Alexis – Page 13 – Blog Alexis Monville (en)

Changing Your Team from the Inside: A Practitioner’s View on Leadership

Changing a team is often associated with authority, plans, or Changing a team is often imagined as a top-down initiative. A new structure. A new process. A new framework.

But in practice, some of the most meaningful change starts much closer to the work, through everyday leadership choices.

In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I share a conversation with John Poelstra about the ideas behind my book Changing Your Team From The Inside.

A conversation worth revisiting

This conversation was originally recorded on John’s show. John later suggested that we cross-publish it on our respective podcasts.

To do that, I had to re-listen to the episode. And I genuinely enjoyed it.

Yes, there is some ego involved in listening to yourself talk. Fittingly, ego is also one of the topics we explore in the episode.

What makes a team great

Beyond the book itself, the conversation explores broader questions such as:

what makes a team truly great
how leadership shows up in everyday interactions
how individuals can influence their environment without waiting for permission

We talk about leadership not as a role or a title, but as a practice that shapes how teams work together.

Leadership from the inside

A central idea throughout the episode is that changing a team does not require being “in charge”.

It requires:

attention to how work is done
responsibility for how we show up
and the willingness to experiment and learn

This is what Changing Your Team From The Inside is really about.

A final invitation

If you are looking for practical ways to improve how your team works, without waiting for a reorganization or a new mandate, this episode is a good place to start.

Give it a try, and let us know what you think.

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

March 6, 2020

How do we Communicate?

How do we communicate is a really important question to ask when the team is up to define its Team Agreements.

Valve, the game company published its Handbook for New Employees in 2012. The subtitle provides information on how their approach to communication will have to be different: A fearless adventure in knowing what to do when no one’s there telling you what to do.

How communication works when the organization values self-organization and self-management at that level. As you can see based on the illustration below coming from the handbook, the organization relies on individuals taking matters in their own hands.

The Basecamp Guide to Internal Communication is another example of clarifying not only how we communicate but also where, why, and when.

Reading the Basecamp Guide, it is obvious that Basecamp values the time of people, and values the time when they are not interrupted.

Those two examples show that the underlying values and principles of the organization condition the way communication happens, its purpose and who has the initiative to initiate or improve the communication.

The one thing I would like to leave you with is: It has to be defined!

As a team member, you cannot rely on the fact that other team members know how to do it if there is no formal agreement on how the team is doing it. The understanding of each team member is probably slightly different leading to bigger misunderstandings.

March 6, 2020

Team Awards Retrospective

Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you are part of a team!
The LEGO Movie

Even if a lot of people would genuinely like to think that way, not everything is awesome when you are part of a team. The great thing about this is that it leaves room for improvements which a regular retrospective will help you find as a team.

In 2015, the LEGO Movie song: “Everything is Awesome” was nominated for the best song at the Academy Awards (The Oscars). The Directors of the movie ordered the artist Nathan Sawaya to create 20 Lego statuettes to be given while the song was played.

During the winter break, my (young adult) kids and I assemble quite a lot of Legos with the younger ones. That reminded me of the happy face of people during the 2015 Oscar ceremony when they were given the statuettes and of one retrospective format created by my amazing wife Isabel.

I decided that the next retrospective for my team will be a Team Awards Retrospective and that I will give away two Oscar statuettes made of LEGO! I ordered the bricks online and built the statuettes thanks to that article.

How did it work?

We intended to do a quick retrospective at the beginning of our face to face meeting to examine the last period. Our team is widely distributed, so when we have some time with each other, we invest that time for high-bandwidth collaboration.

I asked the team members to consider the last period as a movie.

Using two sticky notes, they had to nominate for two awards:

The best failure for the team
The best contribution from a team member

All the team members gathered around the whiteboard to display their sticky notes in the dedicated boxes for each award.

Starting with the team award, they took the time to read what was on the notes and then asked clarifying questions. The conversation was focused on what we learned from those failures. I then proposed a silent reordering of the notes as a way of voting. The session was not really silent, but still, they quickly agreed on what should be at the top.

