Introducing Agile to The Indian Army

by Krishna Chodipilli | Dec 3, 2020 | Agile Coaching, Scrum Training

Introducing Agile to The Indian Army

The Intent

With twenty-four years in the Indian Army (Infantry and Army Aviation) and two years in the corporate environment, it has been my earnest endeavour to synthesise my learnings in service and deliver high-quality content to my clients as part of Leadership Tribe. What I deliver in my training, they are sourced from active combat situations in my postings and deployments as a counter-terrorism specialist, a combat helicopter pilot and a trainer in Organisational Behaviour at the College of Defence Management.

I have effectively incorporated military leadership and team performance lessons in my sessions as an Agile trainer, Coach, Facilitator and Consultant. Needless to say, my sessions on Agile focus on agility as a mindset, respecting the human element, developing cross-functional competencies, operating in VUCA situations and handling conflict scenarios; areas I have been trained and have consistently performed during my service in uniform.

It came as a pleasant surprise when I was invited to introduce ‘Agile’ in an Army base to explore possibilities of adopting new ways of working and thinking into their existing culture. It was now time to introduce new ways of ‘being’ and ‘doing’ to the very organisation which shaped me to what I am today. It was also an opportunity to ‘give back’ something of value.

The Approach

The Indian Army is an organisation steeped in legacy. Customs, traditions and ethos that have been fiercely guarded against external influences and lend themselves to a culture of high performance and selfless service. However, like any adaptive entity, it needs to embrace change to make itself relevant to a dynamic environment. I saw an opportunity to introduce Agile from an ontological approach. Emphasising more on the primacy of Agile as a ‘mindset’ and the need to acknowledge the importance of the human ‘being’. Using a psychological approach, the aim was to enlighten the participants (Senior Officers), to the art and science of “Being Agile”. The day-long engagement was more on discovering the various facets of the human mind and exploration through shared learning. It was a welcoming change to witness willful participation by the officers (despite the existing hierarchal influence that was present in the room) and the creation of a psychologically safe environment by none other than the Commandant himself.

Does the Military Need Agile?

The military works from the ‘ground-up’ with a core philosophy of building resilient teams responding to any situation or circumstance. They function under numerous processes and procedures that need revalidation and revision. Legacy habits need to be shed and new ways of thinking and operating need to be factored in. Management practices need are looked and substituted with more practical frameworks that are easy to adopt, flexible, responsive and consistent. Agile fulfils in these areas by contributing the following merits:

• Awareness on why any change/transformation can truly be manifested when stakeholder interest is driven from the very top
• Inculcating the true spirit of the Agile Mindset ushers in greater agility in the way things are done.
• Agile frameworks (Kanban, Scrum) implementation into existing processes and procedures.
• Change Management from a more enabling perspective by adopting the Agile way of ‘Being’.
• Facilitation and Coaching are skills that augment the efficiency of leadership (everyone is a leader here). Training to be an Agile coach and facilitator opens up new vistas for officers to address complex man-management issues much more effectively.
• Brings in a fresh perspective and creativity to problem-solving, especially issues that are sourced from human interactions.

How we Benefit? 

Leadership Tribe in its relentless pursuit to push the domain of Agile as a Mindset into significant ‘Non – IT’ environments have leapt faith by engaging with the officers of the Indian Army. The willingness of the officers of the Army to know more from us about ‘Being Agile” and the opportunity to adopt an Agile Mindset has been a significant milestone in our journey so far. It is an engagement of mutual benefit where Agile will be fostered in its true form. Our learning from this initiative will be ploughed back into our programs thereby enriching the learning experience of our clients.

Elephants or Mice: Which of the Two Possess the Agile Mindset?

by Krishna Chodipilli | Dec 3, 2020 | Agile Coaching

Well, I could have also said “Lions or Sloths” or “Eagles or Roosters”, but I’m sure you get the drift. Let’s just stick to Elephants and Mice, for I’m sure, you just don’t look at them as animals but also associate other basic human characteristics with them. Elephant: Wise, Powerful, Genial, Big! and Mice on the other hand: tiny, busy, annoying and unclean?

So, if the association is so stark and its common knowledge to figure out that Elephants do stand apart from Mice, then does it also mean that Mice are non-essential resources in an earthly ecosystem? Does the planet also share the same perception that humans have regarding who out of the two possess a better ‘mindset’?

I’m aware that there exists a thought that it is ludicrous to opine that animals cannot possess a mindset, let alone an Agile Mindset! Before you brand me as an Agile dilettante, let me clear the air by admitting that my intent is to contextualise ‘mindset’ in an Agile environment. Using an Elephant and Mice is with a purpose. A purpose is drawn from an awareness that the human mind demonstrates similar behavioural characteristics that are also displayed by an Elephant or a Mouse. Our mind is an Elephant and a Mouse!

