Earlier this month I attended the local Agile Coach Camp, along with 40 other enthusiasts. Having experimented with Liberating Structures in Berlin in April, I considered it’s the right time and space to take them for a spin. Since there were also some attendants with strong HR background, I decided to tackle a more human centric theme and bring forth a vicious circle happening in most organizations:
It all starts with the lack of Agile knowledge. This in turn, leads to poorly designed recruitment processes for Agile professionals (Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Agile Coaches etc). This further leads to bad hiring decisions which can turn into failed Agile journeys and limited success. Having all these bad examples, the senior managers start saying “Agile does not work in our case” and they start doing all kinds of “Water-scrum-fall” or “(fr)Agile” which does not help at all improving the knowledge. And so, the circle is repeating over and over again.
“Helping our colleagues recruit better Agile professionals”
Disclaimer: When I’m referring to “our colleagues”, I’m not only thinking about people from HR, but also to the hiring managers which are also very important in breaking this pattern.
Of course, this topic can be the theme of a 2 day workshop, but we only had 45 minutes available. So, in this case, I decided to compile a string of 3 micro structures, as following:
1. Appreciative Interviews
2. Min Specs
3. 15% Solutions
Appreciative interviews
Kicking off the session, I turned to a structure which enables the group to think of a time when they encountered positive behaviors and the conditions that made them possible. So, in pairs, we took turns and interviewed each other about times when we really enjoyed the whole recruitment process, from the job ad to the interview, to the whole interaction with the people involved. Then, we gathered as a group and drew some conclusions:
A well-crafted & creative job ad is much more appealing and really makes a difference on the market
During the interview, it is much more engaging to have a conversation partner with comparable knowledge
Transparency is really important. Transparency about the position, but also transparency in the whole process
Min Specs
For the next step, we decided to use Min Specs. It's micro structure that helps you come up with a minimal set of rules (do's and dont's) that must absolutely be respected in order to achieve a desired goal.
First, we compiled a comprehensive list of all possible activities needed to achieve the goal and then, in a collaborative way, we trimmed it down to the absolutely necessary ones.
15% solutions
The British researchers (yeah, those famous guys) found out that when trying to find improvements, usually 15% can be implemented right away, without extra resources or authority. Think of these solutions as some grains of sand that may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.
So, as a closing, I asked each participant to think of a 15% solution, that they may take home with them, and share it to the group.
I really liked the idea of having someone acting as an observer during the whole interview and I took it as my 15% for the next time I will be involved in a recruitment process.
Conclusion
Content wise, I had some really insightful conversations with some very experienced fellow professionals.
But for me, it also mattered the facilitation part and I can truly say that Liberating Structures blew my mind. I think they are really versatile and they can be used in a lot of situations (already used them since). A bit of preparation is needed beforehand, thinking about how to string them together, but the results are remarkable.
If you want to find out some more about Liberating Structures, here's the official website: http://www.liberatingstructures.com/
Also, did you know that we're already 100+ members in the LS Bucharest group on Meetup? The next meetup is just around the corner.
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