Negative Emotions: How to deal with Team Coaching?

Emotions are biological states associated with the nervous system brought on by neurophysiological changes variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure.

Feelings–Emotions are identified as preceding feelings, which lean to be our reactions to the varied emotions we encounter.

Feelings occur in the neocortical regions of the brain and are the next step in how we acknowledge our emotions as an individual.

One of the more popular psychological theories of emotions is Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions.

Plutchik (1980) stated that there are eight basic emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, anticipation, anger, and disgust.

Anger, frustration, fear, and other “negative emotions” are all part of the human experience. They can all lead to stress and are usually observed as emotions to be avoided, ignored, or disavowed. Nobody wants to accept uncomfortably, so it is legitimate to prefer to evade these feelings, and the menaces of unmanaged stress are real.

Some of the questions which we desire to look for at the team environment to protect team member’s emotions are in balance.

The emotions aren’t always immediately subject to reason, but they are always immediately subject to action. WILLIAM JAMES

The questions to look for

1. How do we take care of the habitat so that negative emotions don’t get out of hand?

2. How does each team members handle his or her own negative emotions?

3. How do I and my team members respond to negative emotions when it arises?

Case No 1: If we find team members perform a costly mistake at work and leaders or Managers blame the workers and question his or her ability to do the job properly in public, this is the moment where you can coach those managers to reform the leadership style. Such Incidents trigger negative emotions at the team level.

Case No 2: If we find a team member who is about to make a presentation but thinks that it will go poorly and leaders/managers comment to the team members to make a good presentation no matter what, as the whole department depends on it, this is the moment where you can coach those managers to reform the leadership style. Such Incidents trigger negative emotions at the team level.

Case No 3: If we find Team members of a scrum team are likely inadequate to satisfy an approaching deadline for a critical project and managers/leaders express his/her frustration openly to them: “My reputation is on the line. I’ll be pissed if we don’t meet the deadline”, this is the occasion where you can coach those managers to reform the leadership style. Such Incidents trigger negative emotions at the team level.

Case no 4: If we find the Scrum team has delayed in finishing a scrum demo work because of a team member’s negligence. Highlight to the team that it was the one team member’s fault and managers/Leaders show frustration by shaking your head, sighing, and criticizing the worker behind his back, this is the moment where you can coach those managers to reform the style. Such Incidents trigger negative emotions at the team level.

Case no 5: If we find, team leaders and team members are disagreeing over work-related issues. The team members seem to be getting frustrated and annoyed and the leader is Keep emphasizing his/her point and take on an unfavorable expression, also Saying something is not respectful: “Whether you like it or not, this is how I want it. Maybe you still don’t realize it. Do I have to clarify it again?”, this is the occasion where you can coach those managers to reform the style. Such Incidents trigger negative emotions at the team level.

Let us watch for warning signs across the scrum teams we are coaching.

Do we find team members putting in fewer hours or less effort? Has engagement dwindled? team members are not showing up for important Scrum Events? Look for the team members’ resentments. Take a close glance at hard data and trends that can be signs of dissatisfaction and disengagement, such as late arrivals, absenteeism, and other such negative behavior.

When a complication originates, don’t put criticism on employees.

Try to attack the problem, rather than the Individuals.

Make sure team members have an acceptable workload, sufficient supports, and are recognized when it’s warranted.

Even Team members who are passionate and love their jobs can experience burnout.

Ensure everyone at your organization is equipped to provide and receive effective feedback and let employees have a voice in individual and team goals.

There’s nothing more discouraging than trying and failing to reach an impractical goal.

Demonstrate care and concern for your team members and their personal lives, especially in times of crisis, and help them reach organizational goals as a team.

Anxiety often arises from the fear of the unknown. Keep Team members in the loop with constant, appropriate, and transparent communication. Let Team members know it’s okay to ask for help and ensure they know how to access all the resources available to them.

As a coach, we have to manage emotions and it is critical in determining whether the outcome for the team will be positive or negative.

Research has found that people tend to regulate their emotions in one of two ways: suppression or reappraisal.

If Team members spend too much time dwelling on negative emotions and the situations that might have caused them, they could go into a spiral of rumination. Rumination is the tendency to keep thinking, replaying, or obsessing over negative emotional situations and experiences (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991).

In this spiral of negative thinking, team members can end up feeling worse and worse about the situation, the result of which could be a number of detrimental effects to team member's mental and physical wellbeing.

There is a tension between Positive and Negative emotions which we need to balance in a team's ambient.

Let us push towards Postive side of the emtions to build better team.

Farmer Family Performance appraisal in a Village!

Once upon a time there was a farmer, his name was Panduraja!

He has 5 children, Jhooti, Bheema, Arjoona, Nakooola, Shooyaya!

Some of them are educated, some are only matriculation pass!

They had multiple acres of farming land. They have a large house with ponds and many domestic animals to looks after. Initially, they had a struggling life but over a period of time, they stabilized themselves.

But the Farmer Panduraja was in worry! Every year they discussed how they should share their profit. They have their own family but they reside together on the same premises. Most of the initial year they had a quarrel and tussle with the money distribution.

They had an expert professional friend who also happens to be their distant relatives and well-wisher. His name was Kris, who is a Ph.D. in Agriculture and professor HOD in a nearby college.

Every year this is a nightmare challenge for Panduraja,

How can he distribute the profit among his children so that they stay motivated and energized.

They should not break up their property and leave the premises where they reside together.

Panduraja often chats with Kris. Kris recommended using the Bell curve system to distribute wealth and profit.

Kris read that somewhere, and they tried for a few years. But it did not work out as it created a quarrel and division among his children.

All his children are working for a common goal. Their proficiency is different, and core competencies are diversified.

