Here you are—leading a team. You see problems, inefficiencies in how work is done. Clearly, there are things to change in your control. Maybe the next project should have more thoughtful planning, or the technology needs to change. You raise these issues with your boss, directors, any leader you meet. What happens in the aftermath of…

People in the tech industry are familiar with the many types of agile meetings. Stand-ups, retrospectives, planning – these types of meetings are all well known to us. What if you’ve never been part of an agile team before? I recently encountered this when a colleague of mine asked me: “How do your engineering teams…

It’s the same daily standup you’ve been attending for years. You show up at the same time. Enjoy some small talk with your teammates. The facilitator eventually asks how yesterday went with someone’s work. Updates are given. Details about one’s schedule in the past 24 hours. They end by explaining their plan for the current…

Here you are, sitting in your regular 1-1 with your boss. You expected it would be a routine check-in with her – “How have you been?”, “What’s the latest status on yesterday’s support bug?”. Then she gets to her update. Dale, a peer manager, has decided to leave the company. You will be leading their…

The ability facilitate collaborative meetings is a critical skill for leaders. When done well, the facilitator creates an engaging discussion that has high attendance and prevents boredom. Most importantly, it creates an advantage for the team by aligning the group on the meeting’s topics.  Accomplishing these goals with consistency as a facilitator takes time. Each…