The Elephant and the Mouse are anthropomorphic. Individual human beings establish a set of attitudes that define them and their existence, which denotes the Mindset. Now, the mind assumes this identity, and hence, possibilities of the mind displaying characteristics of an Elephant or a Mouse are quite high.

So which mindset works better? A mindset of an Elephant or the mindset of a Mouse? Which of the two, given an option, should we adopt in an Agile practice? To answer that, let us examine certain enduring realities that we co-exist with:

Adapt or Perish

Earth, for some strange reason, allows creatures to just survive. Either the creature adapts or it perishes. Earth is unforgiving in this regard. She offers resources which she does not deliver at the doorstep, they are meant to be sought after. It is for the animals to seek them out for survival, and in the process, they adapt to Earths policies and procedures. Those that don’t, are unceremoniously obliterated with no sign of remorse. Earth does not adapt; she expects all to adapt to her. Humans have tried to tinker with her, and have consistently paid a heavy price. Hence, Elephants and Mice are equal as far as the question of their survival is in this habitat, they both have submitted to adapt to the changing environments. Both of them have learnt to adapt to the resources bestowed to them and have made the most of them.

Homeostasis

The tendency to maintain harmony and balance between interdependent elements, especially governed by psychological processes is Homeostasis. Everything in the multiverse is in fine balance. One cannot create out of anything and therefore there exist consequences. Consequences, is a manifestation of action, a result from doing or not doing. The mind is defined by these consequences. Be it an Elephant or a Mouse, they both leave an ecological signature on this planet because they are always doing things or avoiding doing things as part of the delicate balance for survival. This is applicable to every single animal. The scheme is to exist in this cosmic balance by either action or reaction till termination. So irrespective if you are an Elephant or a Mouse, you exist and that existence is in a balance outside your cognitive perception.

Most Agile practitioners understand ‘mindset’ and then do the unthinkable. They contextualise their mind. Context is good to simplify and comprehend information. It aids expression and communication. However, context also establishes boundaries. It creates a restriction on free will.

An elephant lives in a context of:

• I identify with my heard (dependency in action)
• I need to care for my young/ herd until they can be on their own (social responsibility)
• I can be tamed by humans (willingness to change)
• That rope around my feet holds me down (limiting beliefs)
• Anger for me is violence (self-control)

A mouse lives in a context of:

• I am myself (freedom of action)
• I need to be constantly aware of my surroundings (social and self-awareness)
• I shall thrive in numbers (social co-existence)
• I won’t be tamed by humans easily (unwilling to change)
• I crave for food (instant gratification)

As an Agilist the emphasis is on the “Being’, having a mindset that does not anchor itself to any contextual phenomena. A mind that can be an Elephant and Mouse on free will.

Not many leaders switch effortlessly between an elephant or a mouse in their organizations. Similarly, many Agilists are not as agile as their organization wants them to be. This is the road less taken. An agile mindset does not hold onto barriers. It adapts by choice to achieve the best fit. Agile mindset provokes actions that are indicative of a desire to constantly improve and operate in known and unknown risks. An Agile mindset is not discouraged by failures.

To return to the title of this article, which of these two animals reflect an Agile Mindset?

Well, the answer lies in the fact that these two are the extremities of the mindset spectrum. Both possess agility in their own domains. What is essential is that one needs to harness the elephant and the mouse in oneself and adapt to the situation. The key to mindset is to know when to harness one and exploit the other and never succumb to either at any given point.

Business Agility: Understanding The Human Element

by Krishna Chodipilli | Dec 3, 2020 | Leadership Tribe

The Premise

The fundamental objective of any business is to earn revenue. Business can only exist when there is a transaction for money. If money isn’t being transacted, then it is charity. However, Business is also NOT about making money. Technically no business can ‘make’ money. Making money is the responsibility of the government mint! Businesses, or organisations, can only ‘create’ money.

Creation of money simply means to channelize the money that exists in the market into the organisation system. Anything and everything that ensures an uninterrupted flow in this channel may be considered ‘doing business’. In fact, the efficiency of the business is directly proportional to the flow of money into the system. The more seamless the flow is, the more efficient is the business.

The flow of money, or revenue, is dependent on transactions. A give and take. Give something in return for its money value. This ‘Give’ can be either a product or a service or both. There is, however, a caveat. Business is not about a ‘give and take’. Business is more to do about human perception towards the ‘given and take’. Money is a creation of mankind. It has an unnatural existence on this planet, hence is governed more by the forces of the human system than laws of nature.