Nakooola was remarkably talented at selling the crops, milk, eggs, and poultry meat.

Jhooti was excellent at cultivating lands and growing crops.

Bheema takes care of distributing the cattle, goats to the city, and buying and selling those.

Shooyaya was taking care of the farming, fishing, and exporting fishery commodities.

Jhooti also was taking care of the account part with his father and track the balance sheet.

Everyone is contributing to some of the other aspects and occasionally when crops fail but other services take care of their profits.

All the five brothers do daily standup and monthly progress with the Panduraja.

They reskill themselves as the market changes, need changes. Ther wife also takes care of the textile and other handlooms, handmade items e.g. pottery, etc.

The million-dollar question is how do Panduraja distribute the prosperity which will cause everyone happy?

Kris comes out with One team approach where there will not be any bell but team outcome with impact-driven measurement. They have to increase the outcome and strengthen the bottom line. Based on the numerous feedback mechanisms from various stakeholders, the final amount will differ. Their fundamental wealth distribution calculation is more or less fixed, the % variation of wealth distribution is not substantial. There will be a special monitory award for exceptional performance.

e.g. once there was a bumper production of Mango and Nakoola could export mangoes abroad with his contact at a special price. That attempt has fetched significant profit, and he got special monetary gain. Due to crop failure one year, everyone takes the loss amount, but due to the fish & poultry market, they could all get the benefit of this.

They watch out on a periodic basis and manifest on what they should promptly do to minimize the damage and maximize the profit.

So with the Kris guide, Panduraj could able to balance the equal distribution of wealth looking at the performance award one was doing better to expand the business outcome. Special recognition of monitory distribution happens when such spike benefits happen when the performance was done by going beyond the defined boundary.

This ownership model was working fine with the farmer family.

Now, Panduraja extended such a model with other families of the village. It motivates all the family members to put in their finest effort as they are merely gaining the profit. If they suffer a loss, it is absorbed by the other gains avenues. Now it has been one decade they are following this model.....

This Self-driven, Self-organized, shared purpose, outcome & impact, Value generation, one team-driven mindset enabling them to maximize the profit margin. Shareholders are also happy as they get their due service.

Do you think there is no conflict, no dispute, it is always there, but they are resolving all these to stay relevant in the market.

After Panduraja died, they keep Kris & their mother as their final authority to take the final call for any decision making. It was a democratic approach, but decision-making was taken by the Kris and their mother based on the data.

Improving Remote Team Collaboration

Improving Remote Team collaboration ?

When we look into the team collaboration during a pandemic, three things look like need to strengthen the team context and it is showing the better result for most of the teams, 

What are those? 

Building Trust

Creating a shared purpose

Building relationship among team members

First and foremost is, how the Trust factors are in place.

One Harvard study showed at just how effectively employees at high-trust organizations function and feel compared to employees at low-trust organizations, and the results are incredible. High Trust Organization employee contribution is higher!

Some of the factors which promote trust and need to concentrate on remote team members.

1. How well reliability factors are in place among team members? Can they depend on each other on various challenging times? Are they supporting each other to fulfill the common objective?

One of the fundamental ingredients to building trust among team members is to uphold each other at various up and down of the team members Journey. Let us focus on this.

Let us make this a number one rule

2. Accountability: Every team member should be accountable for whatever portion they are performing on. Nobody should be overloaded and nobody should feel that they are merely holding the maximum load. Every team member should put their finest effort to assure they are contributing to their highest level based on their capability.

3. Transparency: Share information openly with the team members. Work schedules, project growth, and task status should be accessible to all members at any stage. Everyone knows why we are selecting on what explanation? There should not be anything hidden.

4. Social activities: There should be an occasion, where every team member is discussing other than work. some moment where team members are exchanging their favorite topics, which promote the team to know each other better. A dedicated session or part of the session to be spent on an informal conversation.

5. Commitment: Commitment leads to trust. Plainly stated, if a team member guarantees to work out or demonstrate something, that individual should deliver on that promise. Gain commitment to taking care of the goals established by the team leader. Team members require to be committed to meeting deadlines because they have an understanding of the underlying strategy and how their individual tasks map into it.

6. Open communication: Apply many channels to associate with the team members. One-to-one to the conversation, group discussion, group chat, one-to-one chat, etc means. Ensure all the ambiguity clarifies and we are on the same page. Set the intention clear and establish team members to understand all these

7. Manage conflict, One of the critical to assure to enhance trust is to handle conflict productively. As a Leader or team members, we require to take care of our conflicts in an effective way. Handle any type of disagreement in a stronger manner so that all team members understand what we are accomplishing and why we are doing so.

Building shared purpose:

Success starts with an explicit and shared purpose, a vision of how that purpose will look when attained, and determining outcomes to accomplish that purpose. A competent team achieves concrete, complete results.

Without a shared purpose, virtual team members could simply concentrate on local tasks and interests while excluding joint endeavors to obtain organizational objectives.

One of the powerful steps for a remote team to establish is to build the team's shared purpose. We all require to recognize the impact of what we are creating because of our deliverables.

for that, we have to

1. Finding meaning for our work. How our contribution is leading to produce an impact? How the numerous end user’s life will be impacted due to our job! how it will produce end user’s life make pleasant. Discussing this all simultaneously as a team and capture those points for subsequent reference.

2. The outcome and Impact, all the teamwork and collaboration result in the impact we as a company we are producing. When we realize the stronger end product, we choose to feel joy, we prefer to find out the significant picture and impact we are establishing in this full picture.

3. Link personal goals with an organizational goal and align. Let us ask questions about our personal goal and analyze how much those are aligned with the organizational goal. Whatever the differences are their let us work it out by reviewing it with the supervisors.

