Viktor Bezhenar @ Kharkiv PM Day - Delegation and Empowerment: Lessons Learned

Lessons LearnedDELEGATION AND EMPOWERMENT

Viktor Bezhenar, Account Delivery Manager @Levi9, Kharkiv PM Day, March 2017

WHO I AM?

• 5+ years in team leadership/management positions

• Levi niner• CSM, CSPO by Scrum Alliance• Expertise in project, process,

product management• Math Graduate KNU, 2012• Management and Leadership

PMD, MIM-Kyiv, 2015• Experience in sales, marketing,

technology• Entrepreneur by heart• Conference Speaker

DECEMBER 2015

• Started with a new projectScrum Team – 5 people

• A few more dying assignments• Desire to change status quo

FEBRUARY 2017

Team Gouda

Team Maasdam

Nu Adverteren

Click Tracker

Team 3 SLA

Outstaffing

SchoolbankStartpaginaTeam 4

<=20 FTE <=40 FTE

HOW IT ENDED UP

No Managers, only Scrum

masters grown

Managers & Scrum Masters for SLA & Click

Tracker + growing SMs from the

team leads

IF I WOULD NOT START TO DELEGATE

I would rather not grow or I would burn out

HOW I WAS ABLE TO MANAGE ALL THAT?

BEING A MANAGER AS A CATALYST

IT IS ALL ABOUT PEOPLE

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER AS A CATALYST

Select People

• One of the most important decisions you are making

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER AS A CATALYST

Select People

• One of the most important decisions you are making

• Always be involved

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER AS A CATALYST

Select People

• One of the most important decisions you are making

• Always be involved • Believe to your gut feeling

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Set Expectations

• Share the project plans and goals

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Set Expectations

• Share the project plans and goals• Create a transparent process and make sure

it is clear and followed

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Set Expectations

• Share the project plans and goals• Create a transparent process and make sure

it is clear and followed• Share your and customer’s feedback

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Set Expectations

• Share the project plans and goals• Create a transparent process and make sure

it is clear and followed• Share your and customer’s feedback• Tell exactly what do you expect:

• Make and keep the customer happy;• Gain the specific expertise• Being focused on maximization of

deliverables• Building the best Scrum or whatever

else

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Motivate, Encourage

People

• Help to set the goal

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Motivate, Encourage

People

• Help to set the goal• Show that you care about having this goal

done and ready to support

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Motivate, Encourage

People

• Help to set the goal• Show that you care about having this goal

done and ready to support• Don’t create a motivational debt by being

bossy: people must be asked to do a job

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Motivate, Encourage

People

• Help to set the goal• Show that you care about having this goal

done and ready to support• Don’t create a motivational debt by being

bossy: people must be asked to do a job• When people have not agreed to do

something you don’t have their commitment

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Develop People

• Encourage them taking initiative

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Develop People

• Encourage them taking initiative• Involve in decision making

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Develop People

• Encourage them taking initiative• Involve in decision making• Be active on performance reviews• Give the feedback correctly

4 CORE ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER CATALYST

Select People Set Expectations

Motivate and Encourage

People

Develop People

GARDEN AND GARDENER METAPHORE

YOU HAVE TO START IT UP

LIVING SYSTEMS GROW FAST IN THE BEGINNING AND REACH A LEVEL OF MATURITY

Mature systems don’t need to be looked after as often as the young systems.They are experienced enough to fix most of their own problems

• Occasionally show up on the meetings

• Run some retros• Have regular one on ones with the

Scrum Masters and key people• Support if anything unexpected,

irregular happening• Be present on the performance

reviews of your people

THEN YOU NEED TO CHECK UP

OTHERWISE

Your garden may grow in another direction

MANY LIVING TEAMS HAVE A CERTAIN LIFE EXPECTANCY

When living systems get old, more and more time and energy are needed to sustain them. So it is

completely fine to replace old by new.

HOW TO MAKE DELEGATION OF LEADERSHIP POSSIBLE?

The primary focus of any manager should be to energize people, to make sure that they actually want to do all that stuff. And doing all that stuff requires motivation.

THE BEST MANAGERS ARE WIZARDS

They help heroes overcoming tough challenges, but they never do the work for them

BE THE EXAMPLE AS A PROFESSIONAL

SHOW THE ATTITUDE

WITHOUT THAT YOUR STEP UP WILL BE AN OCCASION BUT NOT A MERIT

2 FEARS OF DELEGATION

FEAR 1: LOSS OF CONTROL

It is no single

person who has a

complete picture of everything

happening..

BY GIVING AUTHORITY TO THE TEAM YOU DELEGATE THE WORST: MICROMANAGEMENT

YOU CREATE A “MICROMANAGEMENT BY THE TEAM”

FEAR 2: LOSS OF AUTHORITY AND POWER

GIVING POWER TO YOUR PEOPLE DOES NOT DIMINISH YOUR OWN STATUS.

IT IS MORE LIKELY TO INCREASE IT.

SO ONCE AGAIN: HOW I WAS ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY MANAGE ALL THAT??

DECIDE WHAT TO DELEGATE

DECIDE WHEN TO DELEGATE

DECIDE WHOM TO DELEGATE

DECIDE HOW TO DELEGATE

APPLY AUTHORITY MATURITY MODEL

EXAMPLE FROM THE TMS ACCOUNT

• Be a manager as a catalyst – interact with your people within 4 core activities

LESSONS LEARNED

• Be a manager as a catalyst – interact with your people within 4 core activities

• Attitude, interest, energy and professionalism – you will not go far without that

LESSONS LEARNED

• Be a manager as a catalyst – interact with your people within 4 core activities

• Attitude, interest, energy and professionalism – you will not go far without that

• Understand the living systems cycle – be there till it is not mature, then make a check ups

LESSONS LEARNED

• Be a manager as a catalyst – interact with your people within 4 core activities

• Attitude, interest, energy and professionalism – you will not go far without that

• Understand the living systems cycle – be there till it is not mature, then make a check ups

• Giving power to the people = increasing your own power

LESSONS LEARNED

• Be a manager as a catalyst – interact with your people within 4 core activities

• Attitude, interest, energy and professionalism – you will not go far without that

• Understand the living systems cycle – be there till it is not mature, then make a check ups

• Giving power to the people = increasing your own power• A main questions to answer before you delegate: WHAT?

WHEN? WHOM? HOW?

LESSONS LEARNED

• Be a manager as a catalyst – interact with your people within 4 core activities

• Attitude, interest, energy and professionalism – you will not go far without that

• Understand the living systems cycle – be there till it is not mature, then make a check ups

• Giving power to the people = increasing your own power• A main questions to answer before you delegate: WHAT?

WHEN? WHOM? HOW?• Maturity & Authority model to monitor success

LESSONS LEARNED

GROW YOUR MATURE TEAMS

AND DELEGATE!

Viktor Bezhenar

Viktor Bezhenar

vityawassup

viktor.bezhenar@gmail.com