Yulia Shahnazarova
Ameriabank, Agile Coach
Yerevan, Armenia
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I am Yulia, a lifetime learner and avid agilist, passionate about people and unlocking human potential, leading teams and complex projects, community service, mentoring and coaching! My motto is: "Create the things you wish existed!"
Throughout 17+ years of my professional experience with international non-profit and private sector I've led 15+ (agile) cross-functional teams working on 20+ high impact multi-stakeholder national, regional and international projects across South Caucasus, Africa, Middle East, Asia, North and South America.
Currently, as an Agile Coach, I am engaged in unprecedented agile transformation in one of the largest leading enterprises in Armenia.
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Topics
“The Magic of 3 OR Coaching Invisible Powers”
My personal story is one that could inspire women in Agile to always move forward, chase their dreams and cause positive change in others! It tells about success factors that paved my way to becoming an Agile Coach even in quite a patriarchal society with gender stereotypes. It is also about my biggest professional learnings: the secret sauce of productivity during agile transformation at scale.
To start off, I would like to share 3 lifetime events that shaped who I am.
1. I became a refugee as a child at the age of 6. Going through socio-economic hardships, language barriers and bullying at school in a patriarchal society made me even stronger and helped pave my way forward as a professional. After getting a university degree as an educator and linguist I challenged the gender stereotype that a woman cannot combine a family and career, let alone take a leadership role, and started my journey in the international development sector. My motto: Resilience. Biggest success factor was working on self-awareness and self-development that shaped my individuality and boosted confidence. I was blessed to meet powerful mentors on my way of self-development who inspired me to explore my strengths via science-based personality assessments and solution-oriented coaching. I also loved engaging in volunteering and community service activities. It was always about passion for what I did and capitalizing on strengths in education and career choices no matter what the widespread social norms were. Another secret formula at this life stage was initiating educational mentoring programs for underprivileged girls living in remote regions of Armenia who were deprived from opportunities for growth and development. Actionable insights: Self-motivation is a choice. Choose to be a creator and do not depend on external factors. And finally, give more when you have less.
2. I made a decision to radically shift work industries after being in the international development sector, including in leadership roles for 15 years. Having gone through continuous education and international certification, I started off as a Scrum Master in an IT start-up in Armenia. I started it all from 0: new specialization, new environment, new people. I would like to mention that IT sector in Armenia is generally known for predominantly men engagement. My motto: Adaptiveness. Biggest success factor was realizing that remaining in the comfort zone and fear of failing is a growth stopper. It was my gut feeling telling me that being accomplished and acknowledged in one area does not any longer pose challenges and limits my growth. Going into the unknown was scary but I would never know what’s beyond that fear unless I went for it. This was the main reason that pushed me forward towards the unknown and uncertain, making me discover new aspects of my potential and starting off my agile journey. True to the passion of sharing knowledge, I started teaching agile management courses primarily engaging young women (80% women out of the total number of participants) who were eager to either start a new career journey or transitioning in their careers as I did. Actionable insights: Go to your highest fear, uncertainty and risk zone.
3. Later, after 4 years in IT I joined Ameriabank as an Agile Coach and became part of unprecedented Agile Transformation in one of the leading and largest enterprises of Armenia. My motto: no-stopping, always forward. Scaling agile in an enterprise vs in a start-up came in with different challenges. However, instead of focusing on differences, I would like to share what is cross-cutting and essential for success no matter whether it is a start-up or enterprise. My biggest professional takeaway and success factor was first and foremost working towards leadership buy-in for any agile transformation. Next, any transformation is about transformation of minds: no agile tool or process rollout will take you far unless there is intentional focus and commitment to invest in development of leadership competencies among management and teams. It comes with pain because no change is easy, but there is no growth without pain. Then comes driving change at all levels of the company (not only delivery teams) to promote agile mindset and best agile practices and behaviors (agile champion departments, teams, etc.). As an observation, women are more often than not champions of change.
