How Microsoft is making the culture change to Lean

Cindy Alvarez

@cindyalvarez

How do you change a culture of 8,000 people across the world?

https://thenounproject.com/mordariushttps://thenounproject.com/kozinn

NO:

Top-down mandate

Organic bottom-up adoption

Consistent roll-out to everyone

Flip the switch

TRY:

Set cultural expectations

Experiment

Offer different paths

Embrace skepticism

Highlight best practices

Practitioner evangelists

QUESTIONS:

Is your budget tiny, big, or non-existent?

Do you have top-down executive support?

Are you under a deadline?

How skeptical are people?

What types of expertise do people trust?

What we’ve tried

Pros and cons

Investment required

https://thenounproject.com/crumenko

If you want to be a gardener, start by

keeping a potted plant alive.

https://thenounproject.com/deepika811

https://thenounproject.com/Bloomua

MVP: We sent a team through an external

startup accelerator program

Plant a few seeds early so you can

watch how they grow.

https://thenounproject.com/yumminky

https://thenounproject.com/zidney0721

MVP iteration: We shortened the training and

brought it in-house

Endorsing cultural change from top-

down is necessary (but not sufficient)

https://thenounproject.com/korawan_m

https://thenounproject.com/grega.cresnar

Endorsing cultural change: Workshops for all

of senior leadership, attendance expected

Propagate faster growth through

cuttings.

https://thenounproject.com/suji.rs11

https://thenounproject.com/jmkeuning

Coaching: Teams embedded with internal

customer development ‘experts’

Every plant has different ideal growing

conditions.

https://thenounproject.com/julia.kitaeva

https://thenounproject.com/leremy

Customize: Meet small teams where they are

today

After some progress, there’s

still an uphill battle.

Now what?

https://thenounproject.com/leremy

https://thenounproject.com/leremy

Foster community: Peer mentoring to share

best practices

https://thenounproject.com/wkwang

Share the love: Newsletter to praise the

people who are learning and taking risks

https://thenounproject.com/leremy

Try a ninja: Bring in an expert with minimal

constraints

What will happen next? We

don’t know.

We are learning to embrace

uncertainty.

Let’s learn from each other…

cindy@cindyalvarez.com

@cindyalvarez

https://thenounproject.com/Ryaaaan

MVP: We sent a team through an external

startup accelerator program

‘Air cover’ from judgment

Permission to break from ‘normal’

behaviors

Created evangelists

Minimal upfront

administration/planning

Aha! epiphanies

Major time commitment

‘Not invented here’

Best for net-new projects

Not scalable

MVP iteration: We shortened the training and

brought it in-house

Less time commitment

Adapted for our reality

Taught by internal employees =

more credibility

Easier to bring to other locations

Still best for net-new projects

Less ‘air cover’ for learning

new behaviors

More philosophy than practice

Required dedicated

employees

Endorsing cultural change: Workshops for all

of senior leadership, attendance expected

If the EVP cares about this, you

should too

Allows leaders to express

skepticism openly

Taught by internal employee =

more credibility

One-time only

More philosophy than practice

Generalized by necessity

Coaching: Teams embedded with internal

customer development ‘experts’

Hands-on practice

Learning from peers

Aha! Epiphanies

Customized experience

Substantial time commitment

Requires prep work

Scheduling is tricky

Not scalable

Customize: Meet small teams where they are

today

Customized experience

Freedom to be skeptical

High empowerment ROI for low

time commitment

Requires a trainer with improv

skills

Not scalable

Pull, not push