Em Campbell-Pretty - Tribal Unity : Getting From Teams to Tribes by Creating a One Team Culture

First published in 2016 by Pretty Agile Pty Ltd
Richmond, Victoria, Australia

Pretty Agile Pty Ltd
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
This book is a SpiritCast Network Book

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author:

Campbell-Pretty, Em

Title:

Tribal Unity: Getting From Teams to Tribes by Creating a One Team Culture

ISBN-13:

978-1537347578

ISBN-10:

1537347578

Subjects:

1. Teams in the workplace. 2. Leadership. 3. Organisational Behaviour. 4. Organisational Effectiveness

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All enquiries should be made to the publisher at insert relevant email address.

Editor-in-chief: Anita Saunders

Cover Design: Bliss Inventive

Disclaimer:
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

Praise for Tribal Unity

What executive wouldnt want a highly productive group, capable of taking on big, strategic projects with aggressive timelines? What employee wouldnt want a workplace that inspireswith camaraderie, fun, worthy challenges, AND genuine management support? Up until now, these two desires have seemed mutually exclusive, and elusive.

In Tribal Unity , Em shows that it is possible to have both, and indeed, latter enables the former. Em is no starry-eyed dreamer. Shes a business manager and knows what is at stake. This book is full of examples, stories, practices, and practical advice. She shows you that productivity + joy is not pie-in-the-sky, but well within the achievable.

- Esther Derby, co-author of Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great and Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management

Succeeding in building a strong tribe - a team of teams - is one of the keys to unlocking potential in your organization beyond the individual team. But how do you do that in practice? Most books only tackle this with principles or abstract concepts - but in this book Em describes real, concrete practices illustrated through her own experiences that will not only inspire you to build a stronger tribe, but also guide you in how to do it.

- Anders Ivarsson, Organizational Coach, Spotify

Every aspiring Lean-Agile enterprise can be no better than the culture that evolves to support it. Em does a great job of describing how that culture can be fostered directly with the team-of-agile-teams, the essential building block of enterprise agility.

- Dean Leffingwell, creator of the Scaled Agile Framework

Tribal Unity is a must read for leaders needing to get their teams together to get the work done that needs to be done. It connects us to contemporary thinking; real life examples are backed up with quotes and insights from relevant readings and other industry leaders.

We gain from Ems lessons learnt and these are passed on to us in her easy style with humour and pragmatic language. Her voice is strong in reading in each page; its true to her and its oh-so useful for us.

There are plenty of daily tips and techniques coupled with practical advice of what to do. I think it will revolutionise how you lead - and how you think you can lead - a team towards being a tribe.

Its a beautiful bringing together of agile, culture and people - to create tribes that people want to be a part of.

- Lynne Cazaly author of Leader as Facilitator , Making Sense , Create Change and Visual Mojo

I have long been an admirer of the work that Em does in building great teams and great tribes. This book is a perfect distillation of a lot of very sound advice on creating teams that hum. Drawing on real life experiences and backing them up with solid principles, Tribal Unity is a must-read for anyone who leads or wants to lead a tribe. Em has great stories to tell and I find myself retelling them to colleagues and friends as inspiration and as practical advice; Im glad that theyre collected in a single book that I can recommend to people as a manual on how to transform an organisation.

- Andy Kelk, CTO, Marketplacer

Em tells a very personal and human story about how to create awesome tribes. Her book is full of useful take-aways, real life examples and practical ideas people can use. One big lesson shared is that success if often based on having the courage to seize opportunities. Even seasoned Agilists will find something here! I certainly did.

- Sandy Mamoli, co-author Creating Great Teams: How Self-Selection Lets People Excel

Tribal Unity by Em Campbell-Pretty, is the finest guidebook for todays evolving organizations dedicated to transforming workplaces into cultures of competency and fun!

Using real-world and witty anecdotes, Ems years of experience as a curator of change fosters a fresh perspective on nurturing teams by applying Lean Agile principles to a corporate environment.

Em takes a commanding approach to moving from average to excellent. All the while, she leans on her natural sense of humor and insight to keep teams and individuals engaged and safe, providing effective approaches to connect with a common goal.

- Lynn Winterboer, Agile Analytics Coach & Trainer

Ems is the first true and authentic voice in the Scaling Agile space. Rather than sell you on grand unifying theories and ideas, she tells her own story of personal, team and organisational development. Tribal Unity documents Ems journey leaving a trail bread crumbs (books and articles) for others to follow. Its so refreshing to see how her thoughts developed around solving the problems rather than selling the solutions. Im utterly jealous that I havent written such a rich, poetic and useful book as Tribal Unity. - Jealous of London

- Chris Matts, Agile Transformation Coach, Co-Author of Commitment , and Co-inventor of the Given-When-Then syntax.

Too many teams never really gel. With no shared culture, they either storm in friction, or become micro-fiefdoms, led by a handful of strong personalities. As the teams grow, the friction gets worse. Eventually, you realize that ten dedicated people could do what this group of fifty is struggling to accomplish, perhaps in less time!

The culture problem is something that by-the-book Scrum doesnt solve. You need something deeper - exercises, communication patterns, and models to understand what is going on, find the friction points, and allow the team to gel. Most of the advice in this area is shallow. A tip here, a tidbit there. Em Campbell-Prettys book, Tribal Unity , breaks new ground by combining sound advice with her own personal experience and insights. Combine that with pictures of real artefacts and examples, and you have the making of something new. If your company norms need work, or you dont have them, read this book. If you dont, read it anyway, youll need it at the next assignment.

- Matthew Heusser, Managing Director, Excelon Development