Looking For and Developing Successful Agile Management Behaviors

Leader: David Spann, Senior Consultant, Cutter Consortium

Length of workshop: 1 day

General Overview: Imagine your HR director or CTO asking you for help in writing a job announcement for one of the management/lead positions on your agile team. You understand the candidate needs to have familiarity with the specific technology your company uses, but beyond that, what defines the "right" person? How should this person act? What should he or she do (and not do)? What types of behaviors would make one person a success and another an out-and-out failure -- even if both understood the technology and had been "successful" in a previous job?

Workshop Goals: This one-day workshop will help you identify what behaviors are present in successful agile managers, who possesses those behaviors, and how to cultivate them in others so they can successfully manage and lead agile initiatives, and -- if that individual is you -- what behaviors you need to focus on to improve your effectiveness.

Through extensive research, David Spann has developed a list of eight distinct and definable managerial/leader behaviors that should be expected of successful agile managers:

1. innovative
2. strategic
3. excitement
4. tactical
5. communication
6. delegation
7. production
8. consensual

You will learn the definition of each of these eight behaviors and how they impact the success of an agile leader. You'll also understand the potential liabilities -- and how to moderate them -- that may come with each of these behaviors. You'll discover specific actions you can use to measure a person's ability within each behavior. You'll even build sample job announcements that might attract the type of person your organization needs in such a role. And, you'll get tips on using those behaviors, as well as David Spann's Leadership 360 approach, to develop future agile managers within your organization.

As a result of this workshop you’ll know:

• The measures you can use to judge whether an individual will feel comfortable in the role of agile manager
• How to identify individuals within your organization who have the potential to be successful agile leaders
• Which behaviors need to be further developed/moderated in your current agile managers and/or candidates
• How to create job descriptions and hiring announcements that are compelling enough to entice the right candidates
• How to set up a personal development plan that helps fill the gaps

There is an implied assumption in most of the agile methodologies that anyone can do this work if they just understand and apply the principles and practices. But that's like telling someone to "work smarter, not harder" without helping them understand what it takes to be smarter. Don't miss this opportunity to discover just what it does take to be smarter!

For more information on bringing this workshop to your organization, contact Dennis Crowley by phone at +1 781 641 5125, by fax at +1 781 648 1950, or by e-mail at sales@cutter.com.