Lead with Purpose

I was walking through the airport the other day and a young family was walking in front of me. The father was trying to get control of a very precocious three-year-old, and the mother made a statement I thought was really powerful. She told her daughter to 'walk with purpose'. At first I thought it was kind of cute, and understood it to mean that she should respect and understand her surroundings. Those of you that know me know that one of my biggest pet peeves is when people are not aware of their surroundings (spatially aware), especially in an airport. Seeing these young parents striving to teach that to their daughter reminded me how important it is to apply it to our lean agile leadership. How many of us actually 'lead with purpose'?  How many are setting a pace and a direction where people can walk with purpose, and are spatially aware of their organization's direction?  

A client of mine (let's call her Jennifer) sent this out to her team prior to our SAFe® for Teams training.

"Shu Ha Ri is an agile adoption pattern. It is the Japanese art of mastery and often used in martial arts and a pattern I intend for us to follow as we start our SAFe journey. As with everything, there are critics with legitimate points. So, I'm going to take some liberties with the concept but still feel the spirit of Shu Ha Ri is there. I plan for us to:

1) learn from the SAFe experts and do it the way they suggest,

2) spend time practicing and mastering our SAFe practices, and

3) adjust and tweak as needed.

What will we not do (“anit-patterns”)? We will not do these three things out of order. We will not refuse to do things that smart, knowledgeable, experienced people who understand us recommend. We will not feel we are so unique and special that we can't learn from the outside world. We will not throw a recommended practice out the minute it becomes difficult or we see hints of imperfection. When the time is right (after we do 1 and 2), we will not be afraid to make changes or trust our judgement. We will not adopt a SAFe practice just because SAFe says we should do it – instead, we will get solidly educated and partner with SAFe experts and determine which ones we should adopt when. We will not throw everything at you at once (but, admittedly it could kind of feel that way at first because change can do that!).

This is very important: We will not turn our brains off and blindly do something because someone told us to. What I'm asking is that you recognize that our brains will be much better after we do 1 and 2. 😊 Don't turn your brain off...it is needed for all steps: 1, 2, and 3. Just don't forget to recognize that none of us are SAFe experts and we need to have humility and adaptability. I've been seeing it. Keep it up!!!!"

This leadership team went further.  During their first PI Planning session all the leadership wore bunny slippers (the Product Manager wears a size 15, that was a bit frightening...) to signify their servant leadership attitude.  To further quote Jennifer

"as it relates to our SAFe journey, is this:  don't be hard on yourself or others...let us try things, make mistakes, even bump into some walls.  guess what?  our soft, fluffy bunny slippers may hit the wall first and it won't hurt.  when you make a "mistake", learn something, brush yourself off, and get back into the game.  don't make it a big deal.  don't make it a big deal when others make a mistake."  

I thought this was one of the most powerful examples of lean agile leadership I have seen in a long time. Jennifer was being not meek and humble, but bold and brave, all well setting a direction without being command and control.  Servant leadership does not mean that you take a backseat. Servant leadership means that you create the right environment to allow and encourage others to move forward. Servant leadership is not mild, it is bold  brash, very often quite brave, but needs to exhibit the same sense of "walk with a purpose" displayed by this young couple in the airport, and by Jennifer and her team.

If you are in a leadership position (and that really means all of us in some way), look at how you exhibit servant leadership qualities.  Are you leading by example?  Are you creating an environment that creates other leaders, and strengthens their ability to lead?  Are you holding others accountable to the same behavior?  Are you wearing your bunny slippers?  To Lead with Purpose requires strength of character, courage, and a humble attitude that openly states "I'm learning right alongside you".