One of the things that has helped me in my agile coaching is the new mindset that ORSC, really professional coaching in general, has introduced me to.
And that mindset isn’t simply useful for coaches, but I think it’s equally useful for leaders in agile contexts. And, oh by the way, we’re all leaders.
The following are some ideas, concepts, and metaphors that can make us better coaches (and leaders) in agile contexts.
Signals & Channels
One of the challenges in coaching is staying/remaining present and alert for all of the communication signals that your clients (systems) may be giving you and the channels they may be using for them. Not only paying attention to them, but leveraging them to gain more information for the system. Here’s a list of the channels—
Auditory - sounds (sigh, clapping, foot tapping)
Visual - images (video, posture, what does it look like?)
Kinesthetic - movement (dance)
Proprioceptive - body sensation (heat)
Relationship - composite (information that comes through relationship)
World - composite (information that comes from outside world)
One of the best ways to unfold them is to recognize them and stay curious. For example—I notice that whenever I mention Scrum or Agile, you fold your arms and sigh. What’s behind that?
Or, I notice that you make a big round gesture with your arms whenever you’re talking about inclusivity in Backlog Refinement. It’s a very BIG movement and your energy significantly increases. What do you think might be behind that? And how does it make you feel?
Another aspect of channels, beyond awareness, is the notion of switching between them. For example, you may be chatting with a team about some challenges or tension within. Fairly abruptly, you might ask everyone to stand up and assume a posture/gesture that represents how they feel right now. Then ask everyone what it represents? And how do they feel?
Or even something potentially sillier, ask everyone to draw an animal (real or mythical) that represents how they feel and explore it with the same questions.
I hope you see the channel switches and the potential for gaining new information.
Emotional Field
Before ORSC, I simply coached. Emotions were there at times, but I often ignored them or tried to coach thru them. To be honest, emotions are often an edge for me and make me uncomfortable.
My coaching mindset has shifted to become much more aware of the emotional field. And it’s not simply the emotions of individuals, but of the entire system.
For example—let’s say I’m coaching a small group of leaders and one of them angrily reacts to a problem they’re ignoring, I’ve learned to:
Not be triggered by the outburst or ignore it.
Acknowledge and normalize the anger of that individual.
And most importantly, observe everyone else (the emotional field) to see how the outburst is impacting the system.
Calling it Out or Naming it
Beyond noticing what’s going on in the emotional field, a powerful aspect of coaching with it is simply naming it. For example, asking questions of the above group like—
I notice that everyone quieted down after Bill’s outburst.
What are you all feeling now?
How could we change the emotional field right now?
Normalization
When I first heard the term normalization in our classes, I thought it was a nice concept. However, as I started to use it, I realized how powerful this simple notion is.
It means to simply recognize your clients (system, pair, group, team, etc.) experiences as “being normal”. For example—
If you’re client starts to get emotional about a specific event, you might say…of course you’re emotional about it. Anyone would be. In fact, it’s happened to me and I was emotional as well.
In normalization, you’re indicating that (1) you’re listening to the system, (2) reaching out with empathy and understanding, and (3) putting the experience into the realm of something normal as opposed to something abnormal or strange.
I believe the key to normalization is deep listening, paying attention to the emotional field, and staying present.
Ventilation
We spent quite a lot of time during my ORSC training talking about the “heat of a system” in various coaching situations. I think of heat in this sense as reading the Emotional Field and reacting to it.
Normalization can certainly help when things get hotter.
As can allowing (or creating the space for) the relationship system to vent (or ventilate).
I think a key here, at least for me, is getting more comfortable with allowing the heat to dissipate. That can allow emotions to be voiced. I have some personal discomfort with venting emotions in professional settings and sometimes will not recognize, ignore, or try to “fly over them”. I learned in my ORSC coaching to get more comfortable with allowing and even encouraging the individuals and relationship system to ventilate more.
One key to ventilation is to not allow folks to address each other. Instead, have folks address you as a coach and ventilate to you. Not speaking to each other, but expressing how it makes them feel or the impact they feel it has on their team.
I guess my point is—a little ventilation can go a long way.
Edges - Edginess
ORSC introduced me to the notion of change theory and edges. Edges are a transition caused during a change. For example, if I’m individually being offered a new, higher impact role in the company, I am moving from (A) my current role where I feel competent to (B) a new role where I feel less competent and exhibiting a bit of imposter syndrome.
That transition is an edge for me individually and it will initiate behavior that shows the system (me in this case) to myself.
ORSC would define two states in this scenario
Primary - my current role
Secondary - my new role
And the edge is my movement across from Primary to Secondary (making secondary my new primary), and all of the behavior associated with that transition. Or crossing the edge.
While this is an individual example, you can see how this would be useful in groups, teams, and systems where you have many individuals in primary, encountering a shift or change, and are attempting to navigate across the edge to secondary.
Edge awareness then becomes something that the systems coach should be tuned into when reading the system and making the system aware of itself. Indeed, in order to effectively make the shift at a group level, the entire relationship system needs to navigate the edge.
To be clear, ALL edge behaviors should be seen as a Voice of the System.
Here’s an example—
Our Scrum Team has been incredibly successful as a team. Now the organization wants to move us onto a new product that is under incredible pressure to deliver a prototype in a few months. In this case—
Primary - the team working on the current product is balanced, cohesive, and happy.
Secondary - the team beginning to work on a new product that challenges their alignment, skills, experience, and balance.
As a coach, we’d be looking for edge behaviors from the individuals AND from the overall relationship system. One strategy is to find individuals (change agents) who are navigating the primary to secondary transition more effectively and engaging them to help the system to cross the edge.
Finally, in this shift, sometimes individuals or the entire system can be totally overwhelmed by the secondary and moves into what ORSC defines as realm. Realm is a space where everything is a bit “stuck” and taking a break in the coaching (time) is the most useful action.
As an aside, I don’t know if it’s helpful to use this language with your systems. As it may take them to another edge. But I do think it’s helpful to be aware of it as your coaching relationship systems through change.