Culture eats change for its breakfast! How many times have you discovered it? Have you noticed any indicators of it? How many times have you blamed the culture? Isn't culture presented on what people do, say, and act? Studies tell us that people are of good nature. Most people (99% to be exact) do what they believe is right. They don't intend to resist change. They even are willing to help, and maybe they don't know how. They genuinely want to see the transformation becomes successful. They are resourceful as well. One might ask, how come there are many catastrophic stories when it comes to organizational transformation? Have you heard the famous quote, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? Could it be that we are not looking at transformations with the right perspective? Could it be that we only have, and use a hammer? Maybe we have different types of it, and we don't even notice? If the above interests you, please join us. Let us share our experiences, and how we moved away from using the "hammer" within organizations.

1. The Golden Hammer of
Transformation: Culture!
Shahin Sheidaei
Eglys Vera

2. Hello! Nice to Meet you!
Shahin Sheidaei
Founder & Principal Coach
Elevate Change Inc.
Eglys Vera
Agile Executive.
Ocean and animal lover.
WomenInTech
@sheidaei
/in/sheidaei
/in/eglys-vera-a6988b/
Elevate To Coach Program

3. Let’s do
Transformation
Isn’t it like other initiatives we take on?
We can do it!
It’s Hype!
Everyone is
doing it.
Digital or
die!
Agile is the
solution!
It’s the
Trend!
Cheaper,
Faster and
Better!

4. Transformation
Stories
Isn’t it like other initiatives we take on?
We can do it!
Hire an
Agile Coach Hire 2nd wave of
Agile Coaches
Build Coaching
capability
in-house Hire 3rd
wave of Agile
CoachesInternal
Coaches
leave or you
fire them!

5. Integral Theory
Leadership Circle
Transformation From Inside

6. ● Culture is not ready!
● We need to change the culture!
● We need to change perspectives!
● Right culture for the right domain!
● No one is responsible
Transformation
Result: Not Success
(Failure)

7. ● Agile was not the right tool to use.
● We are good at fixing: Let’s fix
culture!
● We can even certify people in
Culture! Let’s do that!
● Culture is the new Agile, it’s the
ultimate tool to solve everything!
● We need to focus on the culture!
Transformation
Retrospective
Outcome: Culture!

8. The Golden Hammer of
Transformation: Culture!
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you
tend to see every problem as a nail!

9. The greatest teacher, failure is!
~ Yoda
At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.
~ Agile Principles

10. Our journeys of
transformation and
culture: working with it or
fixing it!?

11. Book Club Goal: To learn and share learning
Challenge: No support from leaders
Excuse: the Culture is not right!

12. Book Club
Working Session
Goal: To learn and share learning
Achievement: The VP supported and showed up
several times!
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Use Their Language

13. An empowered
organization
Goal: Build empowered teams
Challenge: No one really felt empowered
Excuse: Our Culture doesn’t foster true
empowerment!

14. An empowered
individual
Goal: Build empowered individuals
Achievement: Better understanding of what
empowerment means
You are the culture of the organization
Cultural Hack: More self awareness.
Less psychological projection

15. Coffee Club Goal:
● To expand the connections in the network of
people
● Ultimately To create a wider support for
change
Challenge: Breaking silos needs a change of
mindset, moving towards flat organization
mindset
Excuse: the Culture is not right!

16. Coffee Club 2.0:
Someone Else’s
Achievement!
Goal: (?)
● To expand the connections in the network of
people
● Ultimately To create a wider support for
change
Achievement: people were joining, HR was
promoting it!
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Invite Them on the
journey of success

17. Breaking the wheel Goal: Involve Senior Leadership in the
Transformation and make them accountable for it
Challenge: Senior Leadership considered this to
be a waste of time
Excuse: definitely wrong Culture on the
leadership team!

