Agile in 2017: Is Culture Really The Issue? w/ Mike Cottmeyer

2017 is here and Mike Cottmeyer is ready. In this episode of SoundNotes, the CEO of LeadingAgile shares his thoughts on the primary issues facing organizations as they continue working to transform. There are many who claim culture is the main issue, but is that really the impediment to Organizational Agility?

ShowNotes

• 00:08 Interview Starts
• 00:47 How do you lead change in large organizations?
• 02:17 Is the biggest impediment to Agile really culture change? How do you do that at scale?
• 03:00 What is getting in the way of culture?
• 04:16 I can change my attitude and value system, but will the organization support that changed attitude and belief?
• 04:51 The mindset shift is just the starting point
• 07:15 How do you get 1,000 people to simultaneously have a mindset shift and then know what to go do
• 07:42 Is the industry still stuck? How do we get past wanting Agile to being able to do Agile?
• 08:12 A positive Agile culture has to be reinforced
• 10:07 The difference between culture and the basic actions you should do
• 11:29 Can you have the behavior without the culture system shift?
• 13:29 Can you use the mechanics to reach a desired end state without worrying about becoming Agile?
• 15:35 Where does Mike see the industry going in 2017?
• 19:49 Does the organization really need to understand how Agile works or can someone coach the organization into an Agile state?
• 22:02 How does the organization recognize the fundamentals of what needs to be changed to achieve Organizational Agility?
• 24:18 Does having data that explains the problem help strengthen the case for change?
• 25:10 Your organization is deeply flawed.
• 26:41 How are we going to measure that the problem was indeed solved?
• 28:07  The organizations are broken. Teaching them to want something is not enough. At some point you have to do the work.
• 30:00 If we teach culture change will people really self organize in the presence of constraints
• 31:19 Should everyone be more disruptive? Who designs the structure to support that?
• 32:18 Is there a point where you need to be more directive to help people become more Agile?
• 33:04 We are so myopically focused on self organization.
• 34:02 If i am an executive with limited time to learn and research, what do I focus on?
• 35:18 The problem is that people are overselling how Agile can work.
• 38:35 Do you want to do Agile on a team, or do you want to become an Agile organization?
• 39:08 How Agile do you need to be?
• 43:57 The music Mike has been listening to lately and is looking forward to listening to.
• 45:05 The one thing Mike wishes all the clients knew before he got into the room.
• 46:41 Closeout

Books Mentioned in the Podcast

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey http://amzn.to/2jUektH
• Christian Self-Mastery by B.W. Maturin http://amzn.to/2jU0cjZ
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn http://amzn.to/2jzO4DL

Music Mentioned in the Podcast

• Collective Soul  http://www.collectivesoul.com
• Peace Trail by Neil Young http://amzn.to/2kmlFBU

Reaching Mike

If you’d like to know more about Mike, or reach him with follow up questions: http://bit.ly/2kvoOyo

Feedback/Questions/Reaching Dave

If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com

LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes

For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/