Talking To Executives About Agile Transformations
Stories.
As humans, we love stories. Whether they are personal or professional stories.
Stories help us communicate trends.
They help us resonate with the message.
And the stories that Jordi Falguera dives into are no different.
A Mentor and Business Agility Executive Coach for over 10 years, Jordi has participated in and led multiple international company transformations in more than 14 countries and diverse cultures. So, it is safe to say that he knows a thing or two about leading change. Particularly when it comes to understanding how executives play a role in those transformations.
Many times, in the world of agile, the focus is on efficiency or techniques that improve ways of working, in addition to putting some frameworks and practices in place. However, for executives, that’s not what matters the most. What they require is to address concrete problems and the particular struggles that they face. And when they do that, they have to do it under a budget and a schedule.
Therefore, when they are tasked with something as abstract as changing the culture or the ways of working, it becomes imprecise, difficult to grasp and disconnected from tangible business outcomes.
Jordi shares with us the most common concerns of executives and how to properly communicate with them by using their language.
In other words, how to talk so that they want to listen.
The Context of Executives
Typically, executives will come in and in their day-to-day look at ways of transforming the organisation.
Executives are either sponsoring the transformation or running the transformation. During this process, they can be faced with many challenges (internally) that can contribute towards the success or failure of the transformation at hand.
Capability and Knowledge
One of the key aspects of being an executive is that they can face Imposter Syndrome – their perception that they don’t know enough to do their job. Executives feel like they have to show evidence that they are capable of the role that they are in.
Similarly, they can also face the opposite of Imposter Syndrome: the Dunning-Kruger Effect, suggests that unknowledgeable people lack the very expertise they need to recognise their lack of expertise. They thus overrate their knowledge and performance.
Success is not optional for executives. They need to be successful. They need to show evidence of success to carry weight behind the initiatives.
Top-down vs Bottom-up
Should transformations go top-down or bottom-up? It is important to note that in this context, we need to understand if the transformation is part of the ‘3 year strategic plan’. If it is, it becomes one more project or initiative and needs to take into consideration all the organisational politics and hierarchies. The transformation will have budgets associated with them. And results need to be visibly achieved.
Limited Time
Executives also have limited time.
“I remember supporting an NFC company,” Jordi recalls, “Their schedules are crazy and within the allocated slots a lot of quick information has to be shared. And for them, we used the top-down communication strategy”
How it works:
Have the point that you want to address
Break it down into three sub-bullets
Describe it, stop and remain silent
Then ask if they need any more information
There might be some clarification required, but what it does is help you connect your storyline and get to the point faster for these time-poor executives.
Concurrent Priorities
It is important to also know that executives have multiple, concurrent priorities.
So, what we might perceive as important priorities for executives, might not be the right ones.
Which is why when addressing executives, it is important to know the context of why they behave and communicate the way they do and also how that can be addressed to ensure alignment across all levels of the organisation.
The 10 Commandments of Talking to Executives
Explore the Problem Space (Stop hunting ducks!)
Executives aren’t interested in what you can do. They want to know how you can solve their problems. Jordi recalls working in a FMCG company where he was pitching Agile services and kept focusing on what he could do as a consultant. He then had to reframe the how and explore the struggles which they needed solutions to.
Continue exploring the problem, because otherwise, you're trying to hunt ducks.
What is it? Why did you call me? How can we help? How can I help you? And then from there, keep exploring.
Don’t jump to a solution and don’t jump to conclusions.
Keep asking questions and get a better understanding of why you are there.
Be Pragmatic (Address acknowledged problems)
Here is a story that Jordi recounts that focuses on addressing acknowledged problems.
“Couple of years ago, I became independent and was supporting large organisations; in these organisations, I was meeting with VPs of departments and they introduced me as ‘Jordi, the Agile Coach’...
One of them said that they were a little bit sceptical of Agile and Agility to which I responded, "I'm Jordi: the pragmatic, Agile coach”.
