The Era of Coporporate Heroes

 

• Prime/OS : Prime/OS is a process developed by Daniel Mezick to gently facilitate change in companies.

• Cultural anthropology : study of human beings and human societies.

• Liminal Thinking (book, web site) : create change by understanding your beliefs and transforming them. Dave Gray.

The Dark Side of Heroes

 

• Karpman drama triangle : relational model developed by Stephen B. Karpman M.D. to explain the complex dynamics between several people.

A Phenomenon That Eats Away at Your Company from Within

 

• Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness : Frédérc Laloux's book takes an innovative look at organizations and their ways of working.

• The resource utilization trap : Henrik Kniberg explains the effects and costs of multitasking.

• Multitasking Name Game : The aim of this exercise by Henrik Kniberg is to simulate the effects of multitasking and measure the time lost.

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success : Carol S. Dweck's book on the different states of mind we develop.

• Failure: The Secret to Success : Robby Slaughter's book on learning from mistakes.

Don’t Go Hunting for Heroes

 

• Reflection on the persecutor, rescuer and victim postures : reflection exercise.

• Recognize the effects of heroes in your workplace : reflection exercise.

• Identifying the tipping point : reflection exercise.

Six Strategies to Outwit Everyday Heroes

 

• Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition : book by Lyssa Adkins that inspired me in my early days of Agile coaching. It was also in this book that I realized that using "yes and" was better than "yes but".

• Counting the number of "yes but" in a meeting : practical exercise to develop your listening skills and sensitivity to this formulation.

• Mob programming : large-group method of working on a topic, inspired by pair work.

• Joy, Inc. : How We Built a Workplace People Love : Richard Sheridan's book on how his company relies on working in pairs.

• The Culture Game: Tools for the Agile Manager : Daniel Mezick's book explains several tactics for good meetings, including appointing someone to act as facilitator.

• Practice putting the dictionary away : reflection exercise.

• Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change : book by Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres, in which the practice of working in pairs is well described.

How to End Hero Culture Within the Company

 

• Conway's Law : The essence of Conway's law is that the way a company is organized is replicated in the work performed by its teams. So, we can make the following hypothesis: "The phenomenon of hero culture in companies is a reflection of the communication structure."

• Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects : Johanna Rothman's book explains the effects of multitasking on company-wide planning and how to better manage your project portfolio.

• Manifesto for Agile Software Development : Set of values and principles of the Agile movement.

• Google re :Work, Guide : Understand Team Effectiveness : Google search results to understand what makes work teams effective.

• The Agile Mind-Set: Making Agile Processes Work : Gil Broza's book on developing the Agile Mindset. He also supports the idea of not using the word "resources" to refer to people (chapter 4 People Are Not Resources).

• Team Competency Matrix : template for the Management 3.0 group exercise to understand a team's current skills and gaps.

• Karoshi  : Japanese word for people who die because of their work

• PDCA : a simple way of experimenting developed by Walter A. Shewhart, but best known for the work of William Edwards Deming.

When I'm the Hero

 

• Neuro learning : Les neurosciences au service de la formation : book (in French) by DR Nadia Medjad, Philippe Gil and Philippe Lacroix, in which it is mentioned that our attention rapidly diminishes after 10 min.

• Story Mapping : Jeff Patton's technique for splitting and planning his work.

• Thinking in Promises: Designing Systems for Cooperation : book by Mark Burgess, in which he explains not to make commitments (promises) on behalf of others, or you'll fail.

• The Elegant Self : A Radical Approach to Personal Evolution for Greater Influence In Life : Rob McNamara's book, in which he explains the trap of always wanting to surpass ourselves and how this blocks our development.

• Impostor Syndrome : linked to the need to never be good enough and to always want to surpass oneself.

• The Power of Vulnerability : TED talk by Brené Brown on the importance of being vulnerable to help create bonds of trust.

Pick the Right Strategies

• Counting the number of "yes but" in a meeting : a practical exercise to develop your listening skills and sensitivity to this formulation.

• Pomodoro Technique : a technique developed by Francesco Cirillo to maintain focus while working.

• Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great : book written by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen on techniques for facilitating team retrospectives.

Reinventing the Hero Attitude

 

• Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results : book by William A. Adams and Robert J. Anderson on the shift in perspective needed to move from reactive to creative.

• The Power of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic) : book by David Emerald explaining the new creative postures (challenger, coach and creator)

• The 4 Ways of Leading : The Conscious Leadership Group's guide to new postures.

• Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven-Development (Net Objectives Lean-Agile Series) : book by Ken Pugh describing a method for ensuring that customer needs are fully understood and met with the right solution.

• VUCA (« Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity ») : leadership theory by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus on why companies and employees need to adapt.

How to Shatter the Hero Culture

 

• Prime/OS : Prime/OS is a process developed by Daniel Mezick to gently facilitate change in companies.

• Liminal Thinking (book, web site) : create change by understanding your beliefs and transforming them. Dave Gray.