4. Inspire and influence each other, at a different juncture. Let us look for the opportunity to inspire each other, influence each other for the performance and journey we are passing through. We create an ecosystem which is inspiring and energetic to continue on.

Building a better relationship among team members working in a remote system:

The stronger relationship among team members facilitates the team to assist with a better outcome

1) Deep listening: Are we using 2 ears and one mouth! are we really listening. The better approach to connect with others is to listen and understand what others are trying to convey. Be vigilant, Paraphrasing, and summarizing whatever we have figured out. Let us inquire if we are not clear or need accuracy. The purpose of listening to understand better the others.

2) Empathesize with others: It is a prerequisite in the relationship that we understand how others feel and be compassionate toward them. Accept other’s thoughts and acknowledge their message. During conversations, concentrate your entire attention and time on listening then doing whatever you can so the individual feels understood. To accurately perceive his feelings, you can propose questions: “It rings like you’re feeling discouraged. Is that true?” Or, “Is it reasonable to tell that you’re feeling optimistic?”

3) Ask questions, Asking questions is a wonderful way for you to listen and let the other person share. They will feel closer to you when they have shared about themselves and you demonstrate you’re engrossed in what they have to respond. Then share something about yourself so the relationship develops into a two-way interaction that can help establish a bond.

4) Share stories, in the conversation, please share stories related to work or other than work. sometimes the stories help the person who is listening or it could be interesting to know. It helps the conversation to go further and in a process, many things will come up for consideration which helps the people to connect better.

5) Helps other whatever possible ways when as a team member we always exhibited these traits, members will become more related to you in a stronger way. Think from that viewpoint that whatever may be big and small, we desire to support others always.

6) Keep commitment: Whenever team members say, something it is essential they should fulfill their commitment. The part of building a better relationship is to keep the promise and commitment.

7) Build rapport., Rapport forms the basis of purposeful, warming, and amicable relationships between individuals. According to researchers Linda Tickle-Degnen and Robert Rosenthal, when you have a rapport with someone, you share:

Mutual attentiveness: you’re both concentrated on, and engaged in, what the other individual is responding

Positivity: you’re both amiable and happy, and you demonstrate care and interest for one another.

Coordination: you understand “in sync” with one another so that you experience an accepted awareness. Your energy levels, tone, and body language are also identical.

When we take care of all these 3 conditions, remote collaboration among team members will considerably improve.

Giving P A U S E in your Conversation!

I pause for a moment by reflecting on Pause!

I have been using Pause for some time but unconsciously in our coaching conversation and training.

When I have come to know about the use of Pause, I feel wow! Now I have to use the same Pause Consciously!

In coaching, it is essential to give Pause! Why?

Silence is Golden!

Alan Alda says, “It is the space between the lines that make it a great performance.”

Why Pause?

Pauses can enhance delivery or be filled needlessly and perplex the audience. I had a mixed approach with Pause!

The pause permits the speaker to pick up thoughts before presenting the ultimate proposal: pause just before the assertion, figure out about what you choose to convey, and thus pass your final proposal with renewed power.

Pause prepares the audience to obtain your theme: pause and address the attention powers of your audience a rest. The thought that follows a pause is considerable higher influential than if no pause had followed.

Pause creates effective suspense: suspense can generate better engagement, curiosity in our coaching conversation. The crowd will choose to discover the resolution or what took place if you pause before the conclusion.

Pause after an essential thought: pausing gives the audience space to transform what you have just said before you advance with your transmission.

Pausing after proposing a query is again an excellent technique because it forces them to realize and mentally involves them in your conversation.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. Francis Bacon

What are the types of Pause?

Use the sense pause to grant individuals to understand the original message and catch up with you.

Use the dramatic pause to establish a point that sticks in the audience’s minds.

Use an emphatic pause to highlight a significant objective.

Use the sentence-completion pause to establish a statement or quote a line in which everybody is conversant, thus let the audience answer it for you.

If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet…maybe we could understand something. Federico Fellini

Try it, it is tough!

But with practice Pause will become natural in our flow of conversation!

Strengthening Self-Organizing Cross-Functional Scrum Team

A cross-functional team is a group of individuals with diverse functional expertise working toward a shared objective.

According to the Scrum Guide, a cross-functional team is a team that is organized around a product, a defined portion of a product, a service, or a customer value stream, and must include all competencies needed to accomplish their work without depending on others that are not part of the team.

What are the challenges of establishing such a self-organized cross-functional scrum team?

a) Silos mentality( BA, dev, test, Support )

b) Communication issue( BA, dev, test, Support )

c) Competency issue( BA, dev, test, Support )

d) Alignment issues( BA, dev, test, Support )

e) Conflicts are very high ( BA, dev, test, Support )

f) Ownership and commitment challenges( BA, dev, test, Support )

g) Mindset issue ( BA, dev, test, Support )

h) Collaboration issues ( BA, dev, test, Support )

i) Blame each other

j) Trust deficit, etc

How do we minimize these? Any structural approach we have to consider?

Look at any team and we will see a mixture of behaviors and personalities. Sometimes the individuals in a team can be complete opposites of each other and there will be conflicts; Other times there will be synergy in the team.

The ‘process’ part of the team will be very dependent on the behavior preferences that team members display.

The management psychologist Dr. Meredith Belbin was one of the first people formally to identify the different roles that people play in teams.

He recognized that in teams there are individuals who take action-oriented roles.

Some team members are more people-focused and others more cerebral.

Effective teams are made up of different types of people and they consist of different types of roles.


The mix of role types that play in a team determines their effectiveness.

