The Agile approach, with its emphasis on "people over process" and "face-to-face communication", requires that managers, particularly new managers, pay attention to developing their communication skills. Of course, this is not unique to Agile, there are traditional workplaces that emphasize these same values.
In such collaborative workplaces it is considered more constructive to discuss a problem and allow its solution to emerge, than to hand down directives. But these behaviours do not come naturally to many of us, particularly when teams are under stress. Paul B. Brown recently looked at strategies for helping employees improve their performance through constructive discussion, in Coaching Employees: A Delicate Balance, a review of three recent books on the subject.*
* requires free membership to NYTimes.com
In such collaborative workplaces it is considered more constructive to discuss a problem and allow its solution to emerge, than to hand down directives. But these behaviours do not come naturally to many of us, particularly when teams are under stress. Paul B. Brown recently looked at strategies for helping employees improve their performance through constructive discussion, in Coaching Employees: A Delicate Balance, a review of three recent books on the subject.*
* requires free membership to NYTimes.com