The Intent

If money is the key for a business and money is a creation of human beings, then logically: Business is not about money, but more about the Human Being. It isn’t really about focusing on the channel which generates the money in the business. It is more to do with the channel(s) that are governed by human influences. Businesses, therefore, to thrive need to be sensitive to the ‘human factor’ at all times.

The world today is bombarded with technological innovation. Innovation fulfils instant gratification. Not only does a person want a choice in ‘what’ to consume, but he also exercises a choice in the ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘where’ of the consumption. Businesses today can no longer enjoy the luxury of creating its own strategy on the might of its product or services. The product or service isn’t the locus anymore, the ‘human element’ associated in each of its business processes is. Companies that failed to keep this in mind, failing to continuously monitor the ‘pulse’ of the human element, have perished. Markets of today are seamless and heavily influenced by the flow of information and human perception. Businesses, therefore, cannot be reactive. They cannot afford to be predictive either since human consumption patterns are not stable and enduring. What if the need of the hour is to adapt and respond? Adapt to the fast-changing consumption landscape and respond to environmental realities. Both these are dependent on the ability to be quick and flexible. Hence, businesses have to be agile. Imbibe the agility of quickly responding and adapting to its internal and external work environments.

A systemic transformation to Agile is one such opportunity that is available for businesses (irrespective of size or nature) to not only survive but also prosper in the market. Business Agility is one such methodology that encapsulates the essence of Agile fundamentals with sound business practices.

Business Agility, therefore, is the ability of an enterprise to operate efficiently in an environment of chaos and disruption. This ability is not confined to management alone. It has to permeate into four fundamental spaces that exist in the organisation. Business Agility is about being responsive to People, Processes, Product and Environment. All actions directed in meeting the emergent requirements of these four aspects of business is the scope in which Business Agility is pitched at.

The Scope

The fundamentals of Business Agility fulfil the undermentioned purposes of a Business. Some of the undermentioned are from the learning outcomes of the ICP-BAF course and have been highlighted to fit the context:

• Operating in Chaos: Understanding an environment of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) and successfully operating in it.
• Identifying the North Star: Organisations need an enduring foundation of new values and principles in order to be persistent and maintain direction.
• Tactical Agility: Competition is all about creating self-organised teams with the right mix of cognitively diverse people who are closest to the customer experience and empowered to make decisions to achieve customer delight.
• Customer Delight: Need to collaborate with customers, to solve problems they might not even know they have.
• Creating a Common Purpose: Why a strong sense of purpose is essential to enable high-performance. How they become a key source of inspiration, engagement, commitment and organisational cohesion.
• Strategic Thinking: Focus on the big picture and generating a vision of what the future will look like can help an organisation plan backwards to identify the steps to make it happen.
• Focus on the Human Element: Understand how to identify and empathise with customers in order to deliver differentiating value and customer experiences.
• The emphasis of Being Agile: Adopting a growth mindset (the belief that talents and abilities are not static, but can be developed and improved).
• Key Performance Indicators: Results need to be empirically measured to determine actual vs. planned benefits to inform pivot vs. persevere decisions

Business Agility is all about the Human Element in Business. How we focus, address and strategize on achieving strong and enduring human relationships in each function of the business is the essence of the talk. At Leadership-Tribe, we approach this topic from an ontological perspective (Science of Being) and use empiricism (knowledge derived from the senses) to enable greater understanding, so that it can be implemented as an effective methodology for deriving business outcomes. Get in touch with us to know more about how you can profit from this subject, both as an enterprise stakeholder or an Agile proponent.

Behavioural Biases that Inflict Agile Transformation

by Krishna Chodipilli | Dec 2, 2020 | Agile Coaching

Transformation and change are complementary. If you need to achieve lasting change there is a need to doctor inner engineering of people, processes and procedures. And to truly transform from one space of performance to another, needs the acceptance to change, the acceptance to shift status quo.

Agile Transformation demands the necessary components of transformation and change.

To amplify my point; We change our clothes every day. We changed, but we did we transform? Now consider the magic of a uniform (having worn eight different ones in my life in the armed forces). That uniform, when worn, does not only change you, it transforms you into a realm of high performance. Each time I wore my flying overalls, I just didn’t change clothes, I transformed into an asset. An asset of high performance in an extremely volatile environment.

Epistemologically, Change and Transformation in human behaviour exist in as ontological phenomena. One can assign any number of objective metrics to measure Change or Transformation, but the true impact on performance is difficult to extrapolate. This is because humans exist in the realm of cognitive associations. We operate from frames of references. Frames created by conscious and subconscious biases,

Human Cognitive Biases Impact Agile Transformation. Most of the time, Agile Transformation roll out goes off the projected trajectory because metrics supersedes cognitive behaviour. We do not plot the various biases that can surface or exist in the overall transformation strategy.

