7 Steps to Inspire Agile Team for Effective & Productive Results
Innovation
Nov 29, 2022
Innovify
How Do You Inspire Your Agile Team?
Agile methodology has helped around 97% of companies to become more productive and successful, as reported in the 5th Annual State of Agile Marketing Report, 2022. Agile has helped meet customer needs while ensuring flexibility and smoothness.
Agile teams struggle as they continuously work together to produce the best possible product and keep things moving forward. Excessive meetings, lack of trust, less face-to-face communication, isolation, and whatnot – these agile team faces these challenges, and keeping them motivated and inspired becomes challenging.
So we decided to come up with a list to help you understand how you can keep your agile teams inspired to achieve more and speed up the go-to-market for your product.
7 Steps To Have an Inspired Agile Team
As we all know that there are various characteristics of an agile team, but you should also know the steps to inspire an agile team.
1. Hire people with past agile working experience
The first step to inspiring an agile team is ensuring that you have the right people. Agile projects frequently employ multidisciplinary development to create high-quality, realistic iterations.
Candidates that love working in a fast-paced, collaborative setting should be the main emphasis of hiring managers.
Additionally, agile development methodology necessitates adaptability. As a result, the entire development team must collaborate well and be prepared to work longer hours as deadlines approach.
There are a few things to remember when looking for employees with past agile working experience. First, consider the nature of the work that you need to be done.
- Is it project-based?
- Is it customer-facing?
- Is it code-heavy?
Different agile working arrangements will require different skill sets, so it’s important to identify your company’s specific needs before beginning your search.
Second, take some time to review the resumes of potential candidates. Does their previous work experience align with the type of work you need to be done? Do they have the necessary skills and qualifications? Are they familiar with the agile methodology and principles?
Third, conduct interviews with candidates who seem like a good fit. This is your chance to get to know them better and see if they’re truly a good match for your company.
During the interview, ask questions about their previous work experience in an agile environment.
- How did they handle certain situations?
- What challenges did they face, and how did they overcome them?
Be sure to listen carefully to their answers so you can get a sense of whether or not they would be a good fit for your company.
2. Offer responsibility and authority to the team.
For an agile team to be successful, the team members need to feel a sense of responsibility and ownership for the product they are building. This can only happen if the team members feel that they have the authority to make decisions and see the impact of their decisions.
As a CTO, it is important to remember that an agile team is not a traditional hierarchy with one person at the top making all the decisions. Instead, a team of equals must feel empowered to work together efficiently.
There are a few things that you can do as a CTO to ensure that your agile team feels empowered and responsible for their work.
First, you must ensure that everyone on the team understands the company strategy and how their work fits it.
Second, you need to give team members the authority to make decisions and let them know that their decisions will impact the product.
Lastly, you must create a safe environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas and feedback.
3. Communicate the expectations
Now that you have allocated the tasks, you next need to set the expectations. It can be in the form of deadlines or weekly goals. When you set the expectations, the team will know what action requires to achieve better.
The first step in effective communication is understanding what needs to be communicated. When setting expectations with an agile team, there are three main things that need to be communicated: roles, goals, and deadlines. Let’s take a closer look at each of these.
Roles: Everyone on the team must know what their role is. It includes understanding what is expected of them and what they are responsible for. For example, each developer should know their specific development tasks if they have a team of developers. If someone is unsure of their role or responsibilities, it can lead to confusion and frustration down the line.
Goals: The second thing that needs to be communicated is the project’s goals. Everyone on the team should be aware of the overall goal so that they can work together toward it. If someone is unclear on the goals, they may end up working against the rest of the team or going off on tangents that are not productive.
Deadlines: The third expectation that needs to be communicated is deadlines. Everyone must understand when things are due so the project can stay on track. If deadlines are not communicated effectively, it can lead to delays and frustration for everyone involved.
4. Identify the pain points and discuss the solution.
There are a few warning signs that can indicate that your agile team needs some help. These include
- A lot of churns: Churn is when team members are constantly starting and stopping work on tasks or when there are a lot of hand-offs between team members. It can lead to wasted time and frustration.
- Lack of focus: When team members are not focused on their work, it can lead to missed deadlines and lower-quality work.
- Ineffective communication: If team members are not communicating effectively, it can lead to confusion and errors.
- Poor planning: Poorly planned work can lead to delays and rework.
How to solve problems in an agile team?
Once you have identified the pain points in your team, you can start to look for solutions. Here are a few ideas:
- Increase transparency: One way to reduce churn is to increase transparency within the team. It means making sure that everyone has access to the same information and that there is a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities.
- Improve communication: Improving communication can help reduce confusion and improve focus. One way to do this is to establish regular check-ins where team members can ask questions and give updates on their progress.
- Encourage collaboration: Collaboration can help improve planning and prevent delays. Encourage team members to work together on tasks and share their ideas.
Regular standup meetings, or daily check-ins between the project manager and team members, are the best way to keep teams motivated once a project has begun. It will help you pinpoint the pain points of work flaws and find the solution.
