E85: Generative Culture

March 2021

Author: Dr. Dave Cornelius

Generative culture gives birth to organizations and human beings to demonstrate the ability to achieve amazing outcomes during the turbulent, uncertain, novel, and ambiguous (TUNA) times or normal times. Developing generative business culture is fundamental to frictionless operations and effectively collaborating with people to succeed in a highly competitive world.

In Table 1, Professor R. Westrum, Department of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University, describes three organizational cultures – Pathological, Bureaucratic, and Generative.

Table 1: Westrum Typology of Organization Culture

 

Pathological (Power- Oriented)

Bureaucratic (Rule- Oriented)

Generative (Performance-Oriented)

Low cooperation

Modest cooperation

High cooperation

Messengers “harmed”

Messengers neglected

Messengers trained

Responsibilities shirked

Narrow responsibilities

Risks are shared

Bridging discouraged

Bridging tolerated

Bridging encouraged

Failure leads to scapegoating

Failure leads to justice

Failure leads to inquiry

Novelty crushed

Novelty leads to problems

Novelty implemented

 

What can be expected in a generative culture? An environment where people learn quickly and innovate to meet the demands of customers and markets.  People collaborate more effectively with a higher level of trust in all directions (across, up, down) of the organizational structure.  The petty personal issues are dampened to elevate the goal of the products and services that are needed to sustain the business competitiveness.

If you have worked in a safe, high-performing team environment, the emotional energy is off the charts.  It is intoxicating at times, and when you fail, there is a whole team focus to learn together from experiments.  The blame game goes away, and we settle in a good place that states “we are all learning.”

Generative cultures enable diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.  You will find generative leadership that creates space for development and performance growth for the people working in the organization and community.  The generative environment’s generosity extends beyond the doors of the organization.

Future Search conversations included:

* Facilitating compassionate conversations

* Collaborate with our brothers and sisters in Africa and bring Agility to Africa

* A framework focused on coaching the whole person

* Reflect BIPOC, a representation in Agile conferences

 

Dr. Dave:                      Hello. And welcome to the KnolShare with Dr. Dave podcast. I am Dr. Dave Cornelius, your host. Today, my discussion partner is Dr. Charles Collingwood, the Math Department Chair at Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona. He is a pioneering STEM educator who influenced many high school students to go on to college. We have had many great conversations over the years about transforming education to include more real world practices and applications. Well, let's begin. Dr. Charles Collingwood, thank you for joining me today. How are you doing?

Dr. Charles Col...:          I'm doing great, man. Thank you.

Dr. Dave:                      That's just great, man. So I'm just going to jump right in and start peppering you with questions right off the bat.

Dr. Charles Col...:          Lay it on me, lay it on me.

Dr. Dave:                      Lay it on you. There you go. So look, as a teacher, what are some of the guiding principles that you want to share with your students that would really affect their ability to learn?

Dr. Charles Col...:          I think the first thing that students have to understand that learning itself is a life-long commitment, right? As human beings, to live in society, we have to learn how to function. So the process of learning, we talk about it a lot in schools, but basically, the process of learning happens throughout our life and we've got to apply that to this special context of schooling and I think that's important for students to understand because I like to have them understand that you have learned many things in your lifespan. They could talk about some of them play music, some of them play sports, they play all these things and they have to learn them at some point. So this process of learning, we talk about it in the context of schooling, but in fact, it happens throughout your whole life. I think once they understand that, then it's much easier for me to teach them these concepts that they are not really familiar with.

Dr. Dave:                      Okay. So it's learning throughout in our lives and in many different contexts. So I want to talk about this mentoring program that you started at Sahuaro High School in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. What were some of the goals for the mentoring program that you had?

Dr. Charles Col...:          One of the issues that we have at the school that I'm working at is that you have quite a few students that are not really engaged in the curriculum that is being offered in many areas, right? So as I was having meetings over the summer and during the COVID spring, we started to talk about, man, how can we engage students more? What kind of ways can we do to engage students. And then I thought about it would be awesome if I could have a class where we are not really talking about any specific content, but the idea of learning, right, teaching yourself to learn, what it means to learn.