The conversation went on what we learned and what we should adjust in the way our teamwork. The award went to the new team member who proposed the failure.

We moved then to the team member award with the same approach, and in the end, the award went to the other new team member whose mission is to lead our actions to get to more diverse and inclusive teams. The discussion focused on how to best support the mission.

The retrospective was fun and short. We focused on consolidating our culture. And we welcomed our new team members with awards!

They were maybe not as expressive as Oprah but I feel that they were really happy 🙂

Lego Oscar Academy Awards GIF from Oprahwinfrey GIFs

March 5, 2020

Talking to Strangers

Based on a recent recommendation, I read Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. The book was already on my reading list, as I really enjoyed his previous books.

In reality, I listened to the enhanced audiobook on audible. Enhanced means that you have real interviews, and others played dialogues along with the narration by the author.

The book is excellent. It is about our (in)ability to grasp what strangers are up to because of three aspects:

We default to the truth: we think people are telling the truth, and it serves us well because people usually are telling the truth. But, it is not always the case.
We believe in transparency: we think we are pretty good at reading people. We believe the behavior we observed is aligned with what people think and say. But, it is not always the case.
We don’t believe in coupling. In reality, location or context dictates the behavior of people. Their behavior is not defined by who they are.

The combination of the two first aspects makes us easy to be fooled. By adding the third aspect, we turn it into a society problem. The book is a must-read. And, by the way, the part on Alcohol is a must-read.

Go for it and tell me what you think!

January 27, 2020

Why Shared Language Matters: How Terms Shape Collaboration

Many collaboration issues are attributed to disagreement, lack of alignment, or resistance.

In reality, they often start much earlier, with something far more subtle: using the same words to mean different things.

In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I had the great pleasure of welcoming Michael DeLanzo to explore why coming to terms with terms is such a critical leadership practice.

A misunderstanding that sparked the conversation

The idea for this episode came from a feedback exchange following the podcast episode How to Create Great Goals?.

As a listener, Michael initially disagreed with the level of abstraction and scope I was proposing for goals and objectives. As we discussed further, it became clear that the disagreement was not about intent or quality, but about definitions.

We were using the same words, goals and objectives, with different meanings. Once we clarified our respective definitions, the apparent disagreement disappeared.

Clarifying terms as a leadership act

This led us to a broader realization: clarifying terms is the starting point for any meaningful collaboration.

Without shared definitions:

conversations drift
decisions become fragile
frustration accumulates silently

Clarity of language creates clarity of thought and action.

Communication modes matter

We also explore how different communication modes influence understanding:

written versus spoken communication
synchronous versus asynchronous exchanges

Each has strengths and risks, and misunderstanding often arises when the mode is chosen by habit rather than intention.

Cultural and language differences further amplify these challenges. As the quote often attributed to George Bernard Shaw puts it:
“Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language.”

Thinking, meetings, and time well spent

The conversation touches on the difference between passive thinking and critical thinking, and why writing can be a powerful tool to support deeper reflection.

We reference ideas such as:

“Meetings are the last resort, not the first option”
“Five people in a room for an hour isn’t a one-hour meeting, it’s a five-hour meeting”

We also discuss practices used at companies like Amazon and Twitter, where written documents replace slide decks and create space for shared understanding and better decision-making.

A question to close

Michael ends the episode with a question from Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow:

A bat and a ball cost $1.10.
The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball.
How much does the ball cost?

It’s a simple question that reveals how easily assumptions slip in when we don’t slow down and examine our thinking.

A final thought

When collaboration feels hard, it’s tempting to look for better tools, better processes, or better alignment.

Sometimes, the most impactful move is much simpler: slow down and clarify the words you are using.

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

January 26, 2020

Understanding A3 Thinking

Understanding A3 Thinking: A Critical Component of Toyota’s PDCA Management System is a book by Durward Sobek and Art Smalley enabling you to understand A3 thinking.

