After easing into the new year, I feel that I am now back in the swing of things. All the teams that I am working with have had their first review, retrospective and planning sessions of 2025 and it feels like they have hit the ground running - long may that continue.

I hope that you enjoy this month’s updates, tips, and insights. May they inspire and energise you as much as they have inspired me to create them.

The Art of the Challenge: A Leader’s Balancing Act

Challenge is a critical ingredient for growth. In agile teams it helps individuals and teams stretch their capabilities, innovate, and achieve results that might otherwise seem out of reach. But the key to effective challenge isn’t just in its delivery, it is in its invitation.

When Scrum Masters and leaders approach challenge with curiosity and respect, it supports the creation of a psychologically safe environment where team members feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.

It begins by asking the the team the right question.

"How would you, as a team, like to be challenged?"

This question acknowledges that every team is unique. Their readiness for challenge depends on factors like their trust in one another, their confidence in their skills, and the complexity of the work they are tackling. It shifts the focus from prescriptive expectations to collaborative goal-setting.

The theory behind this approach is rooted in several principles:

Autonomy and Ownership
When teams have a say in how they are challenged, they take greater ownership of their development. They are more likely to commit to ambitious goals because they have chosen to rise to the occasion rather than feeling coerced.

Tailored Stretch Goals
Different teams, and individuals within those teams, have varying levels of comfort with risk and failure. By involving the team in deciding the nature and scale of challenges, leaders can ensure that these goals stretch capabilities without breaking confidence.

Balance Between Support and Challenge
A great leader understands that challenge must be accompanied by support. Encouraging the team to articulate how they want to be challenged makes it easier to provide the right kind of scaffolding to ensure success.

Building Resilience
A collaborative approach to challenge fosters resilience by helping teams develop self-awareness about their strengths and weaknesses. It encourages open dialogue about fears, assumptions, and opportunities for growth.

By embracing the concept of mutual challenge, leaders can position themselves as enablers of potential rather than taskmasters of performance. The result? Teams will see challenges as opportunities to shine, rather than obstacles to overcome.

My challenge for you is to ask your team how they would like to be challenged.

Minimum Playable Product

When was the last time that you built a LEGO® set? Was there anything that you noticed about the instructions that shouted ‘AGILE’ at you?

The vast majority of LEGO® sets that include minifigures follow a similar pattern of construction.

1. Build the minifigure(s)

2. Add an accessory to the minifigure(s)

3. Build a sub-model associated with the minifigure(s)

4. Build the main model

Here is an extract from the instruction of the Loop Coaster (10303), that show what will be built from the contents of bag 1.

As you can see, bag 1 contains eight minifigures, a bench, a ballon cycle, a pretzel stand, a hot dog stand and the loop coaster cars.

Through the connection of just a few LEGO® elements, the power of play is created and a story can begin to be told. Minifigures can be articulated and positioned. They can be moved to interact with each other. They can buy a ballon, a pretzel, a hot dog. They can discuss what it will be like to be in the loop coaster car and hurtle along the track.

All of this happens with just a few bricks and without building the final model. It is a ‘minimum playable product’ (MPP).

But why is this important?

Most, if not all teams, working in an agile space will be aware of the term minimum viable product (MVP) - the simplest version of a product that delivers enough value to satisfy early customers and gather feedback for future improvements. A MPP is similar, in that it delivers a small amount of value, but possible more importantly, it inspires play and use of what has been built.

This interaction with the product will provide encouragement and motivation, sparking engagement and inspiring further iterations, which is likely to result in you opening and building bag 2, bag 3, bag 4 etc.

Both approaches, MPP and MVP, embrace the idea that value is not just in the finished product but in the journey of creating, learning, and improving.

By starting small and focusing on interaction and engagement, teams can ignite creativity, uncover new possibilities, and build momentum toward bigger, more impactful outcomes. Whether it’s a LEGO® model or an agile product, the magic lies in what happens when people connect, play, and imagine together.

So, why not embrace the power of play in your work? Start small, create your ‘minimum playable product,’ and watch the sparks of innovation and collaboration grow.

What can you do to make your product more playable?

Is the grass always greener?

I recently saw a post on Linkedin by Matthias Ogler where he shared the following agile meme.

When I saw the image it made me chuckle. It made me think about how, when we look at what others are doing and the benefits that are being realised, we almost always see the positives. However, when we look inwardly at our processes and practices, we see the more negative aspects, or those items when we are yet to realise the benefits.

This makes it appear that the ‘grass is greener on the the other side’.

But stop! Take a breath, and consider this.

How much time and effort must have gone into preparing a flawlessly manicured lawn? What were the trials and tribulations that would have needed to have been navigated?

Creating something serene and inviting requires constant attention to foster growth. There will have been times when moss started to develop and weeds crept it, meaning there would needed to have been a step backwards before taking the next step forwards.

If things don’t appear to be going to plan, what can you and your team do to pause and reflect? Before abandoning your lawn, consider the journey that you have been on and the progress that you have already made. What can you learn from those experiences and re-apply to the challenges that may now be facing you?

What about the system that is supporting your lawn? If you did decide to start again, review and change all your working processes and practices, could you still end up with the same problems?

So, is the grass always greener on the other side?

Upcoming Workshops

The first in my series of Micro-Mastery workshops is scheduled to take place next week, and there is still time to get your ticket.

Join me on:-

31st January for A Respected Exploration - Understanding Servant Leadership

14th February for A Respected Adventure - Creating a Feedback Culture

28th February for An Enabling Adventure - Helping Yourself to Help Others

14th March for A Resourceful Adventure - Assuming More Resources

28th March for A Nurturing Adventure - Navigating Conflict

Tickets start at £59.99 (inc. VAT), with multi event tickets also available.

But wait! As a subscriber to my newsletter, you can use the code ‘NEWSLETTER’ for an extra discount.

If you would like to attend all of my sessions, or purchase group tickets, please get in touch for an additional discount.

And finally…

Did you see the teaser trailer?

I recently shared a teaser trailer on LinkedIn and TikTok in relation to an online course that I am creating in relation to LEGO® icebreaker activities.

@enigmacas

🎥 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞!⁣ 🧊 ⁣ 👀 𝐒𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐤: These LEGO sets are about to transform your workshops, meetings, and e... See more

What to know more about what will be included and when it will be released? Like or comment on either post, or drop me a direct message or e-mail.

Thank you for taking the time to read my third newsletter.

Should you have any feedback, or content ideas, feel free to contact me at [email protected]

All the best,

Robin

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