Humanizing Work Virtual Conference 2022

HW 2022 Orientation

Welcome & Kickoff

The best learning happens with others. Join us to start the day by getting connected with your HW learning group.

Culture Signals

Peter Green, Richard Lawrence

So often, we try to change culture by just describing the new thing. Maybe we create compelling stories and visions. And people walk away from that communication thinking “yeah right, they SAY they want this, but what about…” all of the trade-offs implied by the new thing.

The most influential leaders create clear, irrefutable signals about what trade-offs have changed in the new way of thinking. In this session, Richard and Peter will share examples of culture signals from real companies and then help you discover how you could signal a new way of interacting using culture signals in your context.

Risk & Issue Management

Tricia Broderick, Angie Ham

Agile is a mindset focused on helping manage risk within knowledge work. Yet, our teams often reactively respond to risks only when they become escalated fires. This approach prevents our teams from leveraging several risks into opportunities. Join this deep dive session to gain techniques in team risk management—the ability to collaboratively identify risks threats and opportunities, qualitative prioritizing of risks, and determine the appropriate team risk response.

Lunch & Learning Group Discussions

Lightning Talks

HW Community Members

Lightning Talks are created and presented by various community members. They’re fun, fast, and educational. They provide an opportunity for people to share something quick and valuable that they’ve learned, that worked well on their team, or that they’re particularly excited about! With such a short format, Lightning Talks get right to the point for rapid learning. The constraints lead to creative ways to share an important topic without the luxury for any rambling or “filler”. Speakers have to give you the 80/20 slice – the 20% of the content that gives you 80% of the benefit. Best of all, we get a chance to hear from a diverse set of voices!

Principle-Driven Decision Making

Peter Green

In most organizations, “good decisions” are ones that lead to better business outcomes. Our study of transformational leaders has revealed that they almost never start with a different way of working or even a different business outcome in mind, but a clear set of personal beliefs about how and why an organization should exist. Those principles then drive all decisions about what to deliver, to whom, and how. In this session, Peter will share examples that have inspired him. We’ll then look at some ways to get clearer on what principles are “non-negotiable” for you, examining how that might shape decisions you’re making at work and in life.

Evolving from Mastery to Co-Intelligence

Tricia Broderick

Daniel Pink highlighted the importance of mastery for motivating knowledge workers. Similarly, David Marquette highlighted the importance of competence for empowering people. Both competence and mastery (expert competence) reinforce individual contributions. In Agile, a sole focus on these can reinforce an expert silo approach within teams. Join this session to examine how competence and mastery can be a foundation to what the team truly needs, co-intelligence. Learn what conditions are necessary to help the team collaborate and learn, thus building their team co-intelligence.

“But We Must!”—Dealing With Imposed Deadlines

Richard Lawrence

When an impossible timeline gets imposed on you, what do you do? Just sharing estimates rarely works. Just saying, “sorry, we can’t do it,” feels like a bad career move. In this session, we’ll explore where “But we must!” management comes from and how to handle it in a healthy way.

Learning Groups

Conference Night In