Onboarding Team Jan. 2022

Program

Onboarding Team

Background

Brandy Meade is seeking to improve the agility practices of the Onboarding Team. 

Observations

Observations will start the week of 1/24/2022. Louis Fouejieu and Christian Strama will support the observation efforts.

Christian Strama attended the weekly Onboarding Support Checkpoint meeting on 1/24/2022 with Brandy Meade, Jess Crofton, Atinuke Jackson, and Jason Tidwell. Observations follow:

1. The team is transparent with Brandy on the actual status of the work items
2. Brandy is forthright in her feedback to the team on moving forward with work items
   1. Feedback of work completed
   2. Suggestions for improvements
3. The team seems to be looking for specific direction from Brandy
4. Brandy is looking to the team to complete work more autonomously
   1. For example, the team can agree on the problem to solve, collect Brandy’s feedback, then brainstorm on a solution, and come back later with a proposal
5. Brandy wants the team to be cross-functional so team members can be unavailable (PTO, etc.) and Onboarding services continue without interruption
6. What is the program vision statement?
7. Create a space for open dialog to present and accept innovative ideas
   
   1. Lack of alignment on vision can cause waste in identifying improvement opportunities
   2. A focus on standardization within the onboarding process may be limiting experiments in innovation

Goals:

1. Move from a culture of fear to a culture of fearlessness where every team member feel safe to share ideas and feedback is welcome
2. Support the team to become self-organized (more autonomous and independent)
3. Increase alignment between Brandy's vision and team execution
4. Empower the team to bring innovative ideas that are in alignment with program goals
5. Identify areas of opportunity for innovation

Recommended Coaching Approach

In order to help the team and Brandy achieve the goals listed above, the LACE recommends the following:

1. Create an environment/culture of trust - team-building exercises and 1on1 working sessions with a LACE coach
   1. Helpful to increase psychological safety - everyone is transparent and feel safe to speak up
   2. Helpful to provide and receive feedback - feedback is welcome, empathic, and constructive
   3. Helpful to increase self-confidence - mistakes and failures are opportunities for improvement
2. Vision Statement workshop including team goals/objectives and working agreement - consider team long-term planning with OKRs
   
   1. This will align the team and Brandy on a common vision. When all team members contribute to the vision statement ambiguity is eliminated.
   2. This will empower the team to be innovative.
   3. This will align the team and Brandy when evaluating innovation ideas.
3. Build a Team Competency Matrix
   1. This will help each team member to develop the required skills to be proficient
   2. This will help the team to be cross-functional and any team member can be replaced
4. Value Stream Mapping workshop
   1. This will help visualize the Onboarding Process, allowing team members to:
      1. take PTO and there be no interruption in service.
      2. identify areas for innovation opportunities.
5. Incorporating User Stories as work items
   1. The User Story format will help define the value proposition for the customers and clearly establish success criteria, removing ambiguity.
   2. This will align the team in creating value and allowing for innovation in smaller chunks to complete work.
6. Identify and recommend LACE training that can add value to the team
   1. It will provide the team members more knowledge to apply Agile practices
   2. It will put the whole team at the same level of Agile knowledge recommended by CCSQ

Timeframe

We recommend working for 90 days on this plan. At the end of 90 days, we can evaluate progress towards the goals. Based on progress, we can adjust the plan, create a new plan, or end the engagement.