Thank you for reading my blog and continuing to inspire me.
3 Things to do before you wrap up 2017
Lets get straight to the point, the year just went by.
- Revise your job profile and interest- because you have a specific job title doesn't mean you cannot rethink or change it. The goal is to always be updated and be in a job that aligns with your interests. This means:
- Observe the market shifting- and get yourself a new certification or learn something new. Websites like Coursera allow you to enrol for them without having to pay a dime. You join the course of your choice and learn and if you want the certification you can pay.
- Be thankful and take a break- to revise your goal and intentions you need to remove yourself from the current environment. You can reset your goals every quarter or once in two years. This means you dont need a sabbatical to decide the course of your life- it could be couple of hours in your favorite coffee shop. For me personally, this year (in fact starting today), I am taking a couple of weeks off where I can travel and revise my goals.
- Find a sponsor- mentors are life changing but a sponsor is mandatory. A sponsor is also rather difficult to find,someone who will play a very active role in promoting you and ensuring you are in a role that interests you and climbing up the ladder. 3 ways to find a sponsor:
- Have a work ethic- project your work personality and what you stand for.
- Talk about your goal/career path- figure out where you want to career path to be at and then talk about it with your manager, mentors and sooner or later you will find your sponsor.
- Prove your worth- this is a no brainer, you have to prove you have it in you and are ready to work for it. No one will be willing to take a risk on you otherwise.
(Pic courtesy: Google images)
Interactions within Agile Teams- The SCARF Model
“In a world of
increasing interconnectedness and rapid change, there is a growing need to
improve the way people work together. Understanding the true drivers of human
social behavior is becoming ever more urgent in this environment.”- David Rock
We talk about creating self-organizing team and encouraging
team dynamics in Agile but what we forget to mention is how it should be done.
This is where SCARF model comes in- Social
neuroscience explores the biological foundations of the way humans relate to
each other and to themselves. From this a theme emerges from social
neuroscience- Firstly, that much of our motivation driving social behavior is
governed by an overarching organizing principle of minimizing threat and
maximizing reward.
Which simply put means we have to ensure our Lizard brain
(the part which tells you not to change, take a risk and ensure you continue to
live by keeping you safe from trying out unknown things) doesn’t feel
threatened at any point.
The SCARF model involves five
domains of human social experience: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, relatedness
and Fairness. These 5 domains will either trigger the rewards or the threat
thought process. This also means even
during conversations you want to “rewards” trigger to go. This will ensure
positive discussion and participation plus engagement.
Certainty and Autonomy out of the
five is directly related to you. For example- do you feel empowered that you
can make your decision in the current job title? The empowerment cannot be influenced by anyone else.
The other three Status,
Relatedness and Fairness are all influenced by “others”…. Like do you feel you
are treated fairly?
So, this is a mix bag of social
influence which allows you to feel empowered and positive or otherwise. The
dynamics can be created, so if you are a team member or scrum master or manage
a team- you need to ensure that these 5 fundamental cornerstones are all in the
positive side of things. If by using all of these, we can ensure that a sense
of fulfillment, balance and progress within team members can be created- the
self-organization will start forming very soon.
Here are 3 ways to build on the improve
the team collaboration:·
- Explain the change (why) - don’t enforce without talking about the big picture.
- Show why it matters to them(how)- how it can impact them and what usually happens
- What is expected from a specific role (what)- being articulate about the responsibility of a scrum team/member
If we are successful in ensuring all of these are considered, the team dynamics and communication will be positive.
(Pic courtesy: Google images)