This is what is in core of what I do now: apart from scaling data-driven agile business processes, I run leadership schools for management and teams focusing on building trust, motivation, effective feedback and self-organization. I also piloted a program offering tools tailored to specific stages of agile team development (per B. Tuckman). This would not be possible without strong leadership support where I have the space to further grow and create. Actionable insights: Investing in leadership development is at the core of any agile transformation. Transforming Minds and Hearts is a parallel process.
These 3 lifetime events taught me great lessons that shaped who I am. Throughout these years I have been nurturing, boosting and coaching in myself the invisible powers of self-motivation, giving, courage, lifetime learning and empathy. I strongly believe that we as Agile Coaches should first cultivate these qualities in ourselves so that we empower others to shine and achieve their goals! I invite all women in agile to this exciting journey to get inspired and never stop growing: coaching the invisible powers!
A Story of an Agile Transformation: Transforming Minds and Hearts
This talk will unpack key pitfalls of resistance during an agile transformation of an enterprise, reasons behind, their impact and how an Agile Coach can navigate companies towards growth.
Imagine an enthusiastic Agile Coach previously having worked with IT start-ups for over 5 years joining a leading financial enterprise (3000+ personnel) that embarked on a journey of agile transformation and digitalization to stay ahead of competition and develop cutting-edge technology. Business needs assessment, transformation roadmap, education around core agile principles, linking team and individual SMART KPIs to strategic objectives, developing digital metrics, running bootcamps for key personnel on proposed agile frameworks, hands-on support to management and teams in agile adoption. Sounds like a plan, right? As much as it does, this does not guarantee a result unless we understand the triggering mechanism of change behind. No transformation or change comes without tackling pain and resistance. Where does resistance come from? Human Brain! The only one “guilty”! It will do everything to keep the system away from change, cozy in its comfort zone. First, the brain will resist the change strongly fearing that the change challenges and de-values whatever was done before, thus opening up the first pitfall of resistance called “threat”.
It is important here to apply the right techniques to open up the brain for new knowledge and experiences with the stakeholders you are working with, e.g. take a coach position : “Everything done before is just fine: listen and honour”. When skillfully dealt with, the brain opens up for new knowledge, experiences and gets accustomed to small rituals. You can imagine it, for example, via education of individuals and teams around agile events and their further practice. People are learning, business processes are up and running and all goes pretty well until the moment when there is an external condition, be it within the system or outside, that turns on an alarm and, trust me, there always is such. Imagine, e.g. a change in top-management that brings in new demands and dissatisfaction with the current state of things or a new regulation that impacts the way the system works inside. This leads to the second pitfall of resistance called: “pressure”. Habits stop working under pressure. I could observe top-bottom pressure in enterprises where structures tend to be hierarchic rather than flat. Hence, decreasing pressure and re-thinking the existing way of running things becomes a priority. Here 1:1s with those directly affected by pressure and strategy sessions with key stakeholders aimed at re-shaping and adapting the vision to the new reality are a perfect match. So, imagine, threats and pressure are gone, people are already accustomed to the new values and behaviors and first short-term wins are in place, e.g. profits grow, time-to-market decreases, users are satisfied: looks like a paradise? Wait. The third and one of the most dangerous pitfalls of resistance is around the corner and it is called: “boredom”. Here the Agile Coach uses of the most powerful weapons in arsenal and applies coaching techniques that stimulate those parts of the brain that are charged with emotions, creativity and future-oriented solutioning, e.g. (Disney strategy, “3 Hats, 3 Chairs”) and many others. They are able to stimulate rich alternatives, keeping transformation alive and reinforcing changes even further. It is at that moment when our brain transitions from its “guilty” state to its “miraculous” state and expands to its nearest growth zone where most of the miraculous solutions and decisions lie! Creativity and Motivation take over!
The Coach acts as a catalyzer of change throughout the journey, which is non-linear, rather iterative, helping the company adapt and grow in harmony with human brainwork and heartbeat. In that, it is also important that the Coach is aware of how to protect him/herself from negative waves of resistance in this journey, e.g. having clear boundaries between the role of a Coach and him/herself as a Person.
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