Agile Notes (No. 47)

It's not about you. It's about the team.

Happy Friday! Thanks for reading. We continue with Collaboration Explained by Jean Tabaka. This week, we move on to Chapter 6: Preparing Yourself As the Process Owner.

I have to say that I think I misjudged this book at the beginning. As I settle in to it, I am realizing there is tremendous value within it. I was turned off because it felt like this book was for Big Room, Live, and In Person facilitation. Put your flip charts around the room, make sure you have PILES of multi-color post it notes, etc. And the book IS for that - but there is so much more. There is so much material. So much guidance for specific types of meetings you are hosting, mc’ing or whatever you want to call it. (Just don’t call it “running” the meeting. It’s not your meeting. It is the team’s meeting.)

This week is no exception. You are not the meeting owner. You are not the process owner. You don’t lead the team. As Tabaka writes,

…you must preserve your neutrality and remove your ego from the team success, which in effect makes the process and decisions of the team highly visible instead of yourself.

Another of the recommendations from Lyssa Adkins is The Tao of Holding Space by Chris Corrigan. I am currently reading it and it is MIND BLOWING. I don’t know if I can even write about it. I am not even sure I understand it. But it resonates. But this section from Tabaka is about creating/opening a space for the team and holding it open so they can do the work.

When you have a highly performing, collaborative team you are NOT out in front. You are not the Team Leader. The team leads itself. This concept is so OUTSIDE everything I know that it almost…hurts. But collective process ownership should look like what Tabaka is showing in this very short section.

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