The A3 report is a key tool used by Toyota in support of problem resolution. The approach enable them to solve the root causes of the problem and not only to find paliative temporary fixes.

To learn more and before reading the book, I invite you to watch the excellent presentation by Claudio Perrone (@agilesensei). A3 & Kaizen: Here’s How from Claudio Perrone

This post is a translation of my original French post from 2012.

January 26, 2020

How (Not) to Give Feedback: Responsibility, Ego, and Relationships

eedback is often presented as a skill or a technique. Say the right words. Use the right framework. Follow the right steps.

And yet, feedback conversations still go wrong.

In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I had the great pleasure of welcoming John Poelstra to explore a very personal experience around providing feedback and the deeper dynamics at play.

Feedback is more than a message

One of the key distinctions we explore is the difference between:

the content of the feedback, and
how that feedback is delivered.

What is said matters, but how it is said, and how people show up in the conversation, often matters more.

Ego, expectations, and responsibility

A large part of the conversation focuses on the role of ego in feedback.

We explore questions such as:

what happens when feedback challenges our self-image
how expectations and unmet needs shape our reactions
who is responsible for the experience we have during feedback conversations

Rather than placing responsibility on one side, this episode highlights how responsibility exists on both ends of the interaction.

Feedback as a relationship

John introduces a powerful idea: feedback is not a one-off event, but part of an ongoing relationship.

The “dance” between people, their history, and how they relate to each other all influence how feedback is received and interpreted. When feedback becomes polarized or framed as a win–lose exchange, it almost always makes things worse.

Showing up differently

A recurring theme in the episode is that how you show up in a feedback conversation makes a significant difference.

Presence, intention, and curiosity often have more impact than any technique.

A final thought

If you have ever struggled to give feedback without creating tension or defensiveness, this episode offers a deeper lens.

It invites you to move away from techniques and toward responsibility, relationship, and awareness of how you show up with others.

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

January 20, 2020

Willpower is a “melting” currency

This is that time of the year when we think it is a good idea to take “good resolution.” Last year, I already discussed in the article How to keep up with your 2019 resolutions, how the willpower effect will come into play when we say we will do something, and we are not.

Blaming ourselves will not help. It is even the opposite, as guilt will damage our willpower even more.

It is as if we started with a certain amount of willpower, our initial capital, and that our actions would affect our capital. Using our willpower would increase the amount of willpower we have because now, we know we can do it, we are happy because we did it… and so on…

On the contrary, not using our willpower will damage our capital, as we tend to build a belief that we will NEVER be able to do ANYTHING…

Willpower is really like a “melting” currency. I know the term is used in French and not in English, so I need to tell you a little bit more about that so you can get the analogy. Silvio Gesell proposed demurrage fees as a way to foster economic activity. When you don’t use your money, you pay a fee that will decrease your capital. If the fee is high enough, you cannot earn money just by possession, you have to use your money.

Back to our willpower: if you want to increase your capital, you have to use it, even if it is just a little. Let’s say that the goal is to feel more energetic. Exercise is a good way to achieve that goal, but before committing to go to the gym, maybe you can start small and do a 30-day plank challenge. It does not require any specific equipment and will take you only 2 or 3 minutes a day.

Ready to grow your willpower capital?

Stick the 30-day calendar on the fridge and tick each day when you are done!

Enjoy the new year!

January 2, 2020

Keynoting with my wife

I had the great pleasure of giving four keynote speeches this fall. I already told you about the keynote I gave in Bordeaux for AgileTour in this post. The three others are really special to me. We did those addresses with my wife.

Comment ça? Certaines de nos croyances peuvent brider notre potentiel? #ATTls19 @isabelmonville @alexismonville pic.twitter.com/q8Shc4CyiJ

— Benjamin Cabanne (@plopMaker) October 24, 2019

Last year, I was invited to speak about Changing Your Team From The Inside in Grenoble and Rennes. After the conferences, Isabel and I had a great dinner with Aurelien, Celine, Chris, Nelson, Benji, and Jerome. All of them happen to be conference organizers. And they asked us if we were giving talks together. Even if we worked together for quite some time when we had our management and organization consulting and coaching firm, but we never gave talks together.