So they gave me the green light to cover the class. And I said, "Okay. I think I could do that." So I came up with this thing called mentoring class, right? A mentoring class where I had about 24 or 25 students in the class and about maybe 10 of them are what I call mentors, maybe usually juniors and seniors and then the rest of them were freshmen and sophomore students who I thought needed help.

So the idea was to introduce students probably for the first time into a learning environment without the pressure of a grade so to speak, right? So we are here to learn. There is no pressure. What I did is I got many community members to come in and speak with the students and stuff like that. And students were able to interact more in a job scene, right,

Dr. Dave:                      Hello, and welcome to the KnolShare with Dr. Dave Podcast, I am Dr. Dave Cornelius, your host. You know, I first met Ewan at a coaching retreat in Seattle, Washington. We were in the same cohort, seeking to discover a hypothesis for a future solution in the coaching space. We had a few contentious moments, but settled our differences over a few beers and I introduced him to my family, my wife and my son, who were traveling with me at the conference, so, let's begin to learn about Ewan's journey during this period of social justice conflicts.

So, Ewan, it's so good to see you, one of the things, let's introduce who you are, let the world know who Ewan O'Leary is. I hope I didn't screw your name up too badly.

Ewan O'Leary:               Yeah, no, you're perfect, you're perfect. So, here's the thing, right, I have my father to thank for the fact that my name is Ewan Gareth O'Leary, and if you kind of look at the capital letters there it forms ego.

Dr. Dave:                      I just saw that, that's crazy.

Ewan O'Leary:               So, I guess I'm sort of carrying a few things around, maybe a chip on my shoulder or two, or 17, I don't know. But I grew up in South Africa, I left South Africa in 2000 and moved to the United States, and I feel a tremendous sense of privilege at being able to do that. You know, South Africa is a country with its own amazingly and painfully beautiful history, in so many different ways and for so many different people. For some folks, the beauty isn't there, it's just mostly pain. I try to sort of find a silver lining in every cloud, but I find that, obviously, with the privilege that I bring into any situation.

So, I've been coaching as an agile coach, technically since, and I say technically, since 2008, that was the first time I spun up a scrum team to solve some problems in an organization. But I've been in software development since I was eight and I persuaded my dad to trade his HP 12c in for a Commodore 64.

Dr. Dave:                      Yeah.

Ewan O'Leary:               Which was a great platform, a lot of fun, and it sort of gave me the sense of confidence that I could solve any problem, I could deal with any situation in technology. Of course, I'm not in technology now, I'm in coaching, and I've been in coaching for, I don't know, 12 or 13 years. Right now, I'm working with a large pharma organization helping with late stage drug trials, doesn't sound like technology at all, but one of the things that I've read along the way is this idea that management is the technology of human accomplishment.

And agile management, agile leadership, and in fact, agile process, agile values, principles, just lump that all together for the moment, we can argue about the nuances later, I'm sure we will. If you bring all those things together, you have human accomplishment, and that's led me to my reason for doing what I do, which is to liberate human potential. I coach to liberate human potential. And I leave pauses like I just left for you, there's a little mine field.

Dr. Dave:                      I love it.

Ewan O'Leary:               Let's go for it, man.

Dr. Dave:                      I love it. So, let's talk about the social justice conflicts in the US and around the world, you know? How is that affecting you, you know, in here? How does that make you feel my brother?

Ewan O'Leary:               I, first off, thank you for acknowledging me as your brother, that is an enormous, enormous... I feel so much respect for that. We have some problems which may seem intractable right now, and I know that people, like me, who look like me, have contributed enormously to these challenges,

EAFH35: Tracy and Sabrina Shares Social Justice Experiences in an Interracial Family

Dr. Dave:

Tracy Trace and her daughter Sabrina. Welcome to the KnolShare with Dr. Dave podcast. How are you guys doing today?

Tracy:

You go first Bri.

Dr. Dave:

She's like ...

