I come from the world of software development where, after several years of working in a team, I was in a situation to “jump” into the role of manager. At that moment I thought: How hard can it be? I will do the same as I have been doing so far, only I will additionally keep records of the annual vacations of the team members.

Of course, it didn’t take me long to realize how wrong my assumption was and that I needed help. I had years of technical education and work in a “technical” role behind me, but the current job description required some other skills for which I had no formal education or work experience.

What I had was a long list of “How to” questions.

Interestingly, there is a lot of information related to various agile frameworks, but when it comes to management in an agile environment, one of the most common things I came across was: Managers are one of the biggest obstacles to agile transformation.

I don’t want to be an obstacle, I want to help my team.

Vladimir Kelava

Through my search, I came across Management 3.0 and finally began to get an answer to the question: What is the role of a manager in an agile environment? – and slowly I came to the answers to my How to questions.

What is Management 3.0?

Management 3.0 is NOT another framework that describes roles, artifacts, and events based on which you can say at the end of the day – we “implement” Management 3.0. Things don’t work that way. Management 3.0 is a way of looking at the work system, a way of thinking and behaving, supported by a collection of tools, exercises, and practical experiences that can come in handy in our daily work.

First and foremost: you need to have the right mindset. When someone tells you that you need to have the right mindset, people usually think: Oh no, here’s another tra-la-la story. But Management 3.0 does not tell us that we need to put on rose-colored glasses and that everything will be fine. In fact, it requires a pragmatic approach that finds its foundations in science and relies on complexity theory. It teaches us to see teams (organizations) as complex adaptive systems that bring a dose of unpredictability.

Why is Management 3.0 needed?

Whatever you have planned or envisioned for your system (team or organization), it probably won’t happen. What sometimes seems quite logical in theory (that X leads to Y), in practice usually does not end up like that. Human nature is embedded with a linear, reductionist way of thinking, where everything has its cause and effect.

Management 3.0 mindset leads beyond these established frameworks and traditional ways of thinking - it leads to a world where we see teams and organizations as a whole and where we manage the system (team, organization), not people.

We should always keep in mind that all organizations are actually complex social networks. Maybe on paper, the organizational chart looks like a hierarchy, but that doesn’t change the fact that people within the organization actually work together within a collaborative network. The times we are in require us to approach the management of teams (organizations) differently and to take into account complexity (unpredictability).

What does Management 3.0 include?

There are six areas to focus on: energize people, empower teams, align constraints, develop competence, grow structure, and improve everything. For each area, you need to think and decide if something needs to be done, and if so, what is it.

Energize People

It is necessary to think about how to ensure that team members are engaged, motivated, and happy

Empower Teams

How to deal with the challenges of delegation, how to distribute responsibility in the team, that is, the organization

Align Constraints

Self-organization can lead to unwanted results and therefore it is necessary to define a clear purpose, goals, and values

Develop Competence

It is necessary to provide an environment in which team members can develop their competencies

Grow Structure

It is necessary to think about how to develop an organizational structure that facilitates daily work

Improve Everything Team members, teams, and organizations must improve every day and must learn as fast as possible to avoid failure

These six areas represent the Management 3.0 model which, along with the theoretical basis, brings us practical tools that we can use in our daily work.

How do I see Management 3.0?

I mentioned that Management 3.0 brings with it a collection of tools, exercises, and practical experiences that can help us in our daily work. And it’s great that we can reach into the collection of tools, but it’s even better if we bring something of our own, guided by the Management 3.0 mindset, starting from the fact that people are the greatest value of the organization, that is, the team.

It should be remembered that practices always depend on the context in which we find ourselves, and the principles and values ​​always remain the same and they are actually what builds the appropriate mindset.

Through Management 3.0, I found an answer to the question: What is the role of management in an agile environment? I say management on purpose, not manager because we should look at management as an activity for which we are all, to a greater or lesser extent, responsible.

If you want to learn more about this mindset and way of looking at the work system, join us at our Management 3.0 Foundation Workshop.