Agile Coaching is an ill-defined concept. Self-described “Agile Coaches” appeared in the Agile world long before there was a definition.
ScrumAlliance definition: “An agile coach helps organizations, teams, and individuals adopt agile practices and methods while embedding agile values and mindsets. The goal of an agile coach is to foster more effective, transparent, and cohesive teams, and to enable better outcomes, solutions, and products/services for customers.”
To complicate matters, the ICF states that the coach should be an agenda-less observer. But off course a coach has an agenda – they are promoting Agile growth and improvement to be used to become better/more effective.
ICAgile says: “Agile coaching is a craft intended to guide others in understanding, processing, and embracing constant change, so that the change is sustainable, lasting beyond the individuals. Agile coaches guide individuals and teams to get clear about the change they desire, identify places where current reality does not match desired reality and then take action to close the gap — all in service of delivering business results that matter.”
I suggest part of the challenge is that an Agile coach needs to take on many stances: Coach, Mentor, Facilitator, Guide and occasionally even teacher. The resources below focus on tools to help the coach on their journey.
Coaching Self Organizing Teams: review of Hard science for soft skills session
Resource Links:
- Agile Coaching Tip: The Quiet Power of Silence
- Agile Coaching With MuHinShu
- Air Guitar and Attitude won’t do it
- Guidelines and Guardrails
- How Self Organization Works
- Is Your Employee Coachable?
- The Ultimate Guide To Building An Internal Innovation Coaching System
- What is Agile Coaching?
POWERFUL QUESTIONS
- Agile Coach’s Powerful Questions
- Powerful Question Cards
- Powerful Questions for Agile Teams
- Your Strategy for Asking Powerful Questions
Resource Books:
- Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition – Lyssa Adkins
- Solution-focused coaching for agile teams: A guide to collaborative leadership – Veronika Jungwirth, Dr. Ralph Miarka
See also:
Mark Levison has been helping Scrum teams and organizations with Agile, Scrum and Kanban style approaches since 2001. From certified scrum master training to custom Agile courses, he has helped well over 8,000 individuals, earning him respect and top rated reviews as one of the pioneers within the industry, as well as a raft of certifications from the ScrumAlliance. Mark has been a speaker at various Agile Conferences for more than 20 years, and is a published Scrum author with eBooks as well as articles on InfoQ.com, ScrumAlliance.org an AgileAlliance.org.
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