Sabrina:

I'm good. How are you all?

Dr. Dave:

You good? We're amazing. We're amazing. How about you, Tray, what's going on with you?

Tracy:

I'm doing all right.

Dr. Dave:

All right. I'm happy to hear that. How's my friend, Steve? My bro-in-law.

Tracy:

Oh, he's fine.

Dr. Dave:

I just want to let you know that I have a bromance with your dad, so it's just a thing. So let's just start, and perhaps you guys could do an elevator pitch to introduce yourselves. I know lots about you, but I'd rather let the audience hear it in your own voice.

Tracy:

I am Tracy Treacy and I have known Dr. Dave for a long time.

Dr. Dave:

Good, good.

Tracy:

I have no idea how long. All of my adulthood I have known Dr. Dave, how's that?

Dr. Dave:

That's true.

Tracy:

Yes.

Dr. Dave:

Yes.

Tracy:

All of my adulthood. And for profession, I am a psychotherapist.

Dr. Dave:

Okay.

Tracy:

And for my identity, I am a mom and I enjoy being a mom. And I, I call myself a, I don't know, self-care guru, something like that, holistic healer. Been doing it for about 20 some years. And I enjoy what I do, work does not feel like work, so I'm never dreading doing what I'm doing. It always feels like I'm walking in my light and in where I'm supposed to be and life is good.

Dr. Dave:

Good. So Sabrina, can I get an elevator pitch from you?

Sabrina:

So, I'm Sabrina. I guess if my mom introduces herself as a mother, I'm a daughter. I live in Brooklyn and I first and foremost am a nerd. It dictates the way that I approach my work and my personal life. I just want to get to know everything about everything all the time, but specifically as it relates to slavery and race. And so, right now, I work for a digital media lab called Accelerate Change and we support digital organizers across the country in a new organizing fashion called blended organizing, which we will start building January 1st. And our support for organizers basically turned out marginal votes for the November 3rd general election. And so, now we're working really hard to get it together for the Georgia runoff. So that's what I do in my day job, without the day job I would just be reading and writing about slavery.

Dr. Dave:

Man, I am so glad I'm getting to know you, I really am. Hey, so it's really awesome that mom and daughter living in a mixed family. So how has that shaped your thinking and experiences with social justice?

Tracy:

Hm. Why don't you take that one Sabrina?

Sabrina:

Well, I mean we were just talking about this.

Tracy:

We were.

Sabrina:

What was that two hours ago? Literally it was a mistake, but serendipitous, I guess at this point. I woke up this morning thinking about how oftentimes growing up, I would see my mom's race getting called into question. And it was really strange for me because I always thought that she was excited about it, that's the way I perceived it as a young individual. And then on top of the constant questioning that I was going through, so people would be like, "What are you?" Every day of my life since K5. And no one can make sense of my race, but I knew that I was Black, I knew that I was a Black girl, but I didn't know that these questions were traumatizing,

EAFH34: Michael Spayd talks Systemic Consciousness and Systemic Racism

Dr. Dave:

So, welcome to the KnolShare with Dr. Dave Podcast, Michael. I'm just so excited to have you today for our conversation about The Social Justice Center's impact, especially in the Agile community.

Michael Spayd:

Thank you for having me, Dave.

Dr. Dave:

Yeah, I'm just really glad that you were able to connect. So let's just kick off and begin by you doing a quick elevator pitch about who is Michael Spayd and make sure our audience knows who you are and the good work that you're doing, if there is good work. Just kidding.

Michael Spayd:

I hope so.

Dr. Dave:

Yeah.

Michael Spayd:

Well, I've been in the Agile World about 20 years actually and have done a lot of large-scale transformations and started the Agile Coaching Institute with Lyssa Adkins in 2010. And more recently started a company called The Collective Edge with Lyssa and Michael Hamman and Kat Conner. And the time I've spent in the Agile community has been around bringing disciplines, methodologies, techniques in from other disciplines outside of technical ones or Agile software development like facilitation, professional coaching, organizational change and culture, leadership development, things that are really important that are needed in the Agile community but that the Agile community doesn't necessarily know a whole lot about or is not native to them. And I just finished a book with Michele Madore called Agile Transformation: Using the Integral Agile Transformation Framework To Think And Lead Differently. And that's about a big picture view of how transformations go and when we can expect them to happen and when we can't.