18. Take a ride in the
wheel
Goal: Involve Senior Leadership in the
Transformation and make them accountable for it
Achievement: Senior Leadership started to show
up and participate
Stop pushing, culture will turn around
Cultural Hack: Realize Where They are at
on their Personal Transformation
Journey

19. Internal
Community of
Coaches
Goal: (?)
● To have a touch point with 18 people in lieu
of face-to-face communication
Challenge: A community needs slack time,
especially if mandated by a leader
Excuse: the Culture within ourselves is not right!

20. Community or a
Team?
Goal:
● To have a touch point with 18 people in lieu
of face-to-face communication
Achievement: people talked up. We stood up to an
ask from us. We made an SVP become vulnerable
in front of 150 people!
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Assume Not! Use The
Correct Term, Make an Effort to Learn it!

21. Measuring success Goal: Increase agile practices expertise
Challenge: C Level sets goals of 50% of agile
projects
Excuse: Enterprise Culture is wrong!

22. Measuring success Goal: Increase agile practices expertise
Achievement: Started to measure the right thing!
Work with expectations, not change the
culture!
Cultural Hack: Understand what the
problem really is to create a common on
vision

23. Book Club #2 Goal: To introduce new ways of approaching
change
Challenge: Heavy Top Layer Hierarchy, no self
organization
Excuse: the Culture is not right!

24. Book Club #2
System Impact
Goal: To introduce new ways of approaching
change
Achievement: The team learned a new tool, even
after I left!
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Think Systematically,
Keep the whole system in mind. Not an
individual piece.

25. Did my role
change?
Goal: Build cross-functional teams
Challenge: Teams needed clear definition of new
Roles and Responsibilities
Excuse: Command and Control! We are doom!

26. Working
Agreement
Goal: Build cross-functional team
Achievement: Team defined WAG to describe
interactions instead for roles and responsibilities
Guide them before blaming the culture
Cultural Hack: Hold The Mirror

27. Transformation
RoadMap
Goal: To transform part of organization in an Agile
Way
Challenge: Scrum is the right way of doing
Transformation. Leaders are asking for Roadmap!
Excuse: the Culture is not right!

28. Transformation
RoadMap
Empathizing with
Leaders
Goal: To transform using an Agile Way
Achievement: Failed at the Roadmap. End up
working with leaders more closely. Got to
responding to change over following a plan.
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Follow a Plan before
Responding to Change to build Rapport

29. Disruptive
Transformation
Goal: To be the disruptive within the big
organization
Challenge: They have to change not us! (Team
v.s. Leaders)
Excuse: the Culture is not right!

30. Disruptive
Transformation
Goal: To be the disruptive within the big
organization
Achievement: For the next transformation came
direct to me!
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Be Comfortable
Being/Making People Uncomfortable

31. Agile Maturity
Model
Goal: To align transformation with they stand, or
to battle over who is to fund and who is not!
Challenge: Not comparing but understanding
them. Everything is a number!
Excuse: the Culture is not right!

32. Agile Maturity
Brave With
Numbers
Goal: To align transformation with they stand, or
to battle over who is to fund and who is not!
Achievement: The numbers were not the enemy,
the right data for the right people. Some might
call it being brave! Some stupidity!
Work with culture, not change the culture!
Cultural Hack: Build A Smaller Culture
within a Culture to have influence over

33. Cultural Hacks
Use Their Language
Be Comfortable Being/Making People
Uncomfortable
Build A Smaller Culture within a Culture
to have influence over
Follow a Plan before Responding to
Change to build Rapport
Think Systematically, Keep the whole
system in mind. Not an individual piece.
Assume Not! Use The Correct Term,
Make an Effort to Learn it!
Invite Them on the journey of success
Hold The Mirror
Realize Where They are at on their
Transformation Journey
Find Allies
Find Your Own Hack!

34. Thanks
Shahin Sheidaei
Founder & Principal Coach
Elevate Change Inc.
Eglys Vera
Agile Executive.
Ocean and animal lover.
WomenInTech
/in/eglys-vera-a6988b/
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