How Leaders Serve the Team

If you are accustomed to traditional project management, you might wonder who tells people what to do and when. The short answer is the team decides what to do as a team. The team takes its work in the way the team prefers. No one assigns work to anyone else.

When one person assigns work to another, that’s called “command and control.” It’s inefficient and often leads to less-than-desired outcomes. Agile teams are in charge of their own deliverables and interactions. The product owner explains the results he or she wants. Then, the team decides how to perform the work.

Agile project managers, coaches, product owners, and even managers are all servant leaders. These people serve the team, not the other way around.

In The Case for Servant Leadership [Kei08], Kent Keith defines seven practices of servant leaders:

  1. They are self-aware.
  2. They listen.
  3. They serve the people who work “for” them. (Keith calls this “changing the pyramid.”)
  4. They help other people grow.
  5. They coach people, not control them.
  6. They unleash the energy and intelligence of others.
  7. They work to develop their foresight so they can act, not react.

Servant leaders serve the team by facilitating the team’s work.

I Serve the Team, Not Management
by James, New Product Owner
James

I got training as a product owner, but it was nothing like what awaited me at work.

My team didn’t have anyone in a position of leadership except for me. The functional managers thought it was just fine for them to add to any given person’s backlog instead of telling me what they wanted.

I got fed up and called a meeting. I told them that adding more work to anyone’s list of work was no longer acceptable. They would funnel requests through me or the team wouldn’t do any of that work.

One of the managers asked, "Aren’t you a servant leader?" I said I was. The manager then said, "Well, you need to serve us."

I saw red. I said, "No, I serve the team. You want me to serve you? Act like a team." I walked out.

After I took a walk around the block, I went back and knocked on my manager’s door. I told him what I’d done. He said, "Good for you!" We discussed who served whom more and I was much happier about the entire situation. Oh, and we got someone to be the agile project manager so I didn’t have to fight those battles.

Servant leaders are not wimps or pushovers. They serve the team, doing what the team needs them to do. Most people don’t need to manage the management team. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to do so. Your team will thank you for your service.

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