Any Transformation, more so an Agile Transformation, is people-centric. Therefore, we just cannot afford to ignore the behaviours they would display in the transformation process.

Some of the common biases that influence an Agile Transformation process are generated from Cultural and Social moorings. They are in no way exhaustive, just the tip of the Mindset Iceberg. However, any Agile Coach or Facilitator in an Agile Transformation journey must imbibe awareness on their existence.

The top five Cognitive Biases that exist in an Agile Transformation process are:

Bias #1. The Imposter Syndrome

A bias that is universally in existence, surpassing caste, culture and creed, and the most influential bias that impedes performance. Ever felt you are not that good enough or are not too confident to execute a task although you have all requisite qualifications to do the job well? Well, that is the Imposter Syndrome at work. This bias is defined as a “persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills. People suffering from impostor syndrome may be at increased risk of anxiety”. Agile Transformation projects often hit roadblocks because of the Imposter Syndrome afflicting the team members. It is, therefore, necessary to identify when such biases crop up in the Agile transformation road map.

Bias #2. Kruger Dunning Syndrome

This bias is evident in higher levels of management or by those people who possess definite skill sets. It gets all the more prominent by those with Fixed Mindsets. Notice how professionals who have excelled in a particular field tend to assert their intellectual dominance in other areas where they have little or no prior knowledge? That is the Kruger Dunning Syndrome at work. It is defined as a “cognitive bias in which people assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability”. In simple words, people with more knowledge and negligible experience in a particular field tend to assert themselves as ‘experts’ and thereby influence this false perception over people around them.

Noticing the presence of the Kruger Dunning Effect in management during an Agile Transformation is a vital coaching and facilitation skill.

Bias #3. Confirmation Bias

This bias is defined as the “tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories”. Ever noticed how the initial sceptics of the Agile Transformation are eager to press the brakes each time the project encounters a challenge? The ” I told you so” and ” I always knew it” proponents? Well, that is classic Confirmation Bias at play. Confirmation Bias emerges from Comfort Zones. People who are comfortable to operate from the status quo are actually a victim of this bias. It is imperative to identify this bias and address it quickly in order to clear transformation impediments.

Bias #4. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

This bias is double-edged. It can be utilised to either initiate new performance or hamper an existing one. The bias is defined as ” the phenomenon of someone “predicting” or expecting something, and this “prediction” or expectation comes true simply because one believes it will, and their resulting behaviours align to fulfil those beliefs. This suggests peoples’ beliefs influence their actions”. While a Confirmation Bias is about the subjectivity of evidence of action, the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy is about the prediction of actions. Vision statements, Mission Ideals, Performance Road Maps, Manifestos and Promises are all dependent on the prevailing Self-Fulfilling Prophecy that emanates from the stakeholders. Every Agile Transformation Project should be accurately assessed with the prevailing Self-Fulfilling Prophecy that exists in various levels of management. A variance in the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy at any of the levels of functional execution will create a hindrance in the strategic outcomes. A good coach will always have a keen eye on the synchronicity of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of the various stakeholders in an Agile Transformation process and bring any inconsistency to the table without delay.

Bias #5. Cognitive Dissonance

A bias that emanates from conflict of cognitive learnings. Learnings both from knowledge and experience that are in conflict with existing beliefs and truth sets thereby creating inconsistency in thoughts. It is defined as “the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change.” Cognitive Dissonance is largely an outcome of Nature and Nurture. The environments we grew up in and experienced our learning behaviours from. Notice how issues of racism, sexism, feudalism, caste and religion create discomfort amongst seemingly intellectual professionals? Well, that Cognitive Dissonance at play. A conflict between what I always believed to be the truth and the alternate view that I’m now being presented with. This bias afflicts coaches, facilitators and Agile Transformation initiators too! Therefore, the necessity for express introspection and self-awareness during the entire stretch of the transformation journey by primary stakeholders.

Cognitive Biases are ubiquitous in any environment where there exists a people connect. They are ever-present and a natural human phenomenon that occurs whenever humans interact. It is absolutely vital to be well versed in the existence of such human biases in an organisational context so that they are accurately identified and addressed. Agile Transformations without the element of this viral observation is bound to get grounded. We at Leadership-Tribe are not only aligned but consider it a fundamental prerequisite to educate our clients and transformation stakeholders on the importance of such biases at play. We are also cognizant of the fact that our trainers, coaches and facilitators are also constantly aware of the various biases that creep in during the transformation journey. The biases covered in this article are just a slice of the pie. Connect with us to discover more on the how and why an experiential knowledge of Cognitive Biases augments the successful implementation of an Agile Transformation process. We would love to hear your views and thoughts on this issue.