One of them said that if we were to prepare something, it would be probably worth a keynote. And as all the others were enthusiastic about the idea, we decided to give it a try.

Of course, we went through our ups and downs in preparing the keynotes. But in the end, we were happy with the result! The feedback was way above what we were hoping for! Thank you!

We did AgileTour Lille and AgileTour Toulouse in October, and Agile Grenoble, the biggest Agile event in France, in November.

An amaZinG Great session at #ATTls19 by TheMonvilleStones Merci ! « Les interactions entre les personnes » @isabelmonville @alexismonville pic.twitter.com/NP5rrxoFnM

— Jυlιεи Fαllεт (@jfallet) October 24, 2019

The three keynotes were, of course, each a little bit different. This was influenced by a lot of factors like the location (being in a real theater in Toulouse was much better for us, for example) and, of course, by our own experience, you know the drill, the more you practice, the luckier you are.

Thank you so much @TotherAlistair for your positive feedback after our keynote at #agiletourlille : precious !! pic.twitter.com/K50l5ebXkh

— Isabel Monville (@isabelmonville) October 13, 2019

The talk, about Individuals and their interactions, is structured in three acts and a conclusion. Each act is composed of a role-play of a situation, followed by a debrief to consolidate what we learn from the story.

Here is the recording of the last one we gave in Grenoble!

December 18, 2019

Rock Stars and Superstars: Supporting Growth Without Losing Stability

High performers are often described as “stars”. They deliver results, bring energy, and raise the bar for everyone around them.

And yet, if not supported carefully, they can also create imbalance, dependency, or frustration inside a team.

In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I had the great pleasure of welcoming Frank Jansen to explore how leaders can support high performers while building strong, resilient teams.

Rock Stars and Superstars

Our conversation builds on a distinction introduced by Kim Scott in her book Radical Candor.

Rock Stars are a source of stability.
They are highly skilled, reliable, and happy to contribute at a high level over time.
Superstars are a source of growth.
They want to learn fast, change things, and move to their next level of impact.

Both profiles are valuable. Problems arise when leaders expect everyone to behave the same way or reward only one type of contribution.

Supporting growth without creating heroes

Frank shares how he supports the growth of people in his team without creating a hero culture.

We discuss:

how to recognize different aspirations without ranking people
how to build diversity of profiles and strengths
how to avoid over-relying on a few individuals
how to make growth a collective topic rather than an individual negotiation

The goal is not to control talent, but to create conditions where people can grow responsibly.

Creating a fearless, self-managing team

A central theme of the conversation is the idea of a fearless organization.

Frank explains how he works to create an environment where:

people feel safe to speak up
responsibility is shared rather than centralized
the team is able to manage itself
results emerge from collaboration, not pressure

When these conditions are in place, performance becomes sustainable and teams can achieve remarkably strong results.

A final thought

Supporting high performers is not about giving special treatment. It is about understanding different motivations and designing an environment where both stability and growth are valued.

If you are leading a team with strong individual contributors and wondering how to help them thrive without weakening the collective, this episode will give you practical perspectives and concrete inspiration.an even record the answer together!

Where to listen:

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

December 14, 2019

Sketchnoting Resources

One of my colleagues noticed that I take all my notes graphically and asked me for resources on how to start. I am far from being an expert, and I am not doing as beautiful drawings as the experts will do, even if I am taking notes this way for more than ten years.

Having a beautiful result is, of course, something that I would like to have, but this is not the most important benefit I see with the practice. Among those benefits: the connection of ideas with each other, the ability to have a whole meeting on one page, see when people are tempted to go back to a previous agenda item (it could be a sign that the topic was not closed properly and there are still things to be discussed)…

How to start?