Dr. Dave:

Excellent.

Michael Spayd:

And that's a little about me.

Dr. Dave:

That's wonderful. So let's talk about the emotions that systemic racism bring to the surface for you, and really how do you deal with those feelings? Because those are heavy things for people like myself, but what of for you?

Michael Spayd:

Yeah, sure.

Dr. Dave:

What is that experience and the emotion that comes with that?

Michael Spayd:

Well, so I would say that before this year of 2020, my awareness of systemic racism was fleeting, to be honest. It was in patches or in moments and not sustained more as it is now. As I've been reflecting on just the killings this year, the clear record of police violence and oppression and how that extends into all kinds of other places, has really sobered me about that and made me... There's some guilt for me. I wasn't paying attention to this in a way that I wish I would've before. So there's some regret that way. And there's also just some deep compassion.

I remember going to... I live in Richmond, Virginia right now, and going down Monument Avenue where there's all these Confederate monuments and seeing the Robert E. Lee one, which has been taken over by Black Lives Matter and all these pictures on little stakes of black people that have been killed. And just feeling into that in a much deeper way than I have before. And just seeing the pattern and the picture and just raising my empathy for what that's like. It's sort of horrifying to me. So just trying to increase my awareness of systemic racism, the racism in me.

Dr. Dave:

Yeah. So do you sense there are challenges with social justice in the Agile community and where there is little empathy for black, indigenous and people of color lives in this space?

Michael Spayd:

Sure, in the same way that it is in most of our society.

E79: Finding Your Engagement Sweet Spot During COVID-19

By: Dr. Dave Cornelius

Finding your engagement sweet spot in this turbulent, uncertain, novel, and ambiguous (TUNA) environment is ”wicked-hard”.  I have inserted the Bostonian ”wicked-hard” colloquialism as I reflect on a previous weekly commute from the West to the East Coast for a customer engagement.  People in the office would often use ”wicked-hard” to describe some of the technological and people collaboration challenges.  I view people engagement in two categories that include 1) social engagement and 2) execution engagement.  It is estimated that the lack of engagement cost organizations approximately $550B in productivity loss each year.  That is a lot of productivity loss.

One question that I pose to agile, business, and executive coaches is what people and teams are missing because they are remote.  Recently, I spoke with a few agile coaches and they agree that social (casual) conversation is a key experience that is limited.  The ability to walk over to your colleague for a casual talk about sports, the kids, politics (no, not that!), and advice is now harder than ever.  A few of the experiences shared by the coaches to compensate for our distance were 1) teams are leaving open Slack channels to signal impromptu virtual meetups, 2) book clubs, and 3) virtual social events for happy hour and parties.  I would invite us to also practice the core protocol of “freedom” and allow our team members to “Check out” without judgement, explanation, or drama.  Each individual should be able to say , “I’m checking out”.  The benefit of creating social engagement while we are virtual will continue to help us build community and develop beneficial cultural experiences.

Beyond the social interaction between team members, we should not lose sight of the execution engagement that produces value for the organization.  In my coaching practice, I use a qualitative survey to help team members understand the level of engagement by probing the following:

* Understands the customer requests

* Takes initiative to lead without being asked

* Recommends solutions to problems and provide innovative ideas

* Contributes to technical and other conversations

* Meets Say – Do (Stories planned vs Stories done)

* Supports Dependent Team(s)

 

We apply the 360-feedback model that help team members use a blind selection practice to randomly provide feedback to each other.  Team members receive confidential and anonymous feedback from peers and others on cross functional teams who may also contribute.  The survey responses are measured using the following value ranges:

* 80%-100% - support the team’s focus to excel

* 60%-79% - monitor the patterns observed, influence to grow

* 59% and below – seek to understand and coach toward improvement

This model helps to build trust between the team members.  The frequency of this event usually take place every two or three months.  High-performing people contribute to high-performing teams and the work of leaders will be to create transparent methods that influence aspiration and engagement in this global pandemic.

