The biggest flaw of Agile

Many Agile champions are getting shut down when they go up to the C-level to promote Agile, and here's exactly why.

Because they think that they know how to persuade executives but 99.99% actually don't.

It's a hard pill to swallow because the mission and purpose of Agile professionals is to help people and empower them.

But unfortunately, this is what we all observe.

Agile professionals are not getting promoted to upper management roles and play little role in influencing top management.

Because of a lack of skills to influence and negotiate new agreements.

Out of 100 Agile professionals I talked to, only a dozen educated themselves about negotiation, and all of these few actually came from upper management roles: director and above.

The persuasion approach of most Agile people boils down to pushing the "stubborn" people who do not want to "change" by facts, figures, beaten-up slogans, and some negative emotions.

However, this approach doesn't work with experienced C-level executives. They are powerful and very skillful negotiators. They invest in negotiation training and coaching every year.

As a result, all the "cavalry attacks" are just getting brushed off and sent back home.

What's worse, despite the obvious setbacks, Agile professionals are not interested in changing their approach.

It's ironic that Agile professionals are so frustrated about getting rejected by "stubborn" people in power who do not want to change, but the same Agile professionals are very skeptical about changing themselves.

Even the thought of adding a simple skill meets resistance, disinterest, and dismissal.

The most common idea among Agile people is about "finding the right company."

- "I can do nothing in this company, the top managers are so stuck in their mindset, I better find the right company."

Well, if Agile only works in the "right companies," then someone needs to make more of the "right companies" and certify them as suitable for the Agile people.

Let's face it: 99% of Agile people have no capacity to make any significant change beyond the "Agile box" where they are put because they have NO idea how to go to the top.

The idea of "coaching executives" crashes against the wall of resistance.

There's no understanding of how to build the right relationships with the executive leaders and then influence their decisions.

Agile manuals and training materials do not teach that.

Why?

Because Agile authorities aren't negotiation gurus themselves.

But there's another problem coming up.

Now, we have over 3.6 million certified professionals in the market.

Only Scrum Alliance certified 1.8+ million. (check their website)

And that is without teaching any skills to be just a bit more persuasive.

Agile professionals are supposed to learn it themselves.

But here's a confusion.

They are not told that to succeed at their profession they are supposed to learn negotiation and influence.

Because, if they were, then fewer people would be attracted to the role of the Scrum Master and wouldn't pay for certification.

Today, it's almost too easy to become a Certified Scrum Master.

No matter what you do, if you have $1,000 and 2 free days, you can get a cert that you are a Scrum Master.

If we continue in this fashion, in just 4 short years, we'll double the number of "Masters" in the market looking for opportunities to make a "Transformation."

What's really going to happen?

Loss of credibility.

Until organizations like Scrum Alliance realize that something needs to change.

The gap in Negotiation and Influence skills must be closed.

Will it happen top-down or bottom-up?

It depends on the flexibility of the proverbial "Agile mindset."

Who will decide to become different ahead of others?

Who will learn how to make the necessary connections, establish relationships, and influence executives?

Let's run a quick test on how flexible the Agile mindset is:

If you're an Agile professional, how much would you personally invest in negotiation and influence skills training, and on what priority?

More about it here: https://bit.ly/certified-influencer