Learn how to foster a culture of self-organization in your agile team with these tips and tools. Self-organization is a key principle of agile methodologies.

By using internal collaborative tools like slack, MS teams to keep the team informed and updated on the ideas allows a more open environment. Healthy conversations help team to stay informed about the challenges and goals. So, foster a culture of collaboration and that will truly resonate within the team.

How can you help your team become more self-organizing?

Self-organization is a key principle of agile methodologies, where teams are empowered to make decisions, collaborate, and deliver value without excessive supervision or control. But how can you help your team become more self-organizing, especially if they are used to a more traditional or hierarchical way of working? Here are some tips to foster a culture of self-organization in your agile team.

1 Define a clear vision and purpose

One of the first steps to help your team become more self-organizing is to define a clear vision and purpose for the project or product. This will help the team align their goals, understand the value they are delivering, and prioritize their work. A vision statement should be concise, inspiring, and customer-focused. A purpose statement should explain why the team exists, what they do, and how they do it. You can use tools like the product vision board or the elevator pitch to create and communicate your vision and purpose.

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2 Establish roles and expectations

Another step to help your team become more self-organizing is to establish roles and expectations for each team member. This will help the team clarify their responsibilities, accountabilities, and contributions. Roles should be based on skills, interests, and availability, not on titles or seniority. Expectations should be realistic, measurable, and agreed upon by the team. You can use tools like the role matrix or the working agreement to define and document your roles and expectations.

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Angelo Echtermeijer

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This might be controversial, but I have found having SMEs within a team makes them a lot more self-organizing. Especially when products grow in size, having SMEs for parts of the product can drastically reduce the team's dependency on the Product Owner and allows for more self-organizing teams.

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3 Facilitate collaboration and communication

A third step to help your team become more self-organizing is to facilitate collaboration and communication among team members. This will help the team share information, feedback, and ideas, as well as solve problems and make decisions together. Collaboration and communication should be frequent, transparent, and respectful. You can use tools like the daily stand-up, the retrospective, or the kanban board to facilitate collaboration and communication.

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Rakhi R

Project Manager at archents
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By using internal collaborative tools like slack, MS teams to keep the team informed and updated on the ideas allows a more open environment. Healthy conversations help team to stay informed about the challenges and goals. So, foster a culture of collaboration and that will truly resonate within the team.

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4 Provide support and feedback

A fourth step to help your team become more self-organizing is to provide support and feedback to the team. This will help the team learn, grow, and improve their performance. Support and feedback should be constructive, timely, and specific. You can use tools like the coaching conversation, the feedback sandwich, or the one-on-one meeting to provide support and feedback.

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5 Empower and trust the team

A fifth step to help your team become more self-organizing is to empower and trust the team. This will help the team take ownership, initiative, and risks, as well as adapt to changes and challenges. Empowerment and trust should be based on competence, confidence, and commitment. You can use tools like the delegation poker, the decision matrix, or the empowerment spectrum to empower and trust the team.

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6 Celebrate and appreciate the team

A sixth and final step to help your team become more self-organizing is to celebrate and appreciate the team. This will help the team recognize their achievements, appreciate their efforts, and motivate them to continue. Celebration and appreciation should be genuine, frequent, and meaningful. You can use tools like the kudos board, the gratitude journal, or the team award to celebrate and appreciate the team.

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Sithara S

Senior Project Management
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Make sure that we are not just celebrating a completed project, celebrate the unexpected hurdles/Impediments that came up along the way that your team successfully overcame. Make sure this praise is not just directed at the project manager or lead, but the whole team.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Vanna Quon

Built digital experiences impacting 1.2M members | Product | Digital Innovation | Agile Leader | UX | Tech | PMP, CAPM
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It's important to build trust and foster collaboration through ways the team prefers in order to form more self-organizing teams. Every team is different - some may prefer frequent Slack messages while another may prefer a 2 min call. Trust teams to do what they say and seek to understand them when things fall behind, then provide support whenever appropriate.

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Vaibhav Gupta

Technical Project Manager - EPAM Systems | SAFe Agilist | Azure | GCP | Scrum | Program Management | People Management | Technology Leadership
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In order to help a team to become self organising, we can do below things . 1. Provide autonomy and decison making power to the team 2. Trust your team. Do not micromanage. 3. Resolve any conflicts among team members and encourage them for collaboration. 4. Be open and transparent and support a open environment where anyone can speak . 5. Setup best agile practices and motivate team to follow the same.

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Glauber Funez

👨💻 Software Engineer | +14 years of experience | PHP | NodeJS | JavaScript | Typescript | JAVA | Angular | SQL | NoSQL | AWS 🚀
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Encourage open communication, foster a culture of trust, and delegate responsibilities based on team members' strengths. Provide guidance when needed but promote autonomy, allowing individuals to take ownership of tasks and collaborate effectively.

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How can you help your team become more self-organizing?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Define a clear vision and purpose

2 Establish roles and expectations

3 Facilitate collaboration and communication

4 Provide support and feedback

5 Empower and trust the team

6 Celebrate and appreciate the team

7 Here’s what else to consider

Agile Methodologies

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How can you help your team become more self-organizing?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Define a clear vision and purpose

2 Establish roles and expectations

3 Facilitate collaboration and communication

4 Provide support and feedback

5 Empower and trust the team

6 Celebrate and appreciate the team

7 Here’s what else to consider

Agile Methodologies

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

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