These roles are

Shaper, Coordinator, Plant, Resource Investigator, Monitor Evaluator, Specialist, teamworker, Implementer, Completer Finisher

Although there are nine team roles, this doesn’t mean that a team needs nine individuals in it to be effective. Individuals will tend to have more than one preferred team role, so will generally occupy more than one role in the team.

When we look for a cross-functional self-organized high-performance scrum team, which evolves after a long cycle of the experiential exploration, we require to look at these 3 factors how effectively it has been matured.

When we recruit team members, if we can balance with these 3 factors, it would be advantageous for them to grow into a high-performance team, as the team will be apt to resolve any challenges they come across.

When I encounter the best scrum teams, I could certainly locate the traces of all these roles in a team.

I could able to trace who is Plant? who is matching the role of coordinator? etc. I start improving if these roles are missing.

When we start coaching, we also nurture these roles, based on what are the gaps, and what can be done to minimize those gaps.

This is a very good structure provided to structurally do team coaching and look for an opportunity.

All the challenges listed initially will slowly resolve when we have all these 9 roles developed and depicted with the scrum team.

We mostly look for a Scrum Master who is having a mixture of all these roles

[ A ‘teamworker’ is generally co-operative, easy to get along with, perceptive, and diplomatic. They are good listeners and are able to smooth over areas of friction within the team. They help keep the team together, particularly during times of stress or pressure.

A ‘shaper’ likes to challenge and drive things forward, enjoying the pressure and the reward of overcoming obstacles. They are able to identify patterns in discussions and in work undertaken and use this to push for change.

A ‘resource investigator’ is likely to be enthusiastic and charismatic, communicating well with others. They are able to explore opportunities, develop contacts, and instigate relationships.

The ‘implementer’ is reliable and well-disciplined, often conservative, and efficient at getting the job done. The implementer is able to reliably turn ideas into practical actions, and strategies into defined and manageable tasks.

People who fulfill the co-ordinator role are generally confident and responsible. They functionwell as a chairperson, helping to clarify goals and establish priorities. They encourage others to make decisions by delegating appropriately. ]

Measuring the High-Performance team?

How do we start measuring the team performance “as-is” state before commencing the team coaching journey?

We require to start from somewhere which points out to us, what are numerous considerations which should start concentrating on during coaching to strengthening.

We may look into the below aspects highlighted here to strengthen. Do you recognize those?

Team members are passionate and unguarded in their discussion of issues? On a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members call out one another’s deficiencies or unproductive behaviors? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members know what their peers are working on and how they contribute to the collective good of the team.? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members quickly and genuinely apologize to one another when they say or do something inappropriate or possibly damaging to the team.? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members willingly make sacrifices (in their departments or areas of expertise for the good of the team? On a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Do team members openly admit their weaknesses and mistakes? On a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team meetings are compelling, not boring? On a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members leave meetings confident that their peers are completely committed to the decisions that were agreed on, even if they were in initial disagreement? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

During team meetings, the most important—and difficult—issues are put on the table to be resolved? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members are deeply concerned about the prospect of letting down their peers? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members know about one another’s personal lives and are comfortable discussing them? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Do team members end discussions with clear and specific resolutions and action plans? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Do team members challenge one another about their plans and approaches? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members are slow to seek credit for their own contributions, but quick to point out those of others? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members are taking a stand whenever it is required? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members are able to speak up when it is essential? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members are able to say NO when it is essential? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members do not hide any information and express what is relevant? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members express if they do not like anything ? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members respect each other opinions? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

team members are always contributed to their shared goal? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members are measuring team performance and course correct? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Team members are able to finish their own assignments? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members are able to fix the issues if any surprise unplanned issues come up? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members have established a set of ground rules and guidelines for team performance and behaviors? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members express disagreements constructively? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

Team members follow through on decisions and action items? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves

The team leader has a process for sharing information with all team members? on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the highest, How do we want to rate ourselves.

Ref: Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

How do I Improve my Emotional Maturity?

This is one of the core competencies as a coach everyone is looking for - Emotional Maturity.

As a coach, we should have better emotional control.

Research at the National Institute of Mental Health by Candace Pert has demonstrated that emotions are particularly intimately related with neuropeptides, long-chain protein molecules that circulate throughout the organs of the body and act like “messenger molecules,” conveying information about what is happening in one part of the body throughout the entire system.

In her book, Molecules of Emotion (1997), Pert considers emotions to be a transformative link between mind and body, the mysterious quantum mechanical interface where information turns into matter and our bodies synthesize the chemicals of consciousness.

Emotional states such as anger, sorrow, depression, and joy can be influenced and even directed by us. Controlling the same is not easy. They do not work like switch! On or off!

In 1972, psychologist Paul Eckman suggested that there are six basic emotions that are universal throughout human cultures: fear, disgust, anger, surprise, happiness, and sadness.

In the 1980s, Robert Plutchik introduced another emotion classification system known as the “wheel of emotions.” This model demonstrated how different emotions can be combined or mixed together, much the way an artist mixes primary colors to create other colors.

In 1999, Eckman expanded his list to include a number of other basic emotions, including embarrassment, excitement, contempt, shame, pride, satisfaction, and amusement.

As a coach, we have to have better control of our Emotion.