Learn more by visiting www.knolshare.org

Music by: Kayanna Brow-Hendrikson

Copyright 2020 KnolShare and Dr. Dave Cornelius

Until next time, Be well, stay safe, and connect soon.

By: Dr. Dave Cornelius

You are the co-creator of Agile Retrospective with Esther Derby and now co-founder of the Agile Fluency Model, what are a few fun-facts that you would like to share about yourself?

Fun Facts? Perhaps some folks don’t know that I call myself @DianaOfPortland on Twitter for a few reasons. Though I grew up in Indiana and spent a few of my young adult years on the east coast and in California, I have always been drawn to Portland Oregon. After several false starts and visits as a teen and young adult, I finally moved to my “hometown” in the mid-1980’s and have lived here ever since. It feels like where I belong.

 

Q1: How are you feeling about the social unrest taking place in Portland and the you United States?

It is such a mix of emotions. I feel chagrin that my privilege has supported my inattention to the reasons for the unrest for years. Though my intentions have been to support fully equality, equity, and inclusion, the impact of my actions has been focused elsewhere and inadequate. I feel anxious for the young people who are in the forefront of the protests and for the future of the city and our communities. I feel proud of the young Black leaders of this movement and of their persistence. They represent the spirit of Portland well…though historically and up until the present they have not been full recipients of its bounty. I feel unfocused, frustrated anger that our systems have been created such that they leave so many of our community behind and give others a jump off the starting line. I feel hope for a better future.

 

Q2: According to historical reports, Oregon was founded on principles of white supremacy, it banned blacks from entering, living, or owning property in the state of Oregon.  How do you explain the support for the Black Lives Movement in Portland?

I can’t explain it. I’m not a sociologist.

The TV show Portlandia may have hinted at one answer. When the character says, “Portland is where young people come to retire,” he was only half right. Young white Millenials and GenZ’s have been drawn here. Decades ago, older activist hippie/yuppie-minded folks from the Boomer & X generations were drawn here. Perhaps for the natural beauty. Perhaps for the “Keep Portland Weird” slogan. People forget that Oregon has bucked the trends before. It was the only state where Eugene McCarthy (the anti-Vietnam War presidential candidate in 1969) won the Democratic primary by a landslide. Oregon is a state where people have stood up for their beliefs. For LGBTQA++ equality as well.

Those younger generation folks who have grown up with different, more inclusive media and community influences are finding their voices. Our Black young adult citizens have developed the skills and willingness to take leadership roles building on the role models of the Black Panther community leaders here in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Also, protests are not new in Portland. We have them as a regular response to what different groups see as events heading in the wrong direction. Wars. Economic conditions. Injustice of all kinds.

Those are some of my guesses. It’s highly complex, and it’s wonderful to see.

 

Q3: Have you ever had a conversation with a black person living in Portland about their experiences and agile community participation and engagement?

Yes, a few. Though not with as many as I’d like and not often enough. Because my work has largely focused outside of Oregon, most of my conversations with Black colleagues about agile have focused more broadly on agile practice and practitioners across geographies.

 

Q4: Imagine that we could use the five (5) stages of Agile Retrospective practices to understand the social injustice in Portland and Oregon as a whole,...

Rise of Emergent Leaders

Author: Dr. Dave Cornelius

 

Throughout my experience coaching product development teams I have witnessed individuals who risked being denied by others to lead when there was an opportunity.  These individuals are referred to as emergent leaders.  Emergent leaders are individuals who assume a leadership role without being assigned by their manager.  These informal leaders help to bring the best ideas directly from their lived experiences and work contexts.  When a situation presents itself, the emergent leader is open to serving in that moment.  My observation of the emergent leader is the demonstrated attributes that include: 1) servant leadership, 2) courage and 3) pursuit of craft mastery.  These three attributes help the informal leaders to serve without seeking reward, take on tough activities, and build their craft mastery.

