Coach Dan's Blog

  Focus on what matters... I get to be in some incredible discussions.  This week I sat in on a Crew Leader's Meeting (Crew Lead, Product Owners, Tech Lead, Area Chapter Leads and Coaches.)   The Crew is refining their various roadmaps and aligning them to focus on Crew Goals.  The Crew Lead kicked us off with a review of our company's Five Business Priorities.  The discussion that followed was nothing short of inspiring.   While there is still work to do, I feel like everyone is  aligned with the business priorities and the crew goals .  They are editing their individual priorities to better align together, and are  putting in place a solid approach to work together to achieve their goals , and contribute to the things that are most important for the company! Row in the same direction... Imagine you're in a canoe on a small lake with your friend.  You both decide you  want  to visit the shore, and start paddling....

  We've Always Done It That Way... I heard that phrase this week.... "We've always done it that way." It was interesting, in an academic way, to observe the group I was with in the aftermath of those words.  I could actually see the body language of people change; people looking off screen, slumped shoulders, leaning back in their chairs.  One sentence unintentionally stifled discussion and disempowered the team from being curious and creative. Something to consider... I share the following story with new teams and leaders sometimes....  A scientist conducted an experiment in which they locked 5 monkeys in a room with a ladder.  On the top of that ladder the scientist placed fresh bunch of bananas.  Now every single time a monkey touched that ladder (because who wouldn't climb a ladder for a delicious bananas?) the scientist would spray all 5 monkeys with ice-cold water. After a while the monkeys learned their lesson and left the bananas alone! Not long aft...