Agile Mindset for Manufacturers: Micromanagement

The Action Engineering team embraces an Agile mindset & Scrum practices in our work.
In our Agile articles, we share tips & coaching opportunities that work well for us. 

Have you ever heard someone groan that “Agile just seems like micromanagement?” If practiced incorrectly, Agile can seem like leaders are trying to micromanage, inadvertently stunting the growth of the team.  

EMPOWERING, NOT MICROMANAGING

To ensure that the team doesn’t feel like they are constantly under a microscope, try these tips:

• Encourage the team to self-organize by selecting the tasks that they will work on for the upcoming sprint instead of assigning work to team members.
• Facilitate the meetings instead of leading the meetings.
• Ensure that the daily standup is an activity to prepare for collaboration amongst the team instead of just another status report.
• Empower and enable team members to make decisions and solve problems.
• Respect the sprint scope. Coach stakeholders that once a sprint is in progress, the team needs space to work and focus on the tasks agreed upon during the sprint planning meeting.
• Make sure your team knows they can rely on you, and that you’re willing to do the grunt work if it will help them.

For Agile to succeed, managers need to shift from top-down leadership styles and embrace servant leadership. In a servant leader role, they will focus more on dealing with people outside of the team and minimizing distractions that might prevent the team from accomplishing the tasks at hand.

Want to chat with us about how your team is practicing Agile in your MBE journey? Send us a message!