Navigating Agile Coaching Value
Begin with
Meeting with your sponsor(s), bosses, stakeholder(s), organizational leader(s)
(anyone with a say in directing & evaluating your Scrum Master or Coaching work).
Capture precisely what they are asking you to do in their words. What is the ask? Ask clarifying questions, but don’t push back, negotiate, or translate. Capture everything as stated.
Ask, what would good look like?
Ask, what would delight look like?
Ask what “blowing their socks off” would look like.
Trying to get a feel for the value proposition they’re looking for. If you can get them to tell you a story to describe it, all the better.
Pull together a coaching plan that—
List your ideas & goals to meet the ask.
List the impediments you’ll need to overcome.
List your conflicts with the ask, for example, it’s a “non-agile” focused goal or you only have some of the requisite skills to help.
List the key partners you’ll need to work with.
Note: Force Field Analysis is a useful way to capture your plan –
https://www.mindtools.com/a23ewmr/force-field-analysis
Don’t bring your agile biases; your—
Frameworks
Principles
Values
Tactics
And project them onto their goals.
Instead, meet them where their goals are. Grok them, accept them, and internalize them. If you need to use traditional means to achieve the goals, do so. If you need to provide consulting or leadership or “roll up your sleeves” to achieve their goals, then do so.
Well, up to the point where it challenges your Agile Coaching Ethics.
Another way of looking at it is that you’re not there to make yourself happy or fulfilled. You’re there to serve the outcomes your client is looking for. If you can be happy and fulfilled along the way, that would be fantastic. But that’s a secondary goal.
You’re also not there to “be or make them agile.” You’re there to serve the outcomes your client is looking for. If you can be “be or make them agile” along the way, fantastic. But that’s another secondary goal.
Continuously confirming
Establishing your value goals is an essential first step.
But you realize that the goal(s) and your key stakeholder(s) may change over time. So, it’s vital to iteratively check in with your clients, sharing the progress toward the goal(s) and seeing if everything is still delighting them.
Or
Are there adjustments and pivots to be made?
Importantly, this is not done via email, presentation, or sharing Jira data. It is a face-to-face discussion where you co-confirm your direction and co-pilot changes with your clients.
Wrapping Up
One of the most critical aspects of providing value to clients (stakeholders, sponsors, and leaders) is partnering with them—in other words, never going it alone.
As an Agile Coach, it is usually, +90% of the time, impossible for you to deliver on your client’s goals individually. You need their help. Scratch that. Having them partner with you to achieve their goals would be best.
Most clients I work with initially try to delegate their goals entirely to me, which is a terrible strategy.
In essence—
Establish your client’s goals (not your goals).
Iteratively confirm and triangulate as necessary.
Partner (co-ownership) with your clients to achieve their outcomes.
Stay agile and valued, my friends,
Bob.