First, you have to be comfortable with your tools and be satisfied with an imperfect result.

I started by using just sheets of paper. I think I was not comfortable to waste a page in my notebook, speaking of being satisfied with an imperfect result… I then moved to a small notebook, and then a large-high-quality notebook. I loved the feeling of the pen gliding on the paper on those notebooks! Then I switched to a reMarkable tablet which gives me the ability to have topics dedicated notebooks. Really useful to have the ability to go back one page to have a look at the notes of the previous meeting on that topic.

Once you have tools, you are ready to start. To make sure I am clear, a pen and paper, and you are ready to start!

Have a look at how a mindmap works. The mindmap approach will give you one way to use the space until you invent your own way.

Then you have to increase your graphic vocabulary.

My preferred book for that is Bikablo. Those other books are also useful (ranked in order of preference):

The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking
by Mike Rohde
Visual Meetings: How Graphics, Sticky Notes & Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity
by David Sibbet
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
by Dan Roam

In the end, there is no magic, and you have to practice! Every day!

One way to get started is to draw TED Talks. TED Talks are very well structured talks, so you will be able to get clues on how to use the space early in the speech. Furthermore, you can start with the shorter ones.

One of my preferred short talks is 8 Secrets of Sucess by Richard St. John.

Ready to start?

Please enjoy the process of learning!

If you have other tips or resources, please use the comments to share (or drop me a note).

Share with me your first results, and we can discuss ideas of improvements!

December 10, 2019

Maybe we can love division after all

One year and a half ago, I noticed that my daughter was using an app to improve her Spanish and her English. Of course, there is an app for that! There are even several apps!

The one she was using is Duolingo. I decided to give it a try and started learning Spanish from scratch. Over the last year, I observed multiple evolutions of the application meant to motivate people to stick to their practice and continue using the app.

One evolution they introduced lately is “division”. You start in the “bronze” division. A division is a group of 50 people. Over the week, the first 10 of them will go to the higher division, the “silver” one. Once you reach the “silver” division, the first ten can go up, and the last five are relegated to the lower division. The number of XP (eXperience Points) you gain during the week defines your ranking. You can gain XP by attending a lesson, and how successful you are during lessons.

Of course, with 300 million learners, you can imagine that there are several “bronze,” “silver,” “gold” divisions running in parallel. But it seems it does not affect the behavior of the learners. I realized quickly my habit of doing three lessons per day got me immediately to the top of the first divisions, but after a few weeks, it was harder to get to the top 10, and I needed to increase my practice. So, it worked… And now, to stay in the current division, I need to do a little bit more than three lessons a day.

Of course, I am doing it every day to keep my “streak” 🙂 Another incentive to help you keep up with the habit!

I saw a lot of content management systems that are ranking the top contributors. The problem is that when you are a newcomer, the top is something inaccessible so it cannot motivate you to do anything. The weekly top could also be unreachable, so maybe divisions could solve that problem?

Why do you want people to contribute, and how useful will be their contributions remain questions you will have to answer.

How does it work with my learning of Spanish?

I keep up with the practice, and I was able to understand a lot of things during my last travel to Spain. But I am not yet comfortable enough to speak. Compare to my starting point, the progress is enormous for just a few minutes invested each day.

So what do you want to learn next?

December 1, 2019

Author: Alexis

A conversation worth revisiting

What makes a team great

Leadership from the inside

A final invitation

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

How did it work?

A misunderstanding that sparked the conversation

Clarifying terms as a leadership act

Communication modes matter

Thinking, meetings, and time well spent

A question to close

Further reading

A final thought

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

Feedback is more than a message

Ego, expectations, and responsibility

Feedback as a relationship

Showing up differently

Further reading

A final thought

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One

Rock Stars and Superstars

Supporting growth without creating heroes

Creating a fearless, self-managing team

A final thought

Le Podcast – Season Two

Le Podcast – Season One