What that meant was that he wasn’t trying to sell them on Agile or Agility; he was going to focus on the problems that they had and work on those.
When working on problems, it is important to acknowledge those problems, so that problem becomes visible and can be addressed accordingly.
It is not so much about Agility as it is about problem-solving.
This way, you get buy in and using pragmatism, you focus on acknowledged problems first.
Be Honest and Truthful (Do not try to impress them)
One that can be somewhat challenging when dealing with executives: do not try to impress them. It is easy to feel daunted by their position and their demeanour and sometimes it can be easy to overcompensate for your own position.
Trying to overcome your own Imposter Syndrome, so to speak.
This should be avoided.
Executives know their stuff, and expect that you come with your Agile knowledge to complement them.
Don’t over-commit what you can deliver.
Don’t go down the path of over-egging your expertise.
Be honest and truthful and address misconceptions early on so that you build an honest relationship and manage expectations.
Adapt to their Language (Don’t use agile jargon)
Adjust and adapt to the language.
Quite often, coaches and consultants over complicate their communication.
This often comes from a place of trying to help executives understand the knowledge that the consultant has, but in all honesty, executives don’t really care about the technicalities.
Keeping it simple and basic helps address the executives’ own Imposter Syndrome whilst ensuring your message is communicated in a more accessible way.
Jordi has used the Feynman Technique himself to try and explain the concepts of Agile without going into the technical detail.
Master your Knowledge (Use micro concepts)
Communicate the most value in the shortest time possible.
And the way to do that is to avoid a presentation.
When you present something, you are inherently presenting what you can do, not necessarily the value you can offer.
It is less about having the perfect slide or chart and more about understanding the problems the organisation and executives are facing and then addressing solutions to them.
Be Brief in your Answers (Don’t try to sell them anything)
It is important to utilise a top-down communication strategy. Jordi advises using Grice’s Maxims to get the most out of this commandment.
The 4 Conversational Maxims are the:
Maxim of quality: Having open and honest communication
Maxim of quantity: Having a fine balance between not withholding information and not bombarding others with information
Maxim of relevance: Keep conversations on track and to the point
Maxim of manner: This maxim encourages speakers to be clear, concise and orderly in the way they communicate.
Grice believed that anyone wishing to engage in meaningful communication would follow these maxims and would assume that others would also be following them.
Applying these maxims in communicating with executives keeps the conversation focused and effective.
Don’t Outsmart or Challenge Them
Being a consultant or coach is to try to get the best outcome for the executives and the organisation to achieve its goals. No matter how experienced you are, the key is never to make executives feel like you are trying to outsmart them in the way you share knowledge.
It is important to demonstrate your skill set but not at the expense of creating an imbalanced relationship.
As part of the coaching process, you can challenge executives but not early on.
Try to gain confidence and establish authority and then offer your views, but in a way that serves the end outcome and not one of self-importance.
Show Confidence in Yourself (Smile and laugh)
Be confident! You’re consulting and advising them for a reason, and with positive energy and attitude, your recommendations can go a long way, even when certain topics are tricky.
Build Relationships
It is really important to build a relationship of trust, honest communication and for you to act as a solid sounding board for their ideas.
As a coach and consultant, your role is to help them improve their vision and take their ideas further. This isn’t about prioritising you being right. It is about trust and building on that trust to achieve joint outcomes.
Be Realistic (Understand budgets and schedule constraints)
There are many things that are not in our control when going through a transformation, mainly due to budgetary and schedule constraints. So, it is important to be realistic.
There is a lot of ambition and drive when it comes to dealing with a transformation, but to keep things on track in the long run, you need to understand budget and schedule constraints, which will bring in principles of Agility as well.What are the key takeaways when talking to executives?
Focus on what they need and match it to what you can offer
Build relationships by communicating exquisitely with them
Follow through and show them evidence of progress regularly
Managing the way we address executives’ concerns and challenges in this way, can help us support and achieve transformational results, ultimately leading to an overall agile and pragmatic change management strategy.