A common impediment I hear when introducing Agile ways of working into an organization is "I don't have time for …<fill in the blank with any Agile related practice>." It's a universal refrain from Agile neophyte managers and team members alike.

As Agile practitioners, one of our biggest challenges is getting people new to Agile to invest time in learning, practicing and supporting the new ways of working. Time that they don’t have because it’s all used up doing things the old way. The problem is especially wicked when it comes to managers. Are managers in your emerging Agile organization taking time with the Agile Teams? The role of managers in an Agile environment is still very much a work in progress. At the same time, management support is key to any major change initiative. How often have we heard “I’d like to visit the teams but I don’t have time”, “Sorry, my calendar is triple-booked” or something similar?

What if time wasn't a non-renewable resource and zero-sum game? What if we could grow time?

This talk will share some simple tools that you can introduce to your stakeholders so that they can build their own time machines to support and accelerate change.

"We've held the town-hall to announce the transformation. We've distributed the buttons, mugs and t--shirts. We've even had every leader meet with their teams to roll down the transformation goals. And yet we don't seem to be making any progress?"

Does this sound familiar? How are the change initiatives in your organization going? Do they seem to be missing something but you're not sure exactly what?Many organizations launch change initiatives, like moving to agile ways of working by stating "what" the change will be. Very little time is spent explaining "why" the change is necessary. A critical success factor for any change initiative is a clear, simple and consistent "Why" for the change. Its raison d'etre. Simon Sinek popularized the phrase "Start with why". Start with why? Absolutely yes.

But don't stop there. "Why" isn't enough. "Why" is only part of the story. It's the middle. A good story needs a beginning and an end too. A coherent "Why" bridges the gap between start and finish.

This talk will share some simple yet powerful concepts and tools to help any change agent facilitate the telling of a good change story so that their stillborn or sluggish change initiatives start gaining momentum.

Is it too much of a stretch to ask managers in an emerging Agile environment to become "Servant Leaders"?

According to both VersionOne's State of Agile Report and the Harvard Business Review, "Culture" is the #1 challenge for organizations adopting and scaling Agile. But what's feeding that challenge? The people at the very top are dazzled by the potential of Agile for both top-line and bottom-line improvements. The people at the grassroots of Agile are excited by growth in both autonomy and personal mastery. But where does this leave the people in the middle - the managers who proudly guided the day-to-day operation of the business? What's in it for them? The last three annual VersionOne State of Agile Reports identified "Management support" as one of the top 3 challenges to the success of Agile. Why is that? Could it be that whenever managers ask what their role becomes in an Agile environment, our rote answer as Agile practitioners typically includes the words "Servant Leader"? And how often has our answer been met with a quizzical look from managers as they anchor on the word "servant"? This talk will:

• Explore the obstacles to introducing servant leadership in a traditionally managed organization
• Introduce a way forward for both managers and staff to adapt to a servant leadership paradigm
• Identify the role HR can take to support management on their journey of change

Moving from traditional leadership to servant leadership will require managers and staff alike to change. In the words of a senior manager: "I've come to realize that the organization's Agile transformation needs to start with my own personal transformation". To bridge the gap, managers and staff will need empathy and practical guidance. The intent of this talk will be to start building that bridge leveraging the Arbinger Institute's Pyramid of Influence.