5. Infuse motivation through different sources.
Motivation is a must if you wish to keep your team on track. There are various sources of motivation, right from internal to external sources. Identifying the motivation needed and appreciating the team members regularly will push them to work better.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help infuse motivation among your team. Here are eight tactics you can try:
1. Encourage a growth mindset.
It’s the belief that intelligence and talent can be developed through hard work and dedication. This belief is incredibly powerful because it means that anyone has the potential to improve and achieve their goals. As a result, individuals with a growth mindset are more likely to take on challenges, persist in the face of failure, and view feedback as helpful rather than hurtful.
2. Set stretch goals.
Another way to keep your team motivated is to set goals that are ambitious but still achievable. By pushing your team to aim higher, you’ll help them tap into their full potential and perform at their best. Ensure you provide the necessary resources and support to help them reach these goals.
3. Make it meaningful
For work to be motivating, it needs to be meaningful. Fortunately, you can do several things to make work more meaningful for your team. One thing you can do is connect their daily tasks to the company’s overall mission. You can also give them opportunities to use their skills and talents in meaningful ways. And finally, you can provide autonomy by letting them make decisions about their work.
4. Boost morale with recognition and praise.
Everyone likes to feel appreciated, so take the time to recognize and praise your team members when they do something well. This could involve calling out specific successes in team meetings or sending personalized thank-you notes. You could also publicly recognize them by featuring them on the company website or social media channels.
5. Focus on progress, not perfection.
It’s important to celebrate progress— even if it’s little progress— rather than perfectionism because this will help keep your team motivated in the long run. When team members feel like they’re making progress, they’ll be more likely to engage in what they’re doing and want to continue moving forward despite setbacks along the way
6. Create an engaging workspace.
A positive working environment can also go a long way in infusing motivation among your agile team. Consider ways to make your team’s workspace more engaging, such as adding plants or fun decor, organizing weekly social events, or providing comfortable break areas. All these things will help create a space people enjoy coming into every day.
7. Invest in professional development.
Finally, you can motivate your agile team by investing in their professional development. It could involve paying for them to attend conferences or workshops, enrolling them in online courses, or offering mentorship programs. When you invest in your team’s development, you’re sending the message that you care about their growth — a powerful motivator.
8. Encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Last but not least, one final way you can help infuse motivation among your team is by encouraging them to lead healthy lifestyles. It means eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and managing stress. When people take care of themselves, they have more energy, focus, and productivity— all of which are essential for maintaining motivation.
6. Stay positive even during the fall.
There are plenty of ways to stay positive and agile. Here are a few of our favorites:
Get Moving: One of the best ways to stay positive is to get up and move around. It might seem counterintuitive, but sitting in the same spot all day can actually make you feel sluggish and unmotivated. Changing up your scenery, even just for a little while, can do wonders for your mood and productivity. So go for a walk, do some stretches, or take a quick lap around the block. Your team will thank you for it.
Make A Plan: Another great way to stay positive is to have a plan. By mapping out what needs to be done and when you can avoid feeling overwhelmed by upcoming projects. Plus, seeing everything laid out in front of you can help give you a better sense of accomplishment as you check items off your list. Still trying to figure out where to start? Try using a project management tool like Asana or Trello to stay organized and on track.
Take A Break: Sometimes, the best way to stay positive is to step away from your work and take a break simply. Whether going for a walk or grabbing a coffee, taking a few minutes can help clear your head and refuel your energy levels. And when you’re ready to jump back in, you’ll be able to do so with fresh eyes and a renewed sense of focus.
Some things will always be positive, but there will be falls on the way. You need to stay positive and motivated even when there is a setback. Negative influence and disputes can worsen the fall. Instead, staying calm and moving ahead to resolve the issue with dedication can be a great base to inspire an agile team.
7. Give timely feedback timely.
Lastly, you need to have regular feedback. As previously you discussed the pain points, this is the time you should ask the team members what they found to be going wrong. When you ask the team members for feedback, you can ensure that you not only inspire an agile team but also have a team to stay with for a long.
Giving timely feedback is essential for ensuring that your agile team is on track and meeting milestones. Choose a method of giving feedback that works best for your team, and aim to provide feedback at least once a week. Include specific, objective comments in your feedback, so the team knows what they are doing well and where they need improvement.
How Innovify can help build your inspired agile team
Innovify is an Avant-grade company aimed at helping you build your digital business with an innovation-led approach using its cross-functional team of agile experts and talented developers. Offering a team to help you make an enterprise application, mobile application, and others while ensuring your goal incorporates optimum functionality and helps its clients provide high work standards. Not only this, but helping its clients define their idea and get a better vision with proper research, planning, and validation. You can build an inspired agile team with an advanced team and ethical work guidelines backed by a flexible and positive work environment.
So, if you want to inspire an agile team and get the best outcome for your vision, connect with Innovify today!