What should we do to control our emotions better way? Same we can share with team members when we find the need improvement in emotional control.
For news of the heart, ask the face. -West African saying

Some of the things that I ampursuingg to control my emotions.

a) Avoid the trigger: Iinvariablys write down andobservee what triggers the emotional hijack. I actively watch out for all these trigger points. I consciously visualize later that how well I have to perform to avoid such triggers.

b) Express the emotion to someone: I have a few trusted companions whom I express my emotional expression whatever it is. After that, I feel Great. I have to vent out all these emotions, I do not bottle those up.

c) I tried not to react but this is something I am practicing to respond. Sometimes situations trigger me to react to others. I am practicing hard consciously to improve.

d) When I felt I am not able to control my emotions, I tried to think something else, keep quiet for some time! even in the middle of the discussion. I change the thoughts, think something different esp ocean, cute animals, etc.

e) Write a note about my emotional experience: A good retrospect on a notebook about an emotional journey help me to discover the emotional strengthening exercise.

f) Breathing, I do deep breathing exercises during the emotional high or low state,. It helps to divert attention to the breathing and control the emotions.

g) I am a believer in supernatural power. Sometimes it helps me as I have faith in place there. I ask for support, and I get the same.

h) Few quick physical exercises to change of blood flow in body! Exercise helps to better emotion control.

As all of us know it is not so easy, it is a life long endeavor to mature our emotional state. People say we will be happier when we have better emotional control.
“A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” - Oscar Wilde (1992, 88)

Why Customer Collaboration is Painful? How can we improve?

James is an Agile Coach. He has picked up his current assignment for Agile Transformation for large product development.

One of his observations was business or customer was no way involved in product solutions development.

They were far from the product development teams.

Team members were tried to invite the business and customers to share their insight with the PO, but the PO was not accessible most of the time.

Business does not find any value to involve themselves with IT on the solution side. They want results!

IT is an expert in building IT solutions and the Business wants to keep themselves aways for all these discussions.

Team members were not able to appreciate what they are developing and how those solutions will be consumed by the end-users. They were struggling to visualize the end-users’ usages of the systems.

Team members discover issues later the course of the development proceeding in feature delivery flow.

In today’s digital era, we have to build the first time right product as often as feasible. When the customer has been involved in co-creating the end solution, it is very much likely we may succeed in this approach.

James had an incredibly challenging assignment as an Agile coach to address this issue. How to enhance customer engagement?

One of the Agile Values says,

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

One of the principles says

Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

Now, where are the business involvement? How to expand?

After several months of close scrutiny, James discovers there are many impediments in the organization which is not supporting the customer to come to close to the IT organizations.

One of the blockers is Organizational structure.

IT and Business are 2 building blocks.

One invests money to build products, and another builds the products.

As everyone needs capital to exist, IT always seeking funds.

So Businesses, as they are generating revenues, are invariably in upper controls. There is always conflict and wrestling.

In the end, who has money they dominate in the argument! else fund will go somewhere else! Nobody dares to pinpoint such an issue which is slowing down the organization.

There are many people who are playing the interface role. There are many roles created to complete these jobs. All these roles are a very senior role, and their everyday activities involve managing the same. Both of the IT side and the Business side. They are gatekeepers, enablers, and messengers from both sides of the wall in the product development flow!

Those employees are feeding the business organization. The business is pretty comfortable with these jobs. As they are not directly involved and information is also fed to them. They were protecting each other and defending each other roles.

87 percent of organizations agree on traditional experiences no longer satisfy customers. (Source: Accenture)

86 percent of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or inadequate communication for workplace failures (Source: Salesforce)

James had an arduous task to break, these communication barriers, and establish a strong agile team by dismantling these barriers need to find out. He involves a third-party consultant to undertake this assignment.

He & the consultant did a value stream mapping workshop to understand the execution speed. And figure out where most of the time consumed. He had found that as too many layers are involved in between development teams and business stakeholders, the time taking is remarkably significant.

The new team of Change agents has recommended a new lean organization. The layers in between, people/roles in between have been optimized. Team members should be able to access direct customers with minimal layers and communication barriers.

Initially, customer representatives(Business) were not comfortable with these new ways of working. There were many unknown initially. But with an appropriate workshop and hand-holding, they started feeling comfortable. There was a lot of top pressure as the Business people were not enthusiastic to participate in such events. For a substantial period of their career, they were not done with such work. They are more comfortable with domain work. They would love to continue to play the role of end-users of the IT system. They feel lost when we talk about IT jargon.

Earlier model customer representatives are in the upper hand. They were the receiver of the solution. In that model, it was natural to get into conflict and blame mode. Team members used to waste a lot of time in mail exchange, in meeting to demonstrate who is right. As customers used to pay money, they used to dictate the discussion. This creates disappointment, dissatisfaction at the team level. Their KPI was different. By collaborating with the IT product development team, they were not getting many benefits. All these aspects had to alter with the new model.

Leadership was not convinced for long to let their business people involve IT solutions building. After several rounds of benefits realization discussion, these factors are obvious that at a certain % of their involvement to start with and incrementally we can expand based on the demand. The pilot approach demonstrated the issue of discovery at a subsequent period has reduced with this fresh approach. This leadership is again convinced that it is workable and value-added. Once leaders are agreeing, it considers much natural to coach the business team members to collaborate with IT.

The change management team has submitted to optimize some of these roles and direct, in small size connectivity with the development team members. E.g. the Earlier model, many large size flow of requirements were handled by the many business representatives. Now Few large size flow of requirements were managed by a few business representatives. It was comfortable for business people to deal with volumes and sizes. It was easy for the development team members to instantaneously access the business.

New roles and responsibilities for this new structure has been clearly defined. There were autonomy and commitment improved among team members for this new structure. With the help of the agile scrum model team members are able to rapidly minimize the risk and demonstrate the progress.

Various automated tools have been used to establish there is complete transparency of product development flow. Product team members are able to clearly view the bottleneck and eliminate rapidly. Business stakeholders were are having concerns if they have to spend more time with IT or not. But with the right structure and eliminating ambiguity through tools, everything is unusually apparent. Who is going to do what, by when? The frequent synch has have diminished any such issues.