In the season of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are leading in their community without assigned roles. You observe leadership in the social justice movement, parents becoming organizers for community learning for the neighborhood children, and athletes representing a cause with conviction.  You may wonder, how are distributed knowledge workers demonstrating emergent leadership. The reality is they will need help and partnership with assigned leaders (managers, directors, etc.) to bring their whole self to work.

Assigned leaders have an incredible opportunity to create nurturing environments that enable innovation freedom and emotional safety to give birth to people willing to walk into the uncomfortable emergent leadership role.  The leaders with assigned authority must cultivate a space where these informal leaders can emerge, bring energy, and actionable outcomes throughout the organization.

People celebrate high performing teams and they are often given the best assignments and admired for the outcomes achieved. High performing teams are known for being self-organizing, collaborative, and domain masters.  Emergent leaders are the cornerstone of high performing teams, which are the desired team dynamics of any leader in the organization.

This is the moment to practice the emergent leader behaviors in your organization.  As we are dispersed and sequestered in our homes, there are opportunities to find ways lean into serving team members.  There is no need to strive for perfection, but you can be helpful in leading team members toward becoming a high performing team by practicing emergent leadership.

 

Sponsors & Summary

We would like to thank our sponsor KnolShare for the continued support for this podcast.  Visit KnolShare.org to achieve your awesomeness through agile coaching and training, digital transformation strategy, agile organization development, lean business startup, and diversity and inclusion training.

We support lean thinking and agile life skills education through the 5 Saturdays program.  Visit 5Saturdays.org to donate your time, money, and knowledge.

Checkout Dr. Dave’s latest book Elastic Minds: What are you thinking? On Amazon.com.  You will also find his book Transforming your leadership Character: The lean thinking and agility way on Amazon.com.

Deepti Jain Social Justice Champion in India

Deepti is an Agile practitioner, experienced in creating, leading, and managing Agile teams in a distributed setup. She is an active Agile community builder in India and loves to connect and interact with people and prefers to call herself a Social Scientist. Always feel herself where technology meets people.

Based out of Gurgaon, she is very Agile to work with International and National Clients. To get access and share Agile abundance she founded “AgileVirgin” in 2015. In addition to Consulting, Coaching, and Training, AgileVirgin also runs a not-for-profit countrywide Communities of Practices. It’s flagship initiatives are AgilityToday, Agile-A-Thon, Funconf, and Change Agents Summit. Being first woman in India to start meetups, conferences/unconferences in Agile Space, she found a network of women was missing, she had nobody to support or mentor and so she started a forum the development and growth of women with name Women-in-Agile-and-Tech. Today W.A.T as 16 officers who run multiple initiatives and Programs (Visuellect, Gamify It, Agility A2Z, Unleash Yourself, Mentorship Program, and many more) globally.

Watch the Video Interview

Sponsors & Summary

We would like to thank our sponsor KnolShare for the continued support for this podcast.  Visit KnolShare.org to achieve your awesomeness through agile coaching and training, digital transformation strategy, agile organization development, lean business startup, and diversity and inclusion training.

We support lean thinking and agile life skills education through the 5 Saturdays program.  Visit 5Saturdays.org to donate your time, money, and knowledge.

Checkout Dr. Dave’s latest book Elastic Minds: What are you thinking? On Amazon.com.  You will also find his book Transforming your leadership Character: The lean thinking and agility way on Amazon.com.

Look for the KnolShare with Dr. Dave podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

The KnolShare with Dr. Dave Podcast is Streamed on GrokShare.com and KnolSharewithDrDave.com.

If you have any questions for Dr. Dave reach out on twitter @DrCorneliusInfo or @KnolShare.

This podcast and interview produced by Dr. Dave Cornelius

Music by: Kayanna Brow-Hendrikson

Until next time, find your awesomeness.

Copyright 2020 KnolShare and Dr. Dave Cornelius.