
process where the one with power (that’ll be you, the manager or a parent)
gives up some of his power for another (your employee or your children), and at
the same time he also maintains his limits and authority. This way BOTH sides
grow and gain in strength. In fact, we change from a position of no control, to
a position of relative control. The empowerment process strengthens the
self-confidence of the one being empowered, in his ability to function, make
decisions and complete tasks. (From the Wikipedia article)
Frequently when we start implement agile we
talk about empowerment. This concept is not that easy to comprehend, or to act
upon. It demands practice, understanding, techniques, coaching, confrontation
with verity of challenges and it takes time. It often comes to my attention
that a day workshop and some games may only introduce some tools that may be
later use for empowerment, but it does not mean that the students will know how
to use it in a verity of challenges that their day to day supply them.
Well, you may say , this is why you are there.
Isn’t it?
Right again I answer; I see my duty as an agile
coach to supply tools fits to the stage of learning, organization and atmosphere.
Those tools should also be easy to use. But my main goal is to be able to
supply the scrum master, team and mangers with such tools that allow ongoing
and a true firsthand experience according to subjective challenges.
This is exactly what talking with question
marks does.
And what if there is no coach around? This is
one of those tools you can easily use by yourself J
So how do we do it?
1.
Usually I use this
game during daily sessions of a scrum team. A team that I already have a
fierily good buy-in with , but still are
in the early stages of the agile mindset where empowered is not yet understood.
2.
I will ask the Team
leader or the scrum master to start talking with question marks.
(It depends on my insight as a coach
whether we will have the entire team talking with question marks or will it be
just the scrum master assignment)
3.
Then, obviously I
give some examples at first. (Remember the “I do , we do , you do” learning technique ? This is the “I do”
- step )
·
“I think this and
that, what do you think?”
·
“I it will be good
for our goal that you start working on this task… what do you thin?.”
·
“Who’s next? Do we
have any impediments?”
·
“And so on..
4.
During the meeting I
will guide the scrum master/ manger or the team and encourage them to use the
technique, sometimes even correct a sentence to a question form. (Remember the
“I do , we do , you do” learning technique ? This is the “We
do” - step )
5.
I will even write a
big question mark on the team white board. So it will remind them the
assignment at hand. (Remember the “I do , we do , you do” learning technique ? This is a preparation to the “you do” - step )
6.
The team next assignment
is to use this technique when they communicate, first during the daily session
and next in other forms of communication. (Remember the “I do , we do , you do” learning technique ? This is the “You
do” - step )
I will usually asked, how was it for them? What
did they learn from this drill?
I will check upon them again in few days and
see if they had a chance to “play the game “again.
If not, why? If yes, why?
***We may elaborate this session asking the
entire team to talk with question marks. We may also ask them to return a
question to a question for 2-3 times. The options are endless.
Using this fun technique I learned that:
·
The team likes it. It’s light, easy, productive and fun. I got very good feedbacks
from managers and scrum masters that used it, that it improves their ability to
learn more, its easy and doesn’t demand any special “psychology craft” skills.
·
It’s so easy to use
that it holds almost no resistance.
·
As a team member you
don’t lose the sense of control when someone makes decision over matters that
affect your performance and goals. In
fact you gain the sense of power, when
you require to answer and to bring your opinion over matters that should affect
your performance.
·
The feedback is
immediate. The person who asks the questions sees the
feedback right away and the information starts to flow better and with better
cooperation.
·
The team leader,
that needs to answer everything with a question mark, is denied from giving a
direct order as a reaction to a team member issue. This teaches him to think first, then to listen, then to get the
feedback. This teaches the importance of listening and gives him firsthand
experience of the first step of empowerment.
·
Since the assignment
is part of a team session, and introduced as a game and Team members are aware
of it, it’s easier to the team leader to go along. After all it’s just a
game.
·
It becomes a fun
session.
·
The issues raised
are a true day to day challenges with the real actors and the real need
to solve real problems. It’s not just another workshop simulation.
·
No one listen to us?
They listen now.
We ask, and we listen, and most of all, as team member, someone is
asking us and listening to what we have to say. The one, who is asked, gets a proper
attention. We want to hear what he thinks. It brings our opinion out to the air
where in other circumstance team members will not be able to say nothing till it
accumulate into a burst of anger.
·
When opinions are
out to the air, it enhanced decisions making and makes it easy to
solve problems. Especially when we add the rule to answer a question with
another question.
Trying this at home with our kids has almost
the same effect.
With kids, it’s even more fun. I will usually start first to get into a fun mood by having a
good laugh on that technique using variation of questions.
The parent learns to listen, the kids learns to
answer and the same advantages happens here as in the
workplace. Just replace the words “team members” with “our children” and
the words “manager, team leader or scrum master” with “a parent” in the section
above. J
So try it, you’d be amazed how fun and easy it
is.