Scrum team members are a coach to accept, support, and welcome the business team members. They were encouraged to inspire the business team member’s participation in the initial days. They handhold the business respectively for initial days. The redundant roles were coming in the middle layers of the development flow e.g proxy roles, interface roles either they have been moved to the business side or in other teams similar business side roles.

Rewards and recognized as a whole team. The complete teams win when they were able to build features at every sprint level. The entire chain of product development is celebrating success and taking the blame for failure. The measurement indicates the improvement team is making, The satisfaction index has progressively raised to substantiate this new model.

It took James and his team to optimize the structure and improved the customer engagement for 6 months to one years with many activities, discussion, workshop and pilot, etc work.

The top leaders’ blessing and good change agents were key in this drive.

There was considerable value, speed improvement has been observed in these unique ways of working.

Organization Change Operation for a Fresh Drive?

My friend recently joins an organization as a Change Lead! New Position different office and unique change manager!
We were informally reviewing what are the factors we should study out and how can we set ourselves for success.
He takes up an assignment to know further about his new organization, to understand further about them so that he can position himself better.

He was a part of the team which is performing satisfactory, it seems. My friend wants to know the stuff “as it is”, so that he can perform the desirable change management proposal. To function better in the organization he has to recognize the as-is state of the team culture & Organization culture.

What he was using is called “The Cultural Web”, which identifies six connected elements that help to make up what Johnson and Scholes call the “paradigm”–the pattern or model–of the work environment.

I was not cognizant about this model, but when he was explaining, I felt wow, that is how it can help individuals to set themselves initially in a structural way which is a marvelous approach.

What precisely are all these factors to look upon?

1. Stories and Myths: Lookout all the previous and current stories going on within the organization about the organization? Note down all these points without analyzing anything. Just collect as initial days. More is better. Through these incidents try to capture organization values, beliefs, etc, and why with how part.
Collect & Write about 20 pages on these stories & Myths. It will provide remarkably valuable insight.

2. Rituals and Routines: Observe and Collect daily actions and behaviors of individuals within the organization. Participate in numerous informal and formal meetings and note down different levels of discussion, roles in how people behave, exchange, and exhibits.
3. Symbols: The visual representation of the company; how they show up to both employees and individuals on the outside. It includes logos, office spaces, dress codes, and sometimes advertisements. How the organization and team feel about the symbols, logos, and colors.

4. Control Systems: Collect all the points through which the organization is getting controlled? The quality system, customer base, products, cash flow, etc how all these elements control the whole organization or different teams. These give valuable insights into the organization flow. How about the teams, team members getting punished, or recognized by whom for what? etc

5. Organisation Structures: Read out the prevailing organization structure. Unwritten power and influence that some members may exert, which likewise indicates whose contributions to the organization are most appreciated by those above them. Where the power centers, why, and how those influence the numerous decision making.
6. Power Structures: Note who are the individuals, are those who hold the strongest influence over decisions and commonly have the ultimate say on significant actions or changes.

Now he has gathered all the intelligence, So what?
As he is a Change agent into the new ambient, by integrating this system of analysis, he can identify himself and will be adequate to break free of ritual and belief systems within a company to achieve real change and innovation.

Whenever there is a fresh initiative that can start we need to address most of these below areas. The below areas are vital as this is how organizations operate. This is what culture is about.

For example, there is an initiative from Projectized organization, we have to move to the Productized organization. This is a new change organization that is willing to bring in to overcome some of the anti agile practices and raise the business agility in the delivery team.

1. Stories and Myths: What are the numerous challenges “projects based” approach experiences, What new stories we can bring into? How can rewrite some of the old stories with a new productized concept? Internally and externally what are the new development due to productized approaches can bring into.

2. Rituals and Routines: The projects based funding, execution, etc, what are numerous routine is going to transform when we move into the productized approach? What the platform we have which can communicate these changes in ritual and routine, explains betters. Who are the individuals who are responsible to bring those changes in rituals and routines?

3. Symbols: What are the new colors, logo for in product-based approach will look like. How do we advertise and brand within the team environment? The change from Project to product approach should have an original look feel and transmit some clear message.

4. Control Systems: What is the formal and informal approach to the new change. The pilot of the productized approach in a certain team, how the progress will be presented by whom etc information needs to be presented. How the decision will be taken and by whom need to highlight.

5. Organisation Structures: What will be the structure of the productization initiatives. Who are the core team members and who will make the pivotal decisions? A formal and information structure of the team members serving to fulfill some of the activities.

6. Power Structures: Who are the investors in this productization drive. How success will look like. Who drives through this approach?
This provides a structural thought process on how to roll out the change management plan for an initiative where success will be high as we are aligning with the organizational cultures.

All these aspects need to look into when we introduce fresh changes to the organization.

In this procedure, we are also taking care of the present organizational culture.

As the cultural paradigm influences and is influenced by the six inter-relating factors of the model, each aspect should be considered in terms of mapping out and designing the necessary changes (Johnson et al, 2011).

Understanding the dominant culture permits consideration of whether or not change can be accommodated within the culture of any given labor ward. Alternatively, if this is not possible, a shift in culture is definitely required (Johnson et al, 2011).

It also allows identification of what is problematic about the existing culture, indicating the type of change required and highlights aspects of culture that act as facilitators or block change (Johnson et al, 2011).

We all can try this? see how this approach enables us to become better whatever we are working on.....

How do we engage Product Owners or business owners at scrum events?

Most of the team members complain that their Product Owners and diverse business stakeholders are not actively partcipating in various scrum events.

They always ask for status information at the end of some intermission.

They are illiterate about the challenges team members are facing.

They are consistently seeking solutions, not interested to identify the team challenges, They invariably indicate that they are extremely busy and no time for such an arrangement.

