086: Gabe Abella: Achieving Organizational and Team Agility with Kanban and the Fit For Purpose Framework

How is work changing and how do we design organizations to be fit for purpose in the knowledge and collaboration economy? How do we form and equip teams to balance capability with infinite demand? How do we coach teams for emergence?

Tune in this week’s episode of The Team Coaching Zone podcast where host Dr. Krister Lowe explores these and other compelling questions with featured guest Gabe Abella--an Organizational Coach and Vice President in Global Technology at JP Morgan Chase and an accredited Kanban trainer.

Themes covered in the podcast include:

• Gabe’s journey from project and program manager to organizational coach

• Fundamental shifts occurring in how we approach and organize work in the knowledge and collaboration economy

• Understanding 3 Natures: 1) the nature of the work the team is doing, 2) the nature of the organization, 3) the nature of the environment/market

• The infinite backlog and the finite team: balancing capability with demand

• Kanban – Lean; visual management system; seeing the flow of work; “look at the board” or signal card; an improvement method

• Problem-solving as a biological process: iterative cycles and learning

• The invisibility of knowledge work

• Collocated vs. distributed teams

• Team formation for organizational realignments

• Skills vs. roles and motivation in team formation

• Being invisible as a team coach

• Use of simulation prior to engaging in real work in order to reduce learning anxiety

• Fitness for Purpose Framework

• Diffusion of Innovation

• Flow Lab – experiential simulation to overcome efficiency mindset and more

• Reflections on the ongoing coaching of teams and scaling agile

• Implications of agile coaching for non-software teams

• Coaching for emergence

• Tons of great resources for team coaches and more!

The Agile movement is disrupting organizations and our approaches to working, learning and teaming. All team coaches need to increase their own agility and to be fit for purpose themselves in order to compete in the knowledge and collaboration economy. Tune in to this episode and let Gabe Abella help you elevate your team coaching game today!