The role of agile trains in the scaled delivery is often ignored but absolutely important. Many organisations today deliver software releases seamlessly on time using agile trains. The agile trains facilitate collaboration among multiple teams for a common mission. The leader will be responsible for streamlining the process, nurturing self organising teams and removing the obstacles in team progression. The current article delves into the role played by the servant leaders in driving high-performing agile teams.
Leaders play a key role in driving agile trains successfully. They enforce alignment, productivity and relentless improvement across multiple teams, driving them towards a unified business objective. The leaders have little formal authority and are responsible for achieving multi-dimensional progress. All this is possible through a servant leadership mindset that helps the teams to succeed by offering necessary guidance.
How does a Leader drive high-performing Agile Teams?
Establish Psychological Safety for the Employees`
The performance of the agile teams will enhance only when the team members feel free to express their ideas, question their concerns and experiment by taking inputs from the leaders. The leaders should set an environment for safety through consistent behaviours like calm reaction under pressure and listening to the team without being judgemental. The leaders should also enforce transparency in the team by acknowledging their own knowledge gaps and coaching the teams on facilitation tactics to build motivation and enhance their confidence. In case of any errors, the leaders will adopt blameless retrospectives based on a structured process.
Coaching the Teams through Questioning
Responding to the team’s problems through open-ended questions unlocks the untapped potential of the team. The leaders will redirect the teams through open-ended questions to widen the possibility space in driving solutions and realign the teams to the organisational purpose.
The servant leaders will probe into the root cause of the problem while unwrapping the assumptions made by the team. The leaders will coach the teams to frame self-probing questions and unlock innovation. The right questions from the leader can help the teams get faster towards solutions and also expand their thinking horizons. The leaders will master the leadership roles by earning SAFe RTE Certification.
Remove Roadblocks
The servant leader plays a key role in removing the roadblocks in agile execution. The leader will take proactive steps to identify the problems and remove the roadblocks that hinders team’s productivity. They help the teams look at barriers as actionable needs for the successful agile execution, rather than complaints that are blocking progress.
The leaders will focus on handling the distractions that disturb value creation. They help the teams stay focused on testing and deploying by increasing the procurement and also chasing cross-team dependencies. When there is a clear shortage of resources for successful agile train execution, the leaders use the data to show its impact on the project execution and push for help. They also explore the options to deploy advanced tools for better performance and prove that the investment in tools is important for the organisation. The agile train leaders will work constantly to remove obstacles and keep the teams moving smoothly.
Promoting Collaboration in Agile Trains
As said, successful collaboration between the teams is important for successful agile execution. The servant leaders who are formally known as RTEs break down the soils between cross-functional teams by encouraging transparency and shared learning between the teams across different departments. Sharing successful ideas between multiple teams allows improvements at the train level.
Foster Continuous Improvement
An adaptive learning culture helps in the successful execution of agile trains. The leaders play a key role in promoting the culture of continuous improvement. They will conduct regular retrospectives for teams to know the progress and identify the areas that need adjustments. They will offer support for teams to experiment and innovate when enhancement ideas surface through retrospectives and provide necessary coaching and infrastructure.
The leaders will add good ideas to the backlog and prioritise them to get done. They check regular progress through stand-up meetings and make the needed changes to stay up to date on the real results. More focus is placed on improving quality and saving time. The leaders focus on making successful improvements every day. By making iterative improvements, the teams build what really works to get better and create stronger results over time.
Sustain High Performance over Time
The leaders will constantly reinforce agile values and support teams to adopt change. The agile leaders create conditions for long-term success. With their ongoing involvement, the leaders ensure agile trains deliver value at speed and scale.
Celebrate Wins
Progress fuels motivation in the teams to sustain high performance. The agile leaders should celebrate small wins and inspire teams to achieve more. They should spotlight the contributions of team members across cross-functional teams. They will start every day stand-up with appreciation on progress made by the team members before raising impediments to reinforce forward motion. Small acts of celebration build the team’s trust and build positive behaviours among the teams.
Conclusion
The role of a servant leader in agile trains is vital and complex and needs diverse skills. The release train engineers will not only drive agile trains but also act as servant leaders who foster collaboration and trust and empower teams with the necessary skills to execute agile trains successfully.