It is crucial that we should co-create the solution with the Business. But business is not concerned to work out on such a thing. It is a challenge that every scrum team facing.

What will happen to such scrum team where Business stakeholders are not at all involved!

The team needs to demonstrate the benefits PO and Business owners will receive by investing time and effort. How PO & Business stakeholders will gain visibility, benefits due to scrum events participation. They should feel psychologically safe as IT is sometimes foreign to them. The team needs to onboard them with comfort. “Handle with care!”

We have few rules to adhere to which has established the sign of PO & Business stakeholders’ engagement gradually.
The facilitator has to steadily pursue this practice to be adhered to for some moment.
Rules of engagement do not have to be lengthy, but they must fit into team members or extender team members and be welcomed by all the team members.
Ensure PO/business stakeholders feel significant and relevant to the team’s needs.
Acknowledge their contribution and time spend on the team.
All product owners or business owners must participate in most of the scrum events( Convey repeatedly to them).
They must be shown an enthusiastic interest in what is going on with the project team. Try to establish that curiosity in their minds by doing some activities.
Ensure they have reviewed and contributed to the product development journey.
In the project learning session, PO/BO engagement challenges and progress need to examine. Come out with action points.
Every team member identifies points that can strengthen the Product Owner and business stakeholders’ engagement.
Each team members need to demonstrate that they do care about their PO and business stakeholders’ participants.
Have fun in the Scrum events, let us not merely talk business but some other topics also require to discuss. Plan such topics as a part of the discussion.
Respects their time. Facilitate well so that in minimal time, everyone can get maximum output.
Exercise all the tools to build transparency and visibility & Challenges etc information captured well.
Share your views and concerns in the room. Show each other courage and respect by including the tough conversations that require to be had immediately.
Ask better and thought-provoking questions. Ensure you have performed better home works and you have all the data to reinforce your conversation.
Be a good listener and empathize with the business stakeholders.
Manage negative feedback effectively. Sometimes, the team may get negative feedback from annoyed business stakeholders.
Demonstrated as a team, your dedication, commitment, and ownership always to business stakeholders
Do not attack, people, address the underlying process for improvement.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. - Helen Keller

Coaching Rotten Apples?

As an Agile coach, it is too part of our exercises to identify the bad apples from the team.

If we have to establish a high-performance agile team, we require to work out this exercise. It is not only reporting manager jobs, you as a coach desire to support the manager to surmount this crisis.

How can we help the bad apples so that other apples also do get rotten!

Else all the coaching efforts will go in vain!

We have to rapidly stop bleeding to recover the team!

As the traditional maxim goes, one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel

It merely takes one “rotten apple” to influence employee engagement across your whole business. If you place one bad apple with other few good apples, it has been discovered over a period of a timeline all apples will be started becoming bad! It is an absolutely genuine fact.

First, identify those bad apples, there is a diverse school of opinion suggesting, there is no bad apple, it is the only circumstance which creates those bad apples, once you alter the condition they will spiral into a Good apple.

As a coach, we need to understand all the circumstances which induce those. It is part of the assessment and we are liable to turn a team into a high-performance team. Also a part of change management activities.

a) Find the individuals who spend most of the time complaining about the system. Whenever they comment, it commences with a complaint. Looks for the evidence if he/she has done anything to alter the situation. Or just grievance!

A recent study organized by the University of Washington Business School examines just how much damage one bad apple can inflict. The study, published in Research in Organizational Behavior, reveals that in the presence of bad apples individuals aren’t as willing to handle problems that arise, don’t communicate with one another, and generally stop functioning as a team—not a great recipe for high performance and productivity.

Let us find if such bad apples are not passing from one team to others

b) Need to coach those Bad apples. Emphasize and try to understand what kind of challenges those individuals are dealing with. Talk to the reporting manager about the strength and weaknesses of those individuals. Need to observe them thoughtfully and ask managers to talk periodically about those individuals. Provide feedback for the progress.

c) Most of the time those individuals are street smart individuals. They know extremely well how to play the game in the system. Dialogue and agreement with such individuals have to be recorded and set the expectation very precisely. Measure the outcome based on their contribution. Need to involve reporting managers in any such arrangement and improvement plan. The goal has to be SMART and evaluate with the right feedback for such individuals.

d) Those individuals have not polished themselves to stay relevant with the modern technology trend. To come out of the inability they will try to distract the attention or discussion in some other way. A coach needs to talk to those individuals structurally. Need to convey what they can contribute in 6 months and a 1-year timeline to upgrade their knowledge gaps. Coach them and update their reporting managers.

e) Those individuals(Bad Apples) due to some reason have forgotten the passion, aspiration to establish something significant. As a result, they are not capable to match the expectations organizations are demanding from them. Some way the innovation speed has diminished a contribution has come down. They have to rekindle the fire within themselves to create something worth it. Need to understand their world and point out the modern way of thinking so that they can become self-driven to rehabilitate their world.

f) Communicate to their Manager, sometimes, the ecosystem push to those team members to move to this Bad apple state. Understand what action Mangers are performing for those team members. Observe the manager’s management style and look for opportunities if we can help those managers to modify some of their styles which is not aligning with Mentoring, supporting, coaching style of leadership.

g) Coach other good apples to help the bad apples in all the desirable ways. There could be a timeline for those bad apples to turn into Good apple. Organizations can assure that there is enough support system in place, by using these approaches a Bad apple can turn into a good apple. All the other team members require to serve those bad apples by coaching, mentoring, and training based on their capacity. The coach and Reporting manager can discuss and measure improvement and progress.

h) Most of the time, bad apples will not walk the talk. These are truly typical symptoms. They will talk loud and tall. But their contribution is absolutely minimal. It takes courage and wisdom to catch hold of such individuals. As a coach, we do not stand for any such confusion. Looks for improvement, contribution, and the impact they are making month on month. Regularly update their reporting manager regarding the action you are taking for those bad apples. How those individuals are performing in their day to day progress.

i) Look for the cues from the team members, who are not taking many activities, watch for the individuals who are having maximum excuses most of the time, Looks for the individuals who are not able to accomplish their activities most of the time and what reason, look for the individuals in the meeting says many different ideas but not able to contributes as the expected level, talk to the team members. These are clues where we can make out who are the bad apples. They are great manipulators so search for those clues and reach the bad apples to diminish the damage rapidly.

I am sure you are also coming across such individuals, Let us all find those and help the organization to be a better place to work for. One day those apples will turn into a good one.

Why I am not taking Accountability?

When a high-performance team falls back to the normal team?

Accountability is the issue! If you can't find a way to get people to be accountable, you're going to find it hard to make anything else work, let alone your business. Robert Lebow; Randy Spitzer, Accountability

One of the pivotal issues I have noticed which are stopping the team to become High-Performance team is, about accountability from each team member.

I am finding leaders are screaming every issue because team members are thinking like silos, not owing end to end deliverables, criticizing each other, finding fault from each other, etc

Accountability is a statement of personal promise, both to yourself and to the people around you, to deliver specific defined results. Brian Dive, The Accountable Leader

Lack of accountability is absolutely contagious!

When we encounter our team members are not taking up ownership, our mind like viruses get infected with the same thought.

It spread like wildfire! Except for a few high energy passionate individuals, rest all to start defaulting in ownership.

When we are accountable, we take ownership of situations that we are committed in. We see them through, and we accept responsibility for what happens–good or bad. We don’t blame others if matters go awry. Instead, we do our finest to make things right.

When did Leaders fear to empower team?

When they think that team can not fulfill the deliverables which have an immense consequence in the outcome.

The moment leader realizes that team is owning and taking end to end accountability of the aftermath, leaders will slowly empower the team members. Else Control and Micromanagement!! Be content with this if you can not modify your ways of taking ownership!

When individuals don’t accept accountability and things commence going awry, as they don’t feel ownership they move into spectator mode and observe as things fail.

Whereas when individuals take ownership, if things start to go wrong, then they step into solution mode. They commence to try and figure out what’s going wrong, investigate and fix it.

Behavioral change expert, Peter Bregman, presents it effectively in his HBR article on accountability: “Accountability is not simply taking the blame when something goes wrong. It’s not a confession. Accountability is about delivering on a commitment. It’s the responsibility to an outcome, not just a set of tasks. It’s taking initiative with a thoughtful, strategic follow-through.”

Why Team is not taking accountability? How can we enhance the same?

A team’s success depends upon accountability.

It is a leader’s responsibility for designing a culture of accountability on the team. All the team members require to inspire for a common purpose and big vision. Team members require to be hooked into the common mission.

As a Leader, we have to assign accountability to the team members. They need to know that if something happens to the end result, they have to take end to end ownership.

As Leader, we require to be clear about what we are expecting. Team members are not taking accountability because they do not know what is expected of them. There could be a possibility that they do not know what to be done, as they are not competent to perform the same. Leaders need to be a mentor for them to ensure there will be assistance, but deliverable need to show up and all of us are responsible for the consequences. It is not to blame some, but to strengthen the ownership of the given assignment.

As a Leader, we need to ensure, if team members are not over-committed something. When we have too many things to be done, we occasionally can not express, but we stop taking accountability for some of the items. It is fundamental that we speak out and convey what will be the consequence to the team and leaders.

When leaders provide feedback, team accountability improves. Every team members need to express and take the feedback positively about what best can be done. Once team members know where they stand against the set expectations and leaders have given them actionable tasks to work on, it is easy for them to see a clear path for development and success.

Leaders when they establish control culture and micromanage, it generates a fearful culture. In the fearful environment, team members always serve for short-term gain. Their mind does not look for long term commitment, as they do not own the end result from their heart. As a leader, we need to create a fear-free long-term goal. No blame for any mistake, inspire, and encourage team members.

As a leader, we need to convey performance improvement points. No blame on individuals but analyze the performance gaps and what could be the steps to improvement. As a leader, we should not tolerate the poor performance and need to deal with structurally how to overcome those competency issues. Team members will feel more accountable as they are growing and will own the end to end outcomes. Understand the challenges employees are undergoing and try to coach them.

Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal. Individuals connected to no one can change the goal without accountability. John C. Maxwell, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork Workbook

In the VUCA world, things will not be very clear. All together, we need to have a mindset where we are figuring out and ensuring we do our best. This should demonstrate in our deliverables that we tried our 100% and we own the consequence.

I have visited many places in India. Every year we managed to travel to a different place to stay at. One of the stories which distinctly appear in my mind where I could discover the accountably of an individual was 100%. We were in Aurangabad to visit Ajanta and Ellora caves. The day I have booked the hotel, since day one, the individual ensures, everything goes smoothly. He ensures we get the finest room. The car he arranged, the driver we got, the places we visited, the foods and other activities that we did in Aurganbad was perfect. I have lost my sandals in Ajanta! the driver took us to the city and assure; we purchase my required sandal as well, other than sandal any other things also without any irritation. The end to end journey with very minimal affordable cost, the individual demonstrated the greatest level of accountability from his side. As a tourist, I felt wow commitment from that individual, which I yet to find another person like this. Complete end to end integrated service he has arranged for us.

I do see that when we are all accountable for what we are doing, things will start changing at the team level, we all need to look for this and remind each other, is there a possibility to improve the